Asiad

In the recently concluded Asian Games in Jakarta, the overall performance of Indian Athletes have been good, as they have bagged the highest numbers of medals in one edition of games, total medals won were 69, in which 15 were Gold, 24 Silver and 30 Bronze. If we consider  this as an achievement, then we are sadly mistaken, our overall standing was 8th in the medal tally, where China stood at no. 1 position with 289 medals ( 132 gold, 92 silver and 65 bronze). We can call this as first major step towards the improvement in the sports field, we earlier had a chance to improve sports facilities when India hosted Commonwealth games in 2010, but UPA govt did not do any thing in this regard except the famous Commonwealth Games Scam when thousands of crores rupees were swindle by politicians and govt officials  involved in the organising in the games.

Now let us see in sport’s discipline our players performed well

1. Athletics- 19 medals were won in track and fields including 9 gold medals. Neeraj Chopra( Javeline throw), Manjit Singh (800 meters), Jinson Johnson (1500 meters), Tejinderpal Singh (Shot put), Arpinder Singh (triple jump), Sapna Barman (heptahalon) and the women’s 4×400 meters quartet of Hima Das, MR Povamma, Sarita Gayakwad & VK Vismaya. Other highlight performances were by Dutee Chand in 100 & 200 meters where she won silver in both the races,  and Hima Das run in 400 meters where she won silver. ( Medal won-7 gold, 10 silver and 2 bronze)
2. Wrestling- Bajrang Punia ( men’s 65 kg) & Vinesh Phogat (50 Kg) India won  gold medals , Divya Kakran  (68 kg) won bronze medal. The biggest disappointment was Olympic medal winners Sushil Kumar & Sakshi Malik. ( medals won 2 gold  and 1 bronze)
3. Shooting- In spite of problems between player and head coach, shooters fared well to bag nine medals which included 2 golds, won by Saurabh Chaudhary and Rani Sarnobat, while two fancied shooters who were expected to win failed to finish on podium, and they were Manu Bhaker & Anish Bhanwala. ( medals won 2 gold, 4 silver & 3 bronze)
4. Bridge- Pranab Bardhan and Shbnath Sarkar won the gold medal  .          ( medals won 1 gold & 2 bronze)
5. Table Tennis- for the first time in history of Asian Games Indian stood on podium, Achant Sharad led the way to bronze medal in men’s team and mixed team events. ( 2 bronze medals)
6. Tennis- Team of Rohan Boppana and Divij Sharan won the men’s double gold medal. (medals won 1 gold and 2 bronze)
7. Boxing- AmitPanghal won the gold medal in 49 Kg category, one bronze medal was also won. ( Medals won -1gold and 1 bronze).
8. Rowing-the team of Swaran Singh, Dattu Bhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh won gold in men’s quadruple sculls. (medals won 1 gold and 2 bronze).

Other  discipline where India won medals

1.  Archery- 2 silver medals.
2. Babminton- 1 silver and 1 bronze medal
3. Kabaddi- 1 silver and 1 bronze medal.
4. Squash-1 silver and 4 bronze medals.
5. Equestrian- 2 silver medals.
6. Martial Arts- 1 silver and 5 bronze medals.
7. Hockey-1 silver and 1 bronze.

The major disappointments came from following players/teams.

1.  Boxing Team- 4 years back they had won 9 medals including 2 gold medal, but this time only one gold and one bronze.
2. Kabaddi- earlier India used to win gold medals in both men’s and women’s team, but this time India could only win bronze in men’s and silver in women’s championship.
3. Badminton- although PV Sindhu won silver and Saina Nehwal won bronze in women’s category but full nation was expecting gold from one of them.  In the men’s category our top player K Srikanth went out in first round only.
4. Hockey- Highly fancied men’s team failed to reach final and had to contend with silver medal, while women’s team reached the final but lost to Japan.
5. Sushil Kumar- much was expected from two time Olympic medal winner in wrestling, but he bowed out tamely  in 2nd round in 74 Kg category
6.  K Srikanth and HS Prannoy ( badminton)- Srikanth is formerworld no. 1 player and currently ranked 8, went out in first round and Prannoy ( world no 11) was knocked out in 2nd round. In the team event India lost to host Indonesia in quarter finals.
7. Dipa Karmakar (wrestling)- much was also expected from this gymnast, who narrowly missed Olympic medal 2 years back.
8. Shiva Thapa (Boxing)- Three time Asian Championship winner and bronze winner in world championship, was considered among the best medal bet. He lost in the 2nd round.

In the last Asian games in 2014, India had sent 541 players in 28 fields and won 57 medals. In comparison, this year’s contingent had 570 players  in 36 fields which garnered 69 medals, a definite improvement over the last Asian Games, however with this tally also India finished 8th on the medal tally, and we have not finished in top 5 since 1986 Seoul games, in South Korea.

In my opinion, the present govt is doing much better in the sports portfolio, as compared to earlier govts, the prime reason may be because the Sports Ministry is headed by an ex Olympian (Silver medal winner in shooting) Rajyavardhan Rathore. We have still long way to go, before we are considered as sport force in Asia and then in the world. One thing is sure till the time the sports federations are headed by politicians, there is very less chance of improvement in working of sports federations, even Supreme Court is after the politicians to leave the charge of federations, and let the federations be handled by ex game officials or players, but these shameless politicians wants to handle these federation, because there are enough govt funds which come under their control and you know how corrupt are these politicians.

So friends, what is your say in this matter. Please post your views/comments/feed backs on this blog.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

3rd Sep 2018.