Let the games begin

In the run-up to the Commonwealth Games, lawyers and athletes have enlisted the courts and the Right to Information Act in their battle against corruption and cronyism in sport

Ranjan Jha and Rebecca Abraham report

After decades as the kings of international hockey – including an unbeaten six consecutive Olympic golds – the fortunes of the Indian hockey team hit rock bottom when they failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

While this was no surprise to many Indians, who are resigned to the nation’s teams performing dismally in every sport except cricket, they also saw in it the hand of what one newspaper called “the moth-eaten paraphernalia that goes by the name of Indian sports administration”. But when angry fans demanded something be done, the sports minister at the time said the government was helpless. “We just watch and suffer,” is what he is reported to have said.

Politics in sport

For despite India’s abysmal record in sport, the government has had to leave the management of sport to a vast network of autonomous national and state-level sports federations that ostensibly look after the nation’s interests in everything from basketball to bobsleigh. Even though many receive public funding, they have taken shelter behind the Olympic Charter, which requires governments to steer clear of sport.

Ranjan Jha is a senior associate at Bhasin & Co in New Delhi.