Indian Sports - A glimpse

Somdev Devvarman has asserted that their collective refusal to play in Davis Cup does not potray India and its tennis players in bad light and the "revolt is one of the most remarkable things" that has happened in Indian sport.

Somdev also said that the young players have been "super unselfish" by joining his initiative as they risked several benefits.

AITA selected a third-string team to play against South Korea as 11 players including Somdev, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, dug their heels and said they will not represent the country unless AITA improves playing conditions.

"I completely disagree with that," was Somdev's emphatic reply when asked if their stance paints a poor picture of Indian tennis and its players.

"If you look at the past, Mahesh has represented India for 15 years and I have been playing for some years now. This is for the first time in Indian tennis in particular, that players have united for what they believe in. It's an incredible thing."

"Tennis is an individual game and it is not easy to get players together. There is a clear problem, that's why the players have come together. If you look it that way, it's a huge step forward for Indian tennis," he said.

Somdev said in the past the players were scared of raising issues as they would be denied wild cards, funds and benefits by irking the top bosses of AITA.

But now the players want things to change for good.

"Our young players have been unselfish. This is incredible to see them all on the same page. They know they are missing out on the chance of playing Davis Cup. But this would not have happened if there was no problem with AITA.

"Sacrifice they are making will help the future generations. The sport in general and Indian tennis will move forward," he said.

Somdev said they could have reconsidered their stand had AITA communicated its latest concessions through proper channel.

"The last time AITA wrote to us was on January 6. We were completely unaware of the statement they came up with in the media yesterday. How are we supposed to reconsider our decision then?" he questioned.

"I was very clear, that we want everything professionally before we took a stand," he said.

AITA has agreed to change support staff, increased players' share in prize money, nodded on consulting players while choosing surface, venue and the physiotherapist.

The federation has also agreed to give business class airfare for even group level ties and also accommodated the demand to have six players in the side instead of four.

The way India Sports is run is shocking and shameful.

We have been banned by different International Sports bodies because of Corruption.

In spite of so many strictures being passed on Kalamadi and his henchmen, we have not been able to remove them from our IOA.

The leeches, better known as politicians have entered this arena and massacred sports in India.

Can you imagine a nation of 1.2 billion cannot bring forth an athlete in any of the disciplines in the Olympics to win a gold medal.

It is not that we do not have the capabilities but those who deserve a chance never get it.

Our population spread across India is made up of different races.

Aryans, Dravidians, Mongolians make our population.

This same population in other countries bring pride to them and in India they cannot bring out their full potential.

Why?

Because of these politicians who like snakes curl up on their seats and strike any one who dare to get anywhere near the seats.

To improve sports, the first action should be to ban politicians from holding any position in any of the Sports bodies.

Second: no one should be at the helm in any sports body for more than three years.