As we celebrate Saikhom Mirabai Chanu's silver medal in women's weightlifting (49kgs), we keep wondering whether we could even win medals at par with countries like the USA, Japan, China- to name a few!
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu during her final round (via Deccan Herald)
A few weeks back, while watching Wimbledon with my uncle, I asked him, "Why do you think Indian athletes do not manage to reach the quarter-finals of such an important tournament?" He smiled and then he replied, "Even though we have a lot of talented players, we don't have a coaching staff that would guide them from a young age. Their talent goes undetected and eventually wasted!" Then he tells me about how a lot of athletes have to devote time for education as well. He even mentioned how the population of India and the distribution of funds affect the sporting infrastructure. China being the most populated country, is currently in first place with 29 medals in total. Where are we going wrong?
In 2014, The Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) was introduced under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. Its main aim was to provide financial assistance to the athletes to win more medals at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics games. The budget allocation for Tokyo 2020 was Rs. 1091.52 crores!
The Ministry failed to keep a check on the conflicting interests of the national coaches and the athletes. Certain athletes prefer personal coaches to the national coaches appointed by the Ministry. Manika Batra, the most promising Indian paddler, played all her matches without a coach on the court. In the case of rifle shooters, not a single shooter preferred to train under the appointed foreign rifle coach Oleg Mikhailov and pistol coach Pavel Smirnov (both of them received a salary of $7500 ). Even though they were at the National camp, they did not play any role in preparing the shooters for the games. Moreover, after the youth Olympics games in 2018, Saurabh Chaudhary had written a mail to NRAI (National Rifle Association of India) stating that he did not want to continue training under Jaspal Rana, the junior team national coach. That year itself, another junior, Anish Bhanwala- a 25m rapid-fire shooter approached NRAI with the same request. Instead of initiating an investigation on the coach, as to why so many shooters are requesting a change of coach, NRAI demanded the players to continue their training under him.
Distressed Manu Bhaker after Pistol malfunction (via Times of India)
On Tuesday, NRAI chief Raninder Singh admitted that he was aware of the spat between Manu Bhaker (Pistol shooter) and pistol coach, Jaspal Rana. He blamed Rana for his apathetic behavior in the camp and hence the blame game began. If the NRAI chief had known he's incompetent, why was he responsible for training the shooters?
We have it in our blood to blame players and coaches for not fetching medals at the Olympic stage. We seldom realize that failure is a part of the sport. A similar thing had happened in Rio, no notes were taken, the training pattern wasn't changed, and the athlete's requests were ignored. The meltdown in Tokyo was inevitable. Unlike the Rio 2016 games, it exposed the faulty system still at play!
ROARING RECORDS
HIDILYN DIAZ WNS FIRST GOLD MEDAL FOR PHILIPPINES
Hidilyn Diaz won the first gold medal for the Philippines in the women's 55kg weightlifting category.
Hidilyn Diaz (via yahoo news)
A sergeant in the Philippines Air force, in 2019, was accused of plotting against President Rodrigo Duterte. Her name was on the list with several other opposition politicians, journalists, and even an exiled communist guerrilla leader. Now, the president rewarded her with three million pesos and said, "You already have the gold and it would be good for you to let bygones be bygones". In addition to three million pesos, she will also receive 2 properties from the government and private sector along with additional 33 million pesos. Training with large water bottles attached to bamboo poles paid off for her!
ABDULLAH AL-RASHID
The seven-time Olympian won a bronze medal in Rio2016 while competing under the Independent Olympic Athlete banner, as Kuwait was banned by the International Olympic Committee before the Rio game.
Abdullah Al-Rashid at the podium (via ap news)
He had declared he would retire after the Rio game as he wasn't allowed to shoot wearing a Kuwait jersey. Now, at the age of 57, he finally could replace his arsenal jersey from Rio to Kuwaiti jersey and win a bronze medal for his nation!
RAINING GOALS
The Olympics women's football matches have been a delight to watch. Zambia's hat trick hero, Barbara Banda scored two hat-tricks in their consecutive matches- the first one against the Netherlands and the second one against China. However, her team failed to qualify for the next round.
Barbara Banda in action against the Netherlands (via Africa Top Sports)
Vivianne Miedema, the Dutch player became the first player to score eight goals in the women's Olympics. In her Olympic debut, she scored eight goals in 177 minutes. She will be playing her 100th match for her country in Friday's quarter-final against the USA.
Vivianne Miedema in action against Zambia (via Just Women's Sports)
She eventually broke Canada's Christine Sinclair's record of six goals. (She holds a record of most international goals scored by a male or female player at 187 goals!)
JAVAD FOROUGHI
Javad Foroughi, a nurse by profession won gold in the men's 10m air pistol event. The Iranian nurse, who took care of the severely ill COVID-patients.
Javad Foroughi poses with his medal (via Jerusalem Post)
He even contracted the virus and recovered. He wasn't able to train for a month and the lockdown didn't help in training. He had a defect that made his heart pump too hard by birth, which barred him from performing in most sports. Once he got his condition under control, he learned to fire a pistol in the hospital basement and started training after his night shifts got over.
KRISTOF MILAK
The 21-year-old Hungarian won gold in the 200 meters Butterfly swimming event. Just 10 minutes before the finals, his swimsuit tore, leaving him unfocused.
Kristof Milak (via Reuters)
He grabbed his kit bag and rushed to switch into the spare set. Even though he won the gold medal and managed to break Michael Phelps’s 13-year-old Olympic record, he was frustrated that he couldn’t beat his own world record.
"It was a problem for me. I have a routine, a rhythm, a focus. This broke my focus and that problem impacted my time," he told a news conference.
"I wasn't swimming for the medal. I was swimming for the time. I said earlier I wanted a personal best. And my personal best is a world record."
Cover image courtesy: Khel Now
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