Shetty says Indian sports facing crisis

Ratnakar Shetty says cricket is not the only game faced with a problem as all other sports in the country are battling "crisis" situations of their own.

Mumbai: Even as the BCCI grapples with the IPL spot-fixing scandal, its General Manager (game development), Ratnakar Shetty, said cricket is not the only game faced with a problem as all other sports in the country are battling "crisis" situations of their own.

Speaking at an event, Shetty said a clean-up is required of all the sports in the country. "Indian sports is at a very important stage, with the amount of crisis and one of the reasons for that is no amount of debate on television channel is going to make any difference," Shetty said. "The younger generation is the one that will give the results required for Indian sports, whether it is anti-corruption, whether it is anti-doping, whether it is the administration in sports," he asserted. Indian cricket has been left shaken after Test pacer S Sreesanth and two other bowlers -- Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan--- were arrested by the Delhi Police for spot-fixing IPL matches. They are accused of taking payments of upto Rs 60 lakh for giving away pre-determined number of runs in an over. "Government on its part has taken a lot of efforts. It is upto the sports federations in India that they have to wake up, they have to take a lead and ensure that sports is run in the best possible manner," said Shetty. "It is not only running the game that is important but I think creating an atmosphere where you educate the sportsmen right from the young age to various facets required for sports and to create an atmosphere where clean sports (is played) is what India wants," he added. On the initiative of ISF 36, he said, "I am sure these kind of activities will expose children to sports activities, what is happening in sports arena and what needs to be done in terms of development of sports in this country." PTI