At the Top of its Game

THE 19TH ASIAN GAMES has been a story of young India. It is the story of an India that dares to dream, an India that aspires to go big, and an India that isn’t satisfied with coming fourth anymore. What is more remarkable is that ahead of the Asian Games, the In­dian sport administration wasn’t in the best of shape.

Take a look at wrestling and the story is clear. For months, the sport has been muddled by con­troversy. Even now, the case is pending in one of the courts and we don’t have any elected body at the helm. Also, there were a lot of issues about sending the football team, and eventually, the team went without preparation and training. There were issues in shooting with multiple coaches having left in March. Thereaf­ter, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), under Kalikesh Singh Deo, tried to get its house in order and put things together for the shooters.

In such a scenario, what India achieved in shooting, athletics, and squash in China is nothing short of remarkable. India’s best games ever by a distance. This is not simply in terms of medals won but also in terms of the performances that we have seen. Take table tennis. Two Bengali girls from Naihati in suburban Bengal defeating China in China in a quarterfinal in women’s doubles. Unreal, but true.

Take the case of shooting. Young Indian stars between the ages of 17 and 20 winning 20-plus medals in the sport has been the best story of resurgence after the reversals in Rio and Tokyo. All of a sudden, Paris 2024 seems like a real dream. Stars like Esha Singh, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil, Mehuli Ghosh, each one of these shooters have the mettle and the ability to win on the big stage. Most importantly, the Indian shooters have mas­tered the art of soaking in the pressure. For months and years, Abhinav Bindra has been talking about this decisive 1 per cent. This is where the Indians used to falter. They would do very well at World Cups because there wasn’t any pressure but come the Asian Games or the Olympic Games, they would underperform.

One of the coaches said this to me on condition of anonymity. “When the shooters realise that this is not going to come before four years, they would start to feel the pressure and underper­form. That is what we got sorted in Hangzhou. We simulated finals in training. Made the players go through every possibility and all the effort has finally paid off.”

The best-ever shooting performance has set the stage for Paris 2024. Not once am I saying that the sport is perfect yet, but something that Kalikesh and his team at the NRAI is doing is indeed right.

Be it the junior coaching programme or the senior coaching pro­gramme, with coaches like Suma Shirur and High Performance Director Pierre Beauchamp, the sport is back on track. Sending the team to Paris to practice in the range that will be used for the Olympics, for example, was a very important step. In Baku, we won multiple quotas in the world championships, and India is expected to win many more in the Asian championships next month. In sum, we are seeing a story of resurgence that all of us wanted to see.

Even in football, where India lost to Saudi Arabia, the effort was commendable. When you think that the team reached 16 hours before their first game and did not have a single practice ses­sion, one has to say that the performance was heroic under coach Igor Stimac and captain Sunil Chhetri. India gave everything they had on the pitch and as fans, that’s all you want to see.

Coming to athletics, it has been an absolute dream Games. Think of Jyothi Yarraji. Eighty-thousand people in a packed stadium and all of a sudden Chinese officials come and try to disqualify her wrongly for a fault she hasn’t committed. As a young impressionistic mind, you are supposed to feel pressure. I am sure Jyothi did, but she wasn’t overawed. She kept com­plaining and eventually ran under protest. And to be able to do what she did, win a silver medal in the 100-metre hurdles, was a near miracle.

Her coach James Hillier has forever been talking about this. Soak in the pressure at the big stage and deliver. That’s what makes you different, said Hiller. In fact, he had told Jyothi that if there is ever an occasion where she is falsely disqualified, she should not cede her ground. She should stand there and protest and run under appeal for that’s what the rulebook says. That’s what Jyothi did and the rest is history.

If Jyothi was heroic, Parul Chaudhary was the icing on the cake. Within 24 hours, she ran two races. First, the 3,000 metres steeplechase, and then the gruelling 5,000 metres. Till the last lap in the 5,000m, Parul was second to the Japanese opponent. And then, in the last 50 metres, from nowhere, there was an incredible burst of speed, a kick that saw Parul cross her Japanese opponent and come up first taking the gold medal.

Her comment at the end of the race was even more startling. She said by winning the medal she has now assured herself the position of DSP in UP Police. Parul is the unique Indian story, a story of aspiration and inspiration, and a story of never-give-up.

If it was Parul in 5,000 metres, it was Annu Rani in the javelin. For days, months, and years, Annu has toiled without much rec­ognition. She isn’t a Neeraj Chopra but the effort that Annu Rani put in at the Asian Games— with the season’s best and personal best—winning the gold, has been nothing short of incredible.

And then there is TJ—Tejaswin Shankar. Just a year ago, he did not even know whether he will be able to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. His participation had all been messed up and only about 72 hours ahead of the event, he was he given the go-ahead.

Mind you, he was actually playing the high jump then and within a year, has shifted focus to decathlon and broke the national record in Hangzhou winning the silver medal. And now, he has said he might shift focus to triple jump. This is a new India speaking out—an India that is well and truly a multi-sporting nation.

Yes, there have been disappointments. Apart from the Mukherjees, table tennis has not shone. More was expected from Sharath, Sathiyan, and Manika, but that’s sport. It is cruel at times and there are no retakes. In boxing, except Lovlina Borgohain, we did not have a single finalist. The famed Nikhat Zareen lost a very close semifinal to Thailand. But as I said, that’s the beauty of sport.

Nikhat will learn. She will emerge stronger from this defeat and in Paris, will want to change the colour to yellow yet again. That’s the challenge she now has in front of her.

In tennis, the ageless Rohan Bopanna stood up after losing the men’s doubles with Yuki Bhambri. He played fantastic tennis to win the mixed doubles gold with Rutuja Bhosle after coming back from a set down in the final. That is what it is all about—in sport, it is never say never.

Sport allows you to dream and thereafter, in front of thousands watching, fulfil your dream. It is the only thing that allows you to win in public and also fail in public. It is, most importantly, a life lesson that leaves you richer as a person. More than winning or losing, that’s what these young men and women will come back with, and that’s what will make them better athletes.

In every sense, the Asian Games are a stepping stone to Paris 2024. Can India win double-digit medals in Paris is a debate that is yet again waiting to start. Let’s be clear—we are not fully there yet, but from what we have seen, we can. With proper training and coaching and proper structures and systems in place, India cer­tainly can do well at the Olympics. The Asian Games in Hangzhou has well and truly been a Games of hope. It is one of optimism that Indian Olympic sport is finally back on track.

Asian Games 2023Hangzhou GamesIndian athletesParul ChaudharyRamkumar RamanathanRohan BopannaRutuja BhosaleSaketh Mynenir