NEW DELHI, 17 January, 2025: The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) held a prayer meeting in here on Saturday to condole the death of Suresh Kalmadi, a former President of AFI and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). Kalmadi, 81, died in Pune on Jan 6. Adille Sumariwala, Vice President of World Athletics, Bahadur Singh (AFI President), Anju Bobby George, former AFI General Secretary Lalit Bhanot and Kalmadi’s colleague from his Indian Air Force days, industrialist Raj Chopra were among those who recalled Kalmadi’s yeoman services to sports, particularly athletics. President of IOA P T Usha also paid rich tributes to Kalmadi virtually through Zoom.
During the meeting, Sumariwala read out the condolence messages from Sebastian Coe, the current President of World Athletics and Qatar’s Dahlan Jumaan al_Hamdad, President of Asian Athletics.
During Kalmadi’s magical era in Indian sports, even I had a long association with him and had worked with him in his domestic and international projects. Unlike many sports officials and administrators in India, he was passionate about sport and possessed a unique acumen to overcome challenges. He was far ahead of his time when thinking about new ventures in Indian sport. He was a member of Parliament as a Congress man. But he had friends cutting across political lines. Many MPs of the Opposition after criticising him and his Congress Party in Parliament in the morning would land up at his house for evening party. For him, parties were not a political battleground, and perhaps more of a sports field.
He always cared for friends and colleagues. During the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, at the time when he had begun venturing in International Sports, he threw a party at a popular five star hotel in the Chinese Capital. Not finding me and some other media persons at the party, he sent a man to the stadium to get us to join the celebrations. It was not a digital era then and we were fighting to send our despatches of the day’s event to our respective offices in New Delhi. There was hardly anytime to go to our hotel and change. So we straight went to the hotel where the party was being organised.
Since some other friends and I were in shorts and T-shirts and carrying portable manual typewriters, a Chinese security man stopped us at the entrance. He was convinced we were gatecrashers. Just as the guard physically stopped me from passing through the metal detector, Mr Kalmadi came down to receive a guest. He came out of the lift, just in front of the metal detector. No questions asked. He just pushed the tall and hefty security guard aside before threatening to punch him. He was furious that media persons were stopped by the security. It almost became a serious diplomatic row when some officials of the Indian embassy intervened to save the situation.
I was covering the Beijing Asian Games for a newspaper owned by an industrialist. The amount fixed for my services was Rs 10,000. But even after one month of my return, the owner of the newspaper refused to meet me let alone giving the money. His secretary evaded my request to meet or speak to him. I had lost all hope of getting the money. One day I happened to have lunch with Kalmadi at his residence at Dr Bishambhar Das Marg in New Delhi. I causally told him how the newspaper owner was not giving me the promised money. At once he asked his Secretary to connect him to the owner of the paper. He just uttered one sentence “My friend Norris is coming tomorrow. Pay him.’’ Next morning, I went to the office of the newspaper. The same man who had refused to see me, got up from the seat and welcomed me. And he pulled out an envelope from the drawer and handed me Rs 10,000! This was Kalmadi.
Under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Kalmadi was a Railway Minister in 1995-1996. Soon after taking over, he ensured that Arjuna Award winners (Sports persons) were given Free Passes for Railway travel. Sportspersons are still enjoying the facility!
Recently Indians went mad over the visit of global football icon Lionel Messi. And what a mess it was! But three decades ago, when Kalmadi organised the Permit Meet at Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, it was not just one star but a lineup—superstar athlete Carl Lewis, pole vault sensation Sergei Bubka, hurdler Ronaldo Nehimiah (First man to break 13 second barrier in 110m hurdles) and Olympic 800 m champion Steve Ovett among others.
During another Permit Meet, then double Olympic champion and World record holder American sprinter Michael Johnson had agreed to participate in the meet. But three days before the meet, after Kalmadi had gone all out to announce his participation in media, including foreign wire services, Johnson refused to come to Delhi. It was revealed that Johnson’s agent, sitting in a hotel with Johnson in Tokyo, had hiked the appearance fee agreed upon earlier. Any other person would have possibly let the Meet be held without the American superstar. But it was not Kalmadi’s way of functioning! He immediately prepared a man to go to Tokyo with hiked fee to get Johnson to Delhi. And sure enough Johnson was in Delhi the next day, ran and won the races and hogged the newspaper headlines!
Kalmadi was an extremely friendly person. But when angry, he could be nasty — verbally though. Many people experienced his other side of the personality. But the very next day he would be sugar and honey to the same person whom he had abused! Even I had a similar experience.
I was very keen to visit the PM’s residence at 7 Race Course Road (Now Lok Kalyan Marg). I requested Kalmadi once if he could make my dream come true. And very soon he did! He asked Mr Tarlochan Singh to fix an appointment for a visit to 7 Race Course Road when Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. On the appointed day Kalmadi, Tarlochan Singh, IOA General Secretary Randhir Singh, my friend Asim Handa and I were sitting across the table in front of Prime Minister Vajpayee in the visitor’s room. Since there was no meeting agenda as such, Kalmadi began talking about the forthcoming Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. Kalmadi spoke for about ten minutes. And all this while Prime Minister Vajpayee was sitting with his eyes shut – almost like in a trance. I was convinced Mr Vajpayee had not heard what Kalmadi had said.
But as soon as Kalmadi finished, Mr Vajpayee opened his eyes and said just one sentence “Wo to sab theek hai lekin aap log in khelo me bahut bade dal lekar jaate hain or padak nahi aate hain. desh ki bahut badnaami hoti hai’’! (This is alright but you take a huge delegation for these Games abroad. And we don’t get many medals. And the country gets a bad name) Mr Vajpayee said his two lines and went back to his room! We came out and Kalmadi gave me a mouthful. ‘’Because of you I had to hear all this,’’ he said before we were back at the Indian Olympic Association office. I was naturally upset. But next day he was the same friendly Kalmadi as if nothing had happened the previous day. That was the first and last moment of tension between us.
RIP my dear friend. India will miss you.
*The author is a senior sports journalist in New Delhi.
