NEW DELHI: Union Sports Minister, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, issued a clarion call to the top athletes of the country ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. In the four Commonwealth Games held this century, India have not finished lesser than fifth in the medals table (4th in Manchester and Melbourne, 2nd in New Delhi and 5th in Glasgow) and Rathore, who has a total of four CWG medals, said athletes’ needs have been placed front and centre.
“We have left no stone unturned in providing the best facilities for athletes,” he said during a press conference here on Monday. “The planning has been done by the Federation(s), themselves (athletes) and their coaches. We want to win more medals than last time but it should not be that we have to win at all cost. We want to win fair and with pride. We need self-discipline, not from the athletes only but also from the officials,” he said. Doing well in Gold Coast is not necessarily a marker for potential greatness — the level of competition is inferior to other multi-discipline events like the Asian Games — but it may prove that the country is on the right track to produce winners.
A point Rathore touched on: “Commonwealth Games are a stepping stone to the Asian Games and then the 2020 Olympics. We are putting special officers to take care of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) athletes. This will ensure their training, funding, coordination with the coaches and federation is done so that there is minimum time between requirement generated and resources delivered.”
Resources, as expected, was another major talking of the press conference, which was also attended by Narinder Batra, the head of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). One comment — National Sports Federations (NSFs) cannot send athletes on their cost — was particularly noteworthy. “To be (financially) independent is good,” he said. “But in India, except for cricket, no sports body can function without a grant from the government. So we will continue to get grant from the Sports Ministry.”
The issue of Indian sporting bodies, be it the IOA or the NSFs, not being self sufficient is a dog-eared one and Rathore again urged them to seek corporate funding. “The biggest sponsor of Indian sports till now has been the government of India and we will continue to do so. All the federations should work towards making themselves financially independent and generate revenue of their own,” he said.
Indian athletes have had problems meeting minimum standards when it comes to qualifying for the Olympics but making the cut for CWG has not been a concern. And that’s reflected in a 227-strong contingent, their second biggest of all time.
Batra, who took over from N Ramachandran last December, also announced that Edelweiss Financial Services Limited will be the sponsor of the contingent for the next three big-ticket multi-discipline events till Tokyo in 2020, as well as the National Games in 2018 and 2019. Batra also announced Raymond as IOA’s official styling partner and Shiv Naresh Sports as its official sports apparel partner for CWG.