The foundation was laid at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October 2010. 101 medals, 38 of which were gold, second in the medals table displacing England for the first time ever in history, Indian Olympic sports and sports persons had made a statement to the world. Critics, however, had drawn attention to the relatively lower level of competition at the Commonwealth Games and suggested that the real test was the Asian Games at Guangzhou in November 2010. And as India’s shooters achieved modest success at the Asian Games, the murmur was fast gathering strength. The CWG, the first week at Guangzhou had shown, was a false dawn. The national ritual celebrating failure was about to start and coupled with the CWG scams, which were, and still continues to be in focus, Indian sport was staring down the barrel.