Amidst the hoopla surrounding the countdown to the Delhi Commonwealth Games, one thing that continues to baffle every sports lover in this country is the plethora of contrasts that riddle the Indian sporting scenario.
Trending
The most recent example is of the CWG Organizing Committee’s over-ambitious claim that the opening ceremony of the nineteenth Commonwealth Games in New Delhi would be even more spectacular than the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Within a few days of these megalomaniac statements being made, the IOA (Indian Olympic Association) made the headlines for crossing swords with the Ministry of Sport which is trying to bring in a legislation to regulate the tenure of sports administrators. The mere fact that the IOA General Secretary: Randhir Singh has been holding on to the post for 23 years(!!!) raises serious questions on the propensity of the IOA towards building a progressive sporting culture in the country.
The IOA’s apathetic attitude can be gauged from the fact that at a time when the Commonwealth Games are less than six months away and Indian athletes need domestic competitions to polish their skills, the 34th National Games originally scheduled to be held in 2007 in Jharkhand has been postponed 5 times and nobody knows when they will be finally held. Yet the IOA has merrily allotted the 37th National Games to Chattisgarh even while Kerala and Goa are still in the queue waiting to host the next two editions after Jharkhand!
Only good infrastructure will not help put up a great event.
There are a lot of things that are “UNCOMMON” to the New Delhi CWG and the Indian sport management on the whole. The first uncommon aspect is the lack of emotional connect with the citizens. The IPL-4 seems to be more eagerly awaited than the CWG. In the run up to any major sporting extravaganza in the world, community events play a significant role in encouraging public participation and spread awareness about the event.
The IOA can look up to the other two Asian Nations (Japan and China) who have successfully hosted the Olympic Games in the past. As a part of the preparations before the Olympics in China, a total of 200 primary and secondary schools in Beijing City and another 356 schools nationwide were designated as “Olympic Education Demonstration Schools,” which were responsible for devoting at least two hours per month to Olympics-related activities, and for conducting “hand-in-hand sharing” activities with other schools and the surrounding community.
The theme for the Beijing Olympics was meticulously chosen to be “The Humanistic Olympics” and it drew on the concept of the community awareness drive for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics called “Citizen’s Olympic Games Movement” but the former unfolded it on a much larger scale. China’s effort involved the mobilization of 70,000 college students through the Communist Youth League system as “Games-time volunteers” to help at all official Olympic venues. But this seems to be non-existent in New Delhi’s case.
Most people are still in the dark about most things pertaining to the mega event. Recent surveys have shown that a majority of Delhi’s population is still unaware of the meaning of ‘The Commonwealth’. They believe that the sporting facilities being created will never be within the reach of common man and feel that they lose more than they gain when they see the entire city being dug up. Very little has been done to make them a part of the preparations.
Where are our former Olympians, they should be used to promote Commonwealth.
The second uncommon characteristic that stands out in this regard is the way India promotes sports. India expects that just hosting a mega event like the CWG can leave a legacy that can nurture an all pervasive sports culture in the country. The 1982 Asian Games was a prime example that exemplifies this. Though Delhi gained a lot from the infrastructure point of view, but Indian sports gained nothing. The reason for that is the inability of Indian sporting authorities to sustain the momentum that the Games generated.
The dilapidated condition of the National Stadium within a year of the Asiad was an indication that the IOA had gone back to its deep slumber. This is where the IOA needs to take a leaf out of its Chinese counterpart’s book. The Olympic Organising Committee in Beijing appointed 28 Chinese competition managers, who became part of the sport management talent pool after the Games. All other previous Olympic Organisers used to hire foreign nationals for this purpose as they needed to go around the world for coordination activities and needed to be multilingual. China instead decided to train Chinese individuals at home who were given sufficient international exposure and thus they ended up with a rich pool of sports managers who could take the country to new sporting heights.
Another uncommon feature of the CWG is the surprising absence of ex-Olympians and sportspersons of yesteryear in the forefront of activities. The IOA remembers them only while carrying the Commonwealth torch. Their expertise is priceless when it comes to understanding the Indian scenario and pinpointing the flaws in the system. Their international experience can help India choose the correct way to sporting glory.
Claiming that Commonwealth will overpower Beijing, is over-ambitious for now!
What India needs today is an upheaval from the grass roots. The CWG can prove to be the ideal catalyst for this revolution. It is high time India learns from its mistakes of the 1982 Asian Games. The highly successful corporate strategy of “the bottom of the pyramid” can come to Indian sports’ rescue. It has helped numerous organizations reap profits while catering to the needs of the people at the bottom of the financial ladder. This can provide the leading light for the IOA. It needs to reach the bottom of a nation’s sporting hierarchy, the common man. Only this abundant talent pool can provide India’s future sporting icons. Just as we had sowed the seeds of economic redemption in1991 and emerged as an economic powerhouse in less than 20 years, we need to replicate it in sports and we might see India at the top of the Olympic medals tally sometime in near future.
