The Indian contingents have performed extremely well in the Olympics this year. Six people have managed to end up with a podium finish, which is an exceptional result for the Indian sports. And I am more happier because in my previous posts (before the start of the games) I did mention about India winning 6 medals, and today it feels as if my wish has been granted.
Let us start with the positives from the games:
- Well India has managed to win a medal in shooting for now three continuous Olympics which definitely be a big boost and be a huge inspiration for the Indian shooters for the Olympics 2016 and the new generation that will get into the sport of shooting.
- And to add to this, this time around India has won 2 medals in shooting with Gagan Narang winning a bronze and Vijay Kumar winning a Silver in their events. To be honest one was expecting a lot out of Gagan Narang and finally he has managed to deliver which is great for him, and yes Vijay Kumar was a big surprise winning a Silver, even though he was a Gold Medallion at the Commonwealth Games 2010 .
- Saina Nehwal managed to deliver what was expected from her, a podium finish when she managed to win a Bronze at the games, and with age at her side, she would want to better the result in the Olympics next time. Another big result at badminton was Parupalli Kashyap who reached the quarterfinal stage in the Men’s single and lost to World number 1 and eventual silver medalist. However, his performance will definitely be a huge boost for the budding players back home.
- Mary Kom, became the first Indian women boxer to win the medal, and made it the second consecutive Olympics where India has won a medal in boxing, which would make the Indian boxers very proud and motivate them that they too can win at the world stage. Apart from Mary, no other boxer could win a medal but surely the way Devendroo Singh, Vikas Krishnan Yadav, and Sumit Sanghwan fought in the ring they did win a lot of hearts.
- And yes wrestling, a sport that came into limelight once again in the last Olympics, doubled it’s reputation with two medals coming in the sport. Yogeshwar Dutt fought fearlessly to win a Bronze, and Sushil Kumar was brilliant in the event except in the finals where he faltered a little and had to be content with Silver. But with this Sushil Kumar has proved that he is probably the finest ever Indian Olympian as he managed to become the first Indian individual player to win medals in back to back Olympics. Well a bronze in 2008, a silver in 2012, will it be a gold in 2016, would be a question on everyone’s mind as he returns home with the laurels.
- Although now medal came in Athletics, but Krishna Poonia and Vikas Gowda (both in the Discus Throw events of women and men respectively) did manage to make it to the finals of the events and probably would come back stronger next time around and with a hope to finish on the podium. Another athlete was Irfan Thodi who finished 10th in the 20km walk which I believe is a big achievement in its own, and he surely too has won a lot of hearts.
- In shooting Joydeep Karmakar came very close to a medal but just could not finish on the podium and ended up at a heart breaking 4th position. Hopefully he too will come mentally much more stronger in the next event 4 years later.
Now lets talk about the negatives. However, they were hardly any but surely there were a few disappointments in the games and they were:
- Abhinav Bindra, who made history in Beijing in 2008 by winning a gold did not qualifying the finals. He definitely would be disappointed with his performance but Gagan Narang did make up for it somewhat by winning a bronze in the event. Along with him even Rojan Sodhi would be disappointed as he too was another big medal hope but somehow just could not manage to win one.
- Indian tennis would surely be disappointed with their performance at the games, and there were hopes of not just 1 but maybe 2 or 3 medals in the sport. All the controversy around Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupati, and Sania Mirza also probably did not help. Probably the biggest disappointment was the performance of Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupati’s pair in the doubles team as they were the strongest contenders but they lost very early into the tournament which was disappointing. To be honest I really did not believe Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan could finish on the podium, unless Paes played magically well, but definitely Vishnu played his heart out in the event and proved that he is a great prospect for the Indian tennis. Paes and Sania also played well but unfortunately lost to the pair from Belarus that eventually won the gold medal in the quarterfinals. What would be the biggest disappointment would probably be that maybe this was the last time Bhupati and Paes played at Olympics, and may not return for the next event due to the age not being at their side, and not winning a medal would be a big disappointment for them personally.
- A lot was expected from Vijender Singh, though he did start of very strongly, but personally would be disappointed of loosing in the quarterfinals, just a win away from the podium.
- Their was a lot of hype around Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa as well, but they did play well, but their hearts were broken as they could not qualify to next round, maybe even if it was due to the controversy of match fixing that took place in the sport in the events, due to which probably even after playing well due to other teams deliberately under-performing lost a berth into the next round.
- Probably a medal in archery was not really thought of but with Deepika Kumari being the current world number 1, there were a lot of expectations were there from her, and the way she lost in the very first round, probably was the most disappointing.
- Probably the biggest disappointment came from the hockey field. Although as I did write in my previous post, not many must have expected a podium finish, but ending up last in the tournament, and that too without a win or even managing to have a draw is what is the most disappointing.
- Another disappointment was that after every loss in the boxing event, the Indian officials cried for foul play. Maybe they were correct and unjustice was done to them, but crying out an appeal after every loss, probably did not portray a very good figure on the Indian Boxing arena in front of the world.
- And yes, probably another of the big disappointments is that India missed out on a gold medal in the event. Sushil Kumar came the closest but missed out. Even though India has won 6 medals which is probably the biggest achievement in the history of Indian sports, but none of those 6 being gold would be a disappointment, maybe not at a huge level but surely there would be a little sadness that could any 1 of those been a gold it would have been a cherry on the cake.
Nevertheless, this has definitely been the best Olympics for India. And now with the expectations going bigger and bigger, India would want to touch a double figure next time in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
In the end I would like to congratulate all the medallions for the feat especially Sushil Kumar for creating history.
TREATISE 