A Common Fan’s Sports Diary

Mr Suresh Kalmadi has been elected as the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the fourth time in a row. This is great news for all Indian sports fans. Mr Kalmadi can now build on all the good work that he and his team have done in the past 12 years and take Indian sport to new highs.

That he was elected unopposed is clearly testimony to the high esteem he is held in – by friends and foes alike. In that sense he is the closest thing that we have had to Mahatma Gandhi – somebody who can cut across party lines and unify everyone under his leadership – and lead the country to glory.

We don’t have to look beyond the 2008 Beijing Olympics to see what Mr Kalmadi is capable of. This was India’s finest moment in the history of the games – all thanks to this great leader’s efforts. In spite of the Mittal Trust’s best efforts to take credit for the success of the Indian athletes, we all know it was Mr Kalmadi who was really responsible for the 3 medals. After all he selected the team for the Olympics and sent them to Beijing. Bad selection policy has been a bane for Indian sport and finally we have someone who has put an end to that.

Suresh Kalamdi deserves a halo over his head

Another reason why Mr Kalmadi faced no competition was because he takes great care of his people. He always makes sure that a large number of sports officials are sent to the international sports events. If he gets to go then his men should also go -Even if the official has no business being at the sports event - Even if sometimes the number of officials becomes more than the number of athletes and coaches – even if a physio has to be sacrificed to make way for an official. For Mr Kalmadi the hard working official always comes first- and hence it’s no surprise that Mr Kalmadi comes first for the officials also.

He has also received little credit for convincing many politicians to take up important positions in the IOA and various other national sports federations. It is thanks to his powers of persuasion that many of these politicians have agreed to take time out from their busy schedules and work for the betterment of Indian sport. Thanks to the wicked media, the common sports fan does not know that getting more politicians on board is a brilliant move on the IOA president’s part. After all it is the politicians who know how to get more money out of the central government. Even the current team is adorned with noted politician- sports administrators like Jagdish Tytler and Abhay Singh Chautala.

Mr Kalmadi is a visionary who always thinks ahead. Although the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2012 London Olympics are far away, Mr Kalmadi has already started planning for them. The Indian govt has entrusted the IOA president with a large sum of money to bring great success at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. While lesser mortals would be struggling to find a quick fix solution to improve the performance of Indian sportspersons, Mr Kalmadi has again shown his genius. He has gone ahead and asked the Chinese to help India. He is not vain enough to think that this makes India an international laughing stock. He is aware that China has always helped India, as seen during the recent nuclear issue debate. It is a masterstroke on Mr Kalmadi’s part. It’s surprising that nobody thought of this before – we could have become a sports powerhouse long back.

Mr Kalmadi’s dream is to bring the 2020 Olympics to India. It’s a pity that this cannot be achieved in his current term which will end in 2012. Therefore, we should make him president of the IOA till 2020 so that he can make this dream a reality. And thanks to Mr Kalmadi and the help from the Chinese we might just end up on top of the medals tally