The Tokyo Olympics have come to an end with the closing ceremony. This was India’s best performance ever at the Olympics. A medal in athletics after 121 years, a medal in hockey after 41 years and a medal in weightlifting after 21 years were memorable.
Not only a gold medal after 13 years in Olympics, reaching very close to a medal for the first time in women’s hockey and golf, winning a match in men’s singles tennis event after 25 years, winning three matches for the first time in table tennis and in archery beating former Olympic champion South Korea for the first time ever in Olympics and also in the same sport defeating world number one a day before, were surprising incidents in Olympics.
Similarly winning two medals in wrestling after nine years and to establish itself as the first sport in the country in which we won a medal in the fourth consecutive Olympics was significant. P.V. Sindhu achieved the distinction of being the only Indian woman to win medals in two consecutive Olympics and she became the second player in the country after Sushil to get this achievement. Former world champion Mirabai Chanu, who was a slightly weak in the snatch event, performed well this time and clinched the silver medal by performing well in her favorite clean and jerk event. By crossing the path shown by Karnam Malleswari 21 years ago, she erected a bigger destination than that.
Similarly, winning a medal in boxing after nine years by Lovlina in boxing was also a big one, but in the midst of all this, Neeraj Chopra`s gold is the main attraction of this Olympics. His gold brought the whole country into ecstasy. He showed great determination, due to which he proved to be the Kohinoor of India in this Olympics.
The problems were no less for Neeraj either. First the Australian coach left, then the legend coach of Germany withdrew five months before the Olympics due to a dispute with SAI and the Athletics Federation of India. Then he could not practice for about one and a half years due to the injury of the elbow. Covid time has given a big challenge. Three months before the Olympics, when Neeraj talked about changing his style in javelin throw, that too was nothing short of a shocking moment. But with the help and hard work of Germany’s bio-mechanic, he got rid of all these problems and from now on he has set a new goal of breaking the Olympic record.
On the other hand, to criticize golfer Aditi Ashok and women’s hockey team for not winning medals is to show your ignorance. Actually, the achievement of these two in Tokyo is actually nothing less than miracle. Golfer Aditi, ranked No. 200 in the world, deserves to be saluted for her courage she showed during the event when she faced the world number one and another silver medalist of Rio Olympics. The player had also secured the joint top spot at one point in the four-day event. Reaching close to the medal is also a big achievement.
A team that has not qualified for the Olympics from 1984 to 2012 and has not won a match even after qualifying last time and a team that has lost the first three matches in this Olympics, it was no sense to keep hopes from such a team, but after this, the way the team won three consecutive matches in which one against two-time Olympic champion Australia, shows their class.
Then building up the pressure by taking the lead against Argentina and defending champion Great Britain is really commendable. On the other hand, it would be redundant to judge the performance of Aditi and the women’s hockey team by medals. They did what no one expected.
Of course, the Indian men’s hockey team ended the medal drought after 41 years, and the Indian team has now become the number three team in the world, but at the same time India’s defeat in the league match against Australia and in the semi-finals against Belgium must be scrutinised.
Wrestler Bajrang Punia defeated the Kazakhstan wrestler, whom he lost 9-9 in the semi-finals of the World Championship held in Nursultan. This time by beating 8-0, he showed how he had worked hard after the loss. Similarly, Ravi Dahiya proved to be a new sensation of Indian wrestling by winning three bouts. In tennis, Sumit Nagal defeated the Uzbekistan player who had defeated Roger Federer a few years back.
On the other hand, Vinesh’s defeat at the hands of the Belarus wrestler, whom she had defeated in PWL, is a matter of concern. Similarly, Deepak Poonia’s loss in the bronze medal bout also raised questions on his thinking as it deprived a certain medal from India’s hand. Barring Saurabh Chaudhary, none of the Indian shooters made it to the finals.
The writer has covered fifth Olympics as TV commentator.