FRAGRANCE OF IDEAS
India’s performance in the recently concluded Olympics 2024 at Paris (France) was considered subdued due to India’s medal tally at the biggest international games extravaganza. But the truth is somewhat different that needs to be analyzed in the context of the actual performance and contribution of the Indian players. Our 117 athletes contributed in as many as 16 sports events in the whole tournament and brought 6 medals home. However, these results don’t reflect the actual performance on the ground.
Indian athletes competed in 69 medal events across 16 sports, such as archery, athletics, shooting, badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, swimming, table tennis and tennis. Paris Olympics 2024 concluded with India finishing 71st in the overall medal tally, a decline from its 48th place in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 held in the year 2021. Although India won six medals, including one silver and five bronze, our athletes experienced several near misses and heart-breaking results in the advanced stages of their competition. It has surely unleashed a discussion and debate about the status and future of Indian sports in the background of the past national sports history.
In the last Asian Games held in Hangzhou (China) in the year 2023, preceded by the Commonwealth Games at Birmingham (England) in 2022, Indian athletes had exhibited an excellent and a very stealing performance in all major competitions. India won an overall 60 medals in the Birmingham Commonwealth games. The improved position in the medal tally in the last Asian Games in particular for India was very promising keeping in view the future of the games and sports in India. We secured fourth position in the Hangzhou Asian Games with an overall medal tally of 106 medals (28 gold, 38 silver & 40 bronze) for the first time in the history. It was surely a solid ground for the athletes to prepare for better achievements at the highest level in the Paris Olympics2024.
There are indeed some great performances at the Olympics this time which need recognition at the national level and these include the following:
Neeraj Chopra, the golden boy of India, secured a silver medal in Javelin throw with a throw of 89.45m this time, his overall second best. This is also his second Olympic medal after winning gold at Tokyo, making him fifth two-time Olympic medalist of India.
Manu Bhaker emerged as a new sensation in the Olympics for India. She dazzled as the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting medal and also became the first athlete in independent India to win two medals in a single game by winning a medal in both individual and mixed team events. However, she unfortunately missed her third medal in the same sports in another event in the finals very narrowly.
Sarabjit Singh in a mixed team event with Manu Bhaker won a bronze and brought laurels for India in the games. Keeping in view the age of both medal winning shooters and those of them who narrowly missed the podium finish, a great expectation and hope has taken birth so far as their future performances at the biggest international level are concerned.
Swapnil Kusale, again a young athlete from Maharashtra, won third bronze medal for India in shooting in the 50m rifle 3 positions event, considered the toughest one of the game. He showed great guts to compete with the big giants of the game in the finals of the sports event. This is the highest tally for India in shooting at any Olympics in history.
Aman Sahrawat, a young wrestler of 21 years, who created ripples by defeating the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Ravi Kumar Dahayia in the national competition and got entry into the Paris Olympics, won bronze for India in the 57kg category. He defeated Puerto Rico’s Darian Toi Cruz with a convincing score of 13-5 in the bronze medal match at Paris. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Sehrawat achieved a historic milestone by becoming the youngest Olympic medalist for India. Sehrawat is the only Indian wrestler to earn a medal at the Paris Games, where he currently holds the second spot in the rankings with 51,600 points. As the youngest male wrestler at the Paris Summer Games, Aman lost his semifinal match to Japan’s Rei Higuchi, who is ranked number one in the world with 59,000 points.
Hockey, once the pride of India, brought back to back medals for the country after a gap of 52 years. It was only in 1972 Munich Olympics that Indian Hockey won a bronze medal after getting medals consistently in the previous events in a row. This is indeed historic and path breaking for Indian hockey. Though India got a gold medal in Hockey in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the fact is that these games were boycotted by the West lobby nations due to political reasons, thus diluting the standard of the then world games event.
After this feat of winning the gold medal in 1980, Indian hockey derailed from its path and virtually got sidelined for two decades due to its lackluster performance. Unfortunately for India, Hockey went into a number of big changes so far as the rules of the game, turf, timings and other important issues concerning the game at international level are concerned. It was the worst time for Indian hockey which had by then won 8 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals in the Olympics and had a great history of pride and glory with one-time winning the World Championship of the game at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1975.
However, around the year 2000, Indian hockey reemerged from the grave of its deadly eclipse; and a battery of great and vibrant players emerged on the scene. All of them ignited the fire and took India again into the international competitions with some reassuring performances but couldn’t win a podium finish for India in the Olympics. P.R. Shreejesh, the veteran and the senior most goalkeeper of India (nicknamed the wall of India) who joined the team in 2002, contributed a lot to the team’s performance. Despite the transition from one generation to the other, he kept himself fit and robust and guided the team with his great performance over the last two decades.
Shreejesh along with the team captain, Harmanpreet Singh (nicknamed Sarpanch sahib) who scored 10 goals, the most by any player, guided the Indian Hockey to two back to back podium finishes at the two Olympics. This is indeed the rejuvenation of Indian Hockey particularly when the game of Cricket has overwhelmed the sports scenario in the country. The role of their coach Craig Fulton is also exemplary and worth due praise. His guidance to the team particularly against Great Britain when the Indian team suffered both red and green cards and were having only 9 players on the field is simply marvelous. The overall performance in the entire competition by the Indian Hockey team this time is one of the best in its six decades of history.
This time the Indian athletes finished fourth in at least seven medal events, the highest till date. Last time silver medalist Mirabai Chanu in the women’s 49 kg category in weightlifting stood at number four this time in the finals. Lakshya Sen, the first Indian male athlete so far in the semi-finals also missed the bronze medal after exhibiting a great show in the entire tournament. Arjun Babuta missed by a whisker his podium finish in the men’s 10m air rifle shooting. Again, the two bronze medal winner Manu Bhaker finished fourth in her third event of women’s 25m pistol event. On the last day of the games, Aditi Ashok also finished fourth in the women’s golf event.
Then in the team events, Dhiraj Bommadevara & Ankita Bhakat couldn’t make it to the podium finish in the mixed team archery event and again finished fourth. Maheshwari Chauhan & Anant Jeet Singh Naruka also finished fourth in the mixed skeet event of archery. It needs to be emphasized here that besides the above, a number of athletes reached pre-quarter finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals and even finals of their events but couldn’t cross the final line to be able to clinch the medals. However, their performances in their respective fields were highly praiseworthy and inspiring.
Vinesh Phogat, a star campaigner, entered the finals of the 50kg weight category wrestling but was unfortunately disqualified due to being overweight by 100 gms before the final event. Thus she got divested of a sure gold or silver medal in the event. Her appeal for the silver was also rejected by the Court of arbitration for Sports (CAS).
Keeping in view the actual contribution of the Indian players throughout the tournament, it is important that the young athletes are provided with the psychological nourishment and the modern technical training as well to combat tough and unexpected situations during the international tournaments. This time the staff support and the other important assistance was definitely of a higher standard but players also need to prepare themselves, both physically and mentally, and even spiritually, for the toughest situations that are usually forthcoming at the international level when knockout stages are to be crossed.
The government of India has also been so generous for the last almost a full decade so far as help and assistance to the development of sports in India is concerned. In order to double and multiply the achievements, it is important that the athletes are groomed at the youngest stage, the nursery and the school level, as in the case of all sporting nations of the world. The advancement of a nation is not limited only to its economic sphere. Education, sports, culture and character are integral parts of the process that makes a nation truly developed.
The goals for the next Olympics, Asian Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games and the National Games need to be set right in their earnest. It is hoped that lessons are taken at all levels and the people responsible for the games and sports in India at the government level, the sports association level and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) level gear up for the immediate future and beyond. India is surely on its march to become a sports nation, slowly and steadily.
(The author is a senior BJP and KP leader, human rights defender, author and columnist and can be reached at: [email protected])
