INDIAN SPORT

The Sad Bad Truth About The Games We Play

(in 13 odd slides)
In The Beginning
 Phase 1: The Brits

 Phase 2: The Maharajas

 Phase 3: The Politician

 Phase 4: The Private Player..

The Brits
The Brits
The Maharajas
Thr Maharajas
The Politician
The Bureaucrat
The Sports Professional
The Sporting Maze
 All top level associations are run by civil
servants – and are not favoured postings.
 These in turn report to the sports ministry–
which is regarded as a punishment posting by
most politicians
 In effect, the bureaucrat does not want to take
decisions before the minister signs off.
 As the minister requires three months to
understand his portfolio and then is usually
gone within a year – lots of MOU’s are signed –
but no actual work gets done
The Sporting Maze
 More than 10 union ministers in sports and
youth affairs in the past 20 years
 Prominent politicians head most of the national
sporting associations – and rarely have the time
to run them efficiently
 The sports ministry and the IOA have extremely
blurred areas of influence – and a deal with
one will always annoy the other
 Not all sports come under the IOA – and the
biggest, cricket is almost completely
autonomous
 THE INDIAN SPORTING MAZE

Ministry of Sport Indian Olympic

& Youth Affairs Association

SAI

State
Independent Olympic Affiliated
Sports Facilities Sports Sporting Sports
Associations bodies Associations
Indian Sport
 In the past few years – even corporates
genuinely trying to develop Indian sport
have been frustrated by the lack of
ground level implementation
 The CII has made a lot of effort since 2004,
but most of the projects have languished
after being announced
 Given the tangled web – it’s amazing that
we have produced even the winners we
have