The elder brother played tennis; the younger one liked squash. The former — N. Srinivasan — rules cricket. And the latter — N. Ramachandran — is in charge of other sports.
Ramachandran was in his teens when he started playing squash at the Madras Cricket Club. He was a state-level player for almost three decades, but his friends haven't seen him wield a racquet for many years now. But the 65-year-old sports lover with his rimless glasses has been holding the reins of the squash administration for almost two decades.
So it didn't come as a surprise when 'Rami' — as his friends call him — was recently elected, unopposed, president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), the 85-year old organisation that has been mired in controversy after the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
'Ramachandran has been an able administrator of squash and he has also worked with the IOA in various capacities for many years now. He will make a good president. The fact that India has been re-admitted into the IOC soon after his elevation is a good omen,' says Randhir Singh, former IOA secretary-general and member of the International Olympic Council (IOC).
Soft-spoken Ramachandran, who like his brother wears his religion on his forehead (marked by a red streak of vermilion), has been seen by many as a 'proxy candidate' of Abhay Singh Chautala, who had to resign as IOA president after the IOC de-recognised the Indian body. But those who know Ramachandran say that he is certainly not a puppet.
'Chautala is in for a shock if he thinks that Ramachandran will toe his line. If Chautala has any doubts, he has to attend a meeting of the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI). People are too scared to even look him in the eye,' an IOA member in Delhi says. Ramachandran, who is also the world squash federation (WSF) president, attends SRFI meetings in his capacity as the head of the Tamilnadu Squash Rackets Association (TSRA), but is said to have the last word on almost every decision.
His peers at the international level praise him for his contribution to squash. 'Rami has been a great leader of the WSF and world squash. The campaign he led to get squash into the Olympics was exemplary,' WSF patron Prince Tunku Imran, son of the king of Malaysia, says.
Ramachandran has virtually followed his brother in rising through the ranks of national sports organisations. Like his brother, who is now the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) but was once its treasurer, Ramachandran was also the treasurer of IOA. His family too is in sports management. His wife, Surekha, is the president of the Indian Triathlon Federation, while son T.R. Narayanaswamy is its vice-president (as is Ramachandran). His daughter, Babli, who has Down Syndrome, is a Bharatanatyam dancer.
The brothers are arguably the most powerful duo in the world of Indian sports. Srinivasan is the head of the most powerful cricket body in the country (some say of the world), while Ramachandran controls every other important game.
'Ramachandran now controls 90 per cent of all sports in the country and Srinivasan controls 90 per cent of the money in sports in India,' says Rahul Kumar, a former squash player and a longtime critic of Ramachandran.
Son of a business entrepreneur, T.S Narayanaswami Iyer, Ramachandran, like his brother, steers clear of publicity. The brothers are said to be not on the best of terms and chose their own ways after Ramachandran resigned as the executive director of the family concern, India Cements Ltd, in 2009, after selling his stake to his brother.
The Rs 4,000-crore company, the largest cement maker in south India, is an active sponsor of several clubs and tournaments in Chennai. It was the main sponsor of a squash academy in Chennai, now called the Indian Squash Academy, where many players were trained.
The camp against Ramachandran accuses him of harbouring a regional bias. Kumar believes that he has 'single-handedly destroyed squash in north India' by promoting the Chennai academy. 'You have to represent Tamil Nadu if you want to make it to the Indian team. Several talented youngsters have fallen by the wayside,' Kumar says.
A supporter of Ramachandran, on the other hand, claims that he actually destroyed a 'coterie' in Delhi and Mumbai that controlled squash. 'He has made squash accessible to everybody,' the SRFI member says.
But Kumar is not convinced. He, along with several others, has filed cases against Ramachandran alleging conflict of interest and manipulation in the selection of players. Several cases are slated to come up shortly. This includes one related to the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar which was given to him by the government in 2011. The petition alleges that he fell short of many requirements that the award stipulates.
Brigadier (retired) Raj Manchanda, a six-time national champion who earlier worked as a government observer of the game, says that he can't recall a single occasion when he didn't provide an adverse report against the activities of the SRFI.
'From controlling coaches to disaffiliating associations that were opposed to him to harassing players who didn't want to toe the SRFI line, he did everything. There were even manipulations in the draws of tournaments,' Manchanda alleges.
Kumar holds that Ramachandran has even broken the rules of the IOA. According to Clause XXVIII(c) of the Memorandum and Rules and Regulations of Indian Olympic Association, no office-bearer of a sports association in a state can be a member of another state sports body. Ramachandran, however, continues to head both the Tamilnadu Cycling Association and the TSRA.
Ramachandran's office didn't respond to the allegations.
Saurav Ghosal, India's highest ranked men's player and world No. 18, agrees that under his stewardship, Chennai has got world-class facilities for squash. He adds that Ramachandran could have been more proactive in helping more academies come up. 'But it is not an ideal world,' Ghosal, who has known Ramachandran for the last 10 years, adds.
'He is very clear on what he wants and listens to a 'core' group which is close to him. However, he sticks to the decisions he makes and will not yield easily when he makes up his mind,' Ghosal stresses.
Meanwhile, Clean Sports India, an organisation of former Indian Olympians, has shot off a letter to the IOC asking it to look into the charges against Ramachandran. 'Let them probe the allegations and take a decision,' athlete Ashwini Nachappa, president of the organisation, says.
Members of the Chennai squash fraternity are wary of saying anything about Ramachandran. His favourite line when he addresses players apparently is: 'Players are temporary, but the federation is there forever.'
Some players' parents say that he can be more formidable than his brother. 'It is not the money but the power the brothers enjoy,' a parent says. 'They want to be the kingpins of sports.'
Kingpins they already are. Whether they will be the kings of sports remains to be seen.
