Olympics hopes

Today, the first contingent of Indians will leave for Japan to participate in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games which were initially scheduled in 2020 but were postponed due to the pandemic. Around 11,000 athletes from 206 countries are expected to compete in 33 events. A total of 127 Indian athletes have so far qualified and are all set to fly for the Tokyo Olympics, which begins on July 23. All over the world, the athletes have found themselves stranded due to the lockdown resulting from rising cases of coronavirus, and Indian athletes were no exception.

The Olympic Games symbolize the triumph and celebration of the unity of all human wisdom and power. It is the celebration of tolerance, peace, mutual respect and universal brotherhood and spreading it through the means of sports. These also symbolize how humanity over the centuries had broken the barriers and set new records of human physical excellence. The generations after generations get motivated to win the physical and biological barriers which ultimately spur overall progress of nations and all-round cultural development. Olympic Games overall are the symbol of uniting sportspersons from five continents, the only event where the common citizens of the world participate in the sporting events and spread the message of unity of all humans.

The Olympic Games were started in Greece around 3,000 years ago. It is said that Heracles, the son of Zeus (the sky and thunder god of ancient Greek religion) and the mortal woman Alcmene, founded the Games which, by the end of the 6th century BC, had become the most famous of all Greek sporting festivals. The ancient Olympics were held every four years between August 6 and September 19 during a religious festival in honour of Zeus. The modern Olympics took place for the first time in 1896 in Athens, and 280 athlete participants from 13 nations, competing in 43 events consisting of track and field, gymnastics, swimming, wrestling, cycling, tennis, weightlifting, shooting and fencing participated in the Games. It was a Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin who was responsible for reviving these games in 1896.

For India, it was in 1900 during the Paris Olympics when an Anglo-Indian athlete Norman Pritchard represented India and went on to win two medals in men's 200-metre sprint and men's 200-metre hurdles. However, India made a name for itself in hockey after the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics when the team won the Gold by defeating the hosts and dominated the world hockey. In the 1936 Olympics, it won by the biggest margin of 8-1 by defeating Germany and continued to dominate till 1956. In 1960, the team was defeated in the final by Pakistan. After that, our hockey team won gold in 1964 and then after a long wait in 1980 in the Moscow Games. Other than hockey, we have not won enough medals compared to our population. Khashaba Dada Saheb Jadhav created history, becoming the first Indian to win an Olympic medal (bronze) in an individual sport at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. It is ironic that he was initially rejected but could make it only when he represented Maharaja Patiala who was the Chairman of the Indian Olympic Association. Milkha Singh missed it in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Abhinav Bindra won the first individual Gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Before him, in 2004, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won Silver in men's Double Trap at Athens Games. Karnam Malleswari was the first woman who won a bronze medal in the weightlifting in Sydney Olympics in 2000. After that, a few more medals were won by Leander Paes, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Vijender Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Mary Kom, Sakshi Malik, Gagan Narang, Vijay Kumar and Sushil Kumar.

This year again, we have medal hopes from the hockey team as the team in practice tournaments had done quite well and has been one of the best-prepared hockey teams for many years. Indians have high hopes from PV Sindhu women's singles category in badminton. Saurabh Chaudhary who won the Asian Games gold in 2018 at the age of 19 years is one of our brightest medal hopes in the men's 10m air pistol and mixed 10m air pistol categories. He is ranked number two in the world. The star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra may hit the bar and bring home India's first-ever Olympics medal in athletics. If he can better a little his highest throw which currently stands at 88.07 m, he can win a medal. Then we have Bajrang Punia, India's best bet in wrestling in the 65kg category. The ageing Mary Kom cannot be underestimated and we hope she too wins a medal in Tokyo. Then we have Mirabai Chanu in the 49 kg weightlifting category and Vinesh Phogat in 53 kg wrestling. The army man Amit Panghal could also bring a medal in boxing. So, if things go our way, we may clinch medals in double digits.

Many are asking why we are not able to win medals in the Olympics and other international sports? It is a country of more than 135 crore people and it is a big disappointment that we are nowhere near becoming even an average medal-winning country. Any country that wants to win medals must have international level sports infrastructure in several locations as also adequate funding. One of the reasons for the downslide in hockey had been the lack of Astro turf playgrounds in India for many years. By the time we had it, we had lost the steam. football is now slowly getting vibes with the Indian Super League and infusion of money. The government must draw a plan of action by genetically selecting sportspersons, as some sections of the people are genetically suitable for a particular kind of sport, and then provide them world-class training and facilities, especially in athletics. Rid the sports bodies of politics and individual stranglehold and create infrastructure at the sub-divisional levels along with the surety for employment for the emerging athletes, we will surely produce many more world champions. Once we do it, the ball will set rolling.

The writer is Chairman of Centre for Resource Management and Environment. Views expressed are personal