Former hockey  Olympian Aslam Sher Khan  says  ‘ The big bosses who run the game are only interested in sex, publicity and money'( TOI, 28 Jan ).This statement coming from the eminent sportsman speaks of the decadence that has set in the sports arena too. We have seen it all in the CWG scam led by Kalmadi & co. Kalmadi was once known as a great sports organiser and a close associate of former Prime Minster non other than the Late Rajiv Gandhi who stands till today tainted  in the corruption scandal of Bofors pay off . A Swiss magazine has stated the names of leaders who has secret accounts with the Swiss banks and the name of Rajiv Gandhi with his secret account number with billion dollar balance, too figures , says the well known lawyer Ram Jethmalani. The association of corrupt politicians & corrupt sport leaders seem to be going along for a long time in this country unabated.

Look at SAHARA group headed by Subrato Roy. This group is spear heading  as the main sponsor in the forth coming  ICC  Cricket World Cup 2011. As in the past the Indian cricketers  will be beaming  the SAHARA logo in their sports outfit very prominently.Nothing wrong of course for the sponsors to get due publicity for the amount the shell out for such great sporting event.But SAHARA group also carries with it  the dubious distinction as a manipulator of sorts.

In the well known Ambey Valley project for the exclusive rich & the famous it was in the news for wrong reasons. Sahara group was charged with manipulation  &  violation of laws of the land to accomplish its ambition of building this extravaganza.

Recently SEBI the market regulator questioned the group on the grounds of non transparency in the matter of sourcing of funds for the group activity. Sahara group did not reveal it all in a balance sheet that SEBI has been asking for. Even RBI had to caution investor of investing in this group.

With all these corrupt practices of the Sahara group now in the public domain, can one in the right sense ever feel comfortable to see the  Sahara groups’ logo beaming on  chest of our brilliant cricketers even as they  are making  & breaking records. BCCI should look into these and see to it that it associates corporates with clean public image  & ropes  them in as sponsors rather than favouring and depending upon the tainted for money’s sake. This one more act the cash rich BCCI should clean up if it means clean sport , which the sports lovers and the youth of the nation always look for.

Leaders of sports must work with clean hands for  sport s to grow & flourish in a healthy way. Hope we see a respectable corporate logo on our sports persons next time around.