Can we afford these Games?

Published : Nov 29, 2003 00:00 IST

THE awarding of the Commonwealth Games to Delhi in 2010 has no doubt elicited much cheering.

ROHIT BRIJNATH

THE awarding of the Commonwealth Games to Delhi in 2010 has no doubt elicited much cheering. Especially among officials, who will gloat and preen and consider themselves world class at organising bids. Of course, at producing world class athletes, these same people are still some distance away. No doubt, if officials spent as much effort, and time, on Indian sport in general, as they will organising these Games, we might not be as insignificant on future Olympic medal tables.

The Commonwealth Games, so I am told, is something to celebrate. Possibly it is. It will apparently enhance India's prestige and put her on the world sporting map. This is not altogether untrue, though reputation eventually arrives not from holding Games but dominating them.

If organised well, which it might well be, it could be a precursor to holding the Olympic Games one day. Apparently, like the 1982 Asiad, it will also re-fashion Delhi, though by that measure there are other cities in India that more keenly require a face-lift.

Some might argue it gives India home advantage and thus an opportunity to win a few more medals, that it could spark a revolution, but this is uncertain. During the 1982 Asiad, India did find its medal tally inflated (13 gold, 9 silver, 25 bronze), but by 1986 we had, P.T. Usha aside, returned to the status quo (5 gold, 9 silver, 23 bronze). Others might insist the Games allow more Indian athletes to taste international competition, though this could be accomplished for a fraction of the sums being spent on the Games.

India, I have always believed, does not need such Games. They become opportunities to gloat though in truth, in sport, we have little reason to. They become an excuse to build sprawling, glittering stadiums, whose ribbons are cut by politicians, though in time the only thing left in one piece is the plaque in their name.

The Asiad constructions began to flounder the moment the Games ended; the track and field stadium eroded quietly, the Indira Gandhi indoor stadium once had tiles dropping from its roof, the hockey stadium became unplayable, the swimming pool was a standing joke. Perhaps the same can be said of stadia built for the various National Games. Have they spurred a revolution or become standing monuments to waste in a poor country?

In short, can we afford these Games?

The fact that India outbid Canada by promising $100,000 to each of the 72 participating nations is tragic. At a time when women hockey players are photographed going to practice with buckets, because there was no running water at their accommodation, it is simply sinful. It makes you wonder where our priorities lie: with our own athletes, or with those from other countries. Sure there are less advantaged nations out there who could do with our assistance; yet does Australia, or England, or Canada, need our $100,000, or does the Indian shooter who lacks the required weapons?

Unquestionably, India has advanced from the time when Sunita Rani received her first pair of spikes from an Indian consular official in Australia who noticed while she was abroad that she lacked the proper footwear. But economic distress is a reality faced by many Indian athletes. Barring cricketers, and the odd tennis player, and V. Anand, most of them struggle.

Life may have altered a little for hockey players under K.P.S. Gill, but his efforts notwithstanding it is hard to attract young men to a game whose rewards are so negligible. Is there a comprehensive academy for young Adivasis in Bihar, who show a natural flair for the game? Somehow, I doubt it. Why not, evidently we have the money.

When athletes retire, it gets no better. Years ago, when doing a story on retired athletes, a group of us discovered an Indian hockey player working in a quarry breaking stones, an Asian Games footballer unable to even afford to get his shoes repaired, an Asian gold medallist from the track who said he got laughed at when he went to collect his complimentary rail pass because people thought he was a beggar. Is some of the money not better spent on them?

People might say, for instance, that the Games will ensure more astro-turfs for hockey. But more pertinent is the question, why do we need a Games as an excuse to get them? Are our athletes not worthy enough anyway?

People might say sponsors will take care of most of the many-hundred-crore budget for the Games, but why don't we ask, how come we cannot seduce these same sponsors to endorse our teams anyway? Tennis players, for instance, are constantly searching for someone to pay the odd lakh for a trip to a Challenger series in Asia, yet find few benefactors. We could send more than a dozen abroad with the money spent on some pointless opening ceremony that is quickly forgotten.

Perhaps instead of being hospitable to the world, India's sporting babus should start with being generous to its athletes. Instead of long lunches with luminaries in five-star comfort, they should share the food served at athletes' camps. Instead of lobbying for votes they should petition their peers to ensure athletes come first and themselves second. Or is that not important enough?

Too quickly are we seduced by short-term gain, too blinded are we to the bigger picture. What India craves is a workable, nation-wide, professional sporting system — one Games will not ensure that. It needs modern equipment, cutting-edge technology, a superior drug program, constant exposure for athletes, high-performance coaches who don't come cheap from Eastern Europe, mosquito nets at camps, the list has no end.

A minister once said, after the Sydney Olympics, that we would win 10, or thereabouts, gold medals at the Athens Olympics. He was being serious, and possibly could not fathom the snickering that accompanied his statement. Politicians, and most of Indian sport is ruled by them, are adept at making promises; mostly, they cannot deliver. Building world champions takes more than a statement; building a world champion is also a trifle tougher than hosting a Games. It takes a tireless commitment to excellence.

Now that the Games are coming and there is no turning back, perhaps it is time to make that commitment. Perhaps instead of asking ministers to cut ribbons at new stadiums we should hand the scissors to the athlete who was laughed at when he went to collect his railway pass. It would be the best of beginnings.

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