The generation of athletes who grew up in a post-liberalization India had to strive to become the first of many – in the top 30 rankings in WTA singles. Tour, on the Formula 1 grid, on the professional squash circuit, on the PGA Tour, Asian medalists in gymnastics, multiple medalists in swimming. As their careers progressed into the 21st century, it was the Internet and social media that allowed the general public to know how to directly reach these pioneers and follow their careers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayThe emergence of online/digital journalism, whether through official websites, blogs, e-newspapers, meant that Indian sport could now be covered through forms and language without restriction of space or time, stereotype or prejudice. This is how the story of sprinter Dutee Chand, forced to undergo a “gender test” and then banned from competition due to high levels of testosterone in her body, was able to be told with rigor and sensitivity. Dutee's career was not allowed to go the way of Doha 2006 Asian Games gold medalist Pinki Pramanik, or Santhi Soundarajan, who was stripped of her silver medal in Doha, due to reasons of gender identity. In 2006, Pinki and Santhi were treated like outcasts. In 2014, after Dutee was left out of the CWG contingent for Glasgow, several factors ensured that her career did not end abruptly like that of Pinki or Santhi. There was support from the government, a Canadian team ready to defend its case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and a journalistic community who wanted to follow the case down to the smallest details. Dutee received the oxygen she needed to continue her fight and the fight she needed to be able to run again. The regulations were frozen, Dutee competed at the Rio Olympics and, under the revised athletics regulations, he continues to be eligible to run. She was a girl from a family of weavers from Orissa. Not so long ago, she could have been another Pinki or another Santhi. The balance of power between Indian athletes and officials has not changed, but today's athlete can be both seen and heard. The key agents of change in India over the past decade go beyond just more proactive government intervention, tax breaks for corporate social responsibility, media or the growth of the Internet. The catalysts for this decade of reinvention are the new players in Indian sport, the unique non-profit intermediaries who have stepped in to do what the official sports federations had shown little interest in doing after liberalization. Organizations like Olympic Gold Quest (established in 2002), Mittal Champions Trust (2003, now defunct), GoSports Foundation (2008), Anglian Medal Hunt (2012), JSW Sport (2013) are bridge builders between ambitious athlete, his federations and access. financing or expertise. These organizations were also able to further contribute to the media's understanding of what it takes to be a champion. That it is not about vegetarianism, lack of killer instinct, genes, lack of ambition or excessive love for government jobs. It's not as complicated as we were told earlier. Planning, intention and expertise – get it right and it's as easy as pie. The specialization of these organizations may be focused on identifyingtalent, individual training, logistics and medical treatment/rehabilitation, but their role is to draw attention to the unique abilities of their athletes. and the achievements have added more richness to the narrative around Indian sports. With professional advice and Twitter and Instagram at their fingertips, athletes can now control their story. He said, she said, they said and things happened. While Twitter was founded in 2006, Indian sports, its stars and fans began gravitating towards the news and social networking service from around 2009-2010. Social media broke the single line of communication between the athlete and conventional media and became an informal, direct and authentic space for discussion, which is what both the athlete and the fan wanted. Twitter became an easy-to-use, free information and PR agency for every athlete, setting up fan interaction, where questions could be asked, announcements made and, if necessary, controversies stirred up – by audio, video or text. the media? The stories told by the athletes would now be their own: no mediator, coach, manager or official would speak on their behalf. Tennis player Sania Mirza is the most followed Indian athlete (8.39 million) outside of cricketers on Twitter and was one of the network's first users among Indian sportspeople, joining in November 2009. Mahesh Bhupathi (July 2009 / 1.02 m) and Narain Karthikeyan (September 2009 / 623,000) had started earlier and Abhinav Bindra (December 2009 / 461,000) joined them a month later. Sania has been visible and vocal on Twitter, dismissing trolls attacking her for marrying Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, and, like the T-shirts that made her famous, speaking her mind. For journalists scrambling to keep up, social media began offering their own stories, quotes and photos. Footballer CK Vineeth (July 2014 / 178,000) has brought a new level of activism to his social media presence. In January 2018, he posted a photo of himself with his friend and fellow footballer Rino Anto, with his arms crossed, to express solidarity with a young man who had sat outside the Kerala secretariat to protest the death of his brother in custody. In April 2018, following two cases of rape of minor girls, one of whom was murdered, Vineeth sent a letter on Twitter: "to the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Justice and to every citizen of this country. » In a country where athletes tend to be submissive to politicians of all kinds, at a time when dissent or opposition to the government is considered "anti-national", Vineeth found a way to lodge his protest. Sometime that month, along with Vineeth and Anto again, Sania Mirza, Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Chhetri, Jeev Milkha Singh, Mithali Raj, R Ashwin, MC Mary Kom and Saina Nehwal also expressed their anger on their Twitter accounts about crimes committed against underage girls ten years ago. impossible to do without a press conference. In June 2018, Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri (October 2012 / 1.46 million followers) did the work of an entire Indian football marketing department through a video on his Twitter account. On June 3, Chhetri asked the audience, fans and non-fans alike, "all those who are not football fans", "you who have lost hope or have no hope". in Indian football” to come and watch the team live, rather than “criticizing them on the Internet”. Chhetri's video posted on June 3 read: "Come to the stadium, shout at us, shout at us,,.