India hoped to touch double figures in Paris, for the first time, buoyed by the 107 medals feat at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. But over the past fortnight, Paris has proved to be a big reality check for the 117-member Indian contingent.
The Olympic Games is a completely different ball game.
The yawning chasm between the Asiad and Olympic standard has come to the
fore once again as India return with just six medals, one less than Tokyo — the country’s best show till date.
Over the last decade or so, hopes have been raised only for them to be dashed. In this edition, there were six fourth-place finishes and if some moments had been seized it could have been a better show than Tokyo. But this is the Olympics and there is no second chance. The competition is so strong that even a small slip proves to be a huge setback and that’s what happened to most of the Indians in the fray.
Young badminton star Lakshya Sen is a case in point. Sen frittered away match-winning advantages for two successive days, including against Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen. The slip-up hurt more, as it came on the heels of doubles duo — and medal hopeful — Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu exiting the Games.
Still, a bronze medal was very much on the cards for the young shuttler. But Sen again imploded against Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia.
“We had a chance in men’s doubles,” Arun Vishnu, who works with women’s doubles players Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly told The Telegraph from Hyderabad on Sunday.
Table tennis too flattered to deceive. Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula exceeded expectations by making it to the last-eight stage in the individual event for the first time. But again in the quarters, they failed to seize the moments.
Another letdown was archery. Veterans Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai faltered in the team events. In the individual event, Deepika, competing in her fourth Olympics, did better, reaching the quarter-final only to bow out to South Korea.
The mixed team of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat fared slightly better, becoming the first Indian team to make the archery semi-finals before losing to South Korea and then the USA in the bronze playoff to finish fourth.
“We gave our best,” Dhiraj had said after the bronze medal playoff. His partner, Calcutta girl Ankita was too crestfallen to say anything.
Wrestling, which has brought India an Olympic medal every edition since London, was a see-saw experience. If Antim Panghal and Anshu Malik couldn’t proceed far, Vinesh Phogat reached the 50kg gold medal bout but was disqualified for being 100gm over in the second weigh-in on the day of the final. It was 21-year-old Aman Sehrawat finally who brought India a bronze in the 57kg.
Boxers Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain faced a tall task against world champions. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu fell short of the bronze medal position by 1kg.
In these Games of failed chances, shooting, hockey and Neeraj Chopra were the only ones to buck the trend. The men’s hockey team got their second successive bronze for a perfect farewell to goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. Neeraj, javelin champion in Tokyo, finished with a silver. “It’s a huge achievement,” he said after the final on Thursday.
Shooting shone the brightest though, and the star was Manu Bhaker — the first Indian to win two medals in a single Games. Then it was the turn of Swapnil Kusale, who got a bronze in the tough 50m rifle three positions — a category Indians are not rated highly. Given India’s talent in shooting, this promises hope for Los Angeles 2028.
The inability to cross the finish line, though, prompted Prakash Padukone, adviser to the badminton contingent,
to ask the players to be accountable. But Abhinav Bindra felt everyone should be held responsible. “Responsibility has to be jointly taken. It’s a teamwork after all,” the Beijing gold medallist shooter told The Telegraph.
True, questions must be asked. After all, the government spent more than ₹400 crore in the last Olympic cycle and there are just six medals and 71st position to show for it.
