Smelly Delhi not fit to host elite sport
THE sight of Sri Lanka’s cricketers fielding in face masks in Delhi on Sunday should be a wake-up call for sport’s administrators. The Indian city, in its present polluted state, is not a fit host for major sports events.
Domestic competitions, from Test matches to the Indian Premier League, have no option but to play there. Yet in recent years the desire to exploit the Indian market has taken an increasing number of major international events to Delhi: the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the Cricket World Cup, Formula One, FIFA’s Under 17 World Cup, the Indian Open golf.
Many events are planned, including another Cricket World Cup. And Delhi is far from the only Indian city with pollution problems.
What happens if the smog descends again? At the weekend, some of the Sri Lankans fled the field to vomit and the umpires wisely heeded their distress and abandoned play.
It is harder to make that call while managing a tight tournament schedule. Would the instruction have come to play on if it risked upsetting the dynamic of an entire competition? It is time administrators put the well-being of the players before money.
Sport cannot continue returning to regions that do not meet the most basic standards for athlete welfare. If that means Delhi, and other parts, must clean up their act before hosting again, so be it.