KAHIHI

CWG arrangement has been a disaster. However, let’s wish that aspiring athletes of our country do get a good foundation to showcase their skills and rewarded deservingly. Perhaps, it would be a golden opportunity for them to strike gold and achieve a breakthrough into sporting career. Our country most certainly would have sportsmen and sportswomen with incomparable skills and let they not be deprived of this chance to participate. We can deal with the Kalmadi, Gill, & Associates later after the games are over, and hopefully we will. For now let the event go on.

Yes, and we indeed have talent. We have won a respectable position in the medals tally. Our athletes haven’t let us down and there is, for sure, some patch of shine on the blot of shame that was conferred upon our nation. Sincere congratulations to the winners who contributed in restoring pride of our nation and we will certainly have more coming.

I do not wish to pardon the Pakistani players for their dissolute behaviour; the act that they did is worth a condemnation. And they should be punished for integrity issues. However, a little rationale thought will yeild a conclusion that it is not the "Pakistan" issue alone. It is about aspirations, desires, greed, jealousy, and so on. When their Indian counterparts are making fortunes playing the game of cricket, it is obvious that their hopes ride high too.

I heard during a discussion about "could there be an Indian link?" But of course, I mean are Indians not greedy, jealous, aspire to get-rich-overnight etc? And we have a history too. Our tainted cricketers are excused for lack of evidence and later also walk their way to the parliament. While the situation in Pakistan, nation as a whole, is worrysome (terrorism, lack of funds, poor governance, dark future of its citizens etc), the system in India is full of loopholes; and there are many who exploit that system. Cricketers of Pakistan have no one to look up to or look forward to, like what we have in India - BCCI, the richest cricket board in the world; they are banned from IPL and their authorities do nothing about. And thus these players adopt ill means to satisfy their aspirations.

It would be rather foolish to blame Pakistan alone and exciting to see how the top boss of ICC, the man who has made unimaginable fortune, reacts to the whole issue - and that establishes the Indian link.