"New Delhi/Beijing: Abhinav Bindra won India’s first ever individual Olympic gold medal on Monday with a come-from-behind victory in the men’s 10m air rifle, but sports agents are divided on whether this will translate into lucrative brand endorsements in a country where cricket and movie stars remain favourites with advertisers and audiences."
http://www.livemint.com/2008/08/12011400/Bindra-wins-India8217s-firs.html?h=A1
I love mint as a newspaper. But this article just caught me off guard. Especially after first being bombarded by every little detail of Bindra's life in ToI on every other page with gaudy photos, the concise looking article seemed a bit of a relief. What caught me off guard was that within the first sentence itself they launched into the debate of whether he will make a good "brand endorser". Lol. Is this acute professionalism by mint and a bit over the top? Also, I can just imagine all the agents around India perking up on hearing the gold medal announcement and salivating and debating over the possibilities of commercial exploitation of this event rather than feeling, even for a moment, a bit proud of this achievement.
I personally did not believe this news till I saw it on TV. Perhaps I need to see the medal and bite it to test its gold component to be doubly sure that this is not some cruel joke by China in their usual style.
Congratulations to him nonetheless. May this set off a meaningful debate and progress on this front in the media which has been sadly missing till now contrary to their usual zeal.
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