The generation of athletes growing up in post-liberalisation India had to aim to become the first of many things: among the top 30 in the WTA Tour singles rankings, on Formula 1 grid, on the professional squash circuit, the PGA Tour, Asian medalists in gymnastics, numerous medal winners in swimming. As their careers advanced into the 21st century, it was the Internet and social media that ensured that the wider public knew how to directly reach these pioneers and follow their careers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay The advent of online/digital journalism, whether through formal websites, blogs, e-newspapers, had meant that Indian sports could now be covered through forms and language without limitations of space or time, stereotypes or prejudices. Thus the story of sprinter Dutee Chand, forced to undergo a "gender test" and then banned from competing due to the high levels of testosterone in her body, could be told with rigor and sensitivity. Dutee's career was not allowed to follow the path of Pinki Pramanik, gold medalist at the Doha 2006 Asian Games, or Santhi Soundarajan who was stripped of the Doha silver medal, over gender identity issues . In 2006, Pinki and Santhi were treated like outcasts. In 2014, after Dutee was dropped from the CWG contingent for Glasgow, there were several factors that ensured her career didn't end as abruptly as Pinki's or Santhi's did: there was government support, a Canadian team willing to fight his case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and a journalistic community that wanted to follow the case down to the smallest details. Dutee was given the oxygen he needed to continue his fight and the fight he needed to be able to run again. The regulations were frozen, Dutee competed in the Rio Olympics and, under the revised athletics regulations, continues to be able to compete. She was a girl from a family of weavers in Orissa. Not long ago, she could have been another Pinki or Santhi. The balance of power between Indian athletes and officials has not changed, but today the athlete can be seen and heard. The key agents of change in India in the last decade go beyond mere proactive government intervention, corporate social responsibility tax breaks, media or internet growth. The catalysts for this decade of reinvention were the new stakeholders in Indian sport, the unique non-profit intermediaries who stepped in to do what official sports federations had shown little interest in doing after liberalisation. Organizations such as Olympic Gold Quest (established 2002), Mittal Champions Trust (2003, now defunct), GoSports Foundation (2008), Anglian Medal Hunt (2012), JSW Sport (2013) are bridge builders between aspiring athletes, their federations and access to funding 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's not about vegetarianism, lack of killer instinct, genes, lack of ambition or too much love for public works. It's not as complicated as we were told before. Planning, intention and experience: if you do it right and it's super simple. The specialization of these organizations may be focused on talent identification, individual coaching, logistics and medical/rehabilitative care, but their role in bringing attention to their athletes' unique abilities and achievementshave added more richness to the Indian sports narrative. With professional counseling and Twitter and Instagram at their fingertips, athletes can now control their story. He said, she said, they said and things moved on. While Twitter was founded in 2006, Indian sports, its stars and fans began using the news and social networking service starting in 2009-2010. Social media has broken through the only line of communication between the athlete and conventional media and has become an informal, direct, authentic conversation space desired by both the athlete and the fan. Twitter has become a free and easy-to-use news and PR agency for every athlete, enabling interaction with fans, where you can ask questions, make announcements and, if necessary, stir up controversy - in audio, video or text. Who needed the media? The stories told by the athlete would now be their own: no mediator, coach, manager or official could speak for them. 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 prominent users among Indian sportspeople, joining in November 2009. Mahesh Bhupathi (July 2009 / 1.02 million) and Narain Karthikeyan (September 2009 / 623k) had started earlier and Abhinav Bindra (December 2009 / 461k) had joined a month later. Sania has been visible and outspoken on Twitter, pushing back against trolls attacking her for marrying Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, and like the shirts that made her famous, speaking her mind. For journalists struggling to keep up, social media has begun providing its own story lines, quotes and photos. Footballer CK Vineeth (July 2014/178k) has brought a new level of activism to his social media presence. In January 2018 he posted a photo of himself together with his friend and fellow footballer Rino Anto with their arms locked to express solidarity with a young man who had sat outside the Kerala secretariat to protest his brother's death in police custody . In April 2018, following two cases of rape against minor girls, one of whom was killed, Vineeth addressed a letter on Twitter: "to the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Justice and every citizen of this country." tend to be submissive towards politicians of all stripes, at a time when dissent or opposition to the government is considered "anti-national", Vineeth found a way to lodge his protest. At some point that month, along with Vineeth and Anto on again, Sania Mirza, Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Chhetri, Jeev Milkha Singh, Mithali Raj, R Ashwin, MC Mary Kom and Saina Nehwal expressed their anger on their Twitter profiles for crimes against underage girls, this would have been impossible to do without holding a press conference ten years ago. In June 2018, Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri (October 2012/ 1.46 million followers) made the work of an entire Indian football marketing department through a video on his Twitter account Disappointed that India had beaten Chinese Taipei 5-0 in the Intercontinental Cup in front of a miserable crowd, on June 3 Chhetri asked the audience, fans and non-fans: "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, instead of "criticizing them on the Internet. Chhetri's video published on June 3 said: “Come to the stadium, shout at us, shout at us, insult us – who knows what one day we might change you guys, you might start cheering for us...this is a very important moment in Indian Football” The video got more..