India's Best Ever Show At The Olympics
Holding an extreme view and carting the ball out of the park is what interests him most. He is a hard hitter at all times. Fasten your seatbelts and read.
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By Slogger
First publised on 2021-08-09 06:46:54
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Holding an extreme view and carting the ball out of the park is what interests him most. He is a hard hitter at all times. Fasten your seatbelts and read.
View all posts by this Author
Tokyo has shown how with proper support, Indian sportspersons can take on the best in the world. It was an all-round show by the Indian contingent with only the shooters and archers disappointing big-time. While the gold in javelin throw by Neeraj Chopra was obviously the icing on the cake, being the first medal in a track and field event and only the second individual gold medal by an Indian, the other medals were equally important. Also, when no medal was won, as in case of women's hockey, the prowess was on full display and the progress made by the girls was significant. Further Aditi Ashok came tantalizingly close to winning the first ever medal in golf while C A Bhabani Devi became the first Indian to participate and win a match in fencing.
The shooters flattered to deceive. Top stars Saurabh Choudhary and Manu Bhaker were surprisingly off-colour and could not compete well and Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar also failed to make a mark. But as former star Gagan Narang said, too much criticism will dishearten them. The need is to introspect about what went wrong and take corrective measures for future. The same goes for archery where medal hope Deepika Kumari came a cropper and the India also made an early exit in the team events, although some performances, like Atanu Das putting it across Jinyek Oh were good. In the end, inconsistency was the bane of the archers.
But this was forgotten in the euphoria of the best ever medal haul (7, including one gold), the best placing (47th) in 40 years and the exciting performance by the hockey teams. The progress made by India's sportspersons proves that supporting them with world-class infrastructure at home, providing them with best sporting equipment and gear, providing the best coaching and letting them participate in world events has raised the standard across the board in most disciplines. If specified and enhanced support is now provided in some disciplines, India's medal tally will rise significantly in Paris in 2024.
