The Sinha Games

Paul Sinha takes a personal look at the past, present and immediate future of the Olympic games - from his perspectives as a sports fan, as a Londoner, and as a Briton.

Because in 2012, for the third time in its history, the Olympic Games will be coming to London. Is this a cause for celebration or sorrow? If London messes it up, what hope is there for Glasgow and the 2014 Commonwealth Games? In 2010, New Delhi provided a masterclass in how to stage a deeply conflicted Games. For every tale of heroic derring-do was another of displaced poverty struggling to emerge. Is the financial cost of the games worth the benefits?

And then of course, there's the sport. Baseball and softball have been removed from the events for 2012 - presumably because to the British they're glorified versions of rounders. But lacrosse, last competed for at Olympic level in London in 1908, has not been reinstated; our public school girls are once again being discriminated against.

The Sinha Games is partly about the sport, and partly about the politics behind the sport; exactly who should we be throwing our support behind?