Asian Games 2014
Outflanked by Incheon

How did India end up being beaten by South Korea when even on the eve of the voting on April 17, everyone—including the Koreans—were sure that New Delhi would land the prestigious Games? Was it Union Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’s badly-timed torpedo, directed primarily at IOA president Suresh Kalmadi? Was it India’s low US$ 8 million bid? Or was there more to it?

By Norris Pritam

For some, India losing the Asian Games bid to Incheon was a worse defeat than that it suffered by Bangladesh in the cricket World Cup. “In the West Indies, you guys were arrogant and here you were overconfident,” remarked Bangladeshi Abbas Shakil, the IT solutions engineer at the Hotel Marriott in Kuwait where the bidding took place. In the case of West Indies, Shakil may have been spot on, but in Kuwait the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had every reason to be confident of getting the 2014 Asian Games to New Delhi.

During the pre-bid campaigns, the Suresh Kalmadi-led IOA had made all the calculations. To seek support of the National Olympic Committees of the 45-member Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), IOA delegates had visited all the countries, and extra care was taken to tap the not-so-friendly countries. It was all on the right course when the 200-member Indian delegation trooped into Kuwait, the headquarters of the OCA, three days before the voting on April 17.

In Kuwait, the two bidding cities had put up giant stalls in the lobby of Hotel Marriott. They faced each other. So intense was the lobbying that the officials manning the stalls waited well past midnight for each other to retire for the day. Next morning, it was again a race to be first to start business. Whenever a delegate crossed the hotel lobby, officials from both cities rushed to bring him to their stall. At times, when a delegate took the escalator to the 15th floor office of the OCA, an Indian or Korean official with a gift faced him at the door. In this business, the Indians, a nation of billions, outsmarted the Koreans. This left the Koreans a little bit jittery.

One person who spent almost all his time in the lobby was P S Ganapathi, the Indian ambassador in Kuwait. On the eve of the election, he hosted a party for all the delegates of the OCA. To New Delhi’s utter delight, most of the delegates attended the party, where they enjoyed sounds and sights of a mini-India created on the lawns of Ganapthi’s residence. Several delegates openly announced their support to New Delhi. On the other hand, Korean attendance at the party was relatively poor. Earlier in the day, when Randhir Singh, secretary-general of the IOA, was re-elected secretary-general of the OCA for a fifth consecutive term, it was a big boost to New Delhi’s bid to stage the 2014 Asian Games. It was, thus, with confidence that the Indian delegates woke up on the day of the voting.

Before the voting, both cities were given 30-40 minutes each to present their case. Korea’s presentation, while not glittering, was yet substantial. Meanwhile, the Korean bid document had pledged US$ 20 million to the OCA, and Korean Olympic Committee president Dr Jung Kil Kim iterated the fact by announcing it during the presentation. India’s presentation had lot of music, colour and drama—but what Suresh Kalmadi could offer was just about US$ 8 million. He promised to increase it at a later stage, but it didn’t cut much ice with the delegates. They seemed keener on what they had in hand rather than promises of more to come.

When OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah took over the mike to announce the name of the winning city, there was anxiety on the faces of the Indian delegates. “The city that will host the Asian Games in 2014 is Incheon,” he said in a faltering voice. A stunning uproar erupted from the Korean camp. The Indians were completely crestfallen. Kalmadi’s ashen demeanour and Randhir Singh’s plastic smile when he greeted the Koreans said it all. The Malaysian and Pakistani delegates seemed more upset than the Indians. They had been certain that New Delhi would get the Games.

On the eve of the voting, the secretary-general of the Malaysian Olympic Committee, Sie Kok Chi, had said, “The fight is going to be tough but New Delhi is emerging as a winner.” Lt Gen Arif Hasan, president of the Pakistan Olympic Association, had also said much the same.

Interestingly, during last-minute lobbying, the Koreans carried copies of an Indian newspaper story in which Union Minister of Sports Mani Shankar Aiyar had criticised the organisation of mega sports events in India. Aiyar’s contention was that such sporting events were of no use when millions of poor people went without food in India. While no one would argue against food, shelter and all other benefits to the impoverished, what was surprising was the timing of the news report.

Moreover, while Aiyar had the poor in mind, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his recorded message to the Asian sporting community, promised a glittering welcome to athletes and officials if the Games were allotted to New Delhi. His message flashed on a giant screen in the convention hall of Hotel Marriot for everyone in the Asian Sports glitterati to watch. Also, the Union Cabinet had already cleared the bid in New Delhi.

Besides the prime minister’s recorded message, K S Arora, secretary sports, Government of India, also addressed the OCA assembly during India’s presentation, assuring all help from the Indian government. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit made similar promises. All this was in stark and
total contrast to what Aiyar had to say. This created confusion and not a little fear of the future among the delegates, although it may not be the sole reason why New Delhi failed to get the Games.

The fallout of the Kuwait misadventure and the Kalmadi-Aiyar brawl has a direct bearing on the Commonwealth Games that New Delhi is going to host in 2010. Both men are already warring against each other for turf in the Organising Committee. Now, when the fight is in the open, more confusion is likely even in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games. The government and the prime minister should take stock of the situation and do damage control before it is too late.