M.S. Dhoni and co. may be busy warming up for the ODI series against the West Indies which opens in Kochi on Wednesday, but the Indian cricket team not being in the 17th Asian Games was the talk of Incheon on Saturday.
Despite having the world’s most popular cricket team, India did not send its men’s and women’s cricket squads to the Asian Games thus robbing the country of two possible gold medals here.
And the Olympic Council of Asia, which organises the multi-sport Asiad, feels that the Indian cricket officials are looking at the sport as a business and by skipping the Continental Games, they are killing cricket.
“I’m sorry to say this, but I think the people who are in charge of cricket there are looking like business people. They want to make money rather than looking at the promotion of the game,” said OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, in reply to a question about the Indian cricket team missing the Asiad, on Saturday.
“They want to control the market, they want to control the game, they want to keep their athletes as their own, they don’t want to send them for the Asian Games, this is not sport, this is business industry.”
He felt that the Indian board’s action is spoiling the chances of many young players.
“Things may change in future…but now, they are looking at the business view more than the sports view.
“By that, they are killing cricket, they are limiting the chances of young players. Sorry to say that but this is the reality. I’m being honest to myself,” said the OCA Chief.
“They think that cricket is their baby and they want to keep it close to their chest. It may be a personal choice but cricket is people’s game. You can be rich by the game but you have to see the game grow in other parts of the world too.”
Did somebody tell him that Maria Sharapova has not heard about Sachin Tendulkar?
Sheikh Al-Sabah also said that the existence of the Asian Games was not in danger despite Vietnam backing out from hosting the 2018 edition and Indonesia winning the right to host the next edition in Jakarta without any contest.
He also said that the OCA does not plan to chop the number of disciplines in a big way.
“We gave the next Games to Indonesia because they were in the bid in the first race but China is willing to host it any time, Bangkok too,” he said.
Regarding the number of events, he said, “in Guangzhou, it was 42 sports, we decreased the number to 36, we tried to decrease the hosting cost of the games but there is a number decided at the start and this cannot change because this is the main games of Asia,” he said.
Hijab controversyRegarding the hijab controversy which saw the Qatar women’s basketball team pull out of the Asian Games after arriving here, he said hijab is not related to religion but related to a culture which is nearly 5000 years old.
“While football and many other federations have allowed it, there is no reason for the basketball federation to reject it. By this rule, you are just bringing down the number of girls playing it. We are already in discussion with the international federation and I hope they will approve it in future,” he said.
