Paris blues

India had many near misses at Olympics

With a contingent of 117 athletes competing across 16 sports disciplines at the Paris Summer Olympics, India was expected to better its performance in Tokyo of seven medals, including one gold and two silver. India’s underwhelming performance at Paris with six medals, five bronze, one silver, and no gold, suggests that there is much work to be done to make Indian athletes consistent winners in sports in which the country claims world-class abilities. Despite such high points as Manu Bhaker history-making two medals (bronze) at a single edition of the Olympics, and Aman Sehrawat becoming India’s youngest Olympic medallist, with bronze in wrestling, Indian fans faced more disappointments than triumphs at Paris beyond Vinesh Phogat’s tragic failure to qualify for the final (a decision on the appeal is due tomorrow). There were too many near misses, which may have cost India six more medals.

Ms Bhaker, for instance, narrowly missed a third medal for the 25 m pistol-shooting event. In badminton Lakshya Sen conceded two leads in his semifinal match and one in his bronze-medal playoff to finish fourth. This was India’s best showing in a discipline in which it claims world-class capabilities. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, silver medallist at Tokyo, fell short by just 1 kg for a podium finish. In hockey, India (ranked world number 5) has been praised for winning back-to-back bronze medals in Tokyo and Paris. But it could well have been in contention for a medal of higher value. Failure to convert a bounty of penalty corners, a chronic weakness that the team was deemed to have overcome in recent years, resulted in a narrow 3-2 victory for Germany. Indian boxers, always considered potential medal winners, returned empty-handed. Neeraj Chopra was unable to repeat his gold-winning performance in Tokyo, taking a respectable silver. In wrestling, India won just one bronze. Even setting aside Ms Phogat’s unfortunate disqualification, this is a poor showing for another sport in which India claims global prowess.
 

The reasons for this underperformance are hard to pin down. Certainly, the lack of consistent state support has been a factor.
In shooting, for instance, medal winners have mostly come from well-to-do families with the resources to finance expensive training facilities and coaching or were employees of government institutions such the railways (bronze medallist shooter Swapnil Kusale), a traditional underwriter of Indian athletes. This situation is immeasurably worsened by the deeply unprofessional state of most Indian sports federations, where senior positions are cornered by Indian politicians looking for free tickets and travel on government dime rather than athletes’ welfare. This was forcefully highlighted in last year’s protests against then wrestling federation head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a powerful ruling party politician, on sexual harassment charges. Ms Phogat’s struggles to keep her weight within the stipulated limit for a lower-weight category were partly the result of her participation in these protests. As the eventual gold medal winner in this category pointed out, preparations to fight in a lower-weight category must start at least two years before the event. Ms Phogat had less than a year to prepare. Paris marks India’s second-best performance at the Olympics since 1900. This is a poor reflection of the abilities of a country with the world’s largest population.