Commonwealth Games 2010

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati have joined the party of raising the banner of revolt against the officialdom who run the affairs of sports in our country, along with Jyoti Randhwa the ace golfer who has criticized the woeful preparation for the Commonwealth Games. While the protest of Leander and Mahesh Bhupati is symptomatic of the rot that has set in the sports administration of the country, where players of their stature have to raise a banner of revolt to get their voices heard, Jyoti Randhawa’s comment is the angst that he has felt as a proud Indian and who is rather pissed about the sorry figure that country has to cut. Incidentally, Glasgow, which is the venue of the CWG in 2014, is ahead of the preparations for the games as compared to Delhi.

While the government has set up a monitoring committee to oversee the preparations, it indeed should take over all the sports federations being run by the politicians and retired bureaucrats and hand it over to the sports persons as they understand the game and would be able to introduce professionalism in the sports as it is run in our country. Which other country would not make payments to the players of the stature of Leander and Mahesh Bhupati. For them the money being demanded would be peanuts, but it is more a question of propriety and legitimate dues that ought not to have been denied in the first place at all.

While the jury may be out whether the occasion is indeed the right occasion to air such demands, indeed it could be the right occasion as succumbing to the pressure the authorities may relent to the demands of the players and once the players obtain what they have been clamoring for, they could focus on their performance. Where would one find in world players spending most of their times running for their finance rather than practicing for the game. But in India it has become a stark reality, and it is primarily owing to the political leaders who have used various sports bodies as their personal fiefdoms.

It is the occasions like these that help in undertaking a precision surgery and for Indian sports CWG is the occasion where precision surgery needs to be done. The moot potion is whether the government would take the bait or gloss over?

By: Suman Rai

Tags: Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Games, Indian Sports, Jyoti Randhwa, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupati, Revolt, Sports, Sports Federations, Sports India