Is India prepared for Asian Games?
By Ramu Sharma THE Indian Olympic Association in its new role as a liberal democrat has, at one go, cleared some 22 disciplines with nearly 350 sportspersons, for the forthcoming Asian Games in Bangkok. Whether the apex body can also wear the lawyer s mantle as effectively while arguing the case in the Union Sports Ministry is an altogether different matter. Whatever the final verdict after the bout with the Ministry, it would be wrong to describe the IOA s exercise in clearing and recommending such a large contingent as out of character. What has happened now is something that has been done nearly every time before a multi-discipline event, particularly the Asian Games. This year the IOA had set the tone for a big contingent earlier, replacing the accepted second place norm with third place or possible medal prospect and thereby opening up a pandora s box for all-comers. The apex body means well and has in its mind the more important Afro-Asian Games scheduled for 2001. That would hav
