Reality check

India’s performance at the Commonwealth Games may have been satisfactory, but it is nothing to go overboard about

Norris Pritam Delhi

"It is a matter of great pride for all of us that our teams at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games have given such a good account of themselves. On behalf of the entire Indian people, I congratulate each one of the winners in this adventure,’’ a jubilant Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced at a felicitation function on the Indian contingent’s return from Australia.

 Yes, when one analyses India’s total tally of 22 gold, 17 silver and 11 bronze medals, Melbourne amply proves to be more of an adventure rather than hard intense competition. Level of competition in some disciplines in the Commonwealth Games was indeed lower than at other international meets. And India’s most medals came in those events. The performances were   satisfactory, but should certainly not be taken as a pointer for the coming events such as the Asian Games at Doha this year in December.

Indian shooters, for instance, contributed 16 gold, seven silver and four bronze medals to India’s tally of 50 medals. But they are not going to repeat the show at Doha. Shooting in Asia Games is a different ball game. China, both Koreas and Japan are strong shooting nations in Asia and will not allow Indian shooters to repeat the Melbourne act. To put the Melbourne performance in right perspective, it would be pertinent to point out that Indian shooters have not yet earned Beijing Olympic quota places. The Indian sports authorities and the media should not raise Indian hopes to the sky to ultimately crash in the hot sands of Doha.  In fact it would be better to self-analyse and make a serious and honest attempt to do better in future. At least there is a wider pool of several talented young shooters like Gagan Narang and Avneet Kaur. All attempts should be made to get the best out of them. As Melbourne hero Samresh Jung has very rightly said: 

"Our biggest asset is that most of our shooters have age on their sides. In the international arena, many people wonder how most Indian shooters are so young when 30+ people generally dominate the game all over the world. But that may prove to be our biggest advantage.’’

In a medal-starved country, shooting medals in Melbourne overshadowed some of the other good performances. Sharat Kamal’s gold in the table tennis singles was one of the greatest success stories of the Games. But unfortunately the young Tamil Nadu boy won the title on the last day of the Games when Samresh had already emerged as the golden boy of the Games. Without being unfair to Samresh and other shooters, it should be pointed out that the standards of table tennis in Commonwealth countries is much higher than that of shooting.

Hockey was a big let down. And the way things are with Indian hockey, the future looks bleaker.   

The men’s team slid from bad to worse in Melbourne. Later, IHF in a familiar act sacked the team coach Rajinder Singh (Jr). If only sacking of coaches could help, IHF President K P S Gill would have at least two Olympic gold and two Asian Games gold medals under his belt!

Anju George was another setback, if not a failure, to the Indian contingent. Her undoing was mainly her own fault. Months before the Games, some friends and well wishers had organised for her to stay and train in Melbourne. Even her native Malayali food was organized for her and husband-cum-coach Robert. But the two decided to go to South Africa where they never got to compete in any meet. For some strange reasons, Anju wasted precious time and did not compete for five months before Melbourne. The result was for all to see. With age not on her side, Doha may be her final international outing.