You can never tell who is more surprised: international sportsmen visiting India or the adoring Indian public, which understands the value of celebrity even if it doesn't care about the sport. But one thing's for certain, both sides are equally overwhelmed. With Olympic champion Usain Bolt slated to visit next year, Arun Janardhan looks at what goes into hosting major sporting talent and the circus behind the scene
You can never tell who is more surprised: international sportsmen visiting India or the adoring Indian public, which understands the value of celebrity even if it doesn't care about the sport. But one thing's for certain, both sides are equally overwhelmed.
With Olympic champion Usain Bolt slated to visit next year, Arun Janardhan looks at what goes into hosting major sporting talent and the circus behind the scene
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IT was two in the morning when a drowsy Bhaswar Goswami made his way out of the Kolkata airport with his VIP guest. As their car crawled out, Goswami peered out of the window, expecting a quiet city in slumber.
Sitting next to Goswami, his special guest from Argentina was overwhelmed. Diego Maradona was not expecting this reception; not in the middle of the night, not in a country he had never been to, not years after he had stopped playing active football. It was also not the first time on the trip that Maradona was moved.
Goswami, the executive director of events management company Celebrity Management Group in Kolkata, recalls how Maradona, who inspired Argentina to the 1986 World Cup win and is considered by many as the greatest footballer to walk the earth, was also moved to tears at the memorial of Mother Teresa. "He said it felt like he was in a temple as his eyes welled up," remembers Goswami. The organisers promptly gave him an album with Mother Teresa's pictures as a parting gift.
For Goswami, this was the fruition of six months' labour. From the time the company tried getting in touch with the footballer, made contact with Maradona's manager, convinced wife Claudia, met the footballer himself in his villa outside Buenos Aires, to his final arrival in Kolkata.
Maradona is not the first celebrity international sportsman to come to India. Several others have made the trip for charity events, to play exhibition matches, to honour sponsorship deals or purely for money, though no self-respecting organiser would reveal how much it costs.
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u00a0Maradona gives the crowds a hand in Kolkata |
Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton was here on invitation from one of his sponsors in 2008, world No 1 tennis player Roger Federer visited Tamil Nadu as a UNICEF ambassador in 2006, athletic giants Edwin Moses, Nadia Comaneci, Daley Thomson, Michael Johnson, Kip Keino and Sebastian Coe came to participate in the Laureus Academy Forum in 2003, Gail Devers, Paul Tergat, Steve Cram, Maurice Green, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Javier Sotomayor and others to support the Mumbai international marathon, golfer Colin Montgomerie played in Delhi so that he could qualify for the Masters. The latest in this growing number is world record holder and Olympic champion in 100m and 200m Usain Bolt who, the Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi claimed earlier this week, would participate in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi next year.
Apart from cricket, India rarely figures in the top of any sport. Which means the best sportsmen from other fields would not often come to India, particularly since India has never hosted the Olympics, football World Cup, does not often host major championships in any other sporting field either. India largely remains a destination off the grid, which throws up the question of why any global sports champ would want to make a trip here.
Several organisers who have brought these international stars to India say it is a combination of money, curiosity and India's growing reputation as an economically vibrant country.
Vivek Singh, joint managing director of sports management company Procam International the company that promotes the annual international marathon in Mumbai says after the initial years when it was difficult to market India, perceptions have changed. "When we started out, we were still a relatively unknown sporting destination. No one knew about the marathon," says Singh. "Big names are careful in selecting their destinations, irrespective of how much money you offer.
"But once we established our credibility, it became easier. Also, once someone makes the trip, they are bowled over by the warmth of Indian hospitality and the word spreads."
Shailendra Singh who, as the joint managing director of media and communications company Percept, has dealt with some of the biggest names in sport, says it was former American president Bill Clinton's trip to India (in 2000) that opened many doors. "Sportsmen now mostly come for charity or money, more so for the latter in these times of economic troubles," he says.
But not all perceptions have changed. For instance, Singh recalled John McEnroe once telling him that he feared coming to India, seeing its poverty and homelessness, as it might depress him. Football great Bobby Charlton, for instance, required some persuasion before the rather formal Brit agreed to make the trip. Some others like Boris Becker, who has come here repeatedly, sometimes just "to party on weekends", have been complete 'Indophiles'.
Singh remembers shooting an advertisement with Becker in Rajasthan during the summer. The German, feeling ill and struggling to cope with the heat, refused to cancel the shoot. Instead, he downed two quick shots of vodka to "kill the germs" and moved on. According to the Percept boss, the adventurous Becker loved meeting people, charming women and partying, "dancing late into the night on the condition that he is fed early in the evening and not at four in the morning like is the norm here."
Percept had organised the Laureus Academy Forum in December 2003 that brought some of the best known names in international athletics, albeit retired, to India, all of them stars of the 1970s and 80s. Singh praised their professionalism while mentioning little quirks like Michael Johnson's love for hip-hop showing through his reticence. Others like Comaneci and Thomson were fun while Ed Moses, who has a knack for missing flights, said he was too old to party and wanted to go to places that played "alternate music that does not force people to do what they don't want".
If some liked to party, others had rules. Like Maradona, who has had his battles with alcohol, stayed in Kolkata under the condition that there would be no alcohol in the hotel room. Though he was willing to experiment with the food, tasting some Bengali fish and mutton curry during his stay, the food had to be tempered down to his style.
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u00a0Roger Federer hits a different stroke in Chennai |
During his hectic trip, that lasted less than 48 hours and required him to travel practically through the whole of Tamil Nadu, Federer made one thing clear to his hosts u2013 his love for chicken tikka and admiration for Sachin Tendulkar, though not necessarily in that order. Chennai-based UNICEF communication specialist Thomas George remembers Federer being his usual polite self during their cramped trip to India that took the tennis champ to Tsunami-hit parts, showing a gentle interest in the country and willing to play cricket with affected children. "He is a natural sportsman. I don't know if he had played cricket before, but he was very comfortable doing it," George said from Chennai.
Years of practiced professionalism has meant that most visits have gone smoothly. Romit Chatterjee of the Tatas, who had sponsored a Legends tour at the Cricket Club of India in 2001, laughed at the remarkably "uneventful" trip of some of tennis' biggest names. Bjorn Borg, Guillermo Vilas, Henri Leconte and Vijay Amritraj came, played fun tennis as part of the seniors tour, participated in all sponsor events, were well mannered and easy to manage.
Only occasionally have organisers broken sweat at a sudden change of plans. Like when Mike Powell and Michael Johnson, in Mumbai for the marathon, enthused by the huge crowd, suddenly wanted to run themselves leaving organisers worried about security issues. Or when Federer, under pressure to start his journey into the TN interiors, patiently signed autographs at his Chennai hotel lobby, while officials nervously looked at their watches. Or when Maradona visited the Mohameddan Sporting ground for the usual routine of hand shakes, was faced with a full ground of roaring fans. The genius quickly asked for several balls and went around the stadium, kicking them into the crowd.
Come October 2010, Bolt will be a little different. Organisers might have less trouble as Bolt would just be sprinting.
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