By Tushar Bhaduri
Before one dives headlong into India’s cricket World Cup campaign, one needs to reflect on what the ‘other’ athletes from the country have done in Hangzhou.
One may scoff at most of the medals coming India’s way at the Asian Games, thinking that may not translate into a big haul at a higher level of competition, such as the Paris Olympics next year. The arbitrary target of 100 medals set by the official broadcaster — it is convenient to have a nice round figure to aim for — also contributed to the rather unnecessary hype around every medal, regardless of its colour or the competition they needed to overcome to achieve it.
But what is undeniable is the improvement — both in quantity and quality — in India’s performance when one compares it to what they ended up with in Indonesia five years ago. Not only is the tally higher, but the spread of medals across sports is much bigger, as well. Shooting and athletics were always expected to bring the lion’s share, but sports like table tennis, recurve archery, and badminton — of which Asia is the epicentre — also had Indians on the podium. Add to that, equestrian and compound archery and there was a definite freshness to the Indian campaign. India finished eighth on the medal table in 2018, but are fourth this time, only behind China, Japan, and Korea, the traditional Asian powerhouses.
And for those who point out that a big medal haul at the Asian Games is not likely to be of any relevance at the Olympics, China too will struggle to repeat the dominance it exerts at the continental level, which can be gauged from the fact that the number of gold medals it has won this time is more than the total medal haul of the second-placed contingent on the table.
But India is not China yet, as far as sporting achievements are concerned. India still celebrates bronze medals, with medallists feted and showered with hefty cash awards and rewards. Javelin throw silver medallist Kishore Kumar Jena has been promised `1.5 crore by the Odisha government, which defies any sort of proportion for a sporting achievement in a country like India, but it also shows how medal-starved the country has been over the decades. That China’s gold medal haul at Hangzhou is almost double the total number of India’s medals is a sobering thought, even though we have come a long way in recent times.
What is important is that the incremental gains India has made over the last decade and a half are carried forward. The performances at the Olympics, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games have shown an upward trend despite the odd exception.
Keep up the good work
While it’s important to celebrate the achievements of our sportspersons, it’s vital to recognise that it’s only part of a perpetual process of improvement. Many of our athletes registered their personal best marks in Hangzhou, which is a pleasing occurrence, as in the past most used to fall well below them when they competed at high-level competitions abroad. It speaks of their growing confidence in taking on the best in the world. It is manifested in the table tennis women’s doubles pairing of Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee downing the Chinese World No. 2 pairing in the quarterfinals on their home turf or the men’s badminton team giving the hosts an almighty scare before going down in the gold medal match, or Abhay Singh saving multiple match points in the deciding game of the squash men’s final against Pakistan before securing the yellow metal in dramatic fashion. Parul Chaudhary displayed a remarkable finishing kick in the women’s 5,000m race to pip the Japanese runner when most other competitors would try to somehow make it to the finish line. Jena improved upon his personal best, not once but twice, even giving Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra a scare, forcing him to raise his game. These are some of the abiding feel-good memories that will remain with sports lovers even after the curtain comes down on the Asian Games.
The government invests a lot of resources in the training and preparation of elite athletes, and they themselves make a lot of sacrifices to be the best that they can be. There are a little more than nine months to go for the Paris Olympics, and if the medal haul there has to enter double digits, there is no time to waste.
While most of the medals acquired at Hangzhou won’t translate into podium finishes in the French capital, some of the world-class performances in shooting, hockey, and badminton will allow Indian fans to dream. The confidence of beating world-class fields and performing under intense pressure will hold them in good stead.
While most of the track and field medallists, with the exception of the likes of Chopra, may find the going tough when European, American, Australian, and African athletes join the fray, their exploits at the Asian Games have the potential to inspire the next generation of sportspersons.
India will not become a sporting nation overnight, but events in Hangzhou over the last fortnight suggest it’s certainly on the right track.
