India is rejoicing with the return of its Olympians from Paris where India won one silver and five bronze medals. Neeraj Chopra (2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medalist) won the  silver, 21-year old Aman Sehrawat one bronze, 22-year old Manu Bhaker won two bronze, one in team event with 22-year old Sarabjot Singh, one bronze each by Swapnil Kusale and the men’s hockey team captained by Harmanpreet Singh.

Shouldn’t we reflect as a nation of 1.4 billion people, with 117 participants at the Paris Olympics, winning only six medals (that included no gold) and ranked 71 among participating countries? Can we not learn from much smaller countries, some indeed tiny,  that won several gold and silver medals and ranked above India?

In the 124-year history of the Summer Olympics, India won six medals only at the 2012 London Olympics, while the best performance was seven medals,  including a gold, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The Phogat episode 

The sordid episode for India at Paris was Vinesh Phogat, th first Indian woman wrestler to have qualified for the gold medal match but was later disqualified. Vinesh weighing 49.9 kg on first day (August 6), scored three terrific wins, including defeating  Yui Susaki (2020 Tokyo gold medalist and four-times world champion) in the 50-kg category, but was disqualified next morning for the gold medal bout for being overweight by 100 gms.  

The media blitz in India said the “support team” was with Vinesh through the night of August 5-6, even cut her hair and tried extracting blood, but she was still overweight the next morning. PT Usha, President, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala went on camera to elaborate all the efforts made. 

India’s Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mnasukh Mandaviya said that’s Rs 2 crore was spent on Manu Bhaker and Rs 70 lakh on Vinesh Phogat, and that all this is because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ‘Khelo India’ movement launched by him. The intriguing part was the detailing of Rs 70 lakh expenditure on Vinesh in the media – much of which may be bogus. One piece of trivia was that the expenses included a psychotherapist, whereas no psychotherapist was actually present (https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10226829312507777&id=1500196238&mibextid=xfxF2i&rdid=OC3q2cVBU5GYn06w).

IOA needs to explain 

What then would be the sum total of expenses shown on paper by the sports ministry over the years in Khelo India, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, world championships, Olympics and hosting sports events in India? How much is pocketed and how much is contributed to party funds?  

Two days before the closing of the Paris Olympics, PT Usha issued a statement saying responsibility of weight management of athletes in sports like wrestling, weightlifting, boxing and judo is that of each athlete and his/her coach and not of the IOA appointed chief medical officer and his team. However, as IOA president shouldn’t Usha be made to answer the following:

·Who has made these rules and are these to avoid responsibility and accountability?

·With Olympic gold medal-starved India, when a participant has reached the final and weight loss is critical, why was she herself, IOA’s chief medical officer and his team not involved? What were they doing that night?

·Which was the “support team” being quoted that was with her all night – her coach?

·Why was a physiotherapist not  provided to Vinesh? Is this not the responsibility of the IOA?   

Anything and everything happening in India is linked to politics and it is well known that PT Usha’s appointment as IOA president on December 10, 2023 was linked to the  Lok Sabha elections in 2024. But in this capacity can she continue to bluff that the IOA has absolutely no role in the following:

·On the third day of the Paris Olympics, our media reported two Russian coaches and one masseur were not permitted to proceed to Paris till they sign a certificate saying they don’t support the war in Ukraine. Did the IOA monitor which coaches were left behind and how this would affect participants?

·Infighting and sudden change of coaches prevented our women’s hockey team from qualifying for the Olympics. What were the hockey federation and IOA doing?

·Nikhat Zareen (double world champion) was fielded ‘unseeded’ in the Paris Olympics due to differences between the boxing world body and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As a result Zareen was disadvantaged by facing the world number one much earlier. Same happened with Lovlina Borgohain. Why did IOA not fight for it?

Both PT Usha and Mnasukh Mandaviya have a lot to answer. Even the fact that Vinesh Phogat’s appeal for silver medal was being fought by French lawyers and the IOA engaged Harish Salve at the last minute to save face was kept out by the Indian media. 

Corruption and politicisation 

The ruling party was no doubt miffed with Indian wrestlers (including Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, later joined by Bajrang Punia) protesting the sexual harassment charges against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, then president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Why would women make public accusations that hurt their own image and wrestling careers? But the accused being from the ruling party, propaganda was that these protests were engineered by the opposition. 

Finally, corruption and politicization needs to be rooted out from India’s sports set-up. The organization, responsibilities and  functioning of the IOA needs to be reviewed. We need a collective and well integrated national ecosystem of government and private sports bodies if we want to perform better in future Olympics.

(The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views are personal)