Desolate Sporting Affairs

India will figure prominently this year on the sporting calendar as it hosts commonwealth games and hockey world cup.. With these prestigious events on the cards, the onus of scrupulous planning and execution brings forth a mammoth challenge. The commonwealth organizing committee is already feeling the heat to put up with deadlines as precursors in the form of squabbles and apprehensions over timely completion of infrastructure have raised serious doubts over its progress.

In retrospect, none can forget the glorious memories etched in our minds of Asian games, the magnitude of which perhaps was colossal way back in 1982. The accolades it garnered for splendor on display, state of art sports complexes, accommodation villages and the exquisite precision in coordinating the event right from inauguration to the closing ceremony was seen as a new chapter in our sporting history. There were some impressive performances from Indian contingent to take pride in that helped amass a decent medal tally too. This spectacle laid foundation for many sporting extravaganzas that were to follow and bestowed us the status of excellent hosts.

Over time, organizing apparatus was expected to run like well oiled machinery and in fact endeavor to surpass the benchmark set earlier. The commonwealth platform being so gigantic, preparations should have been underway with diligence and alacrity. Instead, the build up to the event is marred by controversy and under preparedness. And this concern was expressed by none other than Chief Minister of Delhi. Though, assurances from Mr. Kalamadi allay those fears, any lapse would severely dent the country’s reputation and have far reaching implications as far as bidding for future events is concerned.

Apart from the project execution glitches, there is hardly any consolation from Indian sporting arena itself. With world cup round the corner, Men’s Hockey team was at loggerheads with its governing body over non-payment of dues and threatened to boycott the tournament. The federation claiming to be bereft of money was imposing upon players to choose between playing for national pride and money. The impasse finally got resolved with sponsors doling out funds and IHF promising to fulfill their demands before the start of world cup. At last someone, realized that governing body is inconsequential in their scheme of things but Hockey as our national sport cannot be snubbed.

It is not as if other disciplines are unscathed by controversy. The tussle between administrators and sportsmen continues to brew. The rifle association has gone ahead and selected teams for two successive world cups which excludes the Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra citing the pretext of his absence from team selection trials. The bone of contention here was the international scores that were not being considered to qualify his inclusion in Indian squad. Eventually, only when feelers of Bindra mulling to quit the game surfaced that association agreed to take international scores into account as eligibility criteria but not before squandering the prospect of a medal in impending events.

These developments are a pointer to complete insensitivity towards players by sports administrators who are from political or bureaucratic arena and govern the game without any understanding of it. The view to alienate politics from sport and having professional managers at the helm too has its pitfalls. Barring Cricket and Tennis, most other disciplines practically have no visibility, making sponsorship deals hard to come by. With restricted budget allocations, promoting other sports to the fore is extremely difficult. Here political clout comes in handy to pull a few strings and bring in sponsors, which a professional might not be able to wield.

Expecting sport to thrive in penury, exhorting players to just subsist on national pride, interference in technical aspects of training (in Bindra’s case) by incompetent people at helm of affairs and holding back rewards has crippled the sporting culture of our nation. Come what may, restoring equilibrium in sports management is critical, else the rot shall never stem and might have a spill over effect.

Media Assumes New Role

Last few weeks of electronic media coverage seemed more like a fixation for delivering justice on the tube rather than balanced coverage of news from across the world. All media houses were continuously beaming the Ruchika case with old file reports showing the villain of molestation episode Mr. Rathore walking out of court with a wry smile on his face.

Strangely there is a predictable pattern to news bulletins and despite having a bouquet of channels to choose from, the viewer is left exasperated with same story being aired on all of them. There is immaculate precision, rather seamless coordination not only in sequencing of news content but also in recess timing for commercials among broadcast stations. Does Out-dated visuals and repetitive information make a story compelling? Comprehensive reporting on wide array of issues, national and international should form the core of disseminating information. That would at least evoke some interest among masses and keep them away from being stifled by stale banter.

Certainly, cases of this nature need to be brought to light and followed up to ensure that people wielding clout do not go scot-free after flouting the law. Indeed, it was a news channel (Times Now) that took up the cudgels in the exemplary Jessica Lal case that was languishing with no imminent progress, and garnered incredible public support to seal the fate of Manu Sharma. As a responsible media vehicle, its contribution in this case was laudable.

But, the media crusade against exploitation of any sort has gained such heightened momentum off-late that citizenry would after a point give up faith in judiciary of the land to believe, their case can attain expeditious resolution once it is on media radar. The premise of such perception stems from the inordinate delay in court cases reaching fruition and even after legal battles culminate, the pronounced Verdict is either not commensurate with the crime or there is always an option to appeal in higher courts to buy time.

Before this belief gets ingrained firmly, a serious revamp of judicial machinery with focus on fast tracking legal cases, setting up additional courts, appointing requisite number of prosecutors, judges to clear backlog cases etc should be thought out. Other facet in imparting justice is the role discharged by Law enforcement agencies which ought to be morally upright and incorruptible to not stoop under the pressures of bureaucracy. Probably, only then the media glare would shift to more significant issues.

Media and judiciary are two different disciplines with completely diverse functionality and prerogatives. It is not as if one establishment can take on the mantle of responsibility for other in case of an existing lacuna in either of them. Blurring of lines or infringement on jurisdiction of judiciary by media is an unnecessary digression. It serves them better to steer clear of criminal investigations and remain committed to bringing across more invigorating, socially relevant issues to the fore which would fetch more TRP’s.

Before this post is published on my blog, another molestation case (Churchill Brothers case) is making headlines in media as though they have assumed sole responsibility to espouse the righteous cause of fighting sexual crimes in the country. Getting justice delivered to victim and crucifying perpetrator through media trial was well received in the past. But, an attempt too many in this direction would tantamount to going overboard and is already causing fatigue among viewers of news channels.