Suresh Kalmadi, Abhay Singh Chautala and Indian sports mafia are causing fans to lose belief

Embers never die out. That they do is a fallacy; a myth. When the fire is out and the embers are glowing, people usually call it a night. But not the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). They raised a few ghosts from the past; two of them who go by the name of Suresh Kalmadi and Abhay Singh Chautala.

It will be good to delve into what exactly IOA President N Ramachandran was thinking when he agreed to a member present a proposal to make both Kalmadi and Chautala IOA honorary life-presidents. Not only that, the house unanimously passed it. It’s like the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) presenting and passing a proposal to make Mohammed Azharuddin its anti-corruption Chief. Just for the record, BCCI president, Anurag Thakur was sitting right there when Kalmadi and Chautala were re-inducted into the IOA, even though the honorary posts have no executive powers.

Since then Kalmadi has excused himself from the ‘honorary’ post. “He has taken the decision to step aside. He had no idea that the IOA was going to do this on Tuesday and has declined any post till his name is clear,” Kalmadi’s lawyer Hitesh Jain told the media.

Kalmadi had ‘no idea’. Really? Like the coach never knew his athlete was taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Chautala, like a true politician, has bought time. “I wish to thank the IOA for nominating me to the ceremonial position of lifetime president and I have already informed the president IOA, through a separate letter, that if IOC is not favourably inclined, I will be pleased to sacrifice my position in the best interest of Indian sports, sportspersons, good governance, transparency and cleanliness in India sports,” said Chautala; the key word here being ‘sacrifice’.

While nine-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt was voted by the AIPS (International Sports Press Association; where a panel of 382 journalists from 110 nations voted) ‘Best Male Athlete of 2016’ for a record sixth time, and the award for ‘Best Female Athlete’ went to US gymnast and four-time champion from Rio 2016 Simone Biles, sports headlines in India seem to have little to do with the athletes themselves, or so our earnest efforts would point towards.

Still waters, however, run extremely deep. Most of the exiled, rusted administrators have a tendency of waking up after a self-induced coma. Not only in India but across the world, sports federations are run like ‘closed families’ with omerta — a code that places importance on silence, non-cooperation with authorities, and non-interference in the illegal actions of others. Nobody could put it as aptly as the former Fifa president Sepp Blatter: “We don’t go to strangers,” he once said. “If we do have problems in our family, we solve the problems in the family.” Thus, after Suresh Kalmadi was arrested in the CWG scam, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, another long distance runner in sports administration, stepped in to take over.

Malhotra has been at the helm of the Archery Association of India since 1973. He is the honorary life president at the moment; a sly tactic of going around the age factor after 70. Now at the age of 84, he still is powerful and takes decisions. Legends such as Sachin Tendulkar and David Beckham have debuted, made their marks and retired, but Malhotra is still at it.

In more than 40 years of him being the country’s undisputed administrator of archery, India is yet to win an Olympic medal. India for the first time sent an archery team to the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In the subsequent mega-event at Barcelona, where Limba Ram finished 10th and for a while was in strong contention for a medal, Malhotra said, “In Atlanta, we will win. Limba has set the foundation and other archers will follow.”

On the age factor, when the Delhi High Court ruled that National Sports Federation Chief’s tenure should be limited, Malhotra had asked a question, “The argument that I would like to present is that there is no tenure limitation for the Prime Minister of India, the other ministers, MLAs, MPs or chief ministers of the states. Then why should this be applicable to only the sports bodies?” Archery fans would also like to ask Malhotra a question – when will India win its first ever archery Olympic medal?

It’s not just Malhotra who couldn’t look beyond himself. It took the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi to take out VK Verma, who had been running badminton for 13 long years. In the wild west of Indian sports administration, player performance and financial clout mostly does sugarcoat the dictatorship values that are at the core of a federation. Otherwise, there’s barely a reason why Anil Khanna, the president of the Asian Tennis Federation and the vice president of the International Tennis Federation, should suddenly get himself elected as the honorary life president of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and then refuse to take up the post till the sports code issue is settled with the acceptance of the age and tenure guidelines.

Before Anil, his father Raj Kumar Khanna ran Indian tennis. For more than five decades, the Khanna family has virtually owned Indian tennis. But do any of these officials really bother when voices like Rohan Bopanna ask, “All around the world, it is the ranking which is sole criteria for selection and that should be the case in India also. It makes thing simple for everyone.”

Rohan wasn’t selected for the Indian Davis Cup team for the tie against New Zealand. Players clearly are not the priority here.

In an year where Indian Test cricket re-wrote multiple records at home, PV Sindhu won India’s first ever silver in Olympic badminton, Sakshi Malik argued her case with a bronze that wrestling can look beyond Sushil Kumar and athletics star Neeraj Chopra scripted history by smashing the junior world record in javelin en route to a gold medal at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships. Our sports administrators however, continued with their narcissistic personality disorders. While infrastructure is still a struggle and challenge in India, sports minister Vijay Goel probably set a record for selfies and pictures with Indian and global Olympic stars at Rio.

Deliberately keeping himself away from public scrutiny in the past, Janardhan Singh Gehlot, president of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) for 28 years is very visible now. In May 2013, he was made life president of the organisation. Three years later, Janardhan retired from the Rajasthan Kabaddi Association, in which he was president for a period four years shy of half-a-century.

After the elections, Gehlot said, “I have been working for the association as president since 1970. I have now decided to give a chance to the new generation.” In Janardhan’s place, stepped in Tejesvi Singh, his son who, of course was elected unanimously and qualified himself by saying, “I have grown up in a kabaddi household. Earlier it was played on sand and now on mats.” In the folds of democracy, dynastic rule flourishes.

The Dhindsas also control a sporting umpire – cycling. First, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa was the Cyling Federation president before he allowed his son Parminder to take over. Sukhdev was president of the Punjab Olympic Association for more than three decades. Now Parminder is IOA vice president too. Parminder perhaps could also stake claim to growing up in a cycling household. Don’t know what the Munjals (owners of Hero Cycles) will feel about that.

Former athlete and a hardliner against power-hungry sports administrators for more than a decade, Sunita Godara feels it’s a nexus. “First of all, IOA and sports federations are a nexus, a mafia in which people like Kalmadi and Bhanot are the kings and they are the ones who run it. They have been made life president because they won’t be able to run for elections and on paper they won’t have any power. But, the truth is they have all the powers and the president or secretaries are simply dummies.”

Jagdish Tytler, after 27 years as Judo president, appointed his trusted lieutenant Mukesh Kumar as his successor after he turned 70. The Chautalas, however, are a class act. Abhay was president of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) before he replaced himself with his brother-in-law, Abhishek Matoria, a BJP MLA from Rajasthan. Matoria and the IABF executive council then re-wrote the federation’s constitution to make Chautala the chairman of the IABF. Abhay’s brother Ajay was president of the Table Tennis Federation of India for three terms (four years each) before being sentenced to jail for 10 years with his father Om Prakash Chautala.

If there was a medal for holding multiple positions, IOA president Ramachandran would win it hands down. Ramachandran is the vice-president of the Indian Triathlon Federation (his wife is the president). He has also been elected as president of the Tamil Nadu Cycling Association, World Squash Federation, Tamil Nadu Squash Rackets Association and is the vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Olympic Association. Justifiably so, he was awarded the Olympic Order for outstanding contribution to the Olympic movement by the IOC president Thomas Bach.

Even the IOC has had its own house spring-cleaned regularly. Ruben Acosta served 24 years as president of the International Volleyball Federation but had to step down after being accused of corruption. World Taekwondo Chief Kim Un-yong also had to resign from his post, which he had held for three decades, in 2004. He was convicted of embezzling funds from the World Taekwondo Federation. In 2005, the IOC recommended his expulsion.

When Kim was convicted his lawyer defended Kim saying his actions and business conduct were rooted in South Korea’s dictatorship period of the 1970s and 1980s, and it was unfair to judge him by present-day values.

What most of these Indian Olympic sport officials need to understand is that the nation — more specifically, the fan — is losing belief. While the sporting world hurtles past us, administrators like Kalmadi frittered away time, and with it valuable athletic talent.

It’s time for rejuvenation. Fresh voices. People who can keep self away and bring the nation forward. Understand the geometrics that govern world sport. India’s next lot of sporting talent needs a voice. Not narcissistic wonders like Kalmadi, Chautala and his ilk. Hopefully, that’s not an unrealistic New Year Wish to ask for.