INDIA @ LONDON 2012

After so much of fanfare and publicity the biggest and most succesful Indian contingent at the quadrinental extraveganza is back, and with this begins the postmotem of the event. Was it that much significant olympics or there was something else to the story. Lets analyze....

  It beginned with some sceptic experts wishing upto 5 medals  and some enthusiasts even boasting of a double digit in total medal count. The expectations were higher after a top 2 finish in the commonwealth games tipping Britain. The sports minister, probably for the first time, gave almost full fledged support, both financially and morally, to the contingent. Even the least expected athletes were sponsored for foreign coaches and preparations. Special shows by news channels gave the contingent necessary stardom and a cricket-maniac country some other sport to look upon to. 

The game beginned with almost six such Indians who had touched the peak in the last four years. Expecting ten medals also was not mere a enthusiasm. But the reality needs to be understood.

Begning with the high expectations from the Archers, who failed misearably. The miseary touched its peak when our world no-1 bowed out in round 1 itself. And the episode went bizzare with the news of coach Limba Ram being insulted by top players.

Then was the most expected medal event Shooting. With almost 4 favourites for gold, India wished for not less than 3 medals. The start was dissapointing, while Gagan Narang came up with a gold, Beijing games gold medalist Abhinav failed to qualify. The misery didn't stop there; World no-1 Ranjon Sodhi even failed to qualify. The gloom continued till less fancied Vijay Kumar narrowly missed out on Gold to bag a Silver. The big shooting contingent was even not worth being mentioned except Joydeep Karmakar who gave a spirited fight for medal before ending fourth in finale.

Then came our another big hope the Boxing contingent. Bejing game medalist Vijender was sureshot for a medal after the draw but was flanked by a counterpart whom he had beaten 7-0 in the asian games. While most boxers including Vikas and Manoj were unfortunate Devendro was a revolution, but none were transfered to medals. The saving face was mother of two Mary KOm with her bronze. While Vijender was a big dissapoint some controversial points put our boxers on the opposite corner


While we never had any hopes in Athletics but the below par performances should rang the alarm bells. In Rowing, Judo,Weightlifting qualifying was an achievment. While enthusiasts expected medals but a top 6 finnish would have been heart warming bt the worst ever performance has put doubts on the future of our national game(???).....

Now let's discuss the two events that impressed me the most, Badminton and Wrestling. In baddy even Saina was not a medal favourite. The way Kashyap and Jwala/Ashwini performed it was heart warming. Jwala/Ashwini missed a medal(yes a medal! ) by a point while Kashyap played his heart out in the quarter-final against World no-1. After those fixing claims Jwala/Ashwini must have been given a chance. For me Kashyap's performance was better than Saina's, his determination and constsnt fight with aesthma to come so far was inspirational.

Wrestling, the game with least hype, where 4 out of 5 players gave their iopponents full fledged fight. Yogeswar's Bronze and Sushil's silver doesnt speak all. The way Geeta fought and young Amit Kumar's efforts just show this game is set to bring more laurels for the nation. The way Yogeswar Yogeswar and Sushil turned their opponents in repechage final and semifinal made everyone beleive that we have skills and tricks that other are yet to master.

While London achievements are good but seriously  a double digit medal count eas easily possible. With high hopes for Rio i will be following these athletes for the next four years.