Setting up a Commission on Aussie pattern suggested

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 19. An Indian sports commission, on the Australian pattern, with wide-ranging powers and huge funds could be formed for the implementation of the K.P. Singh Deo Commission report.

This was one of the recommendations of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in its report as well as the opinion that emerged at the seminar titled `Eight Years To Gold', organised by the IOA here on Thursday. It was also suggested that physical education and sports should be integrated at the school level and there should be inter-action with sports sciences at all levels.

The Indian sports commission idea, though on the pattern of the Australian one, would be ``an Indian solution to an Indian problem,'' as the chairman of the IOA Sports Commission, Mr. K.P. Singh Deo, put it.

The idea was to include in the commission, among others, the Sports Ministry, Education Ministry, Finance Ministry, Planning Commission, Association of Indian Universities, the University Grants Commission, the School Games Federation of India, Confederation of Indian Industry, the IOA and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for better co-ordination among various agencies. Surely a far-fetched idea in the Indian context, but worth a try all the same.

Some of the speakers, including Mr. Singh Deo, and Dr. Karan Singh, a Dronacharya award winner and a gold medallist in the 1951 Asian Games, were apprehensive about the report on the seminar being dumped into files or libraries and never finding its way back onto the decision-making tables.

However, the IOA secretary-general, Mr. Randhir Singh, assured the small gathering at the India International Centre here that the topic would definitely come up at the next Executive Council meeting itself.

Whether it does or not, the seminar brought up a lot more relevant points than that had been put into the `Eight Years To Gold' report prepared by the Singh Deo panel that formed the basis of the presentations at the seminar. In fact, Mr. Singh Deo himself admitted during his summing up that Dr. Vece Paes who presented a paper about tennis development geared towards the gold medal in the 2008 Olympic Games had done a far better job than his own committee.

Surprising, indeed

Implementation was the major problem, Mr. Singh Deo admitted, but quoting the executive director of the SAI TEAMS Wing, Maj O.P. Bhatia, he indicated that there was no paucity of funds in Indian sports, through Central and State governments and corporate houses.

At a time when the federations were finding it difficult to get national coaching camps going, for want of funds, lamenting about the tardy supply of equipment and scratching the bottom to put together a calendar that will not be disturbed by a State unit for lack of resources, the revelation about funds aplenty came as a surprise.

The speakers included former Test captain Bishan Singh Bedi, Olympian hockey player Group Capt. R.S. Bhola (retd), former director-general of the SAI, Mr. A.K. Pandya, Olympian Dr. Ajmer Singh, Dr. Karan Singh, Dr. Vece Paes, the director (Sports Sciences, SAI), Dr. P.S.M. Chandran and the principal, Laxmibai National Institute of Physical Education (Thiruvananthapuram), Dr. M.L. Kamlesh.

In a typical, no-holds-barred speech, Bishan Bedi wondered how professional sports in the country could be run by amateur administrators. He also wanted to know what had kept the sports officials glued to their positions for so long. ``What is there?'' was his poser.

Dr. Karan Singh wanted the physical fitness tests to be resumed throughout the country. He said it was important to have three or four competitors at the top level in one event, say in athletics, instead of concentrating on just one athlete. ``Anything can go wrong.''

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