The race for an accreditation card and flight tickets to scenic Hangzhou, China, is on.
For the Indian athletes, representing the nation in the Asian Games from September 23 to October 8 will be a dream come true. All athletes and National Sports Federations (NSF) are aware there are yardsticks/guidelines fixed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. There are guidelines for individual athletes as well as for team events across sporting disciplines.
Now and then, relaxations are made, thanks, mainly, due to the ‘begging bowl’ approach from an NSF or two. After all, if more athletes are cleared by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Indian Olympic Association, more officials join the party.
The deadline for sending entries by name to the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee was July 15, yet drama persists. This has been the case with Indian sports for decades. The latest, of course, is the mockery in wrestling, where two athletes without fitness and competitive exposure since the September last year have got the nod.
The direct selection of Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat has had had a ripple effect. Other aggrieved grapplers are now wrestling their cases in courts of law. For its part, the Indian Olympic Association put out two press releases on Wednesday. Instead of clarity, there was more confusion. Bottom line, till the time athletes fly out of New Delhi and have fastened their seat belts, suspense will continue!
Nowadays, Indian football is in also news, big time. No, one is not talking about the Indian team winning the SAFF Championship in Bengaluru a few days ago. For fans to be celebrating that win is a sign of how Indian football cheers mediocrity and how Indian football officialdom makes promises. Like empty vessels, they make more noise.
Frankly speaking, Indian football has always made news, or noise, before the Asian Games. The All India Football Federation has always believed the Asian Games is an opportunity for teams (men and women) to be earn exposure, not caring one bit about the results which will be registered. Some of the score-lines may well resemble a tennis set-score.
Nothing has changed. When Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, fondly known as Priyo Da, was alive, he fought to send team to the Asian Games. As AIFF President and a Congress neta from Raigarh in West Bengal, he wanted to send teams at AIFF cost, not government cost. It meant, even if the teams were not meeting the criteria set by the Ministry, the teams could go! There was a righteousness about it.
The next AIFF President, Praful Patel, also from a political party, reigned for 13 years, till 2022. He was in the same mould as his predecessor, asking for football teams to be sent to the Asian Games, knowing very well they were far from meeting the standards laid down by the Ministry. The results in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, and 2014 in Incheon, South Korea were pathetic.
Today, Indian football has hype. If Baichung Bhutia was the hero fans worshipped, now it’s Sunil Chettri. But then, at age 38, is Indian football all about just one man? What happened to the younger lot which should have been groomed, notably the under-23 team? You will get no answer from AIFF.
At present, what one hears is the names of football players, men and women, have been sent by IOA to HAGOC. How did this happen without prior clearance from MYAS? Was the IOA President PT Usha kept in the dark over all this? There is more to it than meets the eye, which is why the press release from the IOA on Wednesday was open to interpretation.
One hopes, the tax payers’ money is not wasted on the teams that do not deserve to be in the Asian Games. Winning the SAFF event and competing in the Asian Games are as different as cheese and chalk. One can bandy about India being close to the top 100 in FIFA rankings. That means little. The standards of football in Asia are high and India stands nowhere.
There was a time when Indian football won the gold medal at the Asian Games with legends like PK Banerjee, Chunni Goswami and Tuslidas Balram in the squad. For the record, the last Asian Games medal won by an Indian football team was the bronze in 1970 in Bangkok.
There has been a profusion of leagues at home, created mostly for TV audiences. Yes, corporate bodies are also there to support Indian football, but the standards are very low. Coach Igor Stimac may be pleading to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the team gets cleared. Is this what a coach’s role is?
It is possible Igor is being pushed to do all this by his bosses in AIFF. If Indian football teams go to Hangzhou, it means there is no yardstick to be followed. Send all teams, send all individuals athletes, across sports. Let it become a self-funded jamboree, like in the past!
S Kannan is Lead Editor, FirstSportz.
