Everything official about it

‘‘Looks like it,’’ I suggested. ‘‘Unless there is a rematch in hockey or we order another dope test and discover that it’s negative…’’

‘‘Is that possible?’’ he asked, clutching me tightly. ‘‘You know, I have handled so many governments in my time but this one takes the cake. We were not given the requisite sanctions…’’

‘‘I think it is not right to blame this government,’’ I replied. ‘‘It is a government that deserves the most sympathy. Manipur is on fire with a defiant Chief Minister, the Punjab Chief Minister is ruling like a former Maharajah, the Left seems to be gunning for them on the FDI issue… Now, are you suggesting that the Prime Minister was responsible for our defeat in hockey?’’

‘‘We didn’t get the requisite sanction,’’ he replied.

‘‘You mean you wanted 20 players,’’ I asked.

‘‘No we wanted more officials,’’ was the reply. ‘‘We had a foreign coach who was hired only because he used to jump about when India scored a goal, but we wanted more. We wanted three other foreign trainers — one Asian, one Australian and one from any other country that does not play hockey. The idea was to get a fresh insight. Besides we wanted six physios, seven trainers, three doctors and at least four medical attendants in case our players were injured. But you know these governments…’’

‘‘These weight-lifters who were caught doping are now blaming coaches,’’ I cut him short. ‘‘You think they had a role?’’

‘‘From the days of Indira Gandhi, I used to believe that anything could be a foreign conspiracy but no one listens to us these days,’’ was the lament. ‘‘But we need more officials and doctors attached to the weightlifting team. For instance, this time again we had asked for doctors to specifically look after each part of the weightlifter’s body. We wanted two doctors for spine per weightlifter. We also suggested cost-cutting measures: if one doctor looks after a weightlifter’s spine, another could look after her back. Although the neck would have remained unattended, we thought we could manage without a neck doctor. And guess how many doctors were given for the entire weightlifting team? None! It’s a national shame that Russians doctors have doped these girls…’’

‘‘What are your plans for the next Olympics?’’ I asked.

‘‘The first thing is to visit 31 other countries which have done better than us. Since I can’t be everywhere, I will get some officials to visit some of these countries to find out about their training programmes, whether they use foreign coaches and so on. Secondly, I would honestly urge the Manmohan Singh Government to increase the number of officials. The ideal ratio should be three officials to one player… only then can we hope to succeed.’’

‘‘Nonsense,’’ I retorted, ‘‘no one will approve it.’’

‘‘I am going to Manmohan Singh,’’ was the retort, ‘‘after all, he is a former bureaucrat, he should know how important is the role of officialdom in achieving results.’’