CHENNAI: Finally, the ‘review meeting’ of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya took place on Thursday. Though there were speculations about the sports ministry’s critical intervention being rife, the meeting, according to those who were part of it, went off quite peacefully. There were no fireworks as some led to believe before the meet.
The sports minister stressed the need to concentrate on youth development and the need to strengthen India’s bench strength. The Asian Games was testament to the rise of youngsters in sports like archery, boxing, athletics where debutants won. But in traditional sports like weightlifting, wrestling and badminton there is a lack of bench strength. Even if youngsters are part of the team, there is lack of consistency. Infusing new talent would also mean a long term development would be in place too in order to have a considerable bench strength.
The sport ministry released a statement in which they highlighted the ministry’s points of discussions during the meeting. “Every federation must take this responsibility seriously. We have to identify talent, provide the right training and create an environment in which athletes can progress to the highest level,” sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.
The minister apparently spoke with officials of shooting, archery, judo, swimming, athletics, badminton, boxing, etc. He enquired about the health of the sport and how they fared.
No bills during foreign tours
The sports ministry also released a new “Revision Of the norms of assistance under the Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations — regarding”. This turned out to be more interesting than the review itself. Though the majority of the provisions are similar to last revised ANSF last year, the point that seemed would help athletes relax a bit would be collection of food bills during foreign travels. According to the rules, there was no segregation earlier but the new ANSF has added a separate clause to it. "When NSF is making its own arrangements: Ceiling of USD 235 per day (inclusive Of maximum of USD 60 per person per day exempted for food bills)," said the revised ANSF. Now on, the athletes would be getting $60 from the daily ceiling of $235 when the NSFs are making their own arrangements during competition. Apparently this is aimed at athletes who are training abroad for a longer duration. The hassle of keeping bills and then submitting would ease considerably. The athletes can have food of their choice at any place too. Earlier, the cumulative amount was $235 and did not mention about food.
Curious case of BFI
The review meeting was attended by almost all the National Sports Federations, who were part of the Games. What seems interesting is that the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), which is split between the president and its secretary, was part of the meeting. If sources are to be believed, though the two avoided any communication, both president and secretary attended the meeting. If sources are to be believed, the ministry has taken a very serious note of the infighting. The invite for the meeting apparently were sent to the NSFs before the BFI president and secretary suspended each other. One has to note that the boxing team came back with a record Asian Games haul that included three gold. Though both were present during the meeting, BFI chief Ajay Singh spoke about India's performance of the boxers.
Apparently, some pointed out that it was because the Sports Authority of India intervened in the selection process to ensure the best in-form boxer represented India through open trials. Even before the Asian Games, the BFI policy was under scrutiny because selection was mostly through evaluation during camps. The SAI and its Target Olympic Podium Scheme directed the BFI to hold open trials for the Games. "Because of that the best boxers went to the Games," said one official. As of the impasse in BFI, the ministry will take stock of the situation soon. There is a possibility an ad hoc committee could be one alternative if infighting continues.
Minister's thrust on sports science
It is understood that the sports minister was too critical during the review. At times, he tried to tell NSFs to focus on the future rather than finding too many faults. One area that was a concern was that of injured athletes taken during the Games especially in athletics — prominent ones among them were Jyothi Yarraji, who had an ACL last year, pulled out in Nagoya, as did triple jumper Praveen Chithravel.
The sports minister also stressed on the need to include sports psychologists to help athletes cope with mental pressure during high-adrenaline competitions like the Games. The ministry release said the role of sports psychologists, sports science experts and high-performance mental trainers is essential to mitigate the loss of focus that athletes go through when competing on major international stages. Minister of state, sports and youth affairs, Raksha Khadse called on all federations to align their work with the vision of the Khelo India Mission. Sports secretary Hari Ranjan Rao said that India must aim to finish among the top three at the 2030 Asian Games in Doha, while the 2030 Commonwealth Games, which India is scheduled to host, should be treated as a major national challenge.
With LA28 less than two years away, all NSFs must focus on the qualifying events in the next year and a half. The Asian Games that could have been a disaster if not for the last three days of competition, is now in the past. There have been good shows in archery, wrestling and boxing but medal haul in shooting and athletics could have been better. Medals in sports that are not part of the Olympic programme could be considered consolation prizes. For India to become a sporting power, Olympics medals should be the yardstick.
