India’s cricket team should play in Pakistan. Olympics should have allowed an official Russian contingent
BCCI has indicated that the Indian cricket team won’t be travelling to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy next Feb. While this position isn’t new – India has not played any cricket in Pakistan since the Asia Cup in 2008 – mixing sports and geopolitics has little traction beyond a point. It’s nobody’s case that Team India travelling to Pakistan will dramatically change New Delhi-Islamabad relations. But that’s not the point. Sports should always be separate from politics.
Security quotient | Yes with Pakistan, there is a genuine security issue. Recall that in 2009 the Sri Lankan cricket team bus had come under a terror attack. Before that in 2002, a bomb blast outside the New Zealand cricket team’s hotel in Karachi had cut short that tour. Therefore, should India tour Pakistan, security of the team must be of paramount concern.
Political symbolism | Boycotting sports events simply amounts to posturing and not much else. For example, despite its anti-racism impulse, there’s little to suggest that the sports boycott of Apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and 80s alone led to the end of the discriminatory regime. Similarly, the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan did not change the Afghan situation.
Slippery slope | Plus, sports boycotts frequently lend themselves to hypocrisy. For example, Russian and Belarussian athletes can only compete at the upcoming Paris Olympics as neutrals due to the war in Ukraine. But some argue that the same rule doesn’t apply to Israeli athletes despite Netanyahu’s war in Gaza.
Spirit of sports | Athletes dedicate their lives to their sporting discipline. They make huge sacrifices to excel and push the limits in their game. That’s the Olympic spirit. They have no influence on political decisions of their countries. Therefore, to penalise sportspersons for political reasons is unfair. Team India should tour Pakistan provided it is given iron-clad, high-level security, just as Russian and Belarussian athletes should be allowed to compete under their flags if they qualify.
This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
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