Government should not get involved in sports: Bindra

 Kolkata, Jan 24: Calling for professiolisation of the sports federations, India's only individual Olympic gold medallist Abhiv Bindra on Sunday said the government should not involve itself in sports.

Speaking at an interactive session at the Kolkata Literary Meet here, the ace shooter harped on the need of having professiols to administer sports so as to catch up with the world.

"There is more government funding for sports now, but in all reality, I think, the government should really not be involved in the business of sports... it's not their job," said Bindra, who in his autobiography had lamented not getting government support.

"The government is trying to do it, but they can't do it. When the world has got to such a competitive level, you need professiols handling everything, people who know how to run sports, people who have knowledge about sports performance, taking decisions," he said.

Pointing to the procedural bottlenecks, Bindra said government funding arrive too late.

"The government is doing but they have their limitations. They have their own way of functioning, which takes time and elite athletes do not have the luxury of time," he said.

Insisting he was not opposed to politicians heading the sports federations, Bindra said hiring professiols to run the administration was indispensable.

"You need to have paid CEOs to look after the day to day affairs, professiols to take care of the technical aspects of the sports, only then things would start to get better," said Bindra adding there were instances when federations refused to hire professiol administrators to keep intact their power.

Even as he described the coming up of various sporting leagues including the kabaddi and hockey leagues as positive, Bindra expressed his scepticism about their efficacy. IANS

Top Headlines

No stories found.
Sentinel Assam
www.sentinelassam.com