We have an Indian Olympic Association. We have also established the SAI for broad basing and bringing excellence in sports across India with nine Regional Centers. Both have at their disposal, huge annual budgets paid for by the gullible Indian tax payer. Besides these two giants, we have any number of other minnow bodies with geriatric officials clinging on to their posts and enjoying life long tenures without producing results.
We produce world beating cricket teams, tennis players like Sania Mirza an Indian professional tennis player who is currently ranked No. 1 in the women’s doubles rankings, and other Tennis and Badminton players. We have internationally successful boxers and golf players amongst us as we have hugely successful league games in cricket, kabaddi etc where players make good living as professionals.
Only 1 of 27 Indian sports associations has an athlete as its President.
The Indian sports management either through private bodies like the BCCI or the government has just proved to be corrupt, inefficient and serve only to provide careers and perks to its own officials and politicians.
We are a nation of 1.35 Billion people. The Indian contingent of 117 members to the Rio Olympics returned with one silver and one bronze medal. That places us at 67th place on the medals list.
If you ask me, for India, Olympics for India should be a No No. At least until our politicos and bureaucrats change.
Today’s topic for the weekly Friday LBC blog posts was suggested by Shackman immediately after the conclusion of the Rio Olympics. It would be interesting to see what his take will be on it. Pravin the other LBC blogger from India may well come up with a different take on the subject. Please do visit both to see for yourselves.
the world of athletics always seems rife with corruption of one sort or another.
everything from drugs to administrators and owners that are in it for only the money.
and HUGE money at that. i suppose as long as players and all the professional pundits make that kind of money there will be mishandling and corruption.
sad really. especially when there are many young excellent athletes who truly just want to play their sport.
bc. before corruption.
tammy j recently posted..moving on old bean
All forms of competitive sports appeal to the gambling masses. And we know the unsavoury side of that don’t we? And being in the hands of bureaucrats / politicos, they will find ways and means of getting their cuts too. While the Olympics certainly shows the spirit of the contestants, the seamy side of sports and games is not overt.
Yep -there is huge corruption in the Olympic bureaucracies worldwide. But ultimately the games are for the athletes and spectators. Perhaps my view is jaundiced due to my background as a wannabe jock or from following the success achieved by my country over the years. But still – the looks on the faces of the athletes as they enter the stadium in the march of nations, the camaraderie they show throughout the games. I love the games.
i have to say… i love that look too shackman.
not just our from own country. but all those fresh hopeful and energy filled faces of all the countries!
point well made.
and you as an athlete would know better than anyone that stoked feeling of competition and challenge.
tammy j recently posted..moving on old bean
Your view is more the common one here too. Mine is a minuscule minority which wants change.
we have a number of high profile sport-games including of course Rugby and Cricket but we have also produced some high flyers in Golf, Yachting and there is sure to be many more…
some sports gain much government help, with millions of $ being placed in their pockets…some are very successful whilst other are not…
and we have Olympic sportsmen, some stay in the field for many years whilst other fade away…
I’m not really into sports – either doing or watching…each to their own.
(btw: just heard this morning on the radio that our population is edging closing to 5 million – peanuts in respect of India or anywhere else…)
I am not very deeply into sports and games except in a very cursory way. It still rankles that the participants put in so much effort only to be let down by the establishment.
There might be a hidden rationale to the Indian government’s policy. In the US, there is an incredible amount of money paid out by local governments as they compete for sports teams and fund gigantic stadiums that make traffic jams far worse. Star athletes are recruited by universities all throughout high school (sometimes earlier) with every bribe and perk conceived by humanity. But at least we can be thankful that we have no corruption in this because it is all official.
So are there more inept bureaucrats feeding off of sports money in India or in the state of Alabama?
Looney recently posted..Seasons are changing
You are being more charitable to our government than I am willing to be. Our government, at least till the previous one to the current, had one purpose in mind – make money for the bureaucrat/politician/middlemen nexus. I would not like to comment on Alabama, but I can assure you, our local actors in the play can teach yours to suck eggs!
I agree with you. Big bucks always encourage corruption. And cities that want to be Olympic sites almost always lose money.
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Archaic
I like Nick’s solution.
I’ve said many times before that I don’t see the point of the Olympics constantly moving from one country to another. Why not just settle in one country (how about Greece)? Every time the Olympics goes to a new country, that means colossal expense for the country concerned and often uprooting of homes and communities to make way for all the stadia etc. And quite often corruption of one kind or another, as you say.
I think that your solution is the best given the experience that all of us have had.