Sharmistha Gooptu in Birmingham
I had embarked on my coverage of international sporting events, setting foot in Birmingham in 2022. It was also one of the very first international tours undertaken by RevSportz, a company that has since then grown by leaps and bounds on account of the hard work put in by each team member. RevSportz was a one-year-old company in 2022, struggling to find its way in the world of media coverage, and the Commonwealth Games was a challenge. None of us had accreditation for the Birmingham Games – we had missed the last day for applying but that wasn’t enough to put any of us off. We had resolved to be like a guerilla group, finding our way no matter how we did it!
I remember doing a recce of the city in June 2022 when I was here with my family. I connected with a school friend here after many years, who now lives here, and who took us around a bit in the city as a first-time orientation. We then returned with the team in late July to start our build up for the Commonwealth Games.
I was filled today with an unspeakable emotion when I returned to Victoria Square in the heart of the city – that majestic quarter where the celebrations around the 2022 Games had seen a huge participation and excitement. Indian culture and participation by the Indian community had been a centre-point. Troupes and performers had been brought in from India, along with local performers and it had been a feast to watch the entire program unfold at Victoria Square. There had been a giant screen installed to allow people to watch the Games there, and most evenings there were performances.
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Birmingham remains a cherished memory where I had the lucky chance to watch Nikhat Zareen’s gold-medal-winning match seated together with none other than Vinesh Phogat. Vinesh had earlier won the gold medal in wrestling, and we had chanced upon her and fellow wrestler Anshu, outside the boxing arena, both hoping to get an entry to watch Zareen in action. A colleague and I gladly offered our own tickets and managed to get inside ourselves on a couple of extra ones, sourced last minute from a friend. It had been the emotions of a lifetime-to watch Vinesh Phogat cheering on her friend and then to see her running to the side of the ring and Zareen leaning over the ropes to hug her.
We were there before the start of the Games in a local gymnasium where Mirabai Chanu was training with her coach Vijay Sharma, and Vijay ji had predicted a gold for her. After her gold medal win, we landed up with a pizza for Chanu (something she loves but rarely indulges in), minutes after she had emerged with her medal around her neck. The pizza episode is now well documented.
Birmingham, in a way, made RevSportz stand out for what it now stands for-our width and breath of coverage of international sporting events from on-ground. It’s a place special in the heart of RevSportz.