Kudos to the Indian athletes who have made the country proud by winning 101 medals in the commonwealth games. It was really a great achievement. And it becomes even more significant since it was achieved in spite of, rather than because of the various mismanaging sporting governing bodies of the country, who tend to bring unforeseen levels of incompetence every time they are given some responsibility.
So I was very happy going around celebrating the achievements, when I came across one of my friends, always the eternal pessimist.
Me: So, did you hear about our medal haul in the CWG?
EP: Sure, I did. But what’s the big deal about it?
Me: Big deal? Dude, we came in second among 72 nations, only behind Australia. We had a record haul of 38 gold medals. A total of 101.
EP: So what? What are the events in which we won the medals?
Me: Shooting, Wrestling, Archery, Boxing, Athletics, Weightlifting, Badminton, Table tennis and tennis.
EP: Hmmm...
Me: What Hmmmm...
EP: Mate, I don’t deny the fact that we won those medals. Good work. But this is no time for celebrations. Put things in perspective. Let’s start with shooting. 11golds, is it? Apart from Abhinav Bindra, how many Olympic champions participated in the event? And since it was the Commonwealth games, none of the Europeans, generally the medal winners at these events, participated in it. So of course we were bound to win those medals, competing against countries like Anguilla, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Gurnsey, Isle of Man, Kiribati, Malawi, Montserrat, Nauru, Niue etc. Only Australia, Canada and England have any sporting credentials, and they came with a second rung team, with most of their top athletes pulling out. It’s like India winning the cricket World cup with only Bangladesh, Ireland, Afghanistan, UAE, Holland, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Same is the case with Archery. Now onto boxing. The much lauded Vijender managed only a bronze, that too without Cuba and Kazakhstan not in the picture. Canada too, came without their top three boxers. Still they managed only three medals. Great going, eh? And weightlifting and wrestling? No Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, South Africa... Hmm... Still we won two medals. Great going. :P Badminton? Agrreed, Saina Nehwal is probably a class apart. But without any Indonesians testing her skills, it was a bit easy for her. And Jwala Gutta in doubles? Well, for somebody who did not even qualify to play in the Olympics two years ago, it was a very easy entry into the CWG fray.
Lets take table tennis. No China, the Koreas, Japan or Poland. Hmmm.. A bit easy, I guess. And we almost lost the Gold in tennis. Somdev Devvvarman saved us. Add to that the majot pull outs due to security reasons. The field was too shortened.
And what about the major disappointments? Jyotsna Chinnappa, Dipika Pallikkal, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Susheel Kumar, Sania Mirza (this point is debatable, though).. The list is endless. So my dear, celebrate all you want, but come the Olympics, and we will be back to square one. Well have a wager. I say we will have at most 5 medals in the Olympics. What say?
Me: well it’s a bit too early for a wager. Let’s see.. I’m game.
I guess he was a bit too pessimistic, but whatever he said was right. Once the dust has settled on the games, we need to have an introspection. No doubt we have improved as a sporting nation. But this medal haul should act as an inspiration to all the athletes to improve upon their own performances. Yes, this win is great. Yes, we need to celebrate. But it is also true that we have a long way to go. Lot of hard work to put in, lots of toil, lots of time practicing, lots of money spent on upgradation. Only then we can compete among the best in the world, and win more and more medals in the years to come.
And me, my wager.
