Commonwealth Games, A Waste of Tax Payers Money?

October, 2010 will see the Commonwealth Games take place in New Delhi. It surely would be a spectacular event with very grand openning and closing ceremonies and dazzling sporting action . But the big question is whether our country can afford such an extravagant venture and how the event is going to affect the sporting scene of the country.

In 1982, we proudly hosted the Asian Games. The event was considered by many as a huge success. Huge money was spent on sporting infra structure and other facilities. Does the average sporting loving Indian have access to any of those facilities? Have the Sport Authority of India done anything to maximise the utility of the facilities? Did the holding of the events throw up fresh enthusiasm for athletics and other such sporting disciplines?

We have had a few great sporting icons like Milkha Singh, P T Usha, Shiny Abraham Anju Bobby George, Prakash Padukone, Gopichand and more recently Abhinav Bindra and the boxers . All these champions have come through inspite of the system.

Sad to say that Milkha Singh's record of the1960 still stands for the 400 meters. While World Records are tumbling all the time, Indian athletics records have not changed very much. How do we justify the fact that Suresh Kalmadi has been at the helm of affairs for nearly 3 decades. It is obvious that he has done precious little to raise the standard of Indian sport. I am sure that there is someone else in our vast country who can do better.
If Abhinav Bindra, Prakash Padukone and others can be World Class, there should be plenty more talent around who can be coached and developed to be World Champions. I think as a country we should focus on creating World Class sportsman and women rather than wasting money on big events that do not benefit anyone.