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Disband lifting federation
Disband the notorious Indian Weightlifting Federation, sack the coaches and ask the Indian Olympic Association some searing questions, writes Pradeep Magazine.
Lies. Lies. And more lies. Master this art and you can be among the most successful sports administrators of the country.
It matters little to them whether India wins or loses and it matters even less if one or two of their own sportspersons fail a dope test.
The embarrassment and shame the country has to face, is well, embarrassment and shame for the country. What has it got to do with them! They don't lift weights, they don't run and neither are they injected with drugs that can prove fatal in the long run. So why should they be accountable for the misdeeds of a few who matter only if they win a medal?
If someone writes or tells them that something is really rotten in the state of India, they retaliate by saying "this is an anti-national statement."
If we write that a couple of Indian athletes may have tested positive even before they embarked on a mission to defame themselves and the country, we are dubbed, you guessed it right: Anti-national.
Will someone now tell us who really is anti-national? Those who connive with corrupt and greedy officials to destroy whatever little is left of Indian sport or those who try to expose the cover-up operations so that the system can be injected with a healthy dose of accountability?
I think the time has now come not to dither but take some harsh decisions. I think the time has come to face the truth and get the entire sports set-up cleaned. I think the time has come for the Sports Ministry to realise that they are the ones who fund the federations, the athletes, pay for coaches, pay for sportspersons’ training in drug-tainted countries and therefore they are the only ones who can do a surgical operation on a terminally ill patient.
Mr Sunil Dutt, we have high hopes of you. Disband the notorious Indian Weightlifting Federation, sack the coaches and ask the Indian Olympic Association some searing questions.
What right do they have to live on the largesse of the Government and funds given by the International Olympic Committee? Only if major surgery is done will Indian sport have some hope.
Yes, it is time to clean up the system. Does someone have the courage to do so? Mr Dutt, we know you have the courage to at least make an attempt to break the vicious network of politicians and bureaucrats that has shamed Indian sport and India.
