Opinion Running the good race

When a country of a billion people has only a single individual Olympic Gold,it is time people became aware of why India cannot do well in sports,says Ashwini Nachappa. The outspoken Nachappa made news during her competitive career for confronting and telling off the all-powerful Suresh Kalmadi.

The answer lays in the management of the various sports federations in India,they say. “The average person thinks India does not win because we have lousy athletes. Nobody realises it is because we have suspect sports administrators,” says Abraham. A roll call of the various federations,as compiled by Clean Sports,is revealing.

At the head is Congressman Suresh Kalmadi who has been heading the Indian Olympic Association for over a decade-and-a-half. “He was IOA chief when we entered competitive athletics,” says Abraham. “We have retired and he carries on.” Kalmadi is the chairman of the upcoming New Delhi Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.

The BJP’s V.K. Malhotra has been the president of the Indian Archery Federation for 31 years. Congress’s Priyaranjan Dasmunshi had been heading the Indian Football Federation for several decades. He has been in a coma for over two years but continues as the president while another minister took over as acting president. Congressman Jagdish Tytler is president of the Indian Judo Federation. At the regional level,things are no better. In Assam,two ministers hold five positions each in local sporting federations. Politicians have converted Indian sporting bodies into personal fiefdoms with zero accountability; say the duo from Clean Sports. “Politicians think of sports as yet another photo-op,” says Abraham. The national elections in any sport have been converted to drawing room affairs by politicians,Nachappa says. Himachal Pradesh Congresswoman Vidya Stokes,83,a Kalmadi nominee,has won this week’s election for the Indian Hockey Federation against former hockey Olympian Pargat Singh. “She has probably never held a hockey stick,” says Abraham. “This is frustrating,we have to question this,” fumes Nachappa. Clean Sports is demanding that politicians make way for sportspersons and former national and international competitors in managing local sports organisations. It also wants to purge Indian sport of the influence of drugs. And it has already scored its first win. Last week,the group mounted a vehement campaign opposing the candidature of the minister of state for defence Pallam Raju for the Equestrian Federation of India. “He may never have got on a horse,” Nachappa said. Fazed by mounting criticism,Raju withdrew his nomination.Clean Sports hopes to convert its fight against corruption into a national people’s movement. Runs are being conducted in different cities to enlist members and solicit funding. Right now,the group functions out of Abraham’s residence with funds pooled in by the former athletes themselves. “We want to create an environment where erring administrators should be held accountable,” says Abraham. You are taking on powerful politicians,aren’t you scared for your life,is the question they are frequently asked. “Sport is our passion,we are not afraid to fight for the cause,” says Nachappa forcefully.

saritha.rai@expressindia.com