Why sending star players to Commonwealth Games is not the best idea
We should focus on grooming young talent.
The Indian star cast for the Commonwealth Games, starting in Gold Coast, Australia, on April 5, is now more or less decided. Barring some team sports like hockey (men and women), each national federation is coming out with its list of athletes to represent India. This time, the number of athletes will be around 220.
Yet, when one adds to the list coaches, masseurs, sundry officials and so on, the numbers will zoom up in coming days. On Saturday, Olympic bronze medallist and celebrated shooter Gagan Narang had tweeted his views. He said it was sad there would be no shooting in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, so “let’s focus on winning medals in the 2024 Olympics.”
When India hosted the CWG in 2010, we did well in the medal tally, but efforts from athletes faded into the background. What is remembered as legacy are controversies and corruption, with some stadia in the Capital now crying for attention. It’s no secret that in many sporting disciplines at the CWG, the standard of competition is not very high. Athletics and badminton are high-profile, but if you take a look at shooting, wrestling and boxing, the standard at the Asian Games is much higher.
In India, when we talk of winning medals, each multi-discipline Games becomes important. For a nation which struggled to win a silver medal and a bronze through PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik at the Rio Olympics, there is an urgent need to win more medals on the big stage. The point is whether celebrated Indian sporting champions who have won medals at the highest stage need to be still figuring in CWG campaigns.
What happened before the Rio Olympics is still fresh, where Narsingh Yadav, who flunked a dope test, was put on the flight to Brazil. It was defending the indefensible and India landed with an egg on the face in wrestling at the Olympics. Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, London Olympics bronze medallist MC Mary Kom and Gagan Narang make the cut for the CWG in Gold Coast. The point is, do these athletes really need to be winning medals on this stage or should respective national sports federation focus on building the next line of champions?
Sushil certainly does not need to win a CWG medal and later leave it in his showcase. On Saturday, it became clear Sushil will skip the Asian championship as he does not want to aggravate an injury and Parveen Rana will go instead. The Indian wrestling federation, which wields huge power, could have easily given chance to a talented youngster. It’s not as if the talent pool is dry. There are wrestlers who take part in the pro league and so on.
From the Indian medal tally view, Sushil possibly adding one more in Gold Coast is good, but this is not the right preparation for the future. Likewise, in women’s boxing, there is no logic in Mary Kom being selected for Gold Coast and the weight category in which Sonia Lather competes being junked. Sonia has won medals at the World and Asian Championship, yet finds herself out in the cold.
In shooting, the National Rifle Association of India has a very clear selection policy. Yet, where is the need to take Gagan Narang for the CWG when young talent needs grooming? Gagan has won medals at almost all multi-discipline Games. The real challenge in shooting, boxing, wrestling and weightlifting is in the Asiad and Olympics. Somewhere, there seems a lack of planning in national sports federations.
Most of them are funded by the sports ministry, so logic demands that the federations, people in sports ministry and the newly elected Indian Olympic Association office bearers sit down and think together. If Gagan is talking about focusing on medals in 2024 Olympics, that’s nice. But then, are those entrusted with framing sports policies and nurturing talent doing the right thing by relying merely on stars who have peaked many times before?
It’s understandable that in a sport like badminton, India needs to send Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu to the CWG as the standard in Gold Coast will be high. Also, India’s record in badminton at the CWG is not like shooting, where many medals have been won before. For all talk of Gopichand’s academy rolling out champions like a factory, the numbers in women’s badminton are not that high.
There is more depth in talent in the men’s section. In a few days’ time, the men’s and women’s hockey squads will also be announced. It remains to be seen if fresh legs are added or the selectors fall back on proven talent.
On Saturday, gymnast Aruna Budda Reddy from Hyderabad, just 22, did India proud by winning a historic bronze medal at the World Cup in Melbourne in vault. For a nation which still recalls Dipa Karmakar’s lionhearted showing at the Rio Olympics, the arrival of Aruna is great news. Hopefully, Aruna can do India proud in Gold Coast in the absence of Dipa, still in recovery mode after her knee surgery last year.