ASHWINI A. writes from Bangalore: Badminton is the sport which, in the eyes of the great Sunil Gavaskar, has contributed the greatest ever sportsman produced by this country: Prakash Padukone.
In Pullela Gopichand, it is also the sport that has contributed one of our most conscientious, a man who could do what no cricketer or film star could when the softdrinks makers dangled big cheques before him to endorse their poisonous brew: say no.
Yet, in a disgrace that is difficult to comprehend, the national camp in Goa for 32 badminton players competing in the upcoming Thomas Cup and Uber Cup has been cancelled at the last minute today.
Reason: non-availibility of shuttle cocks.
Yes, you read that right! Non-availibility of shuttle cocks.
A country which is clocking close to 9 per cent GDP growth, which has billions of dollars in foreign exchange reserves, whose scientists are planning to go to the moon, whose stock market is caressing 20,000, whose business and film stars paid hundreds of crores to pick up cricket franchises last month could not supply shuttle cocks to its players to practice!
And yes, we are the same country which will host the Commonwealth Games two years from now, which wants to host the Olympics some time soon, and which periodically breaks out in politically correct sweat about cricket hogging all the limelight.
If not getting their shuttle cocks is bad enough, wait for this. According to a Press Trust of India report, officials of the Badminton Association of India, admittedly not one of our most cohesive bodies, have been running from the Sports Authority of India pillar to the Union sports ministry post for the last five months—that is 150 days and counting—for the requisite shuttle cocks.
And, yes, the Union sports minister is Mani Shankar Aiyar, the panchayat raj pasha who has a sagely solution for every problem under the arclights of airconditioned television studios, and who is currently pushing an “aggressive sports policy” when not trying to get Leave Travel Allowance for bureaucrats to visit the Northeast.
“This has happened due to the complete apathy on the part of the director general, Sports Authority of India, and the Sports secretary. I have met them so many times and informed them about the shortage,” BAI president V.K. Verma has said.
“This is sabotage on their part for the preparation of the Youth Games in Pune this year…. I even told them that we will import the shuttlecocks and they can pay later but DGSAI said we will have to get procedural clearance. We did the paper work required but we have not got the clearance.”
How much would the shuttle cocks have cost? Say Rs.10 lakh? Rs 20 lakh? Rs one crore? How difficult is it to cough up that amount, when the sports ministry finds it so easy to find funds to send more officials than players on foreign junkets? And how difficult is to find a corporate sponsor or a sporting brand willing to underwrite the expense in return for some exposure?
And how difficult is it to get “procedural clearance” for a box of shuttle cocks even in big, bad, bureaucratic Delhi? 10 days? 20 days? 100 days?
Can we ever imagine a cricket match, even a Ranji or Duleep Trophy match, being called off because there were no balls of the leather kind? Two years ago, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to contribute to non-cricketing sports by way of funding and sponsorship. Perhaps it needs to look at badmintion first.
BAI officials say this loss of preprations will severely hamper India’s chances in the world champtionship and the other prestious tournaments that kick off in Vietnam in less than two weeks. Is this a case of “For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail”?
Who must be held responsible for this fiasco? The sports ministry officials for sleeping over the matter for months? Or BAI officials who expected mandarins to do their job despite knowing what was likely to happen? Is BAI guilty of lack of anticipation and not having a plan B and jeopardising India’s chances in international tournaments?
Whatever be the case, this is a day to get angry for sports-loving Indians.
And to feel a bit of shame for this monumental shuttle cock-up.
Also read: Good to lose the bid for Asian Games?
Mani Shankar Iyer is a duffer whose only achievement as a IFS officer is sucking upto the Pakistani establishment and gandhi family….in that order. He was a failure in almost all of the ministries he handled and was shunted out of petroleum ministry on the insistence of Uncle Sam, because he was found hob nobbing with the islamofascist countries like iran, kazakstan etc. It is better he sticks to writing weekly columns to magazines and retires from active politics.
What should Aiyar do? Definitely NOT write columns.
All his columns are casteist and always abuses SC/ST, backward communities. He was the one who committed sacrilege by writing against Dr B R Ambedkar.
We expect a balanced view on the affairs from a person who holds such a high position.
pacifier,
I still feel that Iyer should stick to writing weekly columns, at least for their entertainment value….his views on any subject be damned. :)
Mani Shankar Iyer is a Cognac Commie. As a student in the UK in the early 1960s he raised money for the Chinese Commies when China was waging war against India! Mani also believes he is secular because he eats beef (didn’t know it was that easy.
Mani has plenty of admirers among the chini chaddi hacks like Sid Varadarajan, N.Ram, Sukumar Muralidharan & Co.
Mani was fired from the Petroleum ministry because his work was no oil and all gas! But to be fair to him he has taken care of his constituency well, and is untainted by any corruption scandal.
A “duffer” who sucked up, was “a failure” and wrote “casteist” columns full of “abuses”… Translation: if he had said that the BJP was God’s gift to humankind, endorsed the Ram sethu, and rolled over and allowed the United States to tickle his underbelly while taking his orders from Nagpur, he would have been the exact opposite.
If we believe democracy, and not just when it involves us, then we would appreciate Aiyar’s role in the panchayat raj movement. If we get out of this crypto-capitalist mindset, then we would appreciate his role in Indo-Pak affairs or the petrol issue. But why bother when it is so easy to tarbrush a man who did a far better job as MP from Mayiladuthurai than most of his brethren can ever hope to?
The issue here is of shuttlecocks which churumurians love to sidestep. We must demand that Mani Aiyar holds those responsible for this mess accountable. But why bother?
Mayura and Kaangeya,
Super comments! I could not have done it any better. Mani should be dismissed from any responsible position. He is still not been cured of ‘Rajeevitis’!
Prashant Krishnamurthy,
I have no problem in you being a ardent follower of Mani Shankar Liar, but my views are my own and I stand by them.
You must talk to some of his constituents at Mayaladuthurai, where he promised that he is going to convert mayalduthurai into dubai…the irony is he promoted prawn farming there in such a large scale, now the land in mayalduthurai is barren and unfit for agriculture, so in a sense he has certainly converted his constituency into dubai (read barren land).
No body is asking him to take his orders from nagpur, at the same time he should stop taking his orders from Pakistani High commission and act like a born traitor. I think, the aiadmk cadre did the right job when they bashed him up :)
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To add to my earlier comment, Mani has not contributed anything to panchyati raj. It was RK Hegdes brainchild ably assisted by Abdul Naseer Saab. Rajiv Gandhi was very impressed with its implementation that he was keen in implementing it on a national scale. So Mani who is a chronic credit snatcher is canvassing it as his brainchild and is trying to get some credit for things he did not do. Get your facts right before you comment
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Can you elaborate what was mani’s contribution in improving indo-pak relations?
You’re naive if you think only the great Mister Aiyar is responsible.
Ask around in the badminton community and you’ll find out how three people have kept a stranglehold on the BAI for god knows how many years. They rival KPS Gill and his cronies for style when it comes to ruining a sport with their lust for absolute power.
Both, the politicians and the national association are a disgrace to the sport.
This is also true for Archery, the Athletics and many other sports.
Absolutely. And when has SAI ever had effective leadership? I remember earlier presidents like Suresh Kalmadi, and that singh guy who pinched a lady’s bottom and got sued. They redefined the word ‘Disgrace’
Sir VB,
That singh guy was none other than KPS Gill, the police officer who put down terrorism in Punjab.
@Mayura
I have also heard from a friend who is a native of Mr.Iyer’s constituency that they have ruined the area by introducing pawn fishing. This is to appease the minorities in the area. He is a pervert. After licking Rajiv Gandhi’s boots he later wrote in an article in Sunday magazine that Rajiv had never even invited him to his home for a tea. Old habits die hard and he continues to be a boot licker.
How can Mani Shankar Aiyar be both pro-BJP and a Commie?! I, however, appreciate, him as he had the guts to question Montek Singh Ahluwalia on behalf of the farmers.
Mayura,
Great post! Your explanation on Panchayat Raj contribution by Nazeer Saab and Hegde is so true. I liked the pun on how Mani used to appear as if he was taking his orders from Pak High Commission. I didn’t know that AIADMK cadre bashed him up. Serves him right. Also, PK forgets to mention that Mani was solely responsible for denying some refinery-related industry for Mangalore and our ‘tharadu sattha’ Oscar F and Maggie A did jack shit about it!
Now it appears, PK was ‘air brushing ‘ the image of ole Mani Shankar liar!
There may be foreign hand in this issue. Government works, sometimes for some people very fast and sometimes it crawls…
cock and bull story
Your article is misleading,
read todays TOI, it say as Yonex cocks were not available, due to its import being banned., the camp was not conducted.
Churmuri be more authentic.
Mani should be left along with the ‘leftist’ birds in West Bengal so that the’bird’ ‘Flu doesn’t spread!
Thanks for giving Pullela Gopichand his due credit…. i refrenced him here- http://mindflirting.wordpress.com/2008/06/13/ethics/
Rejecting Cola ads is a tough decision and I so admire him for this…..he is an icon….
Mani shankar with his past as an IFS officer, is a cocky politician now with thugs around him. One of his gang member had confiscated a house from a poor brahmin family near my community (kaveri Nagar,kumbakonam). The irony is,that house is one of his MP office for Kumbakonam. The real owners are typical middle class people and cannot fight with this kind of people. He doen’t have the moral authority to have Aiyar as his last name after destroying a brahmin family. This is not a fake story and its real. Anybody can check whether this story is real.