Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 15
A double onslaught
by an angry media and an aggressive Left opposition had cast doubts on
whether the 35th National Games could even be held on time. But the
Kerala government has now won all-round praise from the prime minister,
the president and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the
successful conduct of the Games.
The two-week-long event ended Saturday night with a glittering closing ceremony at the newly-built state-of-art stadium here.
The
trouble started when it became known that a leading regional daily had
secured a contract for conducting the curtain-raiser event Run Kerala
Run across the length and breadth of the state last month.
Until
then, the media had given positive news about the manner in which the
state government was working overtime to finish around 20 brand new
venues. When this news came out, things turned upside down and out came
numerous allegations of cost overlays which even led to discussions
about the Games being postponed to September.
Adding fuel to the
fire created by the media, the Left opposition came out blazing and
started a series of resignations from the 24 various committees that
were formed for the smooth conduct of the Games.
But things
cooled down a bit when Run Kerala Run turned out to be a big event which
saw people coming out in huge numbers, making it the most keenly
participated event. The Kerala government owes a special thanks to
cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar who was the brand ambassador for the event
besides being the goodwill ambassador for the 35th National Games.
However,
things appeared to go from bad to worse when the opening ceremony
turned a cropper after the inferior quality debut performance of
'Lalisom' -- the new music band of superstar Mohanlal -- and the
organisers came under flak for paying the superstar Rs.1.63 crore for
staging the event.
Things cooled down when the actor returned the
money and to assuage his ego, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Kerala
Sports Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan headed to his home to
mollify him.
Even though he did not take back the money, he agreed that he will give his proposal on how the government should utilise it.
But
the men who came for the flak most were the chief executive of the
Games, Jacob Punnoose, a former director general of police, and
Radhakrishnan and every word these two spoke came for threadbare
discussion on TV channels.
"Yes, I am relieved that not a single
complaint has come up against the organisers from the close to 10,000
athletes and officials who were in Kerala for the event. This in itself
is a great reward for our team," said Radhakrishnan.
Chandy also appeared relieved and said his government was committed to the future of sports in the state.
"We
will do our best for them and right now state-of-art sporting
infrastructure is there in the state. Apart from that, we will open a
new sports school and a new sports college for our aspiring
sportspersons to pursue their education," said Chandy.
"Very soon
a new sports policy will be in place and which will have all the
details on what we plan to do for our sporting talents," said Chandy.
Now
all await keenly the report of the audit of accounts of the Games,
announced last week by Radhakrishnan. The Kerala sports minister said
the audit report by the Local Fund Audit would be ready in 45 days.
