Spoiling sport

India is known for its ingratitude to its sportsmen, but the case of Joe Philips is beyond belief. Not only has his widow been reduced to penury, her representations to the government for aid have been answered by an imperious request that she supply the quot;full particularsquot; of her case. That delightfully stupid babu phrase precisely pinpoints the reason for the sorry state in which Indian sport finds itself. The government is happy to use it evenhandedly in responding to a request from a builder, a contractor, a tubewell-digger 8212; and the widow of a sportsman who brought home an Olympic gold. Sport is not something that can be stuffed into the steel frame. Its promotion requires ingenuity, sensitivity and humanity of an order that the government does not seem to be invested with.

Philips is not the only sporting star to be forgotten by the nation. There was Malwa, the Asian Games gold medallist in wrestling who was found selling chaat at a roadside stand in Old Delhi by this newspaper. And there was MakhanSingh, also an Asian Games gold medallist in the 400 metres event, who had to make a living as a truck driver. In each case, no doubt, the government still awaits the quot;full particularsquot;. There are other stories, too, which surely count as personal tragedies, though not of the order of Mary Philips, Joe8217;s widow, who lives in a shanty and makes ends meet by washing dirty dishes. There is Charles Cornelius, a hockey goalkeeper who suffered a knee injury 8212; a condition that can be treated 8212; in the early Seventies. His job with the Border Security Force kept him in reasonable comfort, but the fact remains that his career was over. And, notably, there is T.C. Yohannan, who became the first long-jumper to cross the 8-metre notch in Teheran 1974. His career ended, again, due to a knee injury, and he went into business in Kerala. Even today, 28 years after Teheran, he holds the national record. True, these sportsmen were spared the terrible fall that was the lot of Philips, but their cases show how eager India is toforget its past heroes, and how the government and the sporting organisations have failed to create a support system for sportspersons.

In fact, the whole process of recruiting sportspersons shows a depressing lack of imagination. This is a profession where careers usually terminate at the age of 30. People start playing while still in school, get into college on the sports quota, give more attention to their careers than to academics and therefore emerge from college with just one skill 8212; their sport. And then, when their careers end, they find themselves reduced from national icons to penniless nonentities. To get any aid, they are required to produce quot;particularsquot;. Is it any wonder, then, that parents are reluctant to let their children pursue sporting careers and India is nowhere in world sports? Mary Philips8217; case is only the most disturbing symptom of a national malady.

And it is doubtful if she will get any satisfaction from an inhumanly bureaucratic machine. She does not have the most compellingquot;particularquot; required by the state 8212; her husband8217;s Olympic gold medal. It was handed over to the pawnbroker long ago.