Here we go again. The team list for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games consists of 222 members, many useless.
And guess what – out of the 222 members 106 are officials. This is nothing surprising if you are Indian. The Indian Olympics Association (IOA) believes that all major sports tournaments are equally important for officials as it affords them a free trip, a visit to new countries and gives them a chance to generally boss around because of their status.
They even get to take part in the first row of the march-pasts, their obese bodies standing out in stark contrast to the fit figures of the athletes.
This time around, the IOA list contains 57 coaches, 29 doctors and physios, 41 other or extra officials, including the chef de mission.
But the list contains some unnecessary members at the cost of some important ones. For example, Pradeep Sreedharan has been named swimming coach while he is not associated with the current swimming team in any capacity. And he is based in Dubai. He remains in the good books of the IOA bosses which means a trip to the exquisite beaches in the Gold Coast in Australia. It is simple to work that one out.
To further add to the wishy-washy stuff which the IOA subscribes to, the swimming team has allegedly no coach over the last year and had to fend on their own.
Then take the case of the gymnastics team. The IOA has not picked an official or coach to go with the gymnastics them.
This means that Bisweskar Nandi, who coached Dipa Karmakar and Aruna Reddy in the Olympics, will stay home and watch these two perform in the CWG.
India had done very well in the Olympics and Dipa had become a major star. Now she won’t have her coach next to her to inspire her and that is a big shame. It has been alleged that Nandi has been dropped to accommodate one of the IOA’s pet members.
The Paralympics Committee of India has also been ignored and their members have been forced to train on their own as the IOA found it beneath them to offer facilities.
This sad state of affairs reflects ultimately on our sports. We hardly ever win anything and even if we do it is through the sheer brilliance of the individual rather than the support system. We are sort of trapped in this sports culture where the officials stick their chests out for any achievement while the sportspersons are thrown back into the system without any credit.
Our glorious past in hockey and football only rears up occasionally because our officials are more busy checking tourism guides instead of doing their jobs.
Sports, barring cricket, has been reduced to a mere picnic in India.
With so many politicians involved, what more can you expect. The corruption in their chosen profession finds expression in sports too.
India is at the crossroads of a sports revolution.
Indians have begun reap in more medals by the day in top sports tournaments. The time has come to pool all our resources to bring glory to the country in sports.
All these sports initiatives launched recently doesn’t wash. They merely remain on paper. Root out the corrupt and unwanted ones who stay in sports for personal profits alone.Change the system and give a new direction to the sports culture in the country.
The time has come and we must act.
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#THe views expressed in this column are those of the author and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.
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