A KNOCK OUT PUNCH TO INDIAN BOXING
It was in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games
that, India came closest till then, to win a Bronze medal in boxing in the
Light Heavy weight category, when Gurcharan Singh of the Indian Army, who in
the quarter finals and in the last round was leading his Russian opponent by 1
point, with just about 30 seconds left for the bout to end, but gave away his
lead and lost. He was heartbroken as was the Indian contingent and sports
lovers back home in India. But, the positive which came from this defeat was
the hope, which discarded the thought of sporting performance being majorly
dependent on genetic endowment alone and Indians by and large not up to it at
the World and Olympics level, in power sports and games. It was in the reality
of this national disappointment and pain of winning just one Bronze medal by
Karnam Malleswari in women’s weight lifting that, the then Chief of Army Staff,
General S Padmanabham, who was pleaded with and goaded by none other than Lt
Gen H B Kala, who was then the General Officer Commanding in Chief, Army
Training Command with its HQ in Simla, tasked the Army Sports Control Board in
the Army HQ to launch Mission Olympics with the aim of winning medals at
international levels, including World Championships and the Summer Olympics.
The Army true to its character and purpose, within a challenging span of a year
and by mid 2002, established the Army Sports Institute at Pune, as also four
Nodal Centers of Competitive Sports in the disciplines of Shooting, Sailing,
Rowing and Equestrian. Colonel Rajyavardhan Rathore, who was honed as an
international Double Trap shooter as part of Mission Olympics, did the country
proud by winning an individual Silver medal in his event at Athens in 2004. It
was indeed a very long wait of 100 years, since the commencement of the modern Olympics,
that an individual Silver medal had been won by an Indian athlete. This
validated the belief of Paddy (as the Chief is fondly known in the Army and
Hira Kala) in our sportspersons having it in them to make it big, even if it is
the Olympics. This achievement was bettered by Abhinav Bindra in the Beijing
Olympics, by winning Gold in Air Rifle Shooting and Vijender Singh and Shushil
Kumar a Bronze each, for the first time ever in Boxing and only the second time
after a more than 60 years wait in Wrestling, respectively. The myth of the
Indian sportsmen not having the ability to win individual medals in the Olympics
was thus dumped forever and the past forgotten in the emerging horizon of the
glorious future, which sports in India was looking at.
The Army, as part of its sporting
culture and professional demands of aggressiveness, courage and marksmanship,
has a history of exposing its trainees, soldiers and officers to boxing and
shooting, not only as mandatory activities but also as part of its recreational
physical training. Therefore, the army and the forces have not only contributed
sportsmen in handsome measure to these sports, but also provided the management
and administrative bulwark for the running of the National Federations, which
govern and control these sports. In recent years, Brig Desmond Devine Jones,
Capt Adjania and Brig P K Murlidharan Raja had given a vision, solidity and
momentum to amateur boxing and all those pugilists who actualized their
potential at the Asian, Commonwealth, World and Olympics levels. These
aficionados, by their dedication, commitment, diligence and love for the sport
had done all the spade work, which today provides the platform for our
established and budding pugilists to perform at the apex level of competitive
sport. Many army achievers at the Asian, Commonwealth and World level after
they hung their gloves took to coaching and training of sub juniors and juniors
and eased them into Opens competition. It was a consequence of the tireless
efforts and visionary direction given towards developing elite boxing in the
past, that in the recently concluded London Games of 2012, India fielded a very
rich crop of about 8 boxers in the men’s and the celebrated Mary Kom in the
women’s category respectively, in which she won a Bronze medal. The credit for
this to a very large extent goes to Brig P K Murlidharan Raja, who like an ant
worked for the winter when it was summer and for the summer when it was winter.
Single minded devotion for the ten years that, he was the Secretary General of
the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF). Raja and I served together in the
Army HQ for three years and he was like a devil possessed who was bowling from
both ends, to borrow from a cricketing analogy, for advancing the standard of
Boxing, which was aimed at getting as many qualifiers for the Olympics. His
effort did yield the desired results with the unprecedented number of
qualifiers in the London Olympics and the first individual Bronze medal in the
women’s category.
While Brig Raja’s motivation and
inspiration was excellence, the President of the IABF Abhay Chautala, whom he
served as his Secretary General, was the chair of the President Indian Olympic
Association (IOA). This, after another scamster and self proclaimed sports
aficionado Suresh Kalmadi, who as the then reigning President of the IOA, had
cooked his chips by being charged with huge corruption in the Delhi
Commonwealth Games 2010 and was incarcerated in the Tihar jail. Thus, this was
the window of opportunity for Abhay Chautala to give finality to his life’s
yearning ambition of becoming the President IOA. Be that as it may, Chautala
also wanted to continue calling the shots in the IABF and in an unprecedented
move amended the Federation’s Constitution, to have him installed as its Patron
and only yielded his vacant slot of President, to his brother in law in a sham
process of elections. The rules were brazenly flouted and the minions of the
IABF fell in line, to accommodate the diktat and desire of Abhay Chautala.
After all, with him certain to become the President IOA, who had the courage or
else the stupidity to challenge his writ? But, sadly for Chautala and the good
of Indian sport, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not play ball
with him and arm twisted the IOA to hold fresh elections, precluding tainted
and corrupt people from contesting for offices in the IOA. The axe of the IOC
fell on Chautala and his election as President IOA was quashed.
By now, the World Body of Boxing, the
Amateur International Boxing Federation (AIBF), which was watching all the
wrong doings happening in the IABF, took stock of the situation and issued a
fiat demanding transparency and equity in the election process of office
bearers. It gave a firm and resolute warning to the IABF to amend its
Constitution and make it to conform to international best practices, as obtain
the world over. When, the IABF hesitated in complying with the AIBA direction,
it was threatened with de recognition from the World Body. More feet dragging
by IABF, finally resulted in its recent expulsion from AIBA and de recognition.
A very sad day for Indian boxing and all those pugilists who were looking
forward to a Golden period, wherein their aspirations would fructify into a
personal sense of achievement, sporting glory and National pride and honor. The
desire to control and manipulate the National Sports Federation turfs, by the
likes of Chautala and the disgraced and ousted erstwhile President of IOA,
Kalmadi have not only disgraced the country among the brotherhood of World
Sports Federations, but also hurt the interests and ambitions of all those
sportspersons who train with their sweat and blood for the pursuit of
excellence. The politicians and their cronies have done irreparable damage to
the management and administration of National Sports Federations, wherein
achievers have won despite the System and not because of it. One feels
immensely pained and hurt at what Kalmadi and Chautala have done to the
untiring efforts of all those sports administrators, trainers,
sportspersons, sports scientists,
corporate houses, institutions etc who have continued to chip in with their
abilities, organizational capacity, funds, skills and commitment to enhance
National pride through sports achievements at the World and Olympics levels.
The AIBA has indeed given a knockout
punch to IABF, only because of the greed and avarice of our politicians, who
use their position as Heads of various National Sports Federations, to further
their self serving interests only and nothing more. While Modi screams and
rants from every dais, which he occupies while making his pre election speeches
by saying “India First”, Chautala believes in only ‘I first’. I think, with the
way things are in the National Sports Federations, eminent sportspersons and
genuine sports administrators /managers need to come together and provide a
viable option to the expedient shenanigans of the politicians, who have done to
sports what they have to the country. The sense is conveyed by a monosyllable
and which is ‘Pathetic’.
Brig S D Dangwal
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