India has won 101 medals for the first time in the history of Commonwealth games. We won a medal in many sports where we did not have any history backing us. 38 Gold, 27 Silver and 37 Bronze medals was just a dream commonwealth run for us. Except for shooting and weightlifting, we broke all the previous records. We won 12 medals in athletics including 2 Golds which we never got on track and field over the last 50 years. 10 Gold medals in wrestling was amazing. Saina became the first woman to win a badminton Gold for us and not to forget women doubles Gold in badminton as well. We reached the finals of the hockey for the first time. Ashish Kumar won India the first ever medals in gymnastics (a silver and a bronze). Deepika Kumari, the 16 year old girl from a poor background in Jharkand won 2 Gold Medals in archery. Gagan Narang won 4 and a couple of shooters won 3 Golds. We finished ahead of a country like England which is something to be proud of.
The audience in the last 4-5 days of event was enormous. All tickets were sold out for the events with Indian representation. Even Rugby sevens was a sellout though all of us knew we didn't had even a whisker of a hope there. The crowd cheering for India - "India Jeetega... India Jeetega" and the applause heard after every point India won was a new feeling for a whole generation. Standing up on the sound of Indian National Anthem was a feeling hardly experienced by many of us
The aftermath of the event is highly rewarding. I don’t care if it is politics, but a gold medal would earn a reward of 50 lakhs, a silver medal 30 lakh and a bronze around 15 lakhs for sure from various sources combined. Money is not the motivation for the efforts many athletes put in but when it comes, it definitely helps them uplift their living standards and look for better facilities given that most of the athletes in India are from poor village background. A state like Haryana helped India win 15 Gold Medals from boxing, wrestling, shooting and athletics. There is a lot of incentive in terms of jobs and promotion in the state that helps promote such a culture and it will now give special facilities to the medal prospects for the London Olympics.
Another great effect cwg leaves is on the mind of aspiring sportsperson and their parents. The parents whose child is just a beginner have a better sense of security and proud feeling compared to a decade ago when they would have asked him/her to quit sports because there’s no security/facilities/money and a lot of struggle. Now when the middle class children will start coming in sports, when there would be more academies and better facilities, the number of athletes will improve and hence the quality. The orthodox mindset regarding daughters/women pursuing sports would also change. Come on, women wrestling is something hard for married women from the villages but they came out against the odds.
So in all, it would definitely revive sporting culture in India and inspire and motivate many others to take up sports as a career.
THE BAD
We should not have hosted the games if we are so bad at managing budgets and projecting deadlines. Obviously everyone knew the games would go quite well, I mean you just have to give a very high priority to the games, disrupt the normal proceedings of the city, give a high security to athletes, purchase the required stuff at whatever cost it takes and the games will go on normally. If Greece can have Olympics held, India certainly could have cwg held. It’s just that what was the benefit of holding the games? Fifa brought in huge revenues for SA and it was a profitable event considering it involved infrastructure development of the country.
The other day, I heard Chetan Bhagat on the News Hour debate with Arnab saying that when our annual higher education budget is just Rs. 9000 Cr, we are in no position to spend 70000 Crores on CWG in India. The athletes would have performed in some other country as well and if it is not so, then we should not be feeling proud of them.
The mass displacement of people who dwell by footpaths, slums and roads was painful. The tongas of Old Delhi were declined renewal of license by MCD and asked to stop operations. The roadside food sellers were asked to wind up for the last 3 months. Connaught Place (aka CP) was dug up and all electrical connections faltered and since no credit cards worked the revenues of th hottest showroom destination dropped by 50 %. They suffered a lot due to the games and we’re here celebrating the success of some 100 athletes on whom we spent 70000 crores. C’Mon a medal worth 700 crores is a no deal. All the people who advocate that our infrastructure improved should know what happened after Asiad'82 and the same will repeat. Maintenance is much tougher than development. Chances are we won’t be able to sustain whatever we have built.
Either the games budget should have been well within control or they should not have been held.
THE UGLY
Suresh Kalmadi was the man who spent 70000 crores on the games for the benefit of his family and the chosen few. No rules were followed. Roads were constructed once, twice and thrice before the games. Contracts were given without tenders with a heavy bonus to deliver within a short time (because they started the preparations late). Corruption alone would have accounted for around 50 % of the budget and then nobody even questions Kalmadi. A real funny and shameful moment was when Lalit Bhanaut said that foreigners have higher standards of cleanliness that's why they found our games village dirty. What did he mean? We are gutter-dwellers.
Apart from this going into the sports side, why are all the sports associations and Olympic federations headed by politicians and not by some notable ex-sportsperson? . We all saw a debate on two associations fighting and going to court on who should select the hockey team. The coach of Indian hockey team, Mr. Jose Brasa says he is not even asked in matters concerning the selection of the team.(http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sports/brasas-fallout-with-hockey-india-is-over-prabhjots-recall_100419220.html) The country who started the hockey tradition and won gold for almost half a century in Olympics is currently ranked 9th in the world. Why are there double standards in ensuring that elections are held and the same old people are there for like a decade. The players want a change, they want to play and perform for India and most of them don’t wanna be a part of politics that goes around. I sincerely hope the level improve but mixing politics with sports is something which repels the middle-class people to risk the career of their children.
The corruption allegations and the aware Media ensured that no foreigners came to India and the tourist business remains at worse. All the hotel owners made investments but got no returns since the dengue, the condition of games village, the chaotic havoc created by the media was enough to dread away many athletes what to say about normal citizens.
We failed to earn any revenue from the commonwealth games, the tickets were sold by some random process and the website sucked. I am not sure if the young angry men will still be aware that it has been such a loot from our tax paid money and we should not be enjoying the party for long or will they enjoy the Gold hangover forever. At least a lot of people want to be in the hangover. I wonder if the dug up Karol Bagh or CP will ever be properly constructed since there is no more excuses for funds and no more emergency. I wonder we paid too much for too little.
The probe has been ordered by the PM and I deeply hope to get some people behind the bars and held responsible for such a raid and loot party.
Imperfectly yours,
Rohan
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