Yes, all of us are disappointed at Vijenders loss in the 75kg category boxing. Now the medal tally of India instead of reading 2 0 1 or 1 1 1 reads 1 0 2, a small but significant difference. Vijender meanwhile has cheerfully promised us to win gold at London. He knows very well that in four years time, an entire nation is going to be watching his every move. And if he doesn’t keep his promise, we will be very upset.
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
A few weeks back, I was guilty of dismissing the Indian contingent at the Olympics as the worst ever. Today I am exhilarated at being proven wrong. At its neighbor’s Olympics, came India’s first gold, the best expression of which is captured as “Bindra, done that!” by a fan on this page.
As if it were a precursor to better things to come, the light of sporting glory has started growing brighter. Sushil Kumar’s bronze in the 65kg freestyle category rekindled hopes of the revival of an ancient Indian art, which has sadly started pandering to ”staged” wrestling, the most famous of those exponents being the Great Khali of WWE fame. Sushil Kumar, and not the Khali, is now the poster boy of Indian wrestling at last resurrecting a tradition that has lasted for 2000 years. Little do many Indians know, that Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram, the ancient site near Chennai is named after Maha Mallam or great Wrestler, as tribute to King Narasimhavarma Pallavan. Ever since, wrestling or kushti has had the highest of royal patronage.
For the first time since the hockey team and K D Jadhav(also wrestling) brought home two medals in 1952, India will return with more than one medal. Add to that the new Nawab of Najafgarh, not the Virender of Sehwag fame, but Vijender the Boxer, whose exploits at Beijing have still not finished. We could very well hope for gold. The Olympic Team India, now packs a punch! Keep watching this space for more.
We have a winner! In an incredibly tense 10 metres air rifle final, Abhinav Bindra held his nerve in the final round to bring home a gold medal. The Indian flag will fly higher than all other flags, its national anthem drowning out that of the Chinese, Zhu Qinan (silver) and Finn, Henri Hakkinen(bronze). The cheers for Abhinav Bindra will no doubt become louder as India slowly wakes up to this achievement. Soon the vibes will resonate all the way to Beijing. Its time to celebrate!
Bindra no doubt desereves all the kudos and rewards he is going to get over the coming weeks. Bindra is no newcomer to the event, despite his relatively young age, Bindra has been around for over a decade and has been a world champion and an Olympic finalist. More importantly, this victory should give immense confidence to all the athletes who are still in the reckoning for a medal- most notably the other shooters, and Saina Nehwal.
India’s First Individual Gold Medal
Meanwhile, this is the first Individual Olympic gold for India and our first gold since the men’s hockey class of 1980, the ninth ever gold medal overall and the first outside hockey. With the 10m Air Rifle, Abhinav Bindra has now gone ahead of Rajyavardhan Rathore who won silver at the Athens Olympics, Leander Paes of 1996, K D Jadhav, the wrestler of ’52 and Karnam Malleswari, the lifter at Sydney 2000 who all grabbed third place. To India’s benefit, two of those former medalists (Paes and Rathore) have still to perform at Beijing. We now have a genuine chance of going beyond the 1 medal jinx for the first time since sprinter Norman Prichard, who represented British India won two silvers way back in 1900.
We have got used to setting ourselves modest targets and cheering ourselves with any good results. Bindra, we hope is the first of many and we hope that engenders a genuine competitive interest in all sports. India will truly have arrived when instead of 57 athletes, half of them officials; India sends a 500 member team to the 2016 Olympics.For Indian sport that has suffered from a genuine lack of inspiration, this medal signifies the first mark, the first whimper of hope at the highest level of sports for the world’s second largest population. It is as if we have been digging for so long and after all these years have seen the glitter. More than anything else, the nation heaves a relieved sigh.
The Beijing Olympics will be the most definitive political statement since the Berlin games of 1936. The pariah of today’s world, more than anything else, wishes to impress and intimidate the rest with a display that is going to be staggeringly beautiful and frightening at the same time. Whispers that a new world leader has arrived will finally be out announced loud and clear on August 8. That the western world has the chance to get even, at London, of all cities, is further reason why Beijing wants to set a lofty benchmark.
Here is our list of some thingt to watch out for at the games:
Protests:
No one can possibly rule out political disruptions during these games, expect protestors to try and grab as much attention during a time when China would be hosting the maximum number of foreigners on its soil, at any given time in its post-colonial history. Tibet, Darfur, human rights, Islamic fundamentalists, and separatists will look to make a small mark, if any at all. Protests at gymnastic events, videos challenging kafir athletes and improperly attired women, protest banners on the Great Wall of China. Anything is possible. But China’s strong handed, zero tolerance policies would prevent a good majority of these protests, for better or for worse.
Pollution:
China’s pollution problems and the ongoing efforts of the government to curb it have been well documented. In a bid to give, Beijing a much needed facelift, the government has gone to extreme lengths including relocating all polluting industries to outside city limits. It has introduced ‘no-car’ days where people are encouraged to use public transport instead of their four wheelers. But, two things remain to be seen. Firstly, will athletes especially those long distance runners get affected by the incredible pollution and secondly, will the government continue to focus on green initiatives after the Olympics?
The stadia
The stadia for the Beijing Olympics are going to be just another attraction. The city of has been waiting eight years for this event and boy have its citizens been prepared for it! Foreign newspapers and magazines have started to review the stadiums and how each one is indicative of the Chinese spirit and the fact that the country has arrived in a big way. Expect a lot of superlatives over the next two weeks as people go gaga over the main Olympic Stadium or even the fabulous venue for swimming.
Iconic Images:
Every Olympic Games has its own set of iconic images and moments that transcend petty factors such as medal tallies and world records. In 1996, it was Muhammed Ali lighting the Olympic Flame and Kerri Shrug beating an injury to help her team with the gold. (Michael Johnson’s 200 and 400m double as well). In 2000, it was the incredible image of Cathy Freeman in a full body suit running and winning the 400m two weeks after being chosen to light the Olympic Flame and in the process almost bridging the gap between the aborgines and the rest of Australia. The best moments of 2004 undoubtedly had to be the entrance of the Afghanistan and Iraqi teams at the Opening ceremony, or better yet, Liu Xiang almost heralding the arrival of the Chinese in the 100m Hurdles (the commentator started to scream breathlessly- ” It’s the Chinese guy, it’s the chinese guy!”)
But if there will be one image to take back from the 2008 Olympics, it will probably be again Liu Xiang at the 110m hurdles, leaping past history in the iconic Bird’s Nest with the bated breath of the world’s biggest population. Liu, not unlike Cathy Freeman in Sydney for Australia, holds the key to galvanize the entire nation and announce its arrival where short, skinny Chinamen are traditionally not favorites. Expect at his celebration, not the whimper of a kangaroo, but a deafening roar of a billion dragons.
The Indian Angle:
As ever, India goes into the Olympic Games being cautiously optimistic that there will be more than one medalist. The competition is tougher than ever, but despite the lack of funds, facilities and support, our athletes have got stronger. Flag bearer and Olympic Silver Medalist Major Rathore is still a bet but not a safe one. Shooting remains our best opportunity to win a medal and one hopes that one of Gagan Narang, Anjali Bhagwat, Mansher Singh, Abhinav Bindra or Major Rathore come good over the next two weeks.
Looking at Tennis, The Lee-Hesh combo is way past its best but given some inspiration might grab a bronze. But the two haven’t been exactly in the best of terms with each other, and the rustiness, the animosity and the competition could mean that they will come back empty handed. Sania probably stood an outside chance a year back but now with her injury and poor run of form, it will be a miracle if she reaches the later stages. How she and Sunita Rao perform in the doubles will be interesting to watch.
We have an outside chance in both archery and boxing. The archers have done the country proud at the World Cup but whether they can replicate the same at the biggest stage of them all remains to be seen. The gut feeling is that we will return home from our neighbor’s Olympics, empty handed. But there is nothing wrong in hoping. Also, expect men like Suresh Kalmadi making a bloody grand appearence at the Olympics Village talking about how we will do the same in 2010 at the Commonwealth Games. Or how we are going to win the bid to host the 2020 games.
The boardroom battles:
The Beijing Olympics will see the biggest battle yet between, not just athletes, but sportswear manufacturers. The rivalry between Nike and Adidas gets bitter with both eyeing long term gains in the world’s largest market place (read battleground). Adidas has coughed up USD70 million to become the official title sponsor, while Nike has decided to sponsor key performers who they believe will display the Swoosh on the podium. Add to this, Speedo with its controversial LZR swimsuit, which Nike has strongly objected to and grudgingly allowed, and we could have a war in the boardroom just as well as on the track. You could expect lawsuits, athletes being forced to change clothes for displaying the wrong logo, walk outs and as the London Telegraph put it, ‘National anthems being drowned in the ring of cash registers.’
After Hitler’s abortive attempt at establishing Aryan supremacy at Berlin, China will certainly attempt to project its athletes not as disgruntled victims of a repressive regime but as world champions who owe their success to their government. However, their means of doing so have already started being challenged. The Aussies have complained, as usual, about them being disallowed team barbeques which they think will give an added advantaged robbing Team Australia of ‘bonding’ opportunities. Allegations of ‘under-age’ and ‘doped’ athletes have already begun. China is going all out to project itself, not as the iconoclastic, atheist nation of today, but the preserver of the world’s oldest existing traditions. Chinese medicine, feng shui and astrology will be showcased in more ways than subtle, leading to possible allegations of favoritism to the home team. Nevertheless, China will definitely succeed projecting its significant sporting culture, it will finish second at best, behind the United Stateson the medal tally.
Somewhere, in this humdrum, lies buried the spirit of the Olympics of universal brotherhood, fair play and sportsmanship. These values, in Beijing, will be little more than verbal assurances. For China, the Olympics are a war against the rest of the world. If they breach a few ethics in the process, they could be setting dangerous precedents. These Olympics would perhaps be best remembered as a bloodbath of many dimensions, sporting, commercial and above all political. What better message could a “Red China” send?
Z and Pyscho
“Sport is sometimes hard but honest and only the best 12 teams in the world will participate at the Olympic Games.”
The words of the International Hockey Federation (HIF) President Els van Breda Vriesman added further sting to the Indian hockey team that had lost to Great Britain in the sudden-death qualifying match, and with the loss, the team failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time in 80 years. For a nation that has won the Olympic gold a record 8 times, Indian hockey’s decline was complete after years of staggering on with little direction.
It was an inevitable disaster waiting to happen considering the way hockey was being run by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF). When the experienced Ric Charlesworth was appointed as technical director of Indian hockey, it was expected that he would turn out to be the catalyst for change. He is just into his fifth month of his tenure, but he has already been sidelined by IHF President K.P.S. Gill to the extent that the revered Aussie has not been paid a salary or reimbursed expenses of nearly $20,000.
The warning signs were all there. In 2005, The FIH termed IHF as the worst run hockey association in the world, and in 2006, India failed to make it to the semi-finals of the Asian Games. It is even more suprising that in 2001, a talented group players that had actually gone on to win the junior World Cup has been completely wasted and left to rot.
The problems that plague the state of the sport in India include the decline in the talent pool throughout the country, lack of proper management of resources, and autocratic rule by Gill, who continues to head the IHF despite overseeing the worst years of Indian Hockey, ever since he became IHF President in 1994.
While the Indian government remains a mute spectator because it cannot dismiss the IHF on the grounds of autonomy (damn the Olympic charter!), Indian hockey gets further caught up in the quagmire of bureaucratic red tape. That lesser hockeying nations such as China and Great Britain have overtaken us is a damning indictment on the pathetic state of our national sport.
Indian Hockey in Numbers
0 – the number of Olympic medals India has won since winning the Gold in 1980 at Moscow.
3 – the number of years since the last IHF general body meeting was held after vice-President Narendra Batra filed a writ against Gill in 2005 with regard to length of tenure and financial irregularities.
5 – the number of national hockey championships during Gill’s tenure.
6 – the number of the senior-most players sacked, along with the coach after India won its first Asian Games gold medal after 32 years in 1998 in Bangkok.
18 – the number of coaches changed since 1994.
40 – the number of astro turfs in India compared to 5 in South Korea and 3 in China, countries that will be playing in the Beijing Olympics.
This weekend promises to be extremely interesting for Indian sport (well, cricket) . The first final of the trination series down under is played on Sunday and on the same day in Kuala Lumpur , the under 19 side will look to make history when they take on the winners of the semifinal between Pakistan and South Africa in the under 19 world cup final. Obviously, the entire nation is going to be focused on the Sydney Cricket Ground as the Indian team tries to go one up in the best of three final.
But, tomorrow another series is going to commence, an event that should be of equal importance to the sports fraternity in the country. However, unlike the event on the other side of the planet, this is going to get very little coverage unless the team in question fails in its quest. For tomorrow, the Indian men’s hockey team is going to embark on a one week battle to ensure it qualifies for the Beijing Olympics. And if it doesn’t, the complete fall from the top of the hockey world in 1975 to the third tier of international hockey will be complete.
The teams:
Austria, Chile, Great Britain, Mexico and Russia are the teams which will be looking to get that last qualification spot for the Hockey event in Beijing. The fact is that barring Great Britain the other teams are all expected to be easy pickings for the Indian team. But, the big problem is that the final spot is going to be decided by a grand final next Sunday. And Great Britain has been doing extremely well of late, it could just happen that India has a great tournament but is knocked out of the Olympics because of a disastrous seventy minutes in the final. ( India’s draw with Poland in the Sydney 2000 Olympics effectively ruled them out of the semifinals and Poland were a team we were expected to beat).
The positive signs:
One of the most positive aspects has to be how young this team is, which means few of them have known failure on the international stage. Obviously the fantastic Asian Cup victory in Chennai in 2007 has helped boost the confidence of the team (pity the event was completely overshadowed by the 20-20 victory). Players such as Diwakar Ram (India’s great drag flicker hope) and Prabjhot Singh have made rapid strides over the past year. Plus, experienced players like Dilip Tirkey, Bimal Lakra and Ignace Tirkey will add steel to the side. The team has a good coach in Joaquim Carvalho who is committed to playing fast and attacking hockey. Further, having a man such as Ric Charlesworth providing his inputs should help.
The negatives:
None of the other teams in the event has the pedigree or the history of the Indian team and this intensifies the pressure on the Indian team. If they fail, references to the glorious run between 1928 and 1960 when we won the gold medal at every Olympic games will come thick and fast. Difficulties in qualifying for the Olympics is not new for the Indian team but never has it come down to making one final spot. Further, there has already been an instance of not everything in the preparation going the right way- as premier striker Rajpal Singh withdrew from the team claiming poor treatment only to retract the statement 24 hours later.
The next one week will officially kickstart India’s interest in the 2008 Olympics. One just hopes the Indian Hockey team is at the opening ceremony on the 8th of July 2008 in Beijing.
India’s fixtures:
March 1: vs Russia
March 2: vs Austria
March 4: vs Mexico
March 6: vs Britain
March 8: vs Chile.
