What’s wrong with cash-for-medals?

In his poem ‘Ode to a spectator’, Ogden Nash has stated his preference for being the spectator rather than the sportsman. He’d rather be in the stands than in the field. However, if he had seen that excruciating suspense thriller, the tennis final match between Nitin Kirtane of Maharashtra and Punna Vishal of Andhra Pradesh at the recent National Games in Hyderabad, he would have probably reversed his opinion. After that nail-biting match where Nitin representing Maharashtra emerged a winner to take the title, one realised what Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, has been gunning for. Having lured quite a number of sportspersons from various fields to play for AP by holding out cash for medals, he not only achieved his object of getting the number of golds but also the dubious distinction of using any and every method to achieve his target.

One wonders why there is such a big fuss about Naidu’s approach, as illustrated by your editorial ‘Make money run’ (IE, December 27). Naidu has done what the cricket authorities have been doing for years. Indians have played cricket for English clubs and earned large sums of money. Brain drain is based on the same philosophy. People who have become engineers from IITs ultimately settle abroad because of better opportunities and cash incentives. So, what did Naidu do wrong? In interviews, sportsmen who have switched their state clearly stated that they are still a part of India and have not been disloyal to the country in any way.

Perhaps one solution could be if the sports authorities declare that all gold, silver and bronze winners will get the same incentive regardless of which state they represent. Then the question of playing for another state would never arise. But hats off to Chandrababu Naidu for doing something constructive to encourage sport other than cricket. Let’s hope other state governments do something similar to appreciate individual efforts by either equalling AP’s incentive or even superseding it. After all, isn’t sports a combination of many things — the competitive spirit and fair play as shown by the AP crowd that first cheered Punna Vishal but ultimately bowed to Nitin’s prowess with a standing ovation?