Telangana needs a robust 'sports policy' first!

Team India's star batsman Virat Kohli got the loudest cheer when he pulled out a stunning victory for India from the jaws of defeat in the opening game of the T20 World Cup in Australia against the arch-rival Pakistan. A day before Diwali, the entire country cherished the nerve wreaking drama in the final over and celebrated the victory together. Entire India savoured the stupendous batting prowess of the former Indian skipper in a pressure cooker kind of situation alike. Entire nation shed tears on watching Virat's eyes welling up with tears of ecstasy and emotion. That is the beauty of sports. It shares emotions and unites people besides serving at least two dozens of positive benefits.

Ignorant of the magic of sports in people's lives and its role in development, Telangana government has been neglecting sports for the last eight years. The government's apathy has reflected in the just 36th National Games held in Gujarat from September 27 to October 10 this year.Amid the din and dust of Munugode by-election, the Telangana government and the entire political class missed reviewing the setback the newest State suffered in the Games, the all India athletic carnival and national equivalent to Olympics.While the government hasn't bothered to call for a brainstorming on the poor show, the opposition parties that are generally very quick in pining down the government's failures too took our sporting humiliation very light.

We are sliding

Telangana stood 12th in the medals tally in the previous edition, held in Kerala a year after the formation of the State in 2014, with 33 medals (8 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze). Due to Covid-19 pandemic and other administrative issues, the bi-annual Games were not held till this year. In the latest edition (36th Games), Telangana slid down to 15th place with 22 medals (8 gold, 7 silver, and 8 bronze). The neighbouring Southern States Karnataka (88 medals), Tamil Nadu (74) and Kerala (54) occupied 4,5 and 6 positions in the medals tally. The quantum leap of Karnataka (11th in 2015) and Tamil Nadu (8th in 2015) can be attributed to the respective governments' special focus on sports even as Telangana government is unable to find time to formulate a sports policy. Our players took part in 26 out of 33 disciplines in 36th Games but won medals only in 11 sports such as Athletics, Aquatics, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Caneoing, Netball, Rowing, Shooting, Roller Skating, and Table Tennis. We were out of contention in the remaining 15 disciplines. Women athletes saved Telangana face in Gujarat Games. Vritti Agarwal stands tall among them with 2 silver and 2 bronze in Aquatics. Being the hub of world Badminton, thanks to the valiant efforts put by Pullela Gopichand, we got three gold medals (Men Singles, Women Doubles and Mixed Doubles) in this particular racquet sport. Akula Sreeja, the National Table Tennis Champion and a gold medal winner at Common Wealth Games, bagged three medals, 2 Silver and one bronze. Nandini Agasarawon a silver in 110m Hurdles in women's section. A good number of officials from Telangana government and associations went to Gujarat anticipating a medal harvest but came back with deflated egos. These suit-coat babus should soul searchon their contribution to upliftsports they belong toand come up with corrective measures instead of jostling for media coverage on partwith the hardworking medal winners.

The Compliance Audit Report of the CAG, soon after the previous National Games, indicated that sports lacked patronage from the KCR government and I have many reasons to believe that it continued till date to become the reason for the sorry state of affairs on sports front.

Lack of funds and focus

The TRS government is not allocating sufficient budget for sports. The audit conducted between March and July 2017, observed, "A sum of Rs. 2,091.56 crore, i.e. 0.5 per cent of the total state budget of Rs. 4,18,310 crore, was required for the period from 2014 to 2017. However, the government only allocated Rs. 269.54 crore, a measly 0.06 percent of the state budget." The allocation showed a downward trend, from 0.12 per cent in 2014-15 to 0.04 per cent in 2016-17 and lo and behold it was also not released in full. Only Rs. 203.54 crore, 76 per cent of the total allocation, was released.

The government responded by making it clear that sports is not its priority. "Agriculture, irrigation, electricity, and public welfare programmes were being prioritised in the allocation of funds, and so the budget for sports was restricted," it said.

Everyone associated with sports knows as what ails sports in Telangana. We have good stadia because of the governments before 2014 and the contribution of N.Chandrababu to sports is immense. Since the funds are meagre, there is no upgradation of facilities and no money to recruit sufficient number of coaches. In March 2021, Sports Authority of Telangana Sate (SATS) chief A Venkateshwar Reddy had met the Finance Minister T.Harish Rao and thanked the government for allotting 113 cr for sports in the budget. There is no proper allocation for sports in the recent budget.

Even as Tamil Nadu and other State governments gifted huge cheques for Common Wealth medal winners, Telangana government has not done so till date apparently due to lack of funds. Similarly, the government called for a felicitation function for the National Games medal winners but they were given a letter of assurance instead of money. It seems a file is on the move and we don't know when the medal winners would get cash incentives.

Since there is no sports policy, Telangana athletes are unable to get cash incentives and there are no jobs for meritorious sports persons. The government claims that it is giving 2 percent reservation for sports persons but it is of no use for professional players. To create an eco-system for sports, all international players should be given decent government jobs so that they would become goodwill ambassadors of their respective departments.

The KCR government should take a leaf from Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat in promoting sports in a big way. There should be a provision for players to get coaching from international coaches besides valuing the services of the Indian coaches. A player-coach-parent-official synergy should be achieved to attract talent in the State. A proper talent hunt on the lines of Madhya Pradesh should be launched forthwith.

Players of Telangana are getting benefited from central government schemes like 'Khelo India' and "Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS)." Many players attributed their success to the Union government schemes and their sponsors such as Airports Authority of India.

The State government quoted a shloka in Anushasanika Parva of Mahabharata ("People's work is the rulers work, people's happiness is the rulers happiness, people's likes are the rulers likes and people's welfare is rulers welfare") in the latest budget but it proved beyond doubt that it is not living up to this when it comes to sports. Telangana Chief Minister KCR, who has taken a plunge into national politics with a lofty goal, should consider sports as a tool to improve his image among public, especially youth.

(The author, a Ph.D. in Communication and Journalism, is a senior journalist, journalism educator, and communication consultant)