It’s a curious happenstance—the vibrancy and frisson that attends an approaching Olympic Games is forcibly muted, with little of the customary flush and fever of anticipation emanating out of the venue itself. The sources of excitement right now, are the myriad realms from which athletes are setting out for Tokyo—the quadrennial culmination of national sporting aspirations and, for many individual sports, of all their international competitions.
A new, effervescent Indian team will be on show at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo, an Olympics that is unpredictable for being stalked by the pandemic, and equally strange for its projected, total absence of spectators. When hockey captain Manpreet Singh and boxing legend Mary Kom lead the 119-member strong Indian contingent out at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on July 23, they will represent the face of a bold generation of fiercely competitive athletes who will not yield an inch in their quest for excellence.
With no less than six athletes ranked world No. 1 in different disciplines and several others inside the top 10, India have never looked this strong at an Olympics. Having participated in every Summer Games since 1920, although they made their official debut in Paris 1900, India’s medal haul (28) has been dismal. A record eight from men’s hockey and one from shooting are all we have to show in terms of gold. All that can change this time. Seriously.
If Indian shooters and archers can take their current form to Tokyo and hold their nerve at those points of maximum pressure, we might tot up medals in double digits. India’s best haul came in London 2012, where two silvers and four bronze medals were won. Rio 2016 was a setback—just a silver and a bronze from badminton and wrestling. It not only showed that Indian athletes suffered from stage fright but it reflected the collective failure of a sporting ecosystem that lacked vision and accountability.
In the four-year cycle post-Rio 2016, India has shown remarkable improvement in several Olympic disciplines. Shooting, boxing and wrestling stand out, with top finishes in world tournaments in the past 12 months. While athletes like archer Deepika Kumari, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, boxer Vikas Krishan or shooters Apurvi Chandela, Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Sanjeev Rajput have gained in experience and confidence, India will bank on a slew of Olympic debutants to force open a new chapter in its Olympic history.
While experience has its own advantage, shooters like Manu Bhaker, Saurabh Chaudhary and wrestlers Anshu and Sonam Malik—still in their teens—will be relatively free of pressure, yet aware of the expectations from them. These new-gen athletes who have honed their skills at the highest level are a breed apart. Their fearless ranks are swelled by the likes of boxer Amit Panghal, wrestler Bajrang Punia and the only shooting world champion in the squad, Tejaswini Sawant.
“Never before have we gone into the Olympics as absolute favourites. We have more athletes than ever before who have a realistic chance of winning gold medals. Even if half of them achieve what we expect, India should have multiple Olympic champions emerge out of Tokyo. Shooting remains one of our brightest hopes,” Beijing 2008 gold medallist Abhinav Bindra has said.
According to a virtual medal projection released 100 days ahead of the Games by Gracenote, a Nielsen company, India will win 17 medals at Tokyo 2020—four gold, five silver and eight bronze—to finish 19th in the medal standings. The tally has been calculated on the basis of performances of athletes in key international events. US (114 medals), China (85) and the Russian Olympic Committee (73) will finish 1-2-3, with hosts Japan (59) finishing fourth, according to the projections.
Considering India’s performance in the recent archery and shooting World Cups, Gracenote’s projection looks appropriate. Deepika Kumari grabbed a hattrick of gold medals in the Paris World Cup in June-end. The current World No. 1 in recurve has nine World Cup golds since 2012, but Olympic success has eluded the 27-year-old. This time, Deepika stands a great chance to win a mixed team medal with her husband and Olympian archer Atanu Das. They won gold in Paris but in Tokyo, they will come up against top teams like South Korea and China.
Former Olympic archer Dola Banerjee says it’s time for Deepika to deliver. She has had a taste of the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in the Tokyo Bay zone during a test event earlier this year. The wind here can be tricky, warns Dola, adding that Deepika will also have to handle the billowing, blustery pressure of the Olympics. “You have to keep your heartbeat under control. If your heart races too fast, you will not be able to control the bow…your aiming position will go haywire and your arrow will not go where you want it to,” Banerjee told Olympics.com.
In shooting, three Indian world number ones are in action. A sport where winning or losing is determined in decimals, each shooter of the 15-member squad is a medal prospect. The shooting contingent has been training in Croatia for over two months and although they had a middling World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, they look very good for Tokyo. Just like in archery, nerves will be key.
The government’s supportive role must be acknowledged too. The Union sports ministry has been lavish with its spending on all sportspersons who made the Olympic cut. Shooters, boxers (in Italy), wrestlers, athletes (in Europe) and the lone weightlifter, Mirabai Chanu, have trained abroad with their personal coaches. The ministry’s flagship project—TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme), established in September 2014, has spent close to Rs 78 crore on 18 Olympic disciplines and para sports between 2016 and 2021. A measure of the government’s support can be gauged from the fact that the sports ministry took less than 24 hours to sanction funds for an advanced recovery system that badminton world champion P.V. Sindhu requested. The system circulates ice water and delivers intermittent compression through specific wraps for an athlete’s legs, arms, back and shoulders. It helps reduce pain, spasm and swelling by cooling the affected areas and stimulates the flow of oxygenated blood. It cost the government around Rs 7.5 lakh.
Like love, money certainly can’t buy medals. Except that a new breed of Indian sportspersons look destined to rewrite India’s Olympic history. The Olympic movement may be all about the spirit of sportsmanship, but a subterranean ruthlessness runs through it as well. Through that thicket of rivalry, this Indian team is resolved to wrest its place in the sun.
(This appeared in the print edition as "Glory Road")
