Kalmadi isn't to be blamed completely for the mess at the Games: Negi

With the Commonwealth Games descending into an utter farce, Indian sport and India's image has taken a severe beating. Now, we as a nation need to rebound, and quickly.

Mir Ranjan Negi is probably best placed to tell us how.

Pilloried for his role in the 1982 Asian Games debacle, the former Indian goalkeeper redeemed himself as a coach, and inspired the making of Chak de India, the cult sports movie featuring Bollywood's badshah Shah Rukh Khan.

Recently, he's expressed his interest to return to the position that made him famous - as coach of the Indian women's hockey team once again after MK Kaushik was forced to resign in the wake of a sex scandal.

In an exclusive chat with Sify.com readers, Negi shared his views on the current Commonwealth Games mess and on hockey scandals. Excerpts:

Dear Mr Negi, your life is truly inspiring. Have you ever considered a career as a motivational speaker? Your story can inspire a lot of corporates.

Yeah, I do visit a lot of institutions and corporates and share my views. I love interacting with people and wish to usher in a change at all levels.

As a country, we don't have a sporting culture. I wanted to play hockey in school but I couldn't because I was the only one who wanted to play hockey in my class. Why don't schools encourage other sports?

Sports should be made compulsory in government schools at least. I mean schools like the Kendriya Vidyalayas and the municipal schools.