Indian Sports

The last 2 months have been great for sports lovers like me with the just concluded Commonwealth Games and the on-going Asian Games.

Now, almost everyone has blasted the Commonwealth Games organisation. Although there were shortcomings and the corrupt people need to be punished, I think the media did create a mountain out of a molehill. There were problems but they are present in almost all international events. Probably there were some more problems in the Delhi games but there was massive exagerrations e.g. the reported expenditure was Rs. 60000 crores - a figure which included the cost of flyovers, the Delhi metro - much of which would have been spent even if the games were not being held. I agree that the culprits need to be punished, but I would not question the rationale of hosting the games.

I attended a number of events during the Commonwealth games and the experience was simply great. I had only watched cricket live at a stadium before that but I have now realized the experience of watching any sport live is a very different one. The atmosphere at the India-Pakistan hockey match surpassed any experience I had at any cricket stadium and nothing beats the experience of hearing your National Anthem play when one of the country's athletes wins a Gold medal. Hence, it was a shame to learn that many events saw empty stadiums. There is a serious problem of marketing events in India. An example would be the Asian Badminton Championship held in Delhi in May. Not many people would be aware of the fact that many greats such as Lin Dan etc. were taking part in the event. The visibility of the event was so low that a policeman standing at a crossing just before the Siri Fort Sports Complex did not know about the event. Hence, I feel that small improvements such as better marketing of events could help raise the profile of sports in the country.

During the Commonwealth games, the Indian contingent, buoyed by the crowds, put up their best ever performance in the Commonwealth Games. I agree that the Commonwealth games are nowhere in comparison to the Olympics or even the Asian games for that matter, but these games do help in building the infrastructure as well as provide much-needed recognition to our neglected sports people. Such recognition along with the support of the government only would encourage parents to encourage their children to take up sport as a career.

Many people would be disappointed with the performance of the Indian contingent in the Asian Games. But people do need to see everything rationally. There are a number of sports like Shooting, TT, Badminton, Archery competition is nearly as good as world class whereas that was not the case in the CWG. Furthermore, all countries tend to do well in home condition which was the reason of the great performance of India in CWG and maybe the reason for China beating USA in the last Olympics. We need to take heart from the fact that young and talented sports persons are coming up in sports like Boxing and Wrestling and we are now one of the contenders in world shooting. The emergence of youngsters like Ashish Kumar (Gymnastics) and Khade (Swimming) also shows that with right kind of support we can produce world-class sportspersons just as China is doing. The primary difference between India and China is the organised nature of their sports setup from the great infrastructure and coaching facilities to the fact that all the sportspersons are taken care of right from childhood and sports is a viable career choice.

So, with a bit more effort and planning, India can dream of becoming a force (maybe not the top force as US or China) in world sports in the next 10-12 years time.

One more encouraging development was the inclusion of cricket in the Asian Games which according to me is the first step in getting cricket to the Olympics. All countries lobby for their strong sports to be included in the Olympics, so I see no reason why India should not do the same. The same efforts also need to be made for Cue Sports as well as Chess where Indians are world beaters or are among the top nations.

The only disappointing response in this regard seems to be from the BCCI. The Indian Cricket board does seem to be following a law of their own. India being one of the 4 top nations in Asia in cricket was expected to send a team for a sport which was included in the Asian Games after much hard-work . China needs to be commended for including it as it had nothing to gain by cricket's inclusion in Asian Games. India for its part did not even try for cricket's inclusion in Commonwealth games being held in Delhi. Incidentally the commonwealth includes 7 test playing nations (Australia, England, Pakistan, India, New Zealand,South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh), Kenya and also West Indian countries such as Antigua,Jamica and Trinidad & Tobago. So, it made much more sense for it to be included there. The Indian Cricket Board seems least bit interested to make cricket global. The sole aim seems to be money-making. The board's argument about prior commitments also seem to e hollow to say the least as even Pakistan and Sri Lana have sent teams even though they are involved in Test series against South Africa and West Indies respectively and the Indian women's team is not playing any series. India sure let 2 medals go as India would have surely won in women's category and even with a second-string would have atleast earned a bronze. I don't know why the MS Gill who seems to be the outspoken sports minister is mum on this matter. Is it because Sharad Pawar runs BCCI as opposed to KPS Gill.

Hence, I feel that with better administration and a greater intent on the part of the people running sports at present could help in improving the condition of sports in India. I would like to be cautiously optimistic in this regard hoping that the Indian sports structure becomes more professional and our sports persons are better treated and supported.