Four years ago, in 2010, the XIX Commonwealth Games were held in Delhi. The organisation of the games was such a disaster that it began a chain of events that led to a historic defeat of the ruling Congress party in the general elections earlier this year.
The Glasgow games’ opening ceremony is on Wednesday. The build-up has been low-key. The controversies have been minor. The logo didn't match the original design, there was a small outbreak of norovirus (diarrhea and vomiting). After protests, the organisers dropped the bizarre plan to demolish abandoned residential tower blocks as part of the opening ceremony. The venues have been completed for the games in time, the stadia are ready, and there is no security scare.
That is not an exception. The Commonwealth games before Delhi were held in Melbourne in 2006, and they went smoothly as well. The only controversy in Melbourne was about athletes from Sierra Leone and Cameroon disappearing. They were later found, asking for political asylum. Perhaps the only other unfortunate incident that took place in the Melbourne games was that Delhi was handed over the baton. Suresh Kalmadi, head of the Indian Olympics Association, and Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit were present in Melbourne for that.
The controversies in the Delhi edition of the games included athletes geting treated like cattle, volunteers walking out en-masse, unfinished stadia, corrupt officials, deaths at construction sites, and a filthy athlete’s village. Indian fans felt as though they were hurtling towards inevitable embarrassment. When a foot over-bridge collapsed just before the opening ceremony, it was global embarrassment. The army was called in to repair it.
Corruption enquiries landed Suresh Kalmadi in jail in April 2011, and he was granted bail in January 2012. As a result, he was suspended from the Indian Olympics Association. The Congress party denied him a ticket to contest his traditional Pune Lok Sabha seat. This is why the Indian contingent in Glasgow is not being led by Kalmadi, but by the Indian Olympic Association's secretary general Rajeev Mehta.
The Indian Olympic Association's current president is N Ramachandran, brother of the controversial International Cricket Council chief N Srinivasan. When Ramachandran became IOA president in February this year, the International Olympics Committee withdrew its 14-month-old suspension of the Indian Olympics Association. The ban had been put in place because the Indian Olympic Association had appointed as its president Lalit Bhanot, who had spent 11 months in jail on corruption charges.
Although there are no such controversies around the Glasgow games in the United Kingdom, the Indians are trying their best to provide some drama, even without Kalmadi's help.
A few days ago, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) banned Indian coaches from being on the ring side because Boxing India failed to hold its elections on July 9th. This rendered the players ‘coachless’ during their bouts. Meanwhile, Indian squash players were caught by surprise when long-time coach Cyrus Poncha was excluded from the touring squad, no explanation given.
Then there is the growing controversy over a young sprinter, perhaps India’s best female sprinter, Dutee Chand, being left out of the athletics squad. She was axed from the games after becoming mired in a gender row. Chand had taken a gender verification test last week in Bangalore. There was speculation that the authorities were looking for a way to avoid any potential embarrassment. Some top officials of the Athletics Federation of India insisted that her being dropped had nothing to do with the gender test but rather because she had failed to make the cut.
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The Glasgow games’ opening ceremony is on Wednesday. The build-up has been low-key. The controversies have been minor. The logo didn't match the original design, there was a small outbreak of norovirus (diarrhea and vomiting). After protests, the organisers dropped the bizarre plan to demolish abandoned residential tower blocks as part of the opening ceremony. The venues have been completed for the games in time, the stadia are ready, and there is no security scare.
That is not an exception. The Commonwealth games before Delhi were held in Melbourne in 2006, and they went smoothly as well. The only controversy in Melbourne was about athletes from Sierra Leone and Cameroon disappearing. They were later found, asking for political asylum. Perhaps the only other unfortunate incident that took place in the Melbourne games was that Delhi was handed over the baton. Suresh Kalmadi, head of the Indian Olympics Association, and Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit were present in Melbourne for that.
The controversies in the Delhi edition of the games included athletes geting treated like cattle, volunteers walking out en-masse, unfinished stadia, corrupt officials, deaths at construction sites, and a filthy athlete’s village. Indian fans felt as though they were hurtling towards inevitable embarrassment. When a foot over-bridge collapsed just before the opening ceremony, it was global embarrassment. The army was called in to repair it.
Corruption enquiries landed Suresh Kalmadi in jail in April 2011, and he was granted bail in January 2012. As a result, he was suspended from the Indian Olympics Association. The Congress party denied him a ticket to contest his traditional Pune Lok Sabha seat. This is why the Indian contingent in Glasgow is not being led by Kalmadi, but by the Indian Olympic Association's secretary general Rajeev Mehta.
The Indian Olympic Association's current president is N Ramachandran, brother of the controversial International Cricket Council chief N Srinivasan. When Ramachandran became IOA president in February this year, the International Olympics Committee withdrew its 14-month-old suspension of the Indian Olympics Association. The ban had been put in place because the Indian Olympic Association had appointed as its president Lalit Bhanot, who had spent 11 months in jail on corruption charges.
Although there are no such controversies around the Glasgow games in the United Kingdom, the Indians are trying their best to provide some drama, even without Kalmadi's help.
A few days ago, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) banned Indian coaches from being on the ring side because Boxing India failed to hold its elections on July 9th. This rendered the players ‘coachless’ during their bouts. Meanwhile, Indian squash players were caught by surprise when long-time coach Cyrus Poncha was excluded from the touring squad, no explanation given.
Then there is the growing controversy over a young sprinter, perhaps India’s best female sprinter, Dutee Chand, being left out of the athletics squad. She was axed from the games after becoming mired in a gender row. Chand had taken a gender verification test last week in Bangalore. There was speculation that the authorities were looking for a way to avoid any potential embarrassment. Some top officials of the Athletics Federation of India insisted that her being dropped had nothing to do with the gender test but rather because she had failed to make the cut.