Dolphin Man Phelps, Black Indigenous People in Olympic and We
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 47
Palash Biswas
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India's sole individual Olympic gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra on Saturday suggested the country draw inspiration from the Chinese “obsession to win Olympic medals” as there was no dearth of talent here that could be trained to win.
“I guess China is obsessed with winning Olympics gold medals and we should take inspiration from it. In India, there is no dearth of talent but a lot needs to be done to utilise it in a proper manner,” Bindra told reporters at his family farm near Zirakpur town near here.
China won the first Gold Medal in any Olympic Game in 1986. China defeats United states of America in another kind of World War in Beijing Olympic setting aside the protests in Tibet.
We are fortunate to boast that we participated in Olympic Games in 1900 and have a glorious past of Gold medals in Hockey!
What happened to us?
Bindra`s gold and hopefully sauces in Boxing may not wipe out the discrimination at home and the Results resultant!
Contrarily, Indigenous Communities worldwide have revealed the potentials of stamina and energy, skill and opportunity in the field of sports. Black power represents Super Power United States of America in sports. It is Athletics! It is Tennis. African countries have surged ahead to express the Indigenous Black Power. Even Europe is represented by the Black!
In India, Manusmriti rules the sporting fields as Ruling Brahminical Hegemony never allows the Indigenous talents any space any where. even in the field of sports!
Monica`s Lost Olympic is the case study of Indian Psyche! Please read:
nandigramunited: Monika`s Lost Olympic and Manipuri Explosion
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Dolphin Man Phleps has express very well the importance of technique associated with nature. He swims striking the waves at fifteen degree angle as the Dolphins do. Williams Sisters and the athletes from Africa led by Bolt represent the Black World. China has shown well how a Nation emancipates with National Pride scaling all heights!
What do we do?
Sports and politics often make an unwholesome mix. It was no different when sports minister M S Gill tried to suggest to India's "goldfinger" Abhinav Bindra that while he should call on Congress president Sonia Gandhi, it was not necessary to visit Leader of Opposition L K Advani.
Gill, who chaperoned Bindra around the Capital after he returned with his gold medal from Beijing, suggested that the champion call on Sonia after meeting President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
We are against apartheid . Are we against caste system and the Ruling Hegemony dominating the field of sports,too?
Do all nationalities and identities have enough opportunity to perform?
Is the selection process in sports is transparent enough?
More over, Half of the Indian children divided into more than six thousand castes apart from the aboriginal tribal people and the minorities are born with inherent injustice and inequality. The parents are ejected out of life, livelihood and indigenous production system. They are predestined to starve? We lose so many Bolts, William sisters, Karl Lewis, Maradona and so on as Poverty and starvation, discrimination and Ruling Hegemony spares no space for them. Our children are not allowed to enjoy life. They are disassociated from nature and natural resources, roots, culture, identity and mother language! How may we dream to compete china or United states of America?
More over, detached from Indian social Fabric as well as Social realism and banking on hatred and discrimination only, the Sensex Shining India Ruling Class treat this Indian nation as the Colony of United States of America! I dare to announce that the ruling class with strategic re alliance in US lead, may well consider the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals won by United states of America our achievement and glory. Depriving the Indigenous black untouchable is the agenda. Hence, we never learn the mystery of US, Chinese or US successes in Olympics!
How many Gold Medals have we won since 1900 in Olympic games?
Phleps alone has won more than us!
One billion and one hundred million Indians bear the legacy of Shame and exceptional successes may do no good until we change our psyche!
Hypcricy allows no space for democracy.
Please read this document!
UNITED NATIONS, INDIA AND BOYCOTT OF APARTHEID SPORT (1988)
[Paper presented at the seminar of the Sports Authority of India and the Arjuna Awardees Association, New Delhi, July 28-29, 1988. Published as a pamphlet.]
INTRODUCTION
The international boycott of apartheid sport has been a powerful means for sensitising world opinion against apartheid and in mobilising millions of people for action against that despicable system.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in demonstrations against apartheid teams from South Africa, selected on the basis of race. Many thousands have even courted imprisonment in such demonstrations, especially in Western countries such as Britain, New Zealand, Australia and the United States. They have, by their actions, denounced the collaboration of their governments with apartheid South Africa, and in some cases helped change official policies.
The campaign against apartheid sport built unity and joint action among sports bodies, sportsmen and sports fans, anti-apartheid movements and governments - and set an example for similar action against other aspects of apartheid.
Apartheid sport became a national issue in several countries, like Australia and New Zealand. The mass action of students, workers, religious personalities and intellectuals opposed to any collaboration with apartheid, and the confrontations which followed helped change national attitudes to the problem of race in general.
The sports boycott was the first public action to force the arrogant white regime in South Africa to bend and make adjustments in its policy of rigid racial separation, however cosmetic they were. It showed that massive international pressure can be effective in promoting the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa.
By the early 1970`s, apartheid sport was isolated internationally, but for the continued cooperation of sports bodies and sportsmen in some Western countries. The apartheid regime also began to try to restore some international contacts through misleading propaganda and the expenditure of millions of rand to entice sportsmen from abroad and build up pro-apartheid lobbies. The campaign had to focus on counteracting apartheid propaganda, upholding the Olympic principle of non- discrimination without any compromise and confronting the collaborators with apartheid sports.
The boycott is not yet complete and constant vigilance is required. But this year, the year of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SAN-ROC), significant new advances have been made and there is the prospect of plugging the remaining loopholes. For this, we need to study the past achievements and plan ahead.
This paper is by no means a full account of the role of the United Nations in the campaign against apartheid sport and of the contribution of India. It only refers to some highlights which are relevant to the tasks ahead.
The sports boycott has involved sacrifices by many sportsmen and sports bodies around the world. Indian sports bodies and sportsmen can be proud that, acting in solidarity with Africa, they have not flinched from sacrifice in the struggle against apartheid.
But the greatest sacrifices have been by black sportsmen and women in South Africa - Africans, Coloured people and Indians - who have not only been deprived of equal opportunities, but subjected to persecution for their opposition to discrimination. It is heartening that sportsmen of Indian origin in South Africa have fully identified themselves with the struggle of the African majority for total equality and have made a significant contribution, perhaps beyond their small numbers in some respects. I refer to some of them in this paper to underline that the struggle in South Africa is India's struggle as much as it is of the continent of Africa.
I present this paper in the hope that it will help India in making its rightful contribution in the next phase of the struggle against apartheid sport and its collaborators.
E.S. Reddy, July 1988
UNITED NATIONS, INDIA AND THE BOYCOTT OF APARTHEID SPORT
Racism in South Africa is all-pervasive. The white minority, constituting less than 15 percent of the population, has prospered by monopolising political and economic power and by segregating, discriminating and exploiting the rest of the people. The indigenous African majority, the Coloured people (people of mixed origin and of Malay origin) and the Indians (descendants of indentured labourers and some traders) and discriminated in employment, wages, housing, education, health, sport etc.
Apartheid was proclaimed as state policy in 1948, by a rabid racist regime which came to power that year, in a blatant and desperate attempt to streamline and entrench the abominable system of racism in the face of rising resistance in the country and a growing world abhorrence of racism. They had lost confidence in "white superiority": the blacks had to be kept down by force and denied opportunities to advance and to compete.
The struggle for freedom in South Africa has been long and difficult since white racist authorities receive support and sustenance from vested interests abroad. World support for the oppressed people and international sanctions against the apartheid regime have, therefore, been essential.
The issue of apartheid in sport is certainly not the most crucial - like the military and economic collaboration with the racist regime - but has a special significance.
Sport is governed by a moral code which prohibits racial and other discrimination. In South Africa, racial segregation is enforced in sport. The majority of the population is denied adequate facilities for sport - apart from the fact that they also suffer from poverty, and poor educational and health services which inhibit their advancement in sport. They are denied equal opportunities to compete in national and international tournaments. The issue is, therefore, clear and there can be no recognition of sport organised under the system of apartheid.
The movement for the international boycott of apartheid sport has provided an opportunity for millions of people around the world to demonstrate their abhorrence of apartheid and their support to the freedom movement in South Africa. The United Nations has encouraged and promoted the boycott. India, with its long tradition of opposition to racism in South Africa - since Mahatma Gandhi launched his first Satyagraha in that country - played an active role in the boycott campaign.
While the campaign has had great successes, the boycott is not yet complete. South Africa spends enormous sums of money on deceptive propaganda, and in enticements to sportsmen and women and sports administrators, and it has friends in the sporting world who protect it from total isolation.
All those who detest apartheid and value the moral code of sport must make a determined effort, in the light of the experience of the campaign, to defeat the protectors of apartheid and drive it out of international sport. For so long as racist sports bodies are allowed in international sport, it ceases to be true to its code.
Legacy of racism in sport in South Africa
When modern sport was organised in South Africa, whites formed their own sports bodies excluding any people of non-European origin. The white sports bodies secured affiliation to international sports federations. They even staged so-called "open" championships from which blacks were excluded. Blacks were treated in effect as non-persons, as mere beasts of burden.
A few black sportsmen managed to go abroad and gain international recognition, but they could not hope to become national champions in South Africa.
There were no laws against mixed sport as such: segregation was the "custom", with a few occasional mixed games in Cape and Natal. Racism was enforced by the white sports bodies and administrators, with assistance from the government and local authorities. Resistance against discrimination in sport began soon after the Second World War when the struggle for equality assumed a mass character and spread to all fronts. The call for international sanctions against South Africa was first raised during the Indian passive resistance campaign of 1946-48 - to follow up on India's embargo on its trade with South Africa. Indian sports leaders demanded that the non-Europeans must be represented in international sport.
A Committee for International Recognition was formed by black sportsmen in 1955. The next year it was able to secure recognition of the non-racial South African Table Tennis Board (SATTB) by the International Table Tennis Federation: the white body from South Africa was expelled. (Ivor Montagu, the leader of the British body, deserves credit for this principled decision of the ITTF).
The SATTB team was able to participate in the world championships held in Stockholm in 1957, but immediately after the government began to refuse passports to its teams. It ruled that no black could compete internationally except through the white sports body.
The Committee for International Recognition was followed by the South African Sports Association (SASA) in 1958 and the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SAN-ROC) in 1963 - to fight against racism in sport and press for international recognition of the non-racial sports bodies in South Africa. The South African Council on Sport (SACOS) was formed in 1973, uniting all the non-racial and anti-apartheid sports federations. Indian sportsmen and sports administrators have played an active role in these bodies.
The response of the authorities was repression against the non-racial sports movement.
Dennis Brutus, secretary of SASA and later President of SAN-ROC, was refused a passport to travel to Rome in 1960 to appeal to the International Olympic Committee. He was served with " banning orders" prohibiting him from meeting more than one person at a time: his speeches or writings could not published. He was taken to court when he met a foreign correspondent and sentenced to prison. He managed to escape to Mozambique and tried to go to the IOC in 1963, but the Portuguese authorities handed him over to South Africa and he spent a long time in prison. John Harris, then Chairman of SAN-ROC, was also refused a passport, restricted and then detained. Utterly frustrated, he joined a white armed resistance movement and was executed in 1965. Because of the persecution, SAN-ROC was obliged to operate from London since 1966.
Meanwhile, India, the Soviet Union and other countries began to propose in international sports federations that South Africa be called upon to end racial discrimination in sport or be excluded from international competition. They were able to draw attention to the issue but had little success.
The sports administrators in the West, especially in the white Commonwealth countries, did not hesitate to accept all-white teams as representing South Africa or to send teams to South Africa to play only with the white teams.
South Africa was forced to leave the Commonwealth in 1961. It had to leave the Imperial Cricket Conference (later renamed International Cricket Conference) and the Commonwealth Games. But the white members of the Commonwealth continued to maintain sporting ties with the white racists in South Africa.
Beginning of international action in 1963
International action against apartheid sport began in earnest in 1963, the year SAN-ROC was founded in South Africa.
Since SAN-ROC could not send representatives abroad, the British Anti-Apartheid Movement began to lobby Olympic Committees and other national sports bodies, to exclude apartheid sport from international competition. Abdul Minty, honorary secretary of the Movement, went to Baden Baden on behalf of SAN-ROC in October 1963 to contact delegations at the meeting of the International Olympic Committee.
The Afro-Asian delegations declared that they could not participate in the Olympics if South Africa was allowed to send racially selected teams in flagrant violation of the Olympic principles. Because of this threat, the IOC adopted a proposal by India which read:
"The National Olympic Committee of South Africa must declare formally that it understands and submits to the spirit of the Olympic Charter ... It must also obtain from its Government, before December 31, 1963, modification of its policy of racial discrimination in sport and competitions on its territory, failing which the South African National Olympic Committee will be forced to withdraw from the Olympic Games."
South Africa was thus excluded from the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Its friends in the IOC manoeuvred to have it invited to the Mexico Olympics in 1968: more than fifty Afro-Asian, Socialist and other nations threatened a boycott and forced a reversal of the decision. South Africa was formally expelled from the IOC in 1970.
Despite the decision of the IOC, there had to be a protracted struggles in many international sports federations to exclude apartheid South Africa as its friends tried every means to block action. Equally, there had to be campaigns in many countries, especially in the West, against national sports bodies which insisted on continuing sports exchanges with apartheid South Africa.
United Nations involvement
The United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid was established in 1963 to follow the developments on the racial situation in South Africa and promote international action. The Committee was happy to note the growing campaign against apartheid sport, but took no specific action for several years. It was anxious not to give any pretext to the racists to complain that an organisation of governments was interfering in sport. But silence became impossible as the South African government blatantly interfered in the organisation of sport, resorting to brutal persecution of those demanding equality, and as boycott of apartheid sport became a powerful movement, especially in Western countries where sports bodies insisted on continuing links with the white sports bodies in South Africa.
The South African government issued a Proclamation in February 1965, under the "Group Areas Act", prohibiting any mixed sports or performances or even audiences, except by permit. In the few cases that permits were granted, the organisers were required to separate audiences by race, with six-foot wire fences, and provide separate entrances, toilets, canteens etc. In some events, only Coloured people and Indians were allowed, and Africans prohibited.
At the same time, the government began to make some so-called concessions to regain admission into the Olympics and retain bilateral sports exchanges with Western countries. In April 1967 it offered to send a mixed team to the Olympics - but to be chosen at separate trials. It also agreed not to prescribe the composition of teams invited from abroad. That became necessary as New Zealand had cancelled a rugby tour of South Africa that year when South Africa declared that Maoris would not be allowed in the team. A British cricket team was scheduled to tour South Africa in 1968, and South Africa was hoping to get other national teams to tour South Africa. If South Africa were to object to people of mixed blood in the foreign teams, that might have had political repercussions.
But Prime Minister Vorster made it very clear that this applied only to countries with which South Africa had traditional relationships. "We have no relations with West Indies, India and Pakistan... we had no such ties in the past, nor did I regard it as necessary that we should have them in future."
The MCC, the English cricket association, obliged the Vorster regime by not including Basil d`Oliveira, a Coloured cricketer, in its team. There was a public uproar as he was a logical choice, and the MCC invited him to replace an injured player. Vorster then banned the tour.
That infuriated British public opinion and gave a fillip to the boycott campaign. A "Stop the Seventy Tour" Committee was formed, with Peter Hain as Chairman, as the MCC persisted in inviting the white cricket team from South Africa in 1970, Opposition became widespread.
A South African rugby tour of 1969 became a dress rehearsal. Large demonstrations took place wherever they went, and matches had to be played behind barbed wire fences.
The MCC, however, persisted with its plans, ignoring all protests and even an appeal by Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Reducing the tour to only 12 matches on 8 barricaded grounds, it had them patrolled for months in advance.
India and several African and other countries announced that they would not participate in the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in July 1970 as the South Africans would be touring England. With the prospect of a fiasco in Edinburgh and responding to demands in the Parliament and by the public, the British Government formally asked the MCC to withdraw the invitation to South Africa.
Meanwhile, in 1968, the United Nations General Assembly requested all States and organisations "to suspend cultural, educational, sporting and other exchanges with the racist regime and with organisations or institutions in South Africa which practise apartheid."
Three years later, in 1971, the General Assembly adopted a special resolution on apartheid in sports - resolution 2775 D (XXVI) - calling on all sports organisations to uphold the Olympic principle of non- discrimination, expressing regret that some sports organisations had continued exchanges with racially selected South African teams and commending the international campaign against apartheid in sports.
With these decisions, United Nations began active support to the boycott of apartheid sport. Working in close cooperation with SAN-ROC, the anti-apartheid movements, and the Supreme Council on Sport in Africa, the Special Committee against Apartheid publicised and denounced all sports exchanges with South Africa, encouraged groups demonstrating against apartheid teams and contacted governments and sports bodies to take action. It organised a series of meetings at which sports bodies, anti-apartheid movements and committed governments could consult and decide on strategy. Apartheid sport became a public issue in every country with which South Africa sought sports exchanges.
Great successes were achieved, on the one hand by public action, especially in countries where the governments were against anti-apartheid action, and on the other by the willingness of Afro-Asian, Socialist and other countries to boycott international events to which apartheid South Africa was invited.
South Africa staged its own Games in 1969 and invited athletes from many Western countries. Many of those who initially accepted withdrew under public pressure.
In 1970 South Africa was expelled from the Olympic Movement. It was also excluded from most of the major world championships. Altogether 13 white South African sports bodies had been expelled or suspended from international sports bodies by that year. Apartheid South Africa's international contacts in amateur sport were reduced to tennis and golf and various minor sports, and bilateral exchanges with a few countries in cricket and rugby. But the struggle had to go on, and the next battlegrounds were in Australia and New Zealand.
Massive anti-apartheid demonstrations greeted the South African rugby tour of Australia in 1971. Initiated by the Australian Union of Students, the campaign received support by trade unions, churches and other organisations. The leader of the Labour Party, Gough Whitlam, opposed the tour and declared:
"Australians should never let an afternoon's entertainment blind them to a lifetime's repression for another nation."
R.J. Hawke, the leader of the trade union movement and now Prime Minister, actively opposed the tour.
The South African team had to be transported in Australian Air Force planes as the trade unions refused to service planes or trains transporting them. Seven hundred people were arrested and many were injured because of police brutality against demonstrators. The State of Queensland declared a ten-day State of Emergency during the tour, provoking a general strike by trade unions.
The Conservative Government hoped to arouse racist passions and win the next elections on the "law and order" issue. But its calculations backfired. The South African cricket tour, scheduled for later that year, had to be cancelled. A new Labour Government, headed by Gough Whitlam, came to power and announced an anti- apartheid sports policy in December 1972: that policy was followed even by subsequent Conservative Governments. The anti-apartheid sports action of 1971 had a lasting effect in educating Australian opinion on the issue of race.
New Zealand proved more difficult though public opinion there was equally aroused against apartheid sport. Apartheid sport was a national issue for many years.
The New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks, toured South Africa in June-July 1970, despite protests by many groups in New Zealand and appeals from the United Nations. South Africa had agreed to treat Maoris in the team and Maori spectators as "honorary whites." While major demonstrations could be held against visiting South African teams, it was difficult to organise equally effective protests against teams going to South Africa.
The South African rugby tour of New Zealand, scheduled for 1973, became the first real test of strength. Strong opposition was expressed by numerous organisations, some of which vowed non-violent disruption of the matches, but the rugby authorities remained stubborn and the Conservative government refused to intervene.
In April 1972, the Supreme Council on Sport in Africa announced that African Commonwealth countries would boycott the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch in 1974 if the tour went ahead. India confirmed that it would also boycott the Games.
A Labour Government, headed by Norman Kirk, came to power soon after and decided to stop the tour "in the larger interests of New Zealand."
But that did not end the problem in New Zealand.
The New Zealand rugby federation decided on a tour of South Africa in 1976, despite the opposition of the Labour Government and the public. It became adamant after a Conservative Government, headed by R.D. Muldoon, came to power in November 1985. Protests by many New Zealand organisations and numerous appeals from abroad proved of no avail. The Prime Minister even insulted Chief Abraham Ordia, President of the Supreme Council on Sport in Africa, in June 1976 when he visited New Zealand for consultations.
The tour took place from late June, even as there was a national uprising in South Africa, following the massacre of hundreds of African schoolchildren in Soweto. Indignant at this tour, a number of governments and sports organisations decided to boycott sporting events with New Zealand.
The issue came up soon after at the Montreal Olympics in August 1976. The New Zealand Olympic Association refused even to dissociate itself from the action of the rugby federation. African nations then withdrew from the Olympics in protest against the participation of New Zealand, and they were joined by Guyana and Iraq. The boycott had great effect in focusing attention on the issue of collaboration with apartheid sport.
Canada and other countries recognised that many other events, including the Commonwealth Games due to take place in Canada next year, would be endangered. To avert a crisis, the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government adopted the "Gleneagles Agreement" in June 1977, undertaking to take "every practical step to discourage contact or competition of their nationals with sporting organisations, teams or sportsmen from South Africa." A similar declaration was adopted next year by Sports Ministers of the members of the Council of Europe. These declarations helped greatly to reduce sporting exchanges with South Africa.
The Muldoon Government in New Zealand, however, interpreted the agreement in the most restrictive way. It did little to discourage sporting exchanges with South Africa except for formal statements drawing attention to the Gleneagles Agreement.
The issue again came to a head in 1981 when the South African Springbok rugby team toured New Zealand. There were mass demonstrations and non-violent disruption of matches all over the country and some two thousand people were jailed.
The Conservative Party was defeated in the next elections in 1983 and the new Labour Government, led by David Lane, took active steps to prevent sports exchanges with South Africa.
Meanwhile, South Africa developed sports exchanges, especially in rugby, with France, the United States and other countries. Rugby authorities in these countries were insensitive to all appeals.
After public opposition and international representations, the French Government stopped the South African rugby tour of France in 1979 and announced that it was inappropriate for South African teams to tour France. It stopped a French rugby tour of South Africa in 1983.
In the United States, a South African rugby tour in 1981 was greeted by mass demonstrations. That put an end to similar tours.
To sum up, with 25 years of effort by many governments, sports organisations, anti-apartheid movements and others, the position has been reached where South Africa is excluded from the Olympics and most of the main international sports federations. Most governments are committed to prohibit or discourage sporting exchanges with South Africa.
But the boycott is, however, not yet complete. Governments of some countries, especially the United States, take no action, and some Governments, like that of Britain, take only a minimum of action. South Africa is able to maintain international contacts in rugby, cricket and several minor sports which are controlled by Western bodies, and in professional sports, especially tennis, golf and boxing.
(It is essential to clarify one aspect. The boycott of apartheid sport was intended to oppose apartheid sport and support non-racial sport in South Africa. Means for cooperation with non-racial sports bodies were discussed on several occasions. But the non-racial South African Council on Sport advised us that in order to prevent any manoeuvres by the apartheid bodies, there should be no sports exchanges with South Africa at present. The non-racial bodies were prepared to make the sacrifice and considered the boycott campaign the best assistance to them.)
Action against collaborators with apartheid sport
By mid-1970`s it became clear that efforts to boycott and exclude South African apartheid teams were not enough.
On the one hand, a number of sports bodies and sportsmen, especially in some Western countries, continued to support apartheid sport and play in South Africa. Many English cricketers, for instance, choose to spend their winter months in South Africa. Some international sports bodies, like the International Tennis Federation, not only rejected proposals to exclude South Africa but tried to penalise countries which boycotted South Africa.
On the other hand, South Africa, in its desperation, began to offer fabulous sums of money to sportsmen to play in South Africa. Some sportsmen succumbed to the temptations, especially because of unemployment. New types of action were required and the United Nations responded with the International Convention against Apartheid in Sports and a register of sportsmen and women playing in South Africa. Both involved, in a sense, a "third party boycott" - boycott not of apartheid South Africa alone but of those cooperating with apartheid sports.
Some African countries had spontaneously decided on a third party boycott already in 1970 and were soon joined by some Caribbean countries: they refused to allow sportsmen who competed in South Africa from playing in their countries. After the New Zealand rugby tour of South Africa and the boycott of the Montreal Olympics, there were moves for concerted international action.
International Convention against Apartheid in Sport
In May 1976, in a message to a United Nations Seminar in Havana, Prime Minister Michael Manley of Jamaica suggested an international convention against apartheid in sport, which would provide for action against those collaborating with apartheid sport. The proposal was endorsed by the Seminar and then by the Non-aligned Summit in Colombo in August 1976. On the proposal of the Non-aligned countries, the United Nations General Assembly appointed a committee to draft the Convention. (India was a member of the Committee).
As an interim measure, the Committee prepared an International Declaration against Apartheid in Sport which was approved by the General Assembly on December 14, 1977.
The drafting of the Convention, however, proved difficult because of apprehensions about a legally- binding provision on "third party boycott". The Western countries were, in general, opposed to the Convention. The Soviet Union and several other countries expressed fear that the third party boycott would be complicated and might disrupt international sport.
After extensive consultations over several years, the Committee completed the draft Convention in 1985. It was approved by the General Assembly and opened for signature on May 16, 1986. Within one year the Convention was signed by 71 States and ratified by 21.
The Convention lays down that the States parties should prohibit entry into their country of sportsmen who participate in sports competitions in South Africa, or sportsmen or administrators who invite apartheid sports bodies or teams officially representing South Africa. They also undertake to secure sanctions against them by the relevant international sports bodies.
Register of sports contacts with South Africa
The United Nations "Register of Sports Contacts with South Africa" - a record of sports exchanges with South Africa and a list of sportsmen who have participated in sports events in South Africa - was initiated in 1980 and proved an effective instrument to discourage collaboration with apartheid sport.
Earlier, for many years, SAN-ROC, anti-apartheid movements and the United Nations had made appeals to sportsmen intending to compete in South Africa, but there was no follow up if the appeals were rebuffed. The matter was soon forgotten. The Special Committee against Apartheid initiated the register in 1980. so that the names of violators of the boycott would at least be kept on record. If they thought their decision was proper, as some of them claimed, surely they could not object to being named.
The register had an immediate effect. Though the United Nations did not recommend any specific action by governments or organisations. many African and other countries began to refuse visas to those on the register or otherwise prevent them from playing in their countries. Sportsmen had to choose between making money from apartheid, showing contempt to the oppressed people, and playing in countries committed against apartheid.
In order to assist those who were unaware of the issues or regretted their errors, the Special Committee agreed, at the request of SAN-ROC, to delete from the register the name of any sportsman who undertook not to play in South Africa again. The register became a tool for persuasion as well for retaliation.
As revulsion against apartheid spread around the world in recent years, more countries have begun to take action against those on the register. Hundreds of city councils and local authorities in Britain and other Western countries deny use of their sports facilities to persons on the United Nations register.
The initiation of the register helped dissuade many sportsmen from accepting invitations and even lucrative offers from South Africa. Scores of sportsmen have given undertakings not to play again in South Africa.
Commendation of sportsmen against apartheid
While taking action against collaborators with apartheid sport, the United Nations has publicised and commended the action of those who have promoted the boycott of apartheid sport and rejected enticements from apartheid. The Special Committee has presented citations to a number of them. It invited several sportsmen to its meetings in recognition of their contribution - among them two Indians, Bishen Singh Bedi in 1982 and Vijay Amritraj in 1988.
Task Ahead
Action against apartheid sport must be continued on several fronts.
South Africa must be expelled from the international sports federations of which it is still a member. Very firm action must be taken against these bodies and administrators who are so impudent as to penalise countries boycotting apartheid South Africa, by changing venues of meetings and championships unless the host country grants visas to South African racists and imposing fines on teams which refuse to play against racially selected teams claiming to represent South Africa.
Another issue is that of passports of convenience". A number of South African sportsmen have obtained foreign passports while retaining their South African nationality, with the permission of the apartheid regime, and infiltrate into international sport. They are aided in this by some governments and interests.
Zola Budd, a South African runner, was able to obtain British nationality within days in 1984 and enabled to compete in the Olympics and other events as a member of the British team, while retaining her South African links. It was only because of persistent international protests that the International Amateur Athletics Federation took action recently.
The Government of Zimbabwe announced in November 1987 that it would withdraw passports of former Rhodesians who use the document to compete in international sport for South Africa. Other countries, especially the United Kingdom, must be pressed to take similar action.
Cooperation of committed governments and organisations with SAN-ROC must be further strengthened to launch an offensive for the total isolation of apartheid sport.
As a result of the campaign since 1963, an overwhelming majority of countries and sports bodies are now committed against apartheid sport. It is now possible to take firm and determined action to make the boycott complete.
The declaration of the International Olympic Committee on June 21, 1988, against "apartheid in sport" - urging all members of the Olympic Movement, particularly the International Sports Federations, to consider further action for the total isolation of apartheid sport is an important development in this connection.
The friends of the racists have never been amenable to persuasion or half-hearted measures. They must be confronted. This is particularly important in cricket and tennis which are played in many countries totally committed against apartheid sport. If some of the Western sports bodies which dominate the international bodies in these codes threaten disruption, there should be no attempt to appease them; their bluff must be called.
The experience of India, which pioneered the boycott of apartheid in many aspects, is instructive. It was often able to secure international action, even though after a lapse of time, by being firm on the boycott. Her hesitation in recent years to ban collaborators with apartheid sport, and her acceptance of equivocal assurances, have proved futile and embarrassed the country more than once. It has become imperative for the government and sports bodies to formulate and proclaim a firm policy in order to rebuff the allies of apartheid. The campaign against apartheid sport must be seen clearly as a contribution to freedom in South Africa and Namibia, for the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination in sport and for the promotion of sport as a means for strengthening friendship and cooperation at national and international levels.
The non-racial sports organisations in South Africa have recognised this. While exposing and denouncing the manoeuvres of the apartheid regime in announcing spurious adjustments in its policy to deceive world opinion, the South African Council on Sport declared in 1976 that "there can be no normal sport in an abnormal society." There can be no equality in sport so long as there is gross inequality in society. Apartheid must be abolished and that has become more urgent than ever as it is causing enormous destruction and suffering in the whole of southern Africa.
PERSECUTION OF NON-RACIAL SPORTS LEADERS
The South African regime has prevented non-racial sports leaders from attending meetings of international sports federations by withdrawing their passports. Its police have often tried to intimidate them.
The regime has persecuted several of these sports leaders by serving "banning orders" on them under the "Suppression of Communism Act" even though they were not active in any political organisation. These arbitrary orders involve stringent restrictions which even make normal social life impossible. The victims cannot meet more than one person at a time, cannot communicate with other "banned persons" and cannot be quoted in the press.
For instance, George Singh, a football star, sports administrator and an early leader in the struggle against apartheid sport, was served with five-year banning orders in 1964.
M.N. Pather, President of the South African Bodybuilding and Weightlifting Association, Secretary of the Southern Africa Lawn Tennis Union and Vice-President of the South African Soccer Federation, was elected secretary of the South African Council of Sport, the umbrella organisation of non-racial sports bodies in 1973. He was a refused a passport in 1975. He obtained a passport later, but the police seized it in June 1980 when he was due to leave for the United Nations for consultations.
The passport of Morgan Naidoo, President of the South African Amateur Swimming Federation, was withdrawn in August 1973 when he planned to attend the meeting of the International Swimming Federation in Belgrade. At that meeting, the ISF expelled the all-white South African Amateur Swimming Union. The apartheid regime then took revenge on Morgan Naidoo: it served him with five-year banning orders in November 1973.
SEWSUNKER "PAPWA" SEWGOLUM
Sewsunker "Papwa" Sewgolum, an Indian golf caddie, won the Natal Open Golf Championship in 1963. The whites had been pressed to allow him to compete, after he had won the Dutch Open Golf Championship in 1959 and 1960.
He was obliged to receive the trophy in heavy rain outside the clubhouse, while the whites were celebrating inside, as he was not allowed under the law to enter the clubhouse.
This incident received world-wide publicity and helped promote action against apartheid in sport. But it did not help Papwa much.
Papwa was runner-up in the South African Open Championship later in 1963. But from then on, he was banned successively from every major tournament in South Africa. His career as a golf champion ended because of apartheid.
JASMAT DHIRAJ
Jasmat Dhiraj, an Indian tennis champion from Johannesburg, went to Britain in 1966 under the sponsorship of non-racial South African Lawn Tennis Union. He won the North of England Men's Doubles Championship; and the South of England Singles Championship and Mixed Doubles Championship.
But he could not compete in the South African Open Tennis Championships because the white South African tennis union would not accept him. He was obliged to remain in Britain.
Dhiraj is a leader of the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SAN-ROC) which fights for non- racialism in sports and promotes the total boycott of apartheid sport.
Proposals for the expulsion of South Africa have been repeatedly rejected in the International Lawn Tennis Federation because of the system of voting and the insensitivity of its leaders to the issue of racism.
Mr. Dhiraj was invited by the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid in March 1978 to speak at a press conference calling for the expulsion of South Africa from the Davis Cup tennis tournaments.
VIJAY AMRITRAJ
Speech at the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid, May 6, 1988
My first official contact with South Africa came in 1974, at the age of 20, when as India's No.1 tennis player, I had led my country to the Davis Cup final for only the second time since independence. We had beaten some strong nations to reach the final and felt that we had a better than even chance to beat South Africa and win the Davis Cup for my country which had always been my dream ever since I had started the game.
Until then I only knew what little I had read about South Africa's apartheid policies. Now, coming in direct contact with that country made me take a much closer look at South Africa, its policies, its people, its association and contact with the West in every walk of life and the incredible struggle of the non-white people of that country for what the rest of the world takes for granted. Morally, it was an easy decision to make not to play the final but as a sportsman two thoughts kept coming into my mind. One was that we might never play in another final and the second was that we might never have as good a chance to win the Davis Cup.
With the Government of India's strong stand against apartheid we chose not to play. As a sportsman at age 20 I felt a little disappointed but my heart felt wonderful that I had somehow supported the struggle of a people fighting just to live like everybody else. Because of our default in that final it took just a couple of years to expel South Africa from the Davis Cup competition and thirteen years for my dream to come true and play in another final.
Since that time I have watched closely with growing pain at the violence and deaths of so many human beings, not because of a national disaster but because of an adamant and stubborn thinking of a very small minority.
Sport is big business now and not just a game any more and sportsmen and women must realise the world over that with fame and fortune come an incredible responsibility which may affect the lives of people in different countries. It is very easy to say "let us keep sports out of politics", but practically that is just not possible in certain cases. There are some issues that we must support or oppose, because we must clearly understand in our minds that we are first human beings before being sportsmen or women....
Over the years as a professional, I have been made several offers including vast sums of money to play exhibition matches in South Africa which I have declined. I feel that every individual, important or unimportant, artist, diplomat, professional or sportsman, has a certain responsibility towards his fellow men and if I may add, hopefully, a conscience. It is thus up to each of us to contribute in our own way towards a better world - a world of equality, of dignity, of freedom.
And read this:
THE SOCIAL BLOG
European Parliament passes a motion to end Dalit Discrimination in India
Posted in Dalits, Discrimination, International law by Aditya on February 22nd, 2007
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Below is a motion of the European Parliament. It is revolutionary in the sense that it is obliging India to do something that its not done in the past many years. This resolution also comes forth in light of the Indian review of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) which takes place tomorrow. The .Pdf version of the Document may be downloaded here.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION OF THE DALITS IN INDIA
P6_TA-PROV(2007)0016
The European Parliament ,
– having regard to the hearing held by its Committee on Development on 18 December 2006,
– having regard to its resolution of 28 September 2006 on the EU’s economic and trade relations with India (1) and Parliament’s Human Rights Reports of 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005,
– having regard to General Recommendation XXIX (descent-based discrimination) adopted by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 22 August 2002 and the 48 measures to be taken by the State Parties,
– having regard to the study being undertaken by the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, in which draft Principles and Guidelines for the elimination of “discrimination based on work and descent” are being developed, and noting the preliminary report issued by the Special Rapporteurs on discrimination based on work and descent,
– having regard to the various provisions in the Constitution of India for the protection and promotion of the rights of Dalits, concerning at least 167 million people, including the provisions on the abolition of the practice of untouchability, the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of caste, equality of opportunity in matters of public employment and educational, employment and political affirmative action through reservations in State-run institutions and political representative bodies; having regard also to numerous legislative measures ordering the abolition of some of the worst practices of untouchability and caste discrimination, including bonded labour, manual scavenging and atrocities against Dalits,
– having regard to the National Human Rights Commission, the National and State Commissions for Scheduled Castes and the National Safai Karamchari Commission, dealing with the problem of manual scavenging,
– having regard to Rule 91 and Rule 90(4) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas India is the largest functioning democracy in the world where every citizen is equal before the ballot box, India’s immediate past President and Head of State was a Dalit and Dalits have served as ministers; whereas there are Hindu schools of thought which reject caste discrimination and exclusion as an aberration of their faith,
B. whereas Dalits and similar groups are also found in Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh,
C. whereas the National Human Rights Commission of India has reported that the implementation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act remains very unsatisfactory, and whereas it has published numerous recommendations to address this problem,
D. whereas, despite twenty-seven officially registered atrocities being committed against Dalits every day, police often prevent Dalits from entering police stations, refuse the registration of cases by Dalits and regularly resort to the practice of torture against Dalits with impunity,
E. whereas, despite the fact that many Dalits do not report crimes for fear of reprisals by the dominant castes, official police statistics averaged over the past 5 years show that 13 Dalits are murdered every week, 5 Dalits” homes or possessions are burnt every week, 6 Dalits are kidnapped or abducted every week, 3 Dalit women are raped every day, 11 Dalits are beaten every day and a crime is committed against a Dalit every 18 minutes (2) ,
F. whereas a recent study on untouchability in rural India (3) , covering 565 villages in 11 States, found that public health workers refused to visit Dalit homes in 33% of villages, Dalits were prevented from entering police stations in 27.6% of villages, Dalit children had to sit separately while eating in 37.8% of government schools, Dalits did not get mail delivered to their homes in 23.5% of villages, and Dalits were denied access to water sources in 48.4% of villages because of segregation and untouchability practices,
G. whereas half of India’s Dalit children are undernourished, 21% are “severely underweight”, and 12% die before their fifth birthday (4)
H. whereas untouchability in schools has contributed to far higher drop-out and Illiteracy levels for Dalit children than those of the general population, with the “literacy gap” between Dalits and non-Dalits hardly changing since India’s independence and literacy rates for Dalit women remaining as low as 37.8% in rural India (5) ,
I. whereas Dalit women, who alongside “Tribal” women are the poorest of the poor in India, face double discrimination on the basis of caste and gender in all spheres of life, are subjected to gross violations of their physical integrity, including sexual abuse by dominant castes with impunity and are socially excluded and economically exploited,
J. whereas the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has observed substantial under-allocation and under-expenditure of the allocation for Dalit welfare and development under the government’s Special Component Plan for Scheduled Castes,
K. whereas Dalits are subjected to bonded and forced labour and discriminated against in a range of markets, including in the labour, housing, consumer, capital and credit markets; are paid lower wages and subjected to longer working hours, delayed wages and verbal or physical abuse,
1. Welcomes the various provisions in the Constitution of India for the protection and promotion of the rights of Dalits; notes however that, in spite of these provisions, implementation of laws protecting the rights of Dalits remains grossly inadequate, and that atrocities, untouchability, illiteracy, inequality of opportunity, manual scavenging, inadequacy of wages, bonded labour, child labour and landlessness continue to blight the lives of India’s Dalits;
2. Expresses its concern at the low rate of conviction for the perpetrators of such crimes and calls on the Government of India to improve its criminal justice system in order to facilitate registration of charges against perpetrators of crimes against Dalits, to increase the conviction rate for such perpetrators, to significantly reduce the duration of court procedures; and to take special measures for the protection of Dalit women;
3. Welcomes the recent ban on the employment of children as domestic servants and workers in roadside eateries, restaurants, teashops etc. and urges the Indian Government to take further steps towards the complete banning of all forms of child labour;
4. Calls on the Government of India to take urgent steps to ensure equal access for Dalits to police stations and all other public institutions and facilities, including those related to its democratic structure such as panchayat buildings (the buildings housing local assemblies) and polling booths;
5. Applauds the fiscal policy followed by the Planning Commission of India and the various Ministries in the provision of the budgetary allocations towards the welfare and development of Dalits, and calls on the Government of India to ensure complete and time-bound implementation of all policy and budgetary measures towards the welfare and development of Dalits, including full implementation of the Special Component Plan for Scheduled Castes;
6. Urges the Government of India to engage further with relevant UN human rightsbodies on the effective elimination of caste-based discrimination, including the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the UN Special Rapporteurs assigned to develop Principles and Guidelines for the Elimination of Discrimination based on Work and Descent;
7. Calls on the Government of India to ratify the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and to take preventive measures to reduce the risk of Dalits facing torture, to take legal measures to criminalize torture in India, to take punitive measures to prosecute police who commit torture, to consistently provide rehabilitation and compensation for torture victims and to put in place an independent complaints mechanism for victims of torture that is accessible to Dalits;
8. Notes with concern the lack of substantive EU engagement with the Indian Government, notably within the EU-India Summits, on the vast problem of caste-based discrimination;
9. Urges the Council and the Commission to raise the issue of caste-based discrimination during EU-India Summits and other meetings as part of all political, human rights, civil society, development and trade dialogues and to inform the committees concerned of the progress and outcome of such dialogues;
10. Urges the EU members of the Joint Action Committee to develop dialogue on the problem of caste-based discrimination in terms of its discussions on democracy and human rights, social and employment policy and development cooperation;
11. Reiterates its expectation that EU development programmes in India include specific measures to ensure that minorities such as Dalits and Adivasis and other marginalized communities, tribes and castes, are able to close the wide gap with the rest of the population regarding the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals;
12. Recalls its demand that the Council and the Commission give priority to promoting equal opportunities in employment in private EU-based companies and encouraging EU- based companies to implement the “Ambedkar Principles” (Employment and Additional Principles on Economic and Social Exclusion Formulated to assist All Foreign Investors in South Asia to Address Caste Discrimination);
13. Welcomes the EU’s commitment to the development of Principles and Guidelines for the Elimination of Discrimination on the basis of Work and Descent by the UN Sub- Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, and urges the Commission and the Council to continue that support;
14. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the President, the Government and Parliament of India, the UN Secretary-General, and the heads of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, the International Labour Organization, the UNICEF, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
(1) Texts Adopted , P6_TA(2006)0388
(2) Derived from figures provided in Crime in India 2005 , http://ncrb.nic.in/crime2005/home.htm and
http://ncrb.nic.in/crime2005/cii-2005/CHAP7.pdf
(3) Cf. G. Shah, H. Mander, S. Thorat, S. Deshpande and A. Baviskar Untouchability in Rural India , ,
Sage Publications, India, 2006.
(4) National Family Health Survey, commissioned by the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
1998-99 (last survey available), Chapter 6, p. 187, http://www.nfhsindia.org/data/india/indch6.pdf
(5) 2001 Census of India.
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Featuring the theme of "One World, One Dream," the ongoing Beijing Olympic Games have offered a platform for dream seekers around the world, where they can turn their long-held dreams into reality, or at least keep them alive.Based on television audience data collected from 38 markets around the world, it is estimated that just over 2 billion people, almost one third of the world's population, watched the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. In India, 27 million viewers tuned in for the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on August 8 on DD 1, DD News and DD Sports. The event got a TVR of 1.2. 62 per cent of the viewership comprised males. Most of the viewership came from Sec A and B. Sec B contributed 32 per cent of viewership, while Sec A contributed 27 per cent.
Having witnessed a century-old dream of hosting the world come true with the spectacular opening of the Beijing Games on Aug. 8, the 1.3 billion Chinese are thrilled at the dreamlike performance of their Olympians, who have grabbed 26 golds to ensure the country's lead on the medal table seven days into the competition.
But just as the Games organizers had promised in the global relay of the Beijing Olympic torch, these Games are an occasion to "light the passion" and "share the dream," and the dream belongs not only to China, but the whole world.
Indian hopes of a first Olympic boxing medal were high on Saturday, with three fighters reaching the quarterfinals.The trio, coincidentally all called Kumar, a common name in India, will secure at least bronze if they win their next bouts.Indian athletes once again failed miserably at the Olympic platform, as they were unable to produce what they had achieved to earn the Olympic berth in the first place. As a result, discus thrower, Vikas Gowda and quarter-miler Mandeep Kaur, were both eliminated in the qualification rounds itself in the Beijing Games on Saturday.
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`But blatant anti-Americanism didn't surface. Fans showered equally boisterous cheers on both the Chinese and U.S. teams when the Americans — every one of them an NBA star — overpowered Chinese idol Yao Ming and his teammates in an opening-round basketball game.
In another head-to-head showdown, when the Chinese women outscored the Americans in team gymnastics, Chinese fans cheered good routines and booed scores they thought were too low regardless of a gymnast's nationality. When American fans chanted "U-S-A! U-S-A!", the Chinese responded with the local equivalent, "Jia You" — but there was no tinge of mean-spiritedness.
One factor in the relatively amicable rivalry is the web connecting the two contingents. All four U.S. table-tennis players are Chinese-born. Former Major Leaguer Jim Lefebvre coaches China's baseball team; former Chinese star Jenny Lang Ping coaches the U.S. women's volleyball team. Lang, who led China to a gold medal in 1984, drew thunderous cheers from the largely Chinese crowd when her team played China on Friday night.’
Light-flyweight Jitender Kumar reached the last eight on Saturday by outpointing Uzbek Tulashboy Doniyorov 13-6 and middleweight Vijender Kumar followed him through with a 13-3 points win over Thailand's Angkhan Chomphuphuang.
Bantamweight Akhil Kumar had advanced on Friday, extending a brilliant run by upsetting Russian world champion Sergey Vodopyanov.
India's Leander Paes shrugged off his Beijing disappointment and set his sights on playing at the London Olympics in 2012 in what would be his sixth Games.
Paes and on-off partner Mahesh Bhupathi lost 6-2, 6-4 to Roger Federer and Stanilas Wawrinka in the men's doubles quarter-finals here, a shattering defeat for the duo on Indian Independence Day.
Paes will be almost 40 by the time the next Olympics rolls around but he refuses to write off his chances of taking part.
Indian shooters' campaign at the Beijing Olympics ended today on a dismal note with Gagan Narang and Sanjeev Rajput failing to qualify for the finals of men's 50 meter rifle three position here.
Narang fired 1167 to finish 13th while Rajput was a distant 26th with 1162 points in the qualification round.
Narang was way behind in the qualification mark as the last man making the cut tallied 1170 while Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia topped the list with 1176 points.
Rifle pro Abhinav Bindra, who fetched India its first-ever individual Olympic gold medal, was the lone winner here among the nine Indian shooters, including Athens silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore at the Beijing Shooting Range.
Gowda, 2005 Asian Championship silver medallist, came in with a personal best of 64.96 metres, but managed only 60.69m and finished 11th in the Group B and 22nd overall to finish his Olympic campaign.
Gowda, who has been training in the United States, where he is studying in the University of North Carolina, was 17th out of 29 athletes at Athens Olympics four years ago.
For the record, the top discus qualifier was Piotr Malachowski of Poland with a best of 65.94m and the last qualifier was Finland's Frantz Kruger, who threw the disc to 62.48m.
Mandeep Kaur, who has been credited with 51.74s at the Madurai Nationals, was more than a second slower in 52.88s and finished sixth in the seven-runner heat. The heat was won by Italian Libania Grenot Martinez, who clocked 50.87s, the fourth best time of the morning round.
Mandeep was 33rd overall in the field of 50 runners.
Sanya Richards of the US had the best time in the first round at 50.54s with Jamaican Shericka Williams second best at 50.57s.
India's women discus throwers have already been eliminated, while Preeja Sreedharan was 25th (32:34.64s) among the 29 runners who completed in the 10,000m.
The three heptathletes are also way below in the standings, as two more of the seven events need to be completed this evening.
G.G.Pramila (4302 points) was 28th, J.J. Shobha (4289) 30th and Susmita Singha Roy (4234) 33rd from among the 39 who are still in fray. Pramila is 743 points behind the leader Natalia Dobrynska of Ukraine, who has 5045 points with Hyleas Fountain of US lying second at 5029 points.
NDTV reports:
Though Abhinav Bindra gave us the 'golden moment' to savour for a long time, many other medal prospects had a forgettable outing in Beijing. NDTV.com takes a look at some of India's best bets.
Akhil Kumar (Boxing, 51 kg category): The 27-year-old boxer had a forgettable Athens outing. But in 2006, he won India its first boxing gold at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. This year he beat Athens silver medallist Worapoj Petchkoom.
Next outing: August 18, Men's Bantam (54kg) Quarterfinal 3 against Veaceslav Gojan.
Vijender Kumar (Boxing 75 kg category): The 22-year-old boxer has been talked about for a while. A silver at the Melbourne Games in 2006 and a Doha bronze haven't hurt his reputation after he made a first round exit at Athens. This time, he beat Bakhtiyar Artigev, the Athens champion. Vijender, son of a bus driver, trained hard for Beijing.
Next outing: August 20, Men's Middle (75kg) Quarterfinal 4 against Carlos Gongora.
Jitender Kumar (Boxing 51 kg category): Represented India at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2000. At the Commonwealth Games 1998 he lost to John Pearce, in 2002 at the semis to Steven Birch.
Next outing: August 20, Men's Fly (51kg) Quarterfinal 2 against Georgy Balakshin.
Anju Bobby George (Long Jump): Anju Bobby George is the only Indian to win a medal at the Athletics World Championships. Even though it happened five years ago, that historic achievement is the reason the long jumper is still being expected to win a medal in Beijing. After creating a national record (6.83m) in Athens, she has not been near her best. Her best three shows in 2008 have been 6.55 m. Age, too, is not on her side but known to be a fighter, Anju still has enough fire in her to spring up some surprise.
http://www.ndtv.com/olympics/storypage.aspx?storyid=SPOEN20080061878
Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal performance at the Beijing Olympics has announced India’s arrival in the sporting arena. This has made us to sit and remember some of the greatest sporting event in an independent India.
Though the greatest sporting moment might differ for everyone, these are a few moments where the whole nation has come forwarded and celebrated the victory of India.
Stunned by excellent facilities built in record time by the organisers of Beijing Olympics, sports officials from India lamented that preparations for hosting the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games was faltering.
"There is no doubt we are behind schedule right now," a senior Indian sports official told PTI here.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Delhi from October 3-14.
"There is adhocism and lethargy," the official said on condition of anonymity.
"There is no clear planning and things are moving at snail's pace," another official said, expressing concern that Delhi may falter if no urgent decisions are taken to step up construction and related activities for hosting the prestigious event.
Other officials, involved in the preparations for the Delhi Commonwealth Games, said the sheer planning that has gone into the Beijing Olympics has stunned them.
"The sheer magnitude of planning involved in the Olympics is mind-boggling and we would draw inspiration from the best practices followed here," said an official.
A number of sports officials from India are currently camping here and visiting Beijing sports facilities to get first-hand knowledge of how the organisers of the Olympics managed to ensure world-class facilities in record time.
"We are very impressed by what Beijing has done," one official said.
The Indian officials were also stunned by the ongoing gold sweep by Chinese athletes.
Report By Xinhua writers Zhou Yan and Zhou Xiaozheng
`Since the very first day of the Games, the world has been watching in awe an unstoppable Michael Phelps take one gold after another in the pool of the National Aquatics Center, or the Water Cube, with a six-for-six medal haul underscored with six fresh world records.
"The old records seemed as fragile as glass bottles in the Water Cube," exclaimed a Chinese TV sports commentator at the 23-year-old American swimmer's miraculous performance.
Driven by his dream for glory and backed by his near perfect physique, Phelps has never stopped training for the Olympics since his debut in Sydney 2000 as the youngest athlete on the U.S. team. He only placed fifth in the 200-meter butterfly then.
Despite a six-gold sweep in Athens 2004, Phelps never let up in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, and media reports said he often got up for training in the early hours of the day, to better adapt himself to the competition schedule in the Water Cube, which puts all the finals in the morning to accommodate the American TV viewers.
Through extensive media coverage, Phelps' dream of a record eight-gold sweep in the Beijing pool is now known to many Chinese, and most of them believe he deserves the glory.
"I wasn't that keen on swimming, but now I switch to the sports channel every morning at 10 a.m. to see Phelps swim," said Beijing retiree Song Xiurong, 62. "I hope he can fulfil his dream here."
Besides Phelps, other swimmers, if they are lucky enough to be competing in an event that the ambitious American is not in, have also found the Water Cube a magic stage for them to materialize their dreams.
Some 20 swimming world records have been refreshed, some of them more than once, over the past week in the Water Cube, triggering a heated discussion about the pool's "unique design" that might have helped boost the athletes' performance.
It should just be a happy coincidence, but Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi did make the following remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the Chinese parliament session in March:"If they (foreign athletes) cannot break world records in other places, maybe they can come to Beijing, where they will have a better luck."
The undying dreams for the Olympic glory are certainly not confined to the magic Water Cube, as India earned its first individual gold medal in the Beijing Shoot Range, and Mongolia saw its first Olympic champion rise on the mat in the Judo Hall.
Nor are the dreams a privilege for the winners of the gold, as some people have lit up their dreams with mere presence at the Games.
Massoud Azizi finished last in men's 100-meter sprint in 11.45 seconds on Friday. He was satisfied with his result, but also envious of other runners who have been able to train on an all-weather synthetic track.
"It is difficult since we don't even have a track in Afghanistan," said the 23-year-old Afghan runner, who had trained for seven years -- always on the concrete track.
"If we have a track like this, I can also win an Olympic medal...It's my dream to compete with Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay," he said after being disqualified on the red, elastic lap in the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, in north Beijing.
And the dreams ignited by the Olympic flame in Beijing have gone far beyond the Games and the competing Olympians, to be shared by everyone that wants to celebrate friendship, unity and a better future.
Taipei taxi driver Zhang Pingsheng was one of them. At the age of 59, he traveled more than 3,000 kilometers to Beijing for the Games -- by bike.
"I think this is the best way to celebrate," said Zhang, wearing a bright yellow helmet and blue-and-white sports wear. He flew to Hong Kong in mid May and took a ship to Shenzhen, where he bought the bike, a digital camera and a map, and started the 76-day odyssey to Beijing.
"My parents were born in the mainland and went to Taiwan in 1949. It was their lifetime dream to come back to their ancestral home," said Zhang.
Zhang arrived in Beijing on Aug. 8, the Games' opening day, with no tickets to any competitions. But a local non-governmental organization offered help, getting him a ticket for women's hockey.
Zhang's voice was hoarse and the fluorescent torch he was given to cheer for the players was broken at the end of the game, in which the Chinese team beat their South African opponents 3-0.
For Lin Hao, a nine-year-old boy from Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province, the epicenter of the devastating May 12 earthquake, to meet NBA star Yao Ming at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics was beyond his wildest dreams.
When Lin walked at Yao's side to lead the Chinese Olympic delegation into the Bird's Nest last Friday night, at least one million peers of his back in the quake-ravaged province were watching in surprise, admiration and even a little bit jealousy.
"We often play basketball together, and Yao has always been our idol," said Yang Yuerui, Lin's schoolmate at the Yingxiu Primary School. "I can't believe he has become the lucky one."
According to Yang, Lin just fulfilled one of the many dreams shared by the surviving students, and some of the other dreams, such as becoming a pilot to ship parents and schoolmates out when earthquake strikes, and inventing a machine to precisely forecast a tremor, were certainly more important than meeting Yao Ming.’
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Jamaica has been celebrating its first Olympic 100m gold after Usain Bolt's record-breaking victory in Beijing.
Bolt cruised over the line in the Bird's Nest stadium in 9.69 secs, one of the biggest winning margins ever. Usain Bolt sent 100m sprinting into a different age last night by running an amazing world record of 9.69 seconds to win Olympic gold - and he did not even know he had done it.Bolt could have run far faster than his 9.69 seconds had he run through the finish line, but he sliced 0.03 off his world record anyway. In the end, it was all about Bolt putting on a show for a crowd that has roared for him every time he steps on the track.When Bolt was introduced at the start of the final, he struck a pose for the camera and smiled mischievously. He did not disappoint once the gun went off. He started strong and sailed away from the field with astonishing ease.
The Jamaican was in such a different class that, with 20m left of the race, he was turning around, waving his arms about and beginning to celebrate an astonishing triumph. Usain Bolt celebrated his coronation as the world’s fastest man 20 meters early, throwing out his arms and thumping his chest. But he still obliterated the world record in the 100 meters Saturday night, turning his Olympic gold medal performance into a show of astounding talent.
Jamaicans had gathered at big screens throughout the island to watch, and his victory sparked wild celebrations.
The stadium had not stopped buzzing from Usain Bolt's incredible 9.69 world record 100 metres run on Saturday before people began asking whether the Jamaican would also take Michael Johnson's 12-year-old 200m mark.
The way Bolt demolished his own 9.72 100 record while joyously celebrating implied that there was yet more in the tank of the remarkable Jamaican.However, Johnson's 19.32, set at the Atlanta Olympics, is more of a leap from Bolt's best of 19.67 set a month ago and, by the time he goes in the final on August 20, he will be feeling the effects of seven rounds of sprinting.
Haile Gebrselassie seeks his third Olympic 10,000 metres gold and fellow Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele bids for his second in a row in what should be a titanic Bird's Nest battle to finish off Sunday's action.
"I returned to the 10,000 because I can't run the marathon here, but I didn't want to miss Beijing," the 1996 and 2000 champion Gebrselassie, who joins Bekele and Athens silver medallist Sileshi Sihine on the Ethiopian team, told Reuters.
Marathon world record-holder Gebrselassie opted out of the longer event due to the expected heat, humidity and pollution of Beijing and his asthma problems. He acknowledged competing over 10,000 after having switched years ago to the marathon would be a challenge.
- Rafael Nadal, Elena Dementieva, and the sisters of Serena and Venus Williams all won gold on Sunday, the final day of the tennis competition at the Olympics.
The second-seeded Nadal picked up a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 win over Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.
Dementieva rallied from a set down to beat fellow Russian Dinara Safina, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, taking advantage of 17 double faults by her opponent, as Safina had her 15-match winning streak broken.
The Williams sisters captured the gold in women's doubles, topping the Spanish team of Virginia Ruano Pascual and Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-2, 6-0. The American duo won 11 of the last 12 games in the match.
Michael Phelps has a 'wingspan' of only 208 centimetres. But when he gets into the pool and cuts through the water, it may as well be 2008. How appropriate it sounds. How the Chinese love him, for he so naturally adds to their auspicious theme of eight.
Eight gold medals! For god's sake that is a number not more than half a dozen countries are likely to show for their presence in Beijing this fortnight.
Now everyone, right down to the man on the street, wants a piece of Phelps. And, it is available, too. Not just in the form of Speedo caps, but also his autographs, which rose in worth from $ 25 last week to $ 500 after his seventh gold to $ 1,000 after the eighth.
Phelps passes Spitz with golden eight | I'm clean, says history making Phelps
Phelps' only rival in the first 10 days of the Games has been the spectacular August 8 Opening Ceremony. And maybe in the years to come, those who watched both will always be divided in their loyalties.
No heart-breaks. No 'so-close-and-yet-so-far' stories. Phelps had eight gold and the crowd its moment. And, the pool area was a sea of flashes from pocket cameras all over the stands.
This was Phelps' moment. After missing out on Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven gold at Athens - Phelps had only six gold and two bronze then - he had scored a perfect eight, a la Nadia Comaneci style.
Going back 16 years, Phelps, was first introduced to serious swimming around the age of seven to create an outlet for his Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Now at 23, he is a subject of every scrutiny and an object of everybody's envy.
There will now be studies over his long torso and short legs and an incredibly long reach and then that amazing power-to-weight ratio coupled with a mind that even the strongest can only aspire for.
Standing at six foot four and tipping the scales at 196 pounds, he is as close you can get to perfection.
To be called the 'Greatest' in a sport that has already seen Mark Spitz, Matt Biondi and Ian Thorpe is indeed great praise, but to be able to come back from an Olympic Games with a 100 percent record, when every action - including your personal life - is a subject of intense scrutiny, is indeed mind-boggling.
There are analysts, who contend comparing Phelps with those before him is not fair to the ones of the bygone era. Maybe.
For Phelps' generation has technology to push them like never before. The Speedo LZR bodysuit's corset-like grip allows swimmers to get the best body position in water and it also reduces the drag.
Then there is that small matter of swimming pools these days having 10 lanes, which allow for the two outside lanes to be left empty. It reduces turbulence, for that it what it creates when arms and legs move in a manner resembling a propeller underwater.
More discussions will emerge, but for the present, a million dollars bonus from his sponsors, Speedo, awaits him. Then there is much else waiting for him in terms of other sponsorships.
Three Olympics on, Phelps has 14 gold and two bronze and needs just two more medals to go past the 18 for gymnast Larissa Latynina from the Soviet Union. But Phelps is more than just gold medals.
Sport and United States needed a Michael Phelps. More so, after the fall from grace of Marion Jones and athletics in US.
China will likely finish on top of the golden heap, but United States may get more attention, courtesy, 'Aquaman Michael Phelps'.
Swimmer Michael Phelps went on Sunday where no one has been before to win a record eighth gold at one Olympics and surpass Mark Spitz's famous 1972 feat.
The American stole the limelight even from Jamaican Usain Bolt's audaciously brilliant 100m win in the athletics showpiece that has been the Beijing Games' other defining moment so far.
On an unhappier note, American shooter Matt Emmons threw away gold for a second successive Games with a misfire on his final shot. He did the same four years ago in Athens by firing at the wrong target.
However, Johnson's 19.32, set at the Atlanta Olympics, is more of a leap from Bolt's best of 19.67 set a month ago and, by the time he goes in the final on August 20, he will be feeling the effects of seven rounds of sprinting.
Time is on Bolt's side.
He turns 22 the day after the 200 final and barring injury or off-track distractions, it is a matter of when, rather than if, he claims both marks.
His more immediate target is to seal the Olympic gold double, a feat nobody has achieved since Carl Lewis in 1984.
"I'm not worried about world records," he said. "I've got plenty of time for world records in the future.
"I'm focusing on the 200."
Johnson has little doubt that his record will go.
"I'm ready to kiss it goodbye if he keeps on doing what he's doing," Johnson said back in June before Bolt's latest exploits.
STACCATO STEPS
Johnson and Bolt's styles could not be more different, with the American pounding out staccato short steps from a stiffly upright body while the Jamaican unleashes his long legs almost languidly.
The end result, however, is the same total domination.
Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago took silver in an impressive 9.89 on Saturday and finished two metres behind the celebrating champion.
"I felt myself pulling away from the rest and I could see him slowing down and I'm still pumping to the line," he said.
Bolt, who two weeks ago said he was not even certain of running the 100, says the 200 is the race closest to his heart.
Such are the standards he is setting already, there might even be a whiff of disappointment if he merely wins the longer sprint.
His rivals, though, realise they are operating in the shadow of greatness.
"Usain Bolt is a phenomenal athlete," Thompson said. "It was only a matter of time before he began producing times like he's producing now."
Phelps, 23, held his arms aloft and hugged team mates after a relatively easy men's 4x100 metres medley relay win, unlike the finger-tip finishes in two of his earlier Beijing golds.
The all-time most successful Olympian, who has over nine days in China proved himself to be one of the greatest sportsmen the world has seen, showed he was still human, though.
"I just want to see my mom," said Phelps, who as a child in Baltimore had a screaming fit at his first swimming lesson because he did not want to get his face wet.
Phelps' 14th career gold, after six in Athens, took him past fellow American Spitz's seven at one Games in Munich. He has five more than anyone else in the Olympics' 112-year history. "It's been nothing but an upwards rollercoaster but it's been nothing but fun," he added at his moment of triumph, embracing his tearful mother and sister. "With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination."
Phelps achievement has dazzled the Chinese hosts, for whom eight is a lucky number, and brought timely cheer to Americans.
"The economy and gas prices are always on your mind but Michael's success helps you forget depressing things," said Los Angeles resident Samantha Higgins, who was among the tens of millions glued to Phelps's every race on TV in the United States.
Before his swim, Day Nine began in Beijing with a triumph for Romania in one of the Olympics' most gruelling events.
Constantina Tomescu had time to relax and wave as she entered the Bird's Nest stadium to claim a surprise win in the women's marathon that began in Tiananmen Square. "At the world (half marathon) championships in Canada, everybody said I couldn't run, but I showed today what I can do," she said.
In the highest-profile doping case yet of the Aug. 8-24 Games, Greece's defending women's 400 metres hurdles champion Fani Halkia failed a drug test hours before she was to compete.
Greece's Olympic Committee chief told Reuters the "golden girl" of the Athens Games should have stayed home instead of dragging the country's name through the mud.
"If you want to commit suicide it is up to you, but you do not have the right to kill your country," Minos Kyriakou said.
DEJA VU FOR SHOOTER
But it has been the scintillating sport, not scandals, dominating attention in Beijing and relegating the pre-Games focus on China's rights record and pollution problems.
Nobody doubted that Sunday was Phelps's day.
Blessed with an arm span bigger than his height, Phelps has pumped himself up with hip-hop before races and always looks for his mother in the stands.
He teamed up with Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Jason Lezak to help the United States smash the existing men's medley relay mark. All but one of Phelps's eight golds have come in world record times, and the other was an Olympic best.
"I wanted to put my mind to it and wanted to do something that no one ever did in sport," he added.
Jamaica's Bolt was the other name on everybody's lips.
He sprinted to victory in the 100 metres in world record time on Saturday night despite slowing at the end to check he was ahead and punch his chest in joy in front of 91,000 people.
"I was just having fun, that's me," said Bolt, 21.
It has been a fantastic weekend for Britain on the water and on two wheels. The hosts in 2012 have scored eight gold medals in two days in cycling, rowing, sailing and the pool, taking them to 11 golds and third place in the medals table.
Day Nine is the peak of the Games in terms of medals, with 34 golds to be awarded. At the top of the table China look to be building an unassailable lead, ahead of the United States by 30 golds to 19. They are just two golds away from their Athens total with more than seven days to go.
The U.S. team got some cheer when the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, put their tennis singles disappointment behind them to pick up a second consecutive gold in the doubles.
Elena Dementieva beat fellow Russian Dinara Safina to the singles crown, saying it was the greatest moment of her career. There was worse news for the Americans in the shooting range, when shooter Emmons had his moment of terrible deja vu, unbelievably throwing away a big lead right at the death for the second time in the Olympics.
After firing at the wrong target in Athens, a nervous Emmons this time squandered a huge 3.3-point lead on his final shot when he pulled the trigger by mistake while lining up, to register a mere 4.4 after scores mostly above 10 before that.
That error let China's Qiu Jian take gold in the men's 50m rifle three-positions. Emmons finished fourth.
"I didn't feel my trigger shaking but I guess it was," he said.
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THE HIMALAYAN DISASTER: TRANSNATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT MECHANISM A MUST
We talked with Palash Biswas, an editor for Indian Express in Kolkata today also. He urged that there must a transnational disaster management mechanism to avert such scale disaster in the Himalayas.
http://youtu.be/7IzWUpRECJM
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THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA
THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA
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