'Medal value not diluted by withdrawals'

Any sports meet such as Commonwealth Games is always considered a great event. For instance, the 1982 Asian Games gave us a lot of things; infrastructure being the first. It also gave sports in the country a major boost. Lot of people involved with the Asiad got positive exposure, be it organisers, athletes or the local bodies.

The Asian Games had brought in a lot of interest. The media, the government and everyone involved gave sports their top attention.

Even local athletes, who otherwise were not noticed much, got a lot of recognition. During such events, media coverage is much more than usual.

I understand that for the forthcoming CWG, the attention and hype has been diluted by the organisational blips, but my advice to sportsmen is to just concentrate on their training. Whatever is happening outside their realm of job is not in their hands. Of course, there is a bit of pressure that comes in with such things happening. It is impossible to ignore them because of the extensive media coverage. But it is the athletes’ job to remain focussed.

Surely, the pullouts and other unwanted things have robbed the event of some sheen, but they do not devalue the CWG medal. A medal is a medal. Of course, if the stars would have been there, the Games would have been better. When you have the best athletes coming at your venue, it adds value.

With the pullouts, the competition may become easier. But one should remember that later on, the CWG medal will still be called a medal. No one can say that since X didn’t participate that’s why Y won. But for many disciplines, the pullouts don’t make a difference. For instance, I believe the competition will be at its peak in table tennis. Singapore is getting stronger with so many Chinese players coming in. The women’s Singapore team is a world champ unit.

Our players will have to work their guts out to win. We do have good players and Sharath still remains our best bet. I understand that we don’t see different or new faces in TT, but if the existing bunch is doing a commendable job, then one should not complain. It is a question of merit. Selection is not made on any other criteria.

I believe CWG is taken pretty seriously. But at the end of it, for every athlete, it’s about how they prioritise. Also, the level of competition differs in various sports. In athletics and swimming, CWG is tougher than the Asiad. However, shooting, TT and badminton are tougher in Asian Games than in any event. But that doesn’t make CWG inferior.

—As told to Gautam Sheth