JOIN USThe initiative, Clean Sports India, by former sportspersons will be launched on Wednesday, International Olympics Day in Delhi. It will aim to take on politicians like Suresh Kalmadi and Vijay Kumar Malhotra who are allegedly misusing the principles of autonomy in sport for their selfish ends.
The group includes former Olympians like hockey star Pargat Singh, athletes Sriram Singh, Vandana Rao, Ashwini Nachappa and Vandana Shanbag. Former international athletes Reeth Abraham, Bhogeshwar Barua and Sunita Godara and footballer Tashen Borah are also part of the initiative.
Current stars are not in the team, as Clean Sports fears their inclusion would lead them to being victimised. The thought of having a forum like Clean Sports was in the backburner for quite some time, the group members said.
As a first step towards taking on the political lobby, the members have sent an open letter to International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge, signed by actor and sports writer Tom Alter and equestrian sports personality and former civil servant B V P Rao.
“Indian sport has become victim of power, corruption and mismanagement for decades.
No wonder India with over a billion population could win only one individual Olympic gold medal so far,” former sportspersons told Rogge.
Their allegation is also against the way the elections to the sports bodies are held. No former sportsperson in India could hope to head a sports body, as the polls are manipulated by politicians, civil servants, military officials and businessmen using state power and money. “Over a period of time, sports politicians made the elections a mockery of democracy. Most of the times, they get elected unanimously as no one even dares to file a nomination,” they said in the letter.
‘Fooling the nation’
The former sportstars have also accused the politicians of “fooling the nation” using the ruse of Olympic movement’s autonomy.
“They remind the Indian sports fraternity time and again that if this ‘autonomy’ of sports bodies is threatened, India will be banned from International Olympic Movement. They have been fooling the nation with this fairy tale for decades to run the Indian sport like their fiefdom,” the letter says.
Claiming that Clean Sports is an effort to assert the rights that they have so far been negligent of, the sportstars said the initiative would also organise activities like sport runs, discussions and seminars to create a public opinion against mismanagement of sport by politicians.