Imagine a situation. The best foreman of the world is made the project manager in an IT company. Irrespective of his talent and expertise in his field, to know the basics of IT project management and implement them successfully might not be possible in next 5 years. Can he/she prepare a strategic approach for effective management of IT projects immediately after joining the company? Will his/her team members be benefited in any way from his/her previous work experience? The answer is a big NO. Similar is the fate of Indian sports (do not include cricket and BCCI). Sports in India need passion, technical expertise and strategic approach from the bosses of their respective associations. Revival of sports in India requires passionate sports persons as the bosses not the politicians.
Interference of Indian politicians in Sports
Nowadays, no sport in India is free from interference of politicians. In cricket, it is not that visible as BCCI is the richest sports body of the world. Indian sports have become the rehabilitation asylum for politicians and retired bureaucrats. For them chairing an apex body of any sport is all about power, money and publicity. The main purpose of the apex body like talent haunt, providing adequate and modern training to the players, grooming next generation players and development of sports infrastructure are the second or perhaps the last priority for these bosses. Take the example of Indian Men’s Hockey team. It is the team that gave 8 Olympics gold medals to India. Once its administration went to the hands of ex- bureaucrats, India could not even qualify to take part in last Olympics.
Examples of political interference in Indian sports administration is massive in number. Chautala Brothers (sons of Ex Haryana chief minister Om Prakash, Chautala) are leading the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) and the Table Tennis Federation of India (TFI). Vijay Kumar Malhotra is the boss of Indian archery association. Political heavyweights including Natwar Singh, Satish Sharma and Yashwant Sinha have headed the All-India Tennis Association (AITA). Do these people have the required expertise and experience regarding the concerned sports? The answer is no. When the boss is ignorant what to do, the fate of the game is nothing but bleak. Hence, passion and professionalism need to replace politics for the betterment of Indian sports.
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