On Monday, the Sports Ministry set up its task force to prepare India's roadmap for the next three Olympic Games, and released a nine-point action plan for that task force to implement. The plan, which was short on specifics, threw up several questions; ESPN has distilled them to five key questions the Ministry should answer.
Of the nine terms of reference, what is the central focus and the priority? Where does the Task Force begin?
The Task Force has been asked to look at "short, medium and long term" measures for "effective participation" at the next three Olympics, covering a period of 11 years. Which means that the athletes being expected to peak in 2028, should be between the ages of 10-15 at this point. Are the pathways there for them to take their first steps and find their way to the top? The Task Force is selected, it would seem, to provide a broad framework for sporting success. How will the necessary details get filled in? Who will assess and do that?
The next Olympics is in 2020. Are we on track?
It's been nearly six months since Rio 2016 and we are not yet aware of the Ministry's own internal assessment of what led to the underwhelming Olympics results. Or whether any short-term measures have been adopted or shortfalls corrected. Will they be providing the Task Force with their own assessment? It is also known that the best coaches in Olympic sport work with Games to Games targets and are given fresh contracts a year before the advent of an Olympic year - five years before the target Olympics - so that they can start working on their new jobs as soon as possible. The quality of coaches left for the 2020 Olympics will not, it is understood, come from the best of the crop. The best coaches are already at work with their charges.
The Task Force has been given three months to complete its work. What happens after that?
Is there any commitment given by the Sports Ministry that the recommendations will be taken on in entirety, should they even go against any situation that the Ministry finds itself comfortable with? Like for example, the familiar fallback of eastern Europe as a venue for training or as a source of coaching expertise without any tangible success or progress? The National Rife Association of India had put together a similar high-powered committee to make recommendations to prevent a repeat of Rio. Their report, presented well in time, has not seen changes on the ground. Is the Ministry confident that they can and will drive change? It would be advisable that they take advice from the privately funded bodies that work with elite and promising athletes and ask them how it is they identify future athletic potential and nurture them towards elite competition.
To those sending in congratulations 4being on committees.Sweet of u but pl wait,it's only due if there is a possitive outcome 4 Indian sport
- Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) 30 January 2017
What is the role of the national sports federations in this scheme?
The government provides the infrastructure and the funding for Olympic sport in India. The national sports federations must provide the competition and the access to participation. Their role becomes central to the success of any government plan. The ministry and the federations are often at loggerheads about access to funding and accountability. In early January, it was found that 41 NSFs of a total of 48 had not followed guidelines set by the ministry with regard to providing complete accounts and conducting elections. The Ministry was accused of turning a blind eye to such insouciance. So the question is, how can the Ministry prevent inefficiency, inaction or worse on the part of the federations?
Why are there no women or paralympians on the panel?
Strangely, despite both of India's medals at the Rio Games being won by female athletes, the ministry chose not to induct any women into the eight-member panel for reasons only known to itself. The expertise of former female sportspersons, like Manisha Malhotra, who has worked with elite athlete development in the past through the Mittal's Champions Trust, Anjali Bhagwat, who was an athletic representative at the National Rifle Association of India, and Nisha Millet, who is involved in a PIL to reform Indian sports administration which is at the Supreme Court currently, could have been utilized. Similarly the Paralympic Movement, which forms an essential part of sporting organisations all across the world has also not been involved. Ironically, on the same day, the Supreme Court announced its panel to run Indian cricket - and it included Diana Eduljee, arguably India's greatest woman cricketer.