For a nation obsessed with numbers, India’s maiden ‘century’ in the Asian Games history has brought unbridled euphoria. The hype built around the slogan “ab ki baar sau paar” has been predictably changed to “iss baar sau paar”. The athletes have lived up to the expectations.
From 70 medals in Jakarta 2018 to 107, including 28 gold medals, in Hangzhou, India have made a quantum leap. In the medals tally, India are fourth behind China, Japan and South Korea. The hosts China though are still miles ahead with a mindblowing 201 gold medals.
Consistent investment in prospective medal-winning disciplines, nurturing of talents at the grassroots through Khelo India and proper planning have started to pay off.
But India are still not a force to be reckoned with in the Olympic Games, with just a handful of athletes who can be said to be world class.
Neeraj Chopra remains the shining light in track and field and Aditi Ashok in women’s golf. The men’s doubles badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who gave the country its first-ever badminton gold in Asiad on Saturday, and, maybe, the men’s hockey team are about the only others.
That is at this point in time. PV Sindhu’s form has gone from bad to worse, while wrestling and boxing — both disciplines where India traditionally performed very well but failed to bring gold medal from Hangzhou — are struggling.
“In Asian Games itself, it will take time to enter the top three. But we are on an ascending curve. I can’t say how many medals we will win in the Paris Olympics next year, but it will be better than Tokyo,” Neeraj, arguably India’s greatest-ever athlete, said during a virtual interaction on Saturday. India returned with seven medals from Tokyo and Neeraj gave the country the first-ever gold in track and field. The reigning world champion also defended his Asian Games gold medal in Hangzhou.
Numbers, as the saying goes, do not lie. Or is it? The cacophony over more than 100 medals masks the fact that a large number of those are not part of the Olympic Games.
For example, in shooting India made merry by winning 22 medals, including 12 in team events. Team events, barring the mixed category, are not a part of the shooting syllabus in Olympics. Same with cricket, chess, roller skating and compound archery to name a few. Women’s doubles in table tennis, in which the Mukherjees — Sutirtha and Ayhika — won a bronze in Hangzhou, is not part of the individual Olympic Games.
Sharath Kamal, the face of table tennis in the country, agreed that the final tally got a boost because of some events’ inclusion but was ecstatic with the overall performance. “Think of Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee. Beating a world champion in women’s doubles and assuring themselves of a bronze is no joke. In Asiad, table tennis is a cut-throat competition, on a par with the Olympics. And there they prevailed over the Chinese in their own den,” Sharath, 41, told The Telegraph on Friday.
“Their performance will boost our chances to qualify for the team event of the Olympic Games for the first time. At the twilight of my career, that’s something I want to badly. If Ayhika and Sutirtha win their match in the team qualification, we will have a very good chance,” Sharath, who is also the vice-chairman of the athletes’ commission in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), said.
Both Neeraj and Sharath felt the entire sports ecosystem has played its part in helping India break new ground. “The government, Sports Authority of India, the national sports federations, the Target Olympic Podium Scheme and the private sponsors... Everyone worked in tandem,” Neeraj said. “In the past 10 years, the noticeable change is in mentality. There is more accountability now and athletes are well taken care of,” was Sharath’s take.
Olympian archer Dola Banerjee, one of the deputy chef de missions of the Indian contingent, felt it would be a misnomer to connect Asiad performance with the Olympic Games. “It’s a different ball game. However, I am confident we will reach the double-figure mark in Paris. Yes, some events that got us medals in China will not be part of the Games, but we have athletes who can shine on the biggest stage,” Banerjee, who is also an executive committee member of the IOA, said from Hangzhou.
Paris Olympic Games are still some 10 months away and, hopefully, the trajectory will stay positive. “Definitely,” a confident Sharath said.