Political Diary

New Delhi, 16 January 2010

Self Goal

INDIA, NATION OF SPOIL SPORTS?

By Poonam I Kaushish

Welcome to the intriguing world of Indian sport. Where the ‘rebellion’ by the hockey players for non-payment of dues by Hockey India and Olympic gold medalist ace shooter Abhinav Bindra “frustration” with the attitude of the Rifle Association has torn asunder the carefully cultivated image of being a nation of sport lovers.  Raising a moot point: Are we a nation of spoil sports?

Tragically, not only our national sport hockey but all games, have less to do with sport and more to do with becoming a game of power and big bucks. Sports be damned. Wherein sportsmen are branded according their network, and launched in the sports arena as “companies” which market different products each according to their brand appeal and market acceptability. Resulting in the ignominy of over a billion plus nation being unable to produce a team of international standards even after six decades of Independence.

Olympics after Olympics, India continues to remain “also ran,” despite the Centre and State Governments  spending crores of rupees year after year in quest of an eluding Olympic “Gold”. The only hope from hockey, which India won last at the Moscow Olympics in 1980, was lost when the team failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Ditto the case in Asian Games and other international competitions.

What ails Indian sport? Why do we fail to produce great champions? With a few honourable exceptions like cricket, chess and tennis (where, even at the best of times, our performance has been erratic to say the least), our sportspersons and athletes like the ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh and the ‘Sprint Queen’ P.T. Usha have failed to find a mention in the international medal tally, in spite of their best efforts and glowing eulogies at home. The chances of our doing well or making a mark in the international arena remain grim till date. At home also, the standard in regional, state-level and national-level games is fast deteriorating.

Is there a lack of talent in our country? Certainly not! A nation that can produce outstanding sportspersons like Vishwanathan Anand, Geet Sethi, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, Leander Paes and Advani can produce, with proper support, thousands more. All we need is administrators who have passion for the game, who will work and toil as hard as our sportspersons.

But given that most of our sports bodies today are controlled and headed by headed by politicians and vested interests. Ambitious people with powerful connections and clout! Varying from industrialists, businessmen to small-time managers. They have little to contribute to sports, but everything to gain from it. Massage their inflated egos, make money and distribute patronage. Unlike in the past, when sports patrons like the Princely rulers of Patiala, Bikaner, Jaipur and Jodhpur graciously spent time and money for the healthy promotion of sports.

The justification trotted out for their involvement is that netagan are ‘experts’ in raising funds, even for khel-kood!  Especially in foreign climes. But not at the cost of sports. So far so good, but what does one do when  sports today has per se degenerated from purely a sporting activity, requiring physical prowess and competitiveness, to downright an object of a nexus between politics, organised crime and bodies controlling various sports. This all pervasive malady has grown to monstrous proportions in the entire sports arena and is now referred to as a full-fledged industry and trade with a turn-over running into hundreds of crores 

The entry of paid sponsors for games and sportsmen has added an ugly dimension to an already murky arena.  The decline of standards in sports is in direct proportion to the increase in the players’ affluence. When a game is no longer a game but a commercial deal, why crib against those who handle one piece of business and take steps to ensure its gains.

The result? Politicians and bureaucrats now swamp the arena in a big way. Despite the recommendation of the first-ever Sports, Congress in New Delhi in 1963 that no Minister should hold any office in a sports federation, several Ministers and politicians, bureaucrats and policemen have been doing so without batting an eyelid.

Add to this, the politicisation of sports wherein  regionalism and favoritism dictate selection for a national or international event. This coupled with a total failure of a sports management system, leading to bad planning and lack of basic infrastructure, has hindered any progress. While we have built huge stadiums like the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, no small stadiums have been built in the rural and semi-urban centers to encourage sporting talent in the early initial years.

Further, there our sportspersons lack competitive spirit and are prone to rest on their laurels. Very few keep up the strict regimen in respect of diet and training once they have achieved name and fame happy to fade into oblivion. The acme of their achievement is the Arjuna Award. How many chess grandmasters like Viswanathan Anand or cueists of international repute like Geet Sethi has the country produced? Also, parental emphasis on studies, at the expense of sports and game, is another cause for the desperate straits in which Indian sports finds itself in.

More. Bindra hit the bull’s eye when he stated that India today is all about cricket, thanks to the IPL and its big bucks. But cricket can never be the true symbol of Indian sports as it is played only in 20 countries around the world. Over-indulgence in cricket is a major hurdle in way of other games promotion. It is okay for the country to be mad about cricket. However at the highest level policy makers must be reasonable and ensure that other sports are also given adequate support from their side.

For some sense of perspective, let's compare the salaries of our hockey players and cricketers. While Team India cricketers get Rs 1,60,000 per ODI/T20 game and Rs 2,50,000 per Test, hockey players get a paltry Rs 25,000 every tournament plus a small daily allowance. It is nobody's case that other sports be put on par with cricket since there are good reasons why cricketers are paid such handsome salaries. But at the same time there is no reason why hockey players should be paid such measly salaries.

It is time for a great nation like ours to set up our house in order. We should extend every possible facility to our sportspersons and encourage them to take up sports and games more seriously. It is high time that the authorities make a firm and determined decision in this regard and start grooming young talents. We need to design and implement a program that will start with 10 year olds, nurture their talent and coach them for the next 15 years or so. District level talent spotting efforts need to be supported with physical and mental conditioning, adequate nutrition and of course, fitness regimes. In Russia, coaches scout for swimming talent among three years old and for gymnasts who are barely able to speak well. Famous tennis player Monica Seles started playing the game at three!

Finally, the million dollar question? How is the Government going to pull out the country from this sports morass?  For starters keep politicians and bureaucrats out of sports. It is plain that rescuing sport from the Octopus-like grip of vested interests, pathetic management, bad planning deceit and money across the country will be a long and painful process. Nevertheless, a beginning has to be made soon. We have to be clear about what we want to achieve and how?

Clearly, if a healthy atmosphere is created and selections properly made we can do a lot in this field. Simply to honour the outstanding sports persons at functions or staging international sports will not serve our purpose. Let there be more accountability, those who cannot produce results must go. The true legacy of sports will lie in whether money can now be made available to build the training superstructure for all sports and sportsmen. The fear of the fall of our icons should not make us turn a blind eye to our own crime in queering the pitch for what India desperately needs: healthy sport. Or, else reconcile to being spoil sports! – INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)