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No Olympic hopes from India: PT Usha

Agencies
Posted online: Monday , January 14, 2008 at 12:05 hrs
Updated On: Monday , January 14, 2008 at 12:20 hrs


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India does not have any chance to win a medal in athletics at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Beijing later this year, said former sprint queen P T Usha.

"In athletics some of the Indian participants may improve their personal marks, but I see no possibility of any Indian athlete reaching near a position for any medal," Usha said.

She said the country, however, has some chances of getting a medal either in tennis or shooting.

Usha, who was in the city in connection with an athletics meet, is the lone Indian athlete who bagged gold medals in the Asian Games and missed a medal by a whisker at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

About ace long jumper Anju Bobby George's prospects in Beijing, Usha said, "Anju has passed her prime. She also needs to work on her injury management to produce good results."

Usha said youngsters should be groomed properly to help them win medals at prestigious international meets.

"The aspiring athletes should also be given necessary international exposure so that they can finetune themselves, get international experience and judge where they stand and what they lack," Usha said.

"It was because of the lack of experience that I lost the bronze in Los Angeles Olympics," Usha said.

She lamented that the present generation of young athletes were not focused on their training.

"In our time we had far more single-minded devotion.

Youngsters these days spend their energy in too many things and don't put in cent per cent efforts."

Usha now spends all her time and energy to run her athletics academy which she started at Khojikode in Kerala. She said she was grooming some athletes including Tintu Luka, Shilpa and Aswathi Mohan for the London Olympics in 2012.

"These athletes have showed very good potential and are on the right direction. I'am sure they would be able to live up to the expectation in 2012 Olympics and bring to an end the medal drought for Indian athletes," the Payyoli Express said.

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Comments
» Whatever Usha says is completely TRUE
Posted by Anushree Mondal on 2008-08-31 09:36:27.587466+05:30
An enthusiast of sports, I completely agree with Usha. She being a person who has seen the world knows exactly what the future of India is in Athletics. Unless we Indians train ourselves and the government develops proper infastructure to train its youngsters, till then we can't do anything...

» what pt usha saya is 100 percent true
Posted by deepak mb on 2008-04-21 16:08:36.072491+05:30
i am good speed skater and a fast cyclist too i have competed in speed skating world championship held in belgium 2002 and since then due to lack of sponsorship and encouragement i could not continue attending international events still at present i can be one of top three skaters in india i finished my MBBS AND PLANNING TO DO MASTERS i have found myself that i have a great talent in cycling and has a plan to compete for commonwealth games 2010 in spite of all odds and lack of facilities i am ready to discontinue my studies if needed and with my own parents money iwill try my best to train well stsrt training as soon as possible ........good comments from dharmendra.....

» I agree with PT Usha
Posted by Dharmendra Ajwani on 2008-01-14 15:33:09.974843+05:30
I agree with PT Usha, even i was one of good boxing and long distance runner. I was out a choice to join Engg college or BCOM with sports. i selected Engg College as it was one of my drems. I went to mean people to be mine coach but no one took any much interest and then i lost all my hope and concentraded on my studies. Today i am working for TCS. But i have complain against INDIA, that no one helped me or i too could have been good in sports. These days only cirket gets all focus and money then why any one will even try run or take part for INDIA? If he or she runs for some other contry that user will get good $$ and also more imporant for any sports men a NAME. As a sports men we dont need lots of $$$ but atleast respect us and our efforts.

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