India’s Olympics show could have been better

Paris Olympics 2024 is now part of history, done and dusted. The French city had hosted the event after a gap of 100 years and sure enough France can take a big compliment for a well organised event and what is more its athletes brought enough moments of joy to the home fans. France finished 5th on the Medals table, something to be proud of. The aspirations in India are to host the Games of this magnitude in another 12 years’ time.  As a major nation in Asia and probably the biggest country in terms of population, the eagerness can be understandable but has our sporting culture tuned enough to bring in the kind of joy to the host country as seen in Paris is the big question. If anything Paris 2024 has once again been an outing that had at best given hopes of a good future just as Tokyo 2020 did earlier.  But the returns this time had been lesser, six medals as compared to the seven including a gold medal in 2020. India finished at the 71th place on the medals table. By any standards then, it may be said India still has a long way to go.

And yet nobody is losing hope! The reason apparently is the mixed experience this time. True there was only one silver and five bronze medals to show but as experts point out, the Indian contingent also had the mortification of seeing six other medal winning opportunities slip away with fourth place finishes. Had that clicked then the pre-Games goal of a double digit medals tally could have been there!  Nice words but ground realities could be so different and dicey as it proved.  We had a badminton ace Lakshya Sen, shining so well and looking every bit a medal winner when he lost grasp in the quarterfinal.  Then there were shooters Manu Bhaker (25 m  sports pistol), Arjun Babuta( 10 m air rifle) and the pair of Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan (skeet), as also the archery  pair of Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara not to miss the much hyped Mirabai Chanu in weightlifting, all failing to grasp the moment.

Vinesh Phogat

True Manu had done herself and India proud earlier with two bronze medals, a historic feat that did not miss the attention of even the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi. Infact, coming as it did in the early phase of the Games, the effect of Manu’s gains was electric with the nation charged up to see more. Indeed it must be said, the shooters set the tone picked up later by our hockey stars who ensured the Tokyo bronze success was not a flash in the pan with another bronze medal this time. Not since the 1968/ 72 had Indian hockey seen such a thing happening. Big marks for this had to go to the lion-hearted custodian P R. Sreejesh. The Kerala man, who retired from the sport soon after, that way gave Indian hockey the kind of confidence with his impactful goalkeeping that the team rebounded well to ensure a place on the podium. The self-belief in the team is so strong that Indian hockey could justifiably look forward to better times ahead.

A touch disappointment came for the icon of the Indian contingent in Paris, none other than Neeraj Chopra. All indications, his qualifying effort for the final phase in particular gave assurance that he would stylishly retain the premier gold-medal position he had gained in Tokyo.  A suggestion of a groin strain had lately made him circumspect but he went ahead gamely only to be stumped by his Pakistani friend and rival Arshad Nadeem who came up with a monstrous 90m plus throw to end Neeraj’s dream. A silver still made him the fourth Indian to achieve the distinction of winning two successive Olympic medals in individual sport. Neeraj is still to touch the 90 m mark and many had expected him to do that in Paris.  The wait will continue. Adding to Neeraj’s medal winning effort, the bronze medals of shooters Sarabjot Singh, Swapnil Kusale and wrestler Aman Sehrawat (the youngest Indian to succeed) helped India.

Combo photo of the Indian athletes; (Left to right clockwise) table tennis player Manika Batra, badminton players Lakshya Sen, PV Sindhu, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, and boxers Lovlina Borgohain and Nikhat Zareen, who were expected to win a medal but were knocked out of the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France. (PTI Photo)

Yet what took the focus away so to say was the Vinesh Phogat fiasco. The ace wrestler had all the credentials of a champion and was almost reaching the point of showing that when the big fall came. Much has been said and written on this but in the end one thing is clear, rules are there to be followed and there sentiments and emotions do not work.  The whole nation fell in line with the emotional collapse of Vinesh once it became clear that she was out of reckoning despite some stellar show. Apparently, all other happenings in Paris from India’s angle, it can be said went into a shade when it seemed the need for introspection would be the point that would be talked about most after the luke-warm show overall. The usually cool Prakash Padukone, the mentor of the badminton squad, did make some plain speaking after seeing the Indians failing in this sport, something that had not happened since the 2012 London Olympics.

India's Avinash Sable competes in the Men's 3000m Steeplechase Round 1 athletics event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France.

Padukone had stressed on the point that the Federations and Government had done their bit to provide everything for the players to do well. The government has been earmarking hundreds of crores towards preparations for the Olympics. In the end then the onus thus had to be on the players. What he said could be true for all others considering failure or lack of an intent was not confined to badminton alone. Many of the Indian participants could not touch their personal best and that reflected.  It's one thing to say India for all this still touched their second best show in Olympics matching the London Games tally of six medals but the fact remains the expectations were for more. Perhaps Paris will serve enough lessons for a better next time.