Protecting Our Athletes

Kudos to Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain for exposing the dirty secrets of Indian sports, which is dominated by scandals, court cases, suspensions, harassment, nepotism, etc. The Northeastern woman has shown tremendous courage in sharing that some officials have been continuously harassing her on various pretexts. According to her, the officials even tried to block the entry of her personal coach to the Commonwealth Games village, knowing full well that it would hamper her performance in the championships and possibly cost India a valuable medal. It raises the vital question about the continuance of these authorities in various sporting federations of the country as they put personal interests ahead of national interests. Will the officials ever be punished for harassing our athletes and hampering the country’s prospects of doing well in the international stage? 

Though the Lovlina episode has been settled for now with her personal coach getting entry to the games village, the officials with vested interests will definitely try to hit back sooner or later. As a matter of fact, Lovlina is not the only victim of harassment by sporting officials. Several Northeastern sportspersons have faced similar experiences when they entered the national stage. For instance, even after winning the King’s Cup in 1997, Ngangom Dingko Singh was not initially  included in the Indian Boxing squad for the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. Dingko managed to go to Bangkok only after a lot of hue and cry was raised by sports lovers all across the country. On his part, the pocket dynamo from the Northeast, as Dingko is popularly known, knocked out all opposition on his way to becoming the first boxer from India to win a Gold Medal at the Asian Games. The list of such injustice is unusually long, starting from Kunjarani Devi to Chekrovolu Swuro, every Northeastern sportsperson has faced discrimination in various forms whilst pursuing their passion to excel at the world stage.

Just before the commencement of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, India’s Olympic sports have been mired in a slew of controversy. Till now, three athletes have failed dope test and the gymnastics coach has had to be replaced at the eleventh hour in the wake of sexual harassment charges. It will not be an exaggeration to say that Indian sports is passing through a turbulent phase and it will be very difficult for the country to match its showing in the last Commonwealth Games held in Australia’s Gold Coast, where India came third by winning 66 medals including 22 Golds. Lovlina should be given credit for bringing the facts to light, when everyone else has kept mum for fear of ruining their sporting careers. Thus, it is now the duty of the Union sports ministry to ensure that Lovlina’s career is not hampered for simply speaking the truth. If the ministry fails to perform its job, Northeastern athletes will surely think twice before dreaming big, which will be a big loss for Indian sports as such an eventuality will severely hamper the supply line of sporting talents.