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Sarita Devi: A terrible blow to Indian sports

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Somak Ghoshal
Somak GhoshalOct 28, 2014 | 19:07

Sarita Devi: A terrible blow to Indian sports

Laishram Sarita Devi (blue) fights with Park Ji-na (red) during their women's light (57-60kg) semi-final boxing match at Seonhak Gymnasium during the 17th Asian Games in Incheon on September 30, 2014

"I hope my decision sets an example," she had said, little knowing that the words would come back to haunt her with scathing irony in a few weeks.

Shortly before making this statement earlier this month, Indian boxer Laishram Sarita Devi had drawn the world's attention with an unprecedented, if "controversial", gesture. At the Incheon Asian Games 2014, she had refused to accept a bronze medal and put it around the neck of the silver medallist, South Korean Jina Park, who, Sarita Devi believed, had been given unfair advantage in their match and named winner in the 60kg lightweight category.

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Sarita Devi's more famous compatriot, Mary Kom, who won her first Asian Games gold this year, agreed with her. "Obviously, there is no doubt that Park won (the semifinals against Sarita) because she is Korean. Sarita dominated the fight," she said. "These things happen… all the time in boxing, but it is usually about 1-2 points. But this was open cheating, this should not happen," Kom added. Filipino and Mongolian boxers also complained against the biases of match referees throughout the Asian Games.

The Indian officials seemed to have felt differently. A tearful Sarita Devi complained that no one from the contingent had come to speak to her for more than 24 hours. She and her husband had to borrow money to lodge an appeal against the decision since the Indian authorities did not get involved. Photographs of Sarita Devi dissolving into sobs were pasted all over media.

The scene could not have changed more dramatically in days, with Sarita Devi being coerced into apologising to the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for her "misdemeanour". Newly found Boxing India (BI) is helping her frame an appeal against being suspended from the forthcoming World Championships next month. Three coaches with the Indian boxing team, also suspended provisionally by the AIBA for not being able to prevent Sarita Devi's outburst, will be sending in their replies as well.

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The principle reason behind AIBA's action against Sarita Devi is her unsporting behaviour, which violated the decorum of the event, if not embarrassed scores of important people: the organisers, host country, sponsors, and sports authorities. In her letter to AIBA, Sarita Devi is requesting for clemency by pointing out that this was a single lapse in her 14-year-long career. By the same token, her reaction ought to merit the keenest and most serious attention for being such a singularly unusual one for a sportsperson of her stature.

If the provocations behind Sarita Devi's were obvious, few from the Indian contingent were willing to engage with them in the way she expected. Instead there have been reprimands and threats of dire consequences, a shameful devaluation of the status of a sportsperson, none of which is surprising. In India, if you are a star not blessed by the shiniest corporates or without a movie deal, chances are you will be given a shabby deal by the State.

With sports like boxing and wrestling, hardly as glamorous or prosperous as cricket, the trend is to select a few for the encomia, leaving the vast majority of an immensely talented pool languishing for the day when their turn, too, will come. Coming from economically deprived backgrounds, the stakes are too high for these players to demand even that which is rightful. Like Mary Kom, Sarita Devi, too, went back to training quickly after having a baby, put herself through a punishing schedule to lose weight, from the 85kgs she had put on during her pregnancy, to qualify for the lightweight 60kg category. Both of them, like hundreds of other female boxers in the country, have fought - are still fighting - a battle against want, hunger, inadequate food to keep the body fit and in fighting condition, and social stigma. If the imperative is to redefine what constitutes "sporting" behaviour, then the criteria should apply as much to those who impose it as on the ones who are always expected to abide by it.

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Terry Walsh, the man who coached the Indian team to win gold in this year's Asian Games, also resigned recently, partly due to financial negotiations in his deal, but also because of his inability to come to terms with the "decision-making" style of the sports bureaucracy in the country. If Sarita Devi's actions at Incheon have set an example, it is not only for herself and fellow boxers, but everyone associated with the industry.

Last updated: October 28, 2014 | 19:07
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