India’s football captain, Baichung Bhutia, has stunned sports fans the world over by refusing to carry the Olympic torch on its journey through Delhi later this month.
“I sympathise with the Tibetan cause,” the Buddhist football hero told the Times of India. “This is my way of standing by the people of Tibet and their struggle. I abhor violence in any form."
Bhutia comes from India’s north-eastern state of Sikkim, the subject of a longstanding Chinese territorial claim. India has traditionally shown sympathy for the Tibetan cause; but in recent years it has seen an improvement in relations with the Chinese authorities, and now officially recognises Tibet as a part of China.
Sport personalities and fans around the world scratched their heads in bewilderment at Bhutia’s principled stand. Leading British athlete Konnie Huq, lately of Blue Peter, has already confirmed that she will take part in the British leg of the torch’s journey, despite earlier suggestions that she once had a political conscience.
Supporters of the Olympics believe that the Games embody the never-ending human quest for the ideal of absolute perfection, and as such should not be tainted by such petty concerns as politics, freedom, justice, fair play or human dignity – although, needless to say, money is fine.
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