Brimming with ups and downs

Like well-defined crests and troughs in a wave, Indian athletes took the nation through several moments of highs and lows in a very eventful year.

As the sun sets on 2021, it has been a year of joy and glory, with athletes from several arenas bringing in medals. To say that this will suffice is incorrect. Competing in sport is about consistency and getting better and better, which can translate into more medals — encouraging the next generation to get involved as well.

Looking back at the two big-ticket events — the Tokyo Olympics and the Paralaympics — what India achieved was good. But then, just like the remarks from a school teacher in the annual report card, the message is: Can get better.

Indeed, if Neeraj Chopra's javelin throw of 87.58 metres in Tokyo brought India its second ever individual gold in the Olympics, this number has become a kind of lucky charm for many more. For a young man who missed out on a lot of international competitions, compared to his other rivals, before the Tokyo Olympics due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Neeraj's gold medal defined what an athlete can achieve when the heart and mind are in sync.

Neeraj has attended any number of felicitation functions after that and won all kinds of awards, with the Khel Ratna being the most important. He was part of many other social events in India since August, before the Athletics Federation of India packed him off to San Diego, USA, to once again focus on his off-season training and launch his assault on the 2022 season.

It'll be an important year for Neeraj and Indian athletics as he will be competing in three big-ticket events — the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and the World Championship. Neeraj knows every day is important and staying away from India with the Omicron variant now raging means he has to be in the safest place and train hard.

What Neeraj's gold medal means to India has been spoken of and analysed by many. Yet, what is most important is this man won a gold medal in his maiden Olympics. When he met Abhinav Bindra — gold medallist of 2008 Beijing Olympics — in Chandigarh, they shared notes, shared a meal and must have talked a lot on what it takes mentally to win an Olympic gold. Neeraj has the hunger and heart for more medals, which would be the biggest takeaway after the meeting.

For India to win seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics may be seen as sufficient. Yet, when one looks back at certain disciplines, this total could have been higher by at least another four medals, had the Indian shooters not flopped miserably. The same goes for the Indian archers, who once again did not deliver on the big stage. India won one boxing medal through Lovlina Borgohain, but this, too, was insufficient.

The other five medal winners for India were Mirabhai Chanu, Ravi Dahiya, PV Sindhu, Bajrang Punia and the Indian men's hockey team. For Mirabhai, this medal was proof of her hard work after she had not done well in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Given the changing landscape of the Olympics, there is a need for innovation.

The way the International Olympic Committee keeps adjusting its programmes, weightlifting and boxing will be out for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. This is where the Indian athletes, the national sports federation, and other stakeholders have to plan. Mirabhai is talking about one more medal in the next Olympics. If that happens, it will be phenomenal.

Sindhu deserves maximum praise for winning two back-to-back medals in the Olympics — silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo. Badminton is a fast sport where experience and speed count. Yet, for Sindhu to win two Olympic medals puts her in the same elite bracket as wrestler Sushil Kumar, who won bronze and silver respectively in the Beijing and London Olympics. The low, so to say, is that today Sushil is in jail in the capital over murder charges.

If Neeraj is talking about more medals, the same is the philosophy of Ravi Dahiya, who wants to go full tilt at the Paris Olympics in 2024. There is depth and a good talent base in sports like wrestling and boxing. How one builds on it remains to be seen.

To be sure, viewed dispassionately, what Indian athletes achieved in Tokyo in the Olympics and Paralympics in the middle of the pandemic was not easy. To be competing in front of empty stands, to be worried about the virus daily and still stay positive and to live in an environment of uncertainty is not easy. It certainly meant the Indian athletes were strong in many ways to fight the odds.

One sport which has been talked of with great passion is hockey. For the Indian men's hockey team to win a bronze medal after 41 years was a huge high. It has ensured people will not talk about hockey in a negative way. The hockey which was played during the Moscow Olympics in 1980 and the hockey today is very different.

The Indian women, too, played their hearts out, and finishing fourth in Tokyo was a heartbreak. Skipper Rani Rampal and the team

have promised a medal from Paris, and for that, they have to keep working harder and believe they are the best.

Paralaympics produced 19 medals, and all of a sudden, there is greater awareness as to how disability cannot be a limiting factor. Names of Avani Lekhara, Sumit Antil, Pramod Bhagat, Krishna Nagar and Manish Narwal — all gold medal winners — ring a bell. The other medallists who won silver and bronze have also been celebrated like true champions.

For seasoned Mariyappan Thangavelu and Devendra Jhajharia to again win medals is a big inspiration to all the Paraylmpic hopefuls in India that they, too, can go and win medals. There is belief and there is confidence. Above all, the support which the Central Government and Sports Ministry give to Indian athletes at large is phenomenal. From national camps to coaches and travel, it is the Indian government which has spent big. The message from sports minister Anurag Thakur is that this spending will continue for the elite athletes as well as those competing in the Khelo India programme.

No summation of the year gone by is complete without a mention of Indian cricket. Today, Virat Kohli finds himself alone at the deep end of the pool, but the performances in Australia, where India won the Test series, defined class. It was achieved under the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane. Kohli led India to a 2-1 Test series lead in England, with the last match to be played in 2022. The team is now in South Africa. However, the flop show in the ICC World T20 in the UAE has not been accepted well by the BCCI.

Cricket board politics smacks of lacking courtesies towards outgoing captains and coaches. However, there is nothing wrong if the BCCI expects the team to win ICC trophies, as that is seen as the gold standard.

With early December bringing in extreme cold in North India, it was men's badminton which warmed the cockles. The against-all-odds story of Kidambi Srikanth winning a historic silver medal at the BWF world championship and young Lakhya Sen winning bronze is wonderful. Men's badminton has seen more lows before the Olympics, and these two performers are bound to be watched more closely in 2022.

The key for Srikanth is improving his fitness and adding more variety to his game. Lakshya is under the wings of Prakash Padukone and can come good in the years ahead. Perhaps, this is the perfect ending one could script for Indian sport in 2021. There is a new Covid-19 virus variant in the air. However, the Indian athletes now know how to stay safe and deal with it.

Pop the cork, pour the bubbly, there is a lot to celebrate if you are an Indian sports lover.

Views expressed are personal