From Win-Win to Lose-Lose
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 25, 2010 -

"Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," is a phrase that has become part of our vocabulary thereby underlying the deep impact that expert commentators and writers have on the public, and not surprisingly this is mostly associated with cricket. We do not know the origin of this phrase, except that this phrase has entered our vocabulary, after some clever twists of the words and completely turning the original meaning on its head.

It has also become a cliches' and many people are entitled to their right to dismiss such cliches' as boring or churning out the same thing again and again. But there arises certain moments, when these old cliches', which is the perfect or near perfect stringing up of words to make a state of affairs a coherent whole and effectively convey the picture of a situation in its entirety, without having to go into reams and reams of papers to describe how a match was lost when victory was just a door's knock away.

The present ugly developments that have sprung up in the women's boxing squad for the Asian Games is one such example, which aptly fits the situation, where the above quoted phrase can be applied comfortably. India or at least Manipur was still in a celebratory mood after the excellent showing by the women's boxing squad, capped off by the golden efforts of Mary Kom, who went on to notch up her fifth finish at the gold medal podium in a trot.

Sarita, the runners up last year could not live upto the expectations and she had to return empty handed this time, although some other Indian women boxers did make it to the podium, making it an overall above average show.

However, as it has become customary with anything associated with Indian sports (a good, present example is the farce of a preparation underway for the Common Wealth Games at Delhi), the ugly shadow of allegations which range from favouritism, flouting the rules and regulations for the convenience of some players, nepotism and of course sleaze and money laundering continues to dog sports in India.

Whether it is cricket, hockey, football, weight lifting and now boxing and even football, in fact every possible sports discipline, have been dogged by one controversy or the other. Just remember Lalit Modi and IPL, to quote an example. It was somewhat ironic that while the country is facing a series of embarassment in front of the whole world, courtesy the Indian definition of meeting a deadline, and standard of hygiene, came the good and rare news that Mary Kom had won the gold in the Women's World Boxing Championship for the fifth time in succession.

Not that this singular achievement will erase the shame that has now become anonymous with the preparation for the Common Weath Games as well as the hilarious jokes doing the round, especially with reference to Mr Suresh Kalmadi, but at least, we were under the impression that at last there is something to cheer about in Indian sports.

However as things have unfolded, the Indian Boxing Federation or some jokers have made it sure that the mood is spoilt and more importantly it has driven a wedge between two champions from the same State-Mary Kom and Sarita Devi. It is a lose-lose situation for everyone, for no one, not Mary Kom, not Sarita and certainly not boxing as a sports will come out winner but will end up as losers. Surely the time has come to recoin a phrase which goes something like, "A position in any sports body is the last refuge for an incompetent politician or a bureaucrat or even a scoundrel."

From the little information that we have managed to collect, we are able to understand certain things, which were hitherto unknown to us and to the majority of the people. In fact, it was a stand-off and a ugly one, that was just waiting to happen anytime and it has happened now. A brief recap of the recent past may throw some light on the latest development, that has all the potential to rob some sheen and gloss off the gold medal won by Mary Kom recently.

With China ready to introduce women's boxing in the Gwangzhou Asian Games in certain weight categories this year, it was but natural for world beaters like Sarita and Mary Kom to eye a berth in the Indian squad. As providence would have it, China did not include the 46 and 48 Kgs weight category in the event, which eventually ruled out the participation of Mary Kom as she fights in these weight category.

The choice left for her was then to climb a nothc or two to qualify for 51 Kgs category, which has been the domain of Sarita for a long time, having won an Arjuna Award for landing the Silver in the last world championships besides being the reigning Asian Champion and a former World Champion to boot. So far so good, but the story does not end here and a sordid drama followed, enacted before the media and the public.

Sarita has already gone on record and stated and she wants a retrial with Mary Kom in the 51 kgs category, for according to her, her name was included in the select list in the said category for the Asian Games, after two days of trial at Bhopal on August 20 and 21. However for reasons best known to the Indian Boxing Federation, it decided to hold another trial for the Asian Games, in which Mary Kom bested Sarita.

The only information that we have been able to cull from news agencies is that the IBF decided to dub the earlier trial selection as "inconclusive." The IBF will certainly be in a better position to define and explain what this term means in relation to the said retrials or trials, but the damage has been done and it will take more than sweet talks and symbolic gestures to mend the fence.

Already, Sarita has announced that if the retrial is not conducted within a week's time (from September 23), she would be constrained to return the Arjuna Award bestowed on her as well as never to play for the country again. Here is the story of two world beaters, each champions in their own right and it is a bitter pill to swallow that these two talented, disciplined and dedicated sportspersons, should be put in such a position from which neither will emerge winner but where both will end up as losers.

The ills dogging Indian sports perhaps is nothing but a reflection of the overall rot and stinky public toilets that have become the defining characteristic of India and her governance.