Will India’s record 308 medals at the South Asian Games actually benefit Indian sport?

India and Nepal contested the final of the men's football event at the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati on Monday evening. In a pulsating match, the visitors began by conceding a goal but ultimately fought back to win 2-1. It was Nepal's first gold in the event in more than two decades.

It was a proud moment for the Nepal team and they deserved to bask in their glory. Unfortunately, their national anthem was cut off midway through the medal ceremony as the announcer promptly started to speak, completely unaware that the anthem was not yet over. Nepal's players, however, continued singing gallantly and completed the anthem despite the absence of the backing music.

Too many goof-ups

It was just one of the many organisational goof-ups that plagued this edition of the multi-sport South Asian Games.

The problems began even before the tournament started. For starters, the 2016 edition took place after a delay of four years. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2012 but there were several deferments because of administrative problems. The inauguration on February 5 was overshadowed by multiple claims of organisational deficiencies. The absence of a proper Games Village meant that athletes and officials from participating countries were put up in hotels. The Pakistani contingent comprising more than a hundred athletes were spread out across eight different hotels.

Things got worse when at the eleventh hour, the venue for the football event was shifted from the 10,000-seat Nehru Stadium in Guwahati to the Sports Authority of India Training Complex, which could only seat around 1,000 people. The excuse was laughable – in the haste for relaying the turf at the original venue, too much chemical had been sprayed, turning the ground brown rather than green.

A mismatch

Apart from the organisational shortcomings, it is perhaps worthwhile to take a good hard look at the relevance of hosting the South Asian Games. While it may purport to be the South Asian equivalent of the Olympics, it increasingly seems to be an event organised to enable a gold rush for India. In the last two editions of the event held in 2010 and 2006, India won a total of 90 and 118 gold medals respectively. Pakistan, the second-placed nation on both these occasions, could not even get past 50 gold medals.

Of course, it is not India’s fault that its neighbouring countries cannot win gold medals. But does beating vastly weaker opposition serve any purpose, especially when that time could be better used for training ahead of a far tougher assignment, the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this August?

Many Indian athletes certainly thought so. India fielded a largely second-string hockey team with most of their stars busy with the Hockey India League (and were then duly reprimanded by the Union sports ministry). Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap, two of India’s best badminton players, also pulled out, though not without drama. Kashyap was handed an air ticket for the Games and was only excused for the event after he pleaded for “special permission” to recuperate from an injury.

While India’s record 308 medals this year will no doubt be touted as a big achievement, the vast gap between the host nation and the other participating countries make the Games a mismatch. It is also a rather false reflection of India’s sporting fortitude, much like the Australian football team, which spent years demolishing its neighbours when it competed in the Oceania Football Federation, but achieved less success on the international stage. Finally, in 2006, Australia decided to join the Asian Football Federation for a more level playing field. The move helped improve their standards as Australia qualified for the next two FIFA World Cup finals, and also won the AFC Asian Cup last year.

It may perhaps be worthwhile for India to do something similar and think about competing with nations that could offer some semblance of competition. Otherwise, the South Asian Games will remain a costly jamboree (this year’s edition cost Rs 308 crore), offering the opportunity of winning many medals, but not much else.