Indian Olympic sport is in crisis. When it takes sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya to personally clear the wrestling team for the world championships, you know things aren’t well in the echelons of our sport.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is in a mess. The president PT Usha and the executive board (EB) don’t see eye to eye. And, is there a chief executive officer (CEO) handling its day to day affairs? Ask the president and she will say it is Raghu Iyer, appointed in January 2024, ask the EB members and you will be told that Kalyan Chaubey, the IOA’s joint secretary, is the acting CEO.
A recent incident elaborates on the problem. When PT Usha sent out a press release announcing the deferral of the General Body Meeting due for 25 October, it was followed up by another release from Chaubey with the same announcement. In this power tussle, the biggest losers are the athletes and sport itself.
Take the case of wrestling. Eventually, a group of wrestlers had to protest outside Mandaviya’s house to be able to participate in the world championship. While it is good that the minister intervened and resolved the crisis, the fact that it had to reach a point of protest to participate, says a lot.
Then there is badminton. Satwik and Chirag are still without a coach, and it has been more than three months since Mathias Boe resigned. In fact, most good coaches are already employed by other countries and it will be a serious effort to get someone good at a reasonable price in the middle of a cycle.
Tennis is yet another sorry story. The All India Tennis Association (AITA) and former players are at loggerheads and former players like Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza and Somdev Devvarman have been vocal about the continuous failures of the governing body. Our best player Sumit Nagal and the AITA don’t get alon. Perhaps it is time for the former players to get their hands dirty and ring in the change that they have been speaking about by fighting the elections for the body to clean the system.
It has now been a week since the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games schedule has been announced. While we have heard the likes of Pullela Gopichand, Sourav Ghosal, Gagan Narang and Vimal Kumar come out in protest, there is nothing yet from the IOA. Why wouldn’t they protest against the omission of wrestling, squash, badminton or hockey from the Games calendar is beyond belief.
You speak to people and all you hear is the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report and the losses the president has caused the IOA and the ineligibility of certain members to stay in power. There has been nothing so far from anyone on India’s plans for 2028 Los Angeles Games. The cycle is underway, but we are still in lament mode as to what could have happened in Paris 2024.
In fact, the Vinesh Phogat’s case ended up highlighting everything that is bad about our sport.
So what’s the way forward? Can there be a resolution or will these crises continue eating into valuable time and harming India’s 2028 Olympics preparation? Can PT Usha and members of her EB not sit across the table and resolve the issues? How is it so difficult to decide on the appointment of a CEO and fix his salary? Why is it that every single day dirty linen has to be washed in public in the form of press releases from either side? Who should the athletes be loyal to—PT Usha or the EB? With the threat of an impending no confidence motion hanging over the president, how is she to steer sport ahead?
The truth is Indian Olympic sport is suffering. The Asian Games euphoria is lost and yet again we are back to square one. No one is really concerned about the athlete and there has been no evaluation of why things went wrong in Paris. Why were there so many fourth-place finishes? Do we need to work on the mental health of our athletes? It is only fair that no athlete wants to come on record but you speak to them in confidence and the anxiety is palpable.
In all this, the other big casualty is India’s 2036 Olympic bid. While the Prime Minister has said it multiple times that India is serious about hosting the 2036 Games, the truth is nothing really has moved in that regard. India isn’t really doing anything to rally the Indian Olympic Committee and many other nations are already on course. You ask the men and women in charge and all you hear is we aren’t ready yet.
And that’s because we are busy fighting with each other for control and aren’t really bothered about the bid at the moment.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com)
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is in a mess. The president PT Usha and the executive board (EB) don’t see eye to eye. And, is there a chief executive officer (CEO) handling its day to day affairs? Ask the president and she will say it is Raghu Iyer, appointed in January 2024, ask the EB members and you will be told that Kalyan Chaubey, the IOA’s joint secretary, is the acting CEO.
A recent incident elaborates on the problem. When PT Usha sent out a press release announcing the deferral of the General Body Meeting due for 25 October, it was followed up by another release from Chaubey with the same announcement. In this power tussle, the biggest losers are the athletes and sport itself.
Take the case of wrestling. Eventually, a group of wrestlers had to protest outside Mandaviya’s house to be able to participate in the world championship. While it is good that the minister intervened and resolved the crisis, the fact that it had to reach a point of protest to participate, says a lot.
Then there is badminton. Satwik and Chirag are still without a coach, and it has been more than three months since Mathias Boe resigned. In fact, most good coaches are already employed by other countries and it will be a serious effort to get someone good at a reasonable price in the middle of a cycle.
Tennis is yet another sorry story. The All India Tennis Association (AITA) and former players are at loggerheads and former players like Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza and Somdev Devvarman have been vocal about the continuous failures of the governing body. Our best player Sumit Nagal and the AITA don’t get alon. Perhaps it is time for the former players to get their hands dirty and ring in the change that they have been speaking about by fighting the elections for the body to clean the system.
It has now been a week since the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games schedule has been announced. While we have heard the likes of Pullela Gopichand, Sourav Ghosal, Gagan Narang and Vimal Kumar come out in protest, there is nothing yet from the IOA. Why wouldn’t they protest against the omission of wrestling, squash, badminton or hockey from the Games calendar is beyond belief.
You speak to people and all you hear is the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report and the losses the president has caused the IOA and the ineligibility of certain members to stay in power. There has been nothing so far from anyone on India’s plans for 2028 Los Angeles Games. The cycle is underway, but we are still in lament mode as to what could have happened in Paris 2024.
In fact, the Vinesh Phogat’s case ended up highlighting everything that is bad about our sport.
So what’s the way forward? Can there be a resolution or will these crises continue eating into valuable time and harming India’s 2028 Olympics preparation? Can PT Usha and members of her EB not sit across the table and resolve the issues? How is it so difficult to decide on the appointment of a CEO and fix his salary? Why is it that every single day dirty linen has to be washed in public in the form of press releases from either side? Who should the athletes be loyal to—PT Usha or the EB? With the threat of an impending no confidence motion hanging over the president, how is she to steer sport ahead?
The truth is Indian Olympic sport is suffering. The Asian Games euphoria is lost and yet again we are back to square one. No one is really concerned about the athlete and there has been no evaluation of why things went wrong in Paris. Why were there so many fourth-place finishes? Do we need to work on the mental health of our athletes? It is only fair that no athlete wants to come on record but you speak to them in confidence and the anxiety is palpable.
In all this, the other big casualty is India’s 2036 Olympic bid. While the Prime Minister has said it multiple times that India is serious about hosting the 2036 Games, the truth is nothing really has moved in that regard. India isn’t really doing anything to rally the Indian Olympic Committee and many other nations are already on course. You ask the men and women in charge and all you hear is we aren’t ready yet.
And that’s because we are busy fighting with each other for control and aren’t really bothered about the bid at the moment.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com)
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