India @ Tokyo 2020 : Start of an era

India @ Tokyo 2020 : Start of an era

“Just six grams of gold can lift a nation” – Anonymous

Observing Abhinav Bindra as the only individual Olympic gold winner for 13 yrs, this comment had started looking like a mirage. With his 87.58m javelin throw in the Tokyo Sky, Neeraj Chopra broke that proverbial glass ceiling registering arguably the greatest ever sporting feat for India. Make no mistake, gold in any event is glorious, but getting one in the blue ribbon “Track and Field” event beating 120+ yrs of history is at an altogether different level. Few weeks have passed since that evening, but celebrations continue ringing across India. Let us rewind and start from the beginning:

PRELUDE

Numbers: With 127 athletes competing across 18 disciplines, Tokyo 2020 had the largest and widest ever Indian Olympic contingent. Add the fact that count of shuttlers, track athletes and wrestlers who could not make it through qualifiers on account of covid disrupted international schedule was significant, this was clearly the best ever state of affairs for India by a long mile even before the games had started.

Training: Inevitably, a lion’s share of press coverage is around the lower-middle class upbringing rooted away from the cities in the Indian hinterland for most athletes. Truth be told, competitive sports (barring maybe Shooting!!) is not in vogue amongst the Indian rich (or even upper middle class). As such, onus of providing training resources / diet / conditions lies majorly with the government (to a smaller extent with self-driven firms e.g., Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), JSW Sports, Reliance Foundation & Tata). Barring the few last-minute qualifiers, all athletes have been covered under Central Government’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Started in September 2014, 100+ senior and 250+ development level athletes are covered by this scheme today which handles their nutrition, equipment, coaching and monthly stipend. While there is some merit in asking for even more resources and further broad basing the initiative, TOPS is a much needed and long-awaited step in right direction. Credit is also due to authorities for keeping the engine running in-spite of pandemic. South America and Europe Tour of Men’s Hockey, Multi event experience & Croatia stint of shooting team, Bajrang’s session in Russia, Neeraj / Vinesh / Amit Panghal in Europe... the list is long. Whenever events opened in last 18 months, Indian athletes have participated to qualify or get match practice.   

Mera No. 1: In the run-up to these games, avid followers of Olympic disciplines were treated with ridicule when they talked about potential double digit medal tally for India. Going by the nadir for Rio Games, there was merit in considering this as exuberant optimism. While actual games are bound to throw surprises, count of personals in top 3 in their respective discipline and their form in recent times goes a long way in being the basis for the medal estimates. At 7+, India had by far the maximum number of World Rank (WR) 1s compared to any other Olympic editions. Adding WR top 4 would make the list quite a healthy one. That this was split across multiple disciplines was an added bonus.   

THE GAMES

Almost there: While Dahiya surpassed expectation, such was the strength of this wrestling squad, that two medals (1S-1B) are rightfully deemed a lacklustre show. Additionally, Wrestling Federation of India antics in Vinesh saga reminds us of the menace that continues to mar Indian sports. Baddy Doubles (Chirag / Satwik) were dealt a tough hand in a group of death pool (having WR 1 and WR 3). That they still emerged with their heads high and lost only on games to WR 1 team augurs well. While Bhavani Devi might have lost early to eventual medallist, in introducing “fencing” to the country, she has played her part. Just the kind of sport which might click amongst upper strata of the country. Words can’t describe the journey of Women’s hockey team at Tokyo. From being an also-ran to beating WR 2 Australians to just about missing on bronze, this clearly was the story of this Olympics. Dutch coach Sjoerd Marijne deserves credit for believing in his team when few outside did. With ~50% female participation and a host of new mixed team events, Tokyo has been the most gender-neutral Olympics. In mixed events at shooting, archery, TT, 400m relay, tennis we did have scope but unfortunately due to logistical / pairing / form issues; none of these materialized.

Awesome: Chopra, Sindhu, Men’s Hockey and Chanu were clear medal contenders and had to primarily deal with keeping a sound temperament. Coming from three foul lifts in Rio to World record in Clean & Jerk, Chanu definitely came a long way in Tokyo. While there was some disappointment in her not targeting gold in her final lift, she had more than earned her silver. Under Graham Reid, Indian men’s hockey has been a force to reckon with but still coming back from humiliating 1-7 defeat to Australia showed tremendous self-belief. With her almost decade long consistency, Sindhu is perhaps the 1^st truly world class Indian athlete. Having said that her semi-final opponent was a class apart so bronze is a fair bet. For India, there couldn’t have been better closure than the one by Chopra. While he did get lucky with German Vetter having a form rut but the confidence that he showed in his 1^st Olympics at the largest stage was almost unreal. With blessings of late Milkha Singh & the many near misses above, things had to balance out.  

Some more push needed: With all due respect to fight put up by Lovlina and Satish, boxing performed no-where close to expectations. Boxer after boxer bowing out in 1^st round shows lack of mental grit and possibly match practice. While archery performance was marginally better than Rio, the consistency shown outside of Olympics is unfortunately replaced by blow hot – blow cold approach. Again, it is most certainly lack of mental fortitude which is playing its part. At her talent and participation level (three Olympics & counting), Deepika should most certainly have had at least 1 medal to show if not more. In shooting, it is good to see that journey started with Bindra’s medal continues to grow strong across India. That Tokyo had the best ever Indian shooting team is an output of consistent performance across categories over last 3-4 Yrs. Hence, having only two finalists across all events was close to bizarre. In the word of Bindra himself, assuming Olympics as just another competition and lack of fall-back option, seems to have marred this young team. Failure has brought out some not-so-obvious friction between coaches, players & gun makers. With age on their side and the experience of big stage now, the team should hopefully be much better mentally equipped for Paris 2024.

CONCLUSION

Performance: First things first, at 7 seven medals (1G-2S-4B), this was India’s best performance both in terms of medal count and medal colour (even country rank in modern era) in Summer Olympics. Barring one off victories (Singapore @ Rio, Botswana @ Tokyo), most countries follow the pattern listed below for sustained excellence at Olympics:

Count of Qualifiers (games, participants) < Count of Medal Contenders < Count of total Medals < Count of Gold Medal

With Tokyo, India has firmly moved up to Category B which is a huge accomplishment. Alongside medals, galvanizing the nation with their performance, standing tall against the odds, increasing both the width (count of disciplines) & depth (count of participants in each discipline), establishing sense of belief in younger athletes and bringing in more sponsorship are the ancillary objectives of any Olympics. India has had fair share of all of these at Tokyo games.

Government Support: Keeping all cynicism and post event showmanship aside, government has been striking the right chord on two critical aspects. Sponsoring elite & cadet level athletes (through TOPS) across sports and creating more avenue through youth games. Undoubtedly there is a long way to go, but the direction is right. Sections of media might have ridiculed Prime Minister’s personal interaction with athletes pre, during and post the Olympic event. However, this would mean a lot for all retired, existing and most importantly aspiring sportsmen across India. Two incremental suggestions could help us further strengthen the ship. One, co-ordination between non-government organizations (OGQ, JSW, Reliance Foundation), TOPS team and federation should be much better. While NGOs primarily provide the analytics support, best practices & age group support; GOI can provide the funds and federation provide infra, international liasoning and event participation. Unless demarcated appropriately, this friction could be a latent showstopper. Two, building on the success story of Orissa in hockey, Central Government should contemplate dedicating a sport to each state (mix of choice and allocation) with a high-performance centre at Ladakh (aka Colorado for Team USA). Sports diplomacy can go a long way in binding the nation and fuelling our Olympics dream together.   

Prognosis: Indian sports (even outside of cricket) is headed in the right direction. Rio was Nadir, Tokyo is Work-in-Progress. With age on their side (for all medallists and medal contenders in Tokyo), Olympics experience and continued government support (& possibly even private in a much bigger way); Paris 2024 (only 3 yrs away) will be a watershed edition for India. 4+ instances of National Anthem playing with a top 20 finish is very much on the cards!!

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