IOA in a soup while cricket smiles

By Rajadhyax

“People will not judge us by our creed, or the label or the slogans but by our work, industry, sacrifice and honesty” said Mahatma Gandhi. Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi and the Organising Committee of the upcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi seem to have forgotten those great words of the Father of the Nation. The entire effort so far is fast making a laughing stock out of the nation right in front of international media. Corruption is at the heart of the matter. Plagued by failing deadlines in almost all respects of administration and accused of corruption, mishandling of resources, mismanagement, favouritism and insensitivity to sports, Kalmadi-cronies club is facing the music finally. Those who knew about non-cricketing sports administration in India expected this to happen anyway and were least shocked by the snowballing controversy.

There are allegations of contracts having been doled out to supporters, construction being of sub-standard quality, pricing of equipment having been decked up, funds having been siphoned and incompetent people being placed in key places as mere puppets while Kalmadi and gang controlled the strings from the top. The scandal has hit national headlines, rocked the parliament and will soon end up in a court of law. What has been happening in non-cricketing sports at a smaller scale for a pretty long time has finally come out in the open – and according to experts that might even be a blessing in disguise for these sports. Followed by a fiasco called Hockey India elections, this is a big double blow for sports other than cricket. And all of this for a low-value event like the Commonwealth Games!

Now juxtapose this with cricket administration in India. India regularly holds top-rung international competitions. Two World Cups have been successfully held here. These were tournaments that attracted far more media attention, spectators, broadcast rights and money than the Commonwealth Games. Top five nations in the world frequently participate in test or ODI series in India in addition to the high profile IPL where virtually all top-flight cricketers play for one team or another. Apart from wholly unproven allegations of misuse of authority over Lalit Modi, cricket administration has not faced all the above mentioned misdemeanours. No ailing deadlines, no falling ceilings in stadiums days before the tournament!

It speaks volumes about why cricket in India is progressing so much as opposed to other sports. In most key positions of the cricket board in India there are qualified professionals. Indian team – and even Ranji Trophy teams – are selected by former players qualified for the job. Transparency is maintained as much as is possible within the circumstances. Elections are held by secret ballot. Accounts are annually audited as per legal requirements. Tournaments are well planned. Sponsors and broadcasters are regularly taken into confidence on matters that would affect their interests. Academies are professionally managed. Funds earned are openly redeployed for infrastructure or development of cricket. And most importantly, majority of technical issues are handled by former Test or First Class cricketers instead of two-penny politicians with ulterior motives.

Unless other sports start a clean-up from the top to the bottom, their significant improvement is unlikely in India. A one odd P.T. Usha or a Saina Nehwal does not do justice to a nation of over 100 crore people. And even these stars occur more in spite of their respective managing associations than due to them. Hence, the national associations need to tear a leaf from the cricket board of the nation. Professionalism, merit based selection of teams, administrative transparency, former players as office bearers, taking current players into confidence and then conducting major tournaments in the country could be a much advised plan of action for them.

Cricketers are smiling all the way to the grounds. Players in other sports are not. Inherently cricketers are sportsmen and they don’t enjoy that people involved in other sports are grumbling or whining. In fact there are occasions when even the cricket board or players have come to assist other sporting events or players. But the change has to start within. There is very little that cricket can do to improve wrestling, boxing, hockey, football, badminton or athletics in India. Let there be less of Commonwealth Games 2010 humiliations and more of well organised high-profile tournaments….. to start with, at least!