India at Commonwealth Games; The good, bad and the ugly

• IOA official held for drunken driving, referee for sexual assault
• Indian image nosedives on a day of sporting highs

Hyderabad: A magnificent golden haul, some individual sparks of brilliances, a couple of fairytale runs and a shamefully disastrous turn that has been away from the arena completes India’s ‘eventful’ journey in the 20 the edition of the Commonwealth Games.

Apparently, in a country where everyone loathes politicisation of sports, some people, particularly the uncanny nefarious elements are not the kind to swear by the ‘once bitten twice shy’ dogma. These ‘gentlemen’ coming in the garb of officials have not learnt the lessons from the bizarre developments in the 2010 Games.

Glasgow has just shown that Indian administrators can be terrible in their excesses, which render more harm and destroy the goodwill commanded by champion sportspersons. It is shameful irony that every Indian sportsperson has come to accept.

From celebrating a historic high to getting hounded as a global shame in a span of 24 hours, India has woken up to yet another woefully disgusting day that saw ecstasy getting swept away by anger and agony.

It will be remembered more for the dastardly off-the-field developments. This is even as the country is yet to salvage its lost credibility since the conduct of the Games in New Delhi that saw the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) itself getting excommunicated.

If the exploits by wrestlers and squash women (who created history) gave birth to a hitherto unknown euphoria in Glasgow, the achievements have been blotted by two officials, who had no business to be there in the first place.

Till Sunday morning, the Games marked a momentous one for India, which had an impressive medal haul till a disgusting crisis hit the nation like a slap on the face. Hours before the curtains were to come down, India’s image skyrocketed to great levels, thanks to a brilliant effort by Hyderabad’s very own Parupalli Kashyap, who staved off a middle-game crisis to end India’s 32-year gold drought. It was a triumph that was long overdue given his rich talent that somehow failed to deliver in the big ones.

Unfortunately for him and the country, a senior official of the IOA and a wrestling referee have been caught with their pants down, quite literally!

Taken under a pragmatic view, by driving under the influence of alcohol, IOA Secretary-General Rajeev Mehta has committed a lesser crime when compared to Virender Malik, who has been arrested for sexual assault. It is not that Indian coaches and administrators have not been found guilty of molestations and faced charges of sexual assaults back home. They are notorious for such heinous crimes and a jail term hardly brings about a change of heart.

In a way, the whiff of fresh air provided by of the wrestlers, Joshna, Dipika and Kashyap, has been marred by Indian hockey players’ abject surrender to Australia who won a record fifth successive gold.

Like they do often on such occasion, the mandarins running the inept IOA have been double-quick in disowning the two. Their contention that the two not on the official contingent smacks of deliberate cover-up, which cannot be accepted any sane man. One has not heard the last of this grim episode.

KCR hails Kashyap

Hyderabad: Telangana State Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday hailed Parupalli Kashyap for his spectacular victory in the Commonwealth Games following his Gold medal winning efforts. In his congratulatory message, Rao hoped that the Hyderabad-born Kashyap would win more titles in international titles and bring laurels to the country and the State. The Chief Minister said that his training stints at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy had yielded world conquering results. He said every young shuttler should take cue and get inspired by Kashyap.