Of Olympics, Of Medals, Of India!

The nearby paltry shop down the alley had been decorated with a poster bigger than the shop itself hung over it.

In the poster, was a 22-year old Indian boxer, who was the brand ambassador of that particular brand. A 5 minute walk down the path, I see another huge hoarding of the same boxer, beside the bus stoppage point. It is a soothing sight to see vignettes of sportspersons, who are non-cricketers hung around the city poster hoardings. But deep down, even you know that if it weren’t for the Rio Olympics 2016, these posters would still have been a dream. On the brighter note, the Olympic fever has intrigued all the sports lovers!

For a start, India had a notable past in the Olympic Games. Having won 8 Olympic gold medals in Hockey, the Indian Hockey scenario was a glorious one. After decades of remarkable antecedent, Indian Hockey took a deep dive as it failed to qualify for Beijing 2008. It was not entirely a shocking news-event as sports like hockey had been running into troubled paths for quite some time in this cricket-crazy nation. Having seen many ups and downs over the years, the current hockey team has done a commendable job over the past season. High hopes have been forecast already!

Coming away from hockey, India’s history in individual sports was not something as illustrious. Milkha Singh was no doubt a legendary figure in the athletics field, but the Olympic medal was sadly missing. And then a certain Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won the first individual medal post-independence in 1952 Helsinki, when he won the bronze in freestyle wrestling. And then after years of wilderness, Leander Paes hit a bronze in the 1996 Atlanta Games. 4 years later, Karnam Malleswari lifted a bronze, making it three individual bronze medals for India in a period of almost 5 decades. In 2004 Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore shot a more successful glory by winning Silver in the 2004 Athens. It wasn’t much in comparison to the world sports belvedere but taking into account sports in our country, it was something to embrace upon. But still, a feeling of emptiness lurked. And when Abhinav Bindra phenomenally shot a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics, the moment truly came into India’s backyard. It was one of those rare moments of honor and dignity in sports in India. The 2008 Games saw India notch up a total of 3 individual medals, which was an exemplary feat. In the 2012 London Games, this fine triumph went a notch higher when the tally went up to 6. The fact that the number of individual accomplishments increased was truly a thing of high esteem. India had finally arrived on the big stage!

The 2016 Rio Games is a chance to show the world what we are actually capable of. With India sending its biggest contingent to Rio, this reverie seems to be fulfilled upon. Let’s hope India does a much better performance than all the previous Games combined. The doping scandal was an abeyant blot but thankfully, Narsingh Yadav has been cleared of all the doping charges. With a population exceeding a billion, hopes just gets somewhere near the same statistic for obvious reasons. The Opening Ceremony caught everyone’s awe! Let’s all anticipate the Games does even more!

Good Luck, Team India!