Asian Games 2014 at Incheon, South Korea, is all set to showcase the best of talent from the athletes in Asia. The 17th Asiad is ready for the Opening Ceremony with hockey star Sardar Singh to carry the country's flag.
However, a couple of issues still show India is still not ready to handle administrative matters, which has only frustrated the athletes before the start of the Games.
The Asian Games was held for the first time in Delhi in 1951. Subsequently, India hosted it again in 1982. Though India has participated every year, poor logistics and shoddy administration in officialdom continue, resulting in untold misery and frustration amongst our athletes.
The delay in selection of the athletes and issue of visas happen literally at the last minute even though preparations are said to start months in advance. Unless such matters are addressed, no matter which government is at the Centre, performance of our players is bound to suffer.
One would hope with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is a stickler for discipline, these pinpricks our sportspersons have to endure will be a thing of the past.
An athlete needs peace of mind to fully concentrate in his/her event and as much the officials make it easy for them taking over the nitty-gritty, so much better will be the performance.
Whereas athletes and teams from other countries reach their venue days in advance to get acclimatized to weather, altitude , food, etc., our athletes run from pillar to post until the last minute to collect their papers, gears and equipment which frustrates them no end.
Taking the case of one athlete, shooter Abhinav Bindra is our only Olympics gold medalist in an individual event. His equipment will be the single most important gear that he needs in time to practice well before his event. If that does not reach in time and he has to run around for his visa, one can well imagine in what frame of mind he will be before his event starts. That he doesn't even expect things to improve shows only the level of frustration that has hit him.
The bungling continues unabated, disappointing the athletes and adding to their frustration level.
The other issue is that of not sending the cricket team to participate in the event. Whatever the reason, how can a government not have a say whether a team should participate or not? There's huge talent available and here is an event that gives a young person a chance to represent his country. A medal prospect for the country is definitely on. Under what pretext the country cannot send a team beats anybody's imagination.
Hopefully this will be resolved by the next Games. Efforts are underway by ICC to popularise cricket globally as the number of teams that play cricket do not exceed what can be counted on two hands.
India are the world champions in ODI cricket and it is only fair India should play with other 30 countries like South Korea, China, etc., to popularise the game amongst other countries in Asia. It is hard to comprehend why the government or the cricket board does not consider it necessary to send a team to the Asian Games.
All said and done, from Saturday, the Games will start in the right spirit. Despite problems, both athletes and our teams have time and again brushed their concerns aside and give their 100 per cent.
Here's to our team wishing them all the best. They will know that every time the national flag goes up and the National Anthem is played at Incheon, there will be billion plus voices singing along with them. That is the moment every sportsman waits for.
(E R Ramachandran is a sport writer based in Mysore. He will be analyzing Asian Games for ibnlive.com)
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