Learn from South Africa

Don’t you ever get the feeling that any event in India can’t happen with its fair share of bumps and unwanted controversies. As it is, irrespective of what the central government says, India remains a soft target for terrorist attacks. We just are not serious enough about dealing with them. Apart from that we have parochial interests masking as the voice that represents popular sentiment in India,who just damage our reputation.

We had a situation where the Hockey World Cup currently being held in India successfully was under threat due to security concerns. India, still has to learn about how to host a no fuss, hassle free and highly successful sporting event of considerable repute. Look at how the sports administration involved is messing with the Commonwealth Games. The failure of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi seems impending and the tax payers will pay for several years for such a non event.

We all say look at China and how they hosted an Olympics.

But that is a comparison that is not justified, because they are a communist country where rules and structures can be built in a day. China wanted the Olympics Games to be its showcase event and it ensured it was in Beijing in 2008 .

However,rather than getting intimidated by China and its prowess,a much more valid case-study for Indians to study is South Africa .Post apartheid; it has been a consistently excellent sporting event host. It has hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, 2003 Cricket World Cup, 2007 Twenty 20 World Cup and the hugely anticipated 2010 Football World Cup this summer is to held there.

Unlike China, instead of aiming for the pole star that is Olympics, South Africa has aimed for the smaller stars, got them,and as a by product has a brilliant constellation. A fantastic CV as a host nation.

Of course,it helps that it is a multi-sports loving nation. It was home to last season’s IPL remember? And they did it successfully in midst of their general elections!!

Think about the reputation a country gains by being a safe and infrastructurally sound venue. There is something that can be learned from the South Africans.

Sports is a religion in South Africa.

Transcending race, politics or language group, sport unites the country - and not just the male half of it. The atmosphere is always found to be super charged in South African stadiums.

When a South African team wins, a cacophony of hooting, cheering, banging of dustbin lids, trumpeting on cow horns and fireworks reverberates across its cities.

Sports has shown it has the power to heal old wounds. When the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup on home turf in 1995, Nelson Mandela donned the No 6 shirt of the team's captain - Francois Pienaar, a white Afrikaner - and the two embraced in a spontaneous gesture of racial reconciliation which melted hearts around the country. A single moment, and 400 years of colonial strife and bitterness … suddenly seemed so petty.

But India is more complex. No one can do something or make a statement without upsetting someone ,somewhere. Indian sportpersons are making progress. For example,Narain Karthikeyan opened the gates and Karun Chandhok followed. What we need now is an immensely successful sporting event .I hope it starts with the Commonwealth Games 2010 which gives the momentum to Cricket World Cup next year and maybe an F1 Grand Prix thereafter.