I am surprised by the author of the report who himself has been at the top of all decision making, and look where is he pointing fingers !!! If a ship sinks the captain should take the responsibility not the sailor, it is surprising that the players and foreign coaches are blamed for poor show. Not a single finger is raised at the babu’s or associations–.to me this report itself is a subject of investigation.
The very purpose of the report should have been positive as per the mandate of the Prime Minister. This was to plan for the future rather than do a post-mortem of what happened. It was our DG who was part of the report submitted in May 2016 wherein 10-12 medals were claimed. I wrote in my column that the maximum can be 5, so should we not ask the report makers of May 2016 to clarify their claims!!
Let me also join the musical chair game and give some of my observations on how we performed at Rio 2016. Firstly, I can only see a lack of co-ordination among the people responsible to collate the whole preparation, which is seen even at the games. The players are given facilities but with no follow up’s on performances which are qualification rather than competition base, let me pick up a statement of the legendry athlete Mr. G.S. Randhawa
“Many athletes got through in the final month of the qualifying period. Every training programme consists of three phases — rest, training and competition. If you direct your peak toward qualification, you can’t be at your best during the Olympics,” he says.
The statement is an eye opener to the people sitting in governing sports in our country, we actually should prepare an athlete much before the Games and make sure that the athlete does not peak at the last minute. The voice and inputs of such people should be the base of the report rather than pointing fingers at the athletes and foreign coaches.
The statement is an eye opener to the people sitting in governing sports in our country, we actually should prepare an athlete much before the Games and make sure that the athlete does not peak at the last minute. The voice and inputs of such people should be the base of the report rather than pointing fingers at the athletes and foreign coaches.
The report also mentioned “A set of sports disciplines may be identified where we have very little presence and the objective is of participation in Olympics. These could include disciplines like swimming, triathlon, fencing, judo, taekwondo etc,” it stated. How such statements be submitted as cover up that too at a time when sports is to be promoted at all levels. This statement shows that before sending the contingent no one goes into the roots and athletes’ are sent without any planning. In fact we should try and experiment with different games rather than sticking to games where we have achieved.
The very purpose of the report seems to have been defeated as the road map to ‘Mission 2028’ is not planned and suggestions made are more of a cover up nature rather then a progressive planning to achieve what the country is aspiring for.
I will be happy to know the composition of the team who submitted this report.
The columnist is a sports guru