I never thought one day I would agree with Mani Shankar Aiyar. He doesn’t want India to host the 2014 Asian Games and I totally concur with his views that the money would be better spent on other socially relevant causes. He was successfully countered by the ministers (interestingly, all with shady antecedents) like Sharad Pawar Yadav, Kapil Sibal, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi and Lalloo Prasad Yadav. India’s bid proposal was OKed by the Union Cabinet yesterday and I hope we don’t win.
Some of you might be thinking I have an extremely pessimistic view on the subject. To the contrary, I do not. The ministers that argued in the favor of hosting the games said the event would enhance India’s pride and help us build a better sporting infrastructure and it will also get the hosting city a world-class status. I say, bullshit.
Let me ask one thing; is our pride shitting somewhere in the bushes when other countries take away all the medals and our players are left with their patent silly smiles? As I keep on saying, this is the typical Indian mentality: always opt for the hogwash and never deal with the real issue. The pride is not in hosting the games, the pride is in winning the medals no matter where the games are hosted.
Therefore, the money would be better spent on building the training facilities infrastructure. The money would be better spent on players rather than on stadiums (or stadia). Thousands of crores of rupees will be spent on the event. Why can’t we spend the same amount of money on providing financial security to our players (I’m not talking about the cricketers). Why can’t we improve their nutrition? An average player gets two biscuits and a cup of tea after every practice session. Some lucky ones get two bananas or oranges too. No wonder our players look like chamaars (I don’t mean to be derogatory, I’m just trying to drive in a point) compared to players from other countries.
Our players are not even provided with basic sports kits. In the name of support there comes nothing from the government. If I remember correctly one of our national hockey teams had to spend nights in the rail coaches because nobody cared to arrange for a guest house or a hotel. I saw a photograph of them bathing at a broken water pipe on the platform. This is the kind of pride we have in ourselves.
Let them host the games at the North Pole (I know, wrong continent). Our main concern should be creating world-class players. 2014 is a long time. We can create a complete new generation of strong, motivated players with a winning attitude. Hire the best nutritionists. Hire the world-class therapists and trainers. I don’t think our players want money. What they want, and need, is good food, good kits and better training facilities.
When they bring the medals, they will be the pride of India, not our stadiums that will only fill the coffers of the contractors, the bureaucrats, the middlemen and the ministers.
Update: India lost the bid to the Incheon city of South Korea. I think there should be an international rule that only those countries can host international sports events that show some progress in their sporting performance.
