Lovlina, Khanna and all the others

Rohit Mahajan

Anil Khanna, acting president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), believes that the ‘needs’ of Indian athletes during multi-sporting events, such as the Commonwealth Games, are harder to satisfy than ‘others’.

Perhaps Khanna, who is a man of the world, son of a sports administrator and father of another, is right. Perhaps he’s right to detect a disturbing sense of entitlement in athletes who come from the backwaters — places which have no paved roads or tap water, for instance, or whose parents are modest farmers or business-owners — and then win medals in the Olympics and forget humility and become conceited and over-righteous. They start demanding rather than supplicating — horror! The transformation from a humble athlete to a confident upstart can be upsetting for the administrators.

Khanna was speaking in the context of the uproar raised by boxer Lovlina Borgohain, a medallist at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, after reaching Birmingham for the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG). Her parents are small-time farmers and business-owners. She comes from a village with no paved roads and no tap water. She’s worked in the fields with her father. Now she dares to make demands of sports officials — Khanna won’t like it.

But social media has given a voice to the voiceless, and Lovlina can now raise her voice. Her Olympics medal makes her important. Her voice is heard and amplified by righteous netizens who believe — very often rightly — that the career sports administrator is unreliable, incompetent and self-serving.

Lovlina, in a long comment on social media, had alleged that her preparations were hampered due to “the continuous harassment” of her coaches, including personal coach Sandhya Gurung, by the ‘authorities’. Lovlina wanted Sandhya to be provided CWG accreditation so that she could stay in the Athletes Village and access the competition venue, and thus be at hand when Lovlina needed her.

It was then that Khanna said this: “It is tougher to satisfy Indian athletes’ needs a little more than others as they react a bit too early. A sense of cooperation between the athletes is not always there.” “Lovlina is an Olympic medallist, we had to accommodate her request,” he added.

But, from the chain of events and reports, it becomes obvious that IOA wasn’t keen on accommodating her before she decided to go public.

A Boxing Federation of India (BFI) official had said that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had ‘sanctioned’ Sandhya’s name for the CWG, but the ‘IOA is not doing it’. IOA then did it — provided accreditation to Sandhya — but only after being asked to do it by the Sports Ministry.

Lovlina then pointedly thanked Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, the Sports Ministry and SAI, and not IOA.

Doctor out

But Sandhya’s entry’s into the Athletes Village came with a price for the boxing team — to make room for Sandhya, the accreditation of team doctor Dr Karanvir Chib was changed to a different category. Consequently, he can now only visit the Athletes Village and must leave in the evening and stay in a hotel; worse, due to downgraded accreditation, he would not be able to be present ringside to help Indian boxers — they, instead, must use the services of the doctors provided by the organisers themselves. This situation is far from ideal.

For 12 Indian boxers in Birmingham, four officials were initially approved — because support staff can’t number more than 33 per cent of the number of athletes. On BFI’s request, the number of support staff was increased from four to eight, i.e. 66 per cent. Among them was Dr Chib, and he had to go out to make room for Sandhya.

Lovlina had her way, using the only method she knows works — publicising and escalation. She knows that’s how it works — those who can, do. In 2008, Sania Mirza’s mother Naseema was sent to the Beijing Olympics among five support staff. In 2018, the mother of PV Sindhu and father of Saina Nehwal accompanied the Indian badminton squad to the Gold Coast CWG on a ‘no cost to the government’ basis. After Saina’s father was not given access to the Athletes Village, she threatened to pull out of the event. The threat worked. At the same CWG, wrestler Babita Phogat was left in tears after her father, Mahavir Phogat, waited hours outside the wrestling arena as he had no tickets. “An athlete is entitled to two tickets,” she said, but she got none, despite requesting “everyone”. Lovlina knows that’s how things are — she could have her way only because she now can.

As for Khanna, he has controlled the All India Tennis Association (AITA) for a long time — he sort of inherited it from his father, RK Khanna, former secretary and president of AITA. The venue of the 1982 Asian Games and 2010 CWG in New Delhi is named after RK Khanna — not after Ramanathan Krishnan or Ghaus Mohammad, the first Indian to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals (in 1939).

Anil Khanna was elected life president of AITA, joining politicians SM Krishna and Yashwant Sinha — a travesty of democratic norms. The position was abolished in 2020 on the directions of the Sports Ministry. Anil Khanna’s son Aditya Khanna, coming from an illustrious lineage — and with dad’s help? — became the honorary joint secretary of the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association in 2009. He was the tournament director for the India-Denmark Davis Cup tie in March this year. He played tennis as a kid but gave it up at age 16, later turning to business and sports administration.

The Khannas know very well how inherited power of the elite works for generations, and Lovlina knows how earned power of sportspersons works, though for a short period, as Saina has discovered in recent times.

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