India'sonly individual Olympic gold medallist, Abhinav Bindra, on Monday questionedthe continuation of Indian Premier League (IPL) when the Covid-19 pandemic hasvirtually crippled India, saying Indian cricketers and officials "can'tjust live in their own bubble, and be totally deaf or blind to whatever isgoing on outside".
Bindra,who won the 10-metre air rifle gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, alsowondered why the Indian cricket board, worth Rs 14,489.80 crore, the richest inthe world, hasn't contributed so far to the Covid cause, like vaccinationduring the current wave.
"Cricketersand officials can't just live in their own bubble, and be totally deaf or blindto whatever is going outside," he wrote in a hard-hitting piece for a English Daily.
"Ican only imagine that while you're having these IPL games, outside the stadiumyou have ambulances going to hospitals. I don't know how the coverage on TV isbut I would really appreciate if it's a little bit muted in nature. I thinkcelebration and everything around it should be at a minimum because you have toshow a little bit of respect to society," wrote the 38-year-old aceshooter.
TheZirakpur-based Bindra, who is a member of the International Olympic Committee's(IOC) Athletes' Commission, came down heavily on the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI), worth Rs 14,489.80 crore as per its latest 2018-19balance sheet, for not rising to the occasion and beingcounted.
"Secondly,if I was the BCCI president and had the capability -- and I understand the IPLis not a charity -- I would definitely give a large amount to do, say, thevaccination right or help out in any other way. This is one way to acknowledgethat to conduct IPL right now is a huge privilege and everyone should actresponsibly," wrote Bindra, without mentioning the name of BCCI presidentSourav Ganguly.
Sofar, four players -- Ravichandran Ashwin, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson, andAndrew Tye -- have withdrawn from the IPL for "personal reasons" asthe number of Covid cases in India continue to go up.
KolkataKnight Riders' Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins also briefly touched upon theissue of conducting IPL in a time like this while announcing that he was contributing$50,000 to the PM CARES Fund of India.
Aftermatches held in Mumbai and Chennai, the IPL moved to Ahmedabad on Monday whileDelhi, which is gasping for oxygen and beds in hospitals or Corona patients, isscheduled to host eight IPL matches starting Wednesday. So far, the BCCI hasnot announced any change in the original IPL schedule, though Hyderabad andIndore are standby venues.
A"completely devastated" Bindra said that there has been a"complete breakdown of our medical system" and pointed out that itgoes on to show that we do require a lot more investment in healthcare. He alsoreferred to "excessive nationalism", and specifically pointed out acomment of former Commonwealth Games and Asian Championships gold medallistwrestler Yogeshwar Dutt.
"Andas citizens, we need to follow the rules. The one basic element of sports is toplay by the rules. This is why I got frustrated with wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt'stweet. What he said about the Kumbh Mela and the references to a certainsection of society is something we do not need at the moment," Bindrawrote.
Bindrasaid that everyone should come together and show solidarity and kindnesstowards one other. He also wondered why Indian athletes do not speak up oncrucial issues.
"Sportspersonsin India have been criticised for not speaking up on issues of nationalinterest, or saying things that do not upset the establishment. This isn't arecent trend and it's hard to argue against it. I don't know what stops Indianathletes from expressing their thoughts freely, maybe it is the fear ofrepercussions. But I don't know why the fear would exist because sport islargely meritorious in nature. If you are good enough, nobody can stop you fromcompeting," said Bindra.
"Manyathletes have had great achievements and are heroes in their own right. But weare not saving any lives. So let us keep our achievements in the rightperspective, look at what is happening around us, look at all the frontlineworkers and their efforts to save lives. They are the real heroes. So if wehave the possibility of helping out in whatever way we can, we should doit," he said.
Thechampion shooter further wrote: "Personally, I am not able to watch anysport at the moment. Even when I go on Twitter and see some news about the IPLon my timeline, I quickly scroll past it because I am not able to relate to anyof it at the moment."
Bindraclarified that there could be positives as well of the IPL.
"Thereis so much negativity right now, as people and as a nation, that we also needan outlet to keep us going. So, that is one element which is verypositive," he said.
"Theplayers should realise just how privileged they are to be able to play the IPLin these times. So, I just hope everybody involved in the IPL play their partin one way or the other, either through right messaging - like the importanceof masking up, the importance of social distancing - or even finding creativeways to amplify the health requirements of people," the 2006 WorldChampionship gold medallist wrote.