Article first published as London Olympics-2012: The Best Ever Haul For India! on Technorati.
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| The Six Indian Olympic Heroes! |
The largest ever contingent from India to the
London Olympics-2012 achieved the best ever haul of medals for the country. The
quest for an elusive Gold medal remained unfulfilled, but India won 6
medals including 2 silver and 4 bronze which is double to that of 3 medals
including 1 gold and 2 bronze achieved in the Beijing Olympics-2008. The Indian
wrestlers provided the final boost to take the Indian tally to six.
The desperate wait for a gold medal
continued till the last hours of the London Olympics. Hopes were pinned on the
Indian wrestler in 66kg freestyle category, Sushil Kumar who was scheduled
to play his bouts on the final day of the Olympics that is yesterday, the 12th
of August, 2012. He defeated his Turkish rival—the gold medalist in the 2008
Olympics— after an engaging fight in the first bout and entered the
quarterfinals. The most electric countdown began in India for a medal—hopefully the
gold.
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| Sushil Kumar |
In the quarterfinals Sushil Kumar overcame
a tough rally from his Uzbek rival to move into the semifinals. It was again a
close fight in the semifinals, but Sushil finally prevailed over his Kazakh
rival in the last round and entered the finals—the first Indian player to do so
in the London Olympics. Now a silver medal was assured and a gold medal hope
was very close to reality.
Sushil Kumar, reportedly suffering from a
stomach upset and dehydration, failed to match his Japanese rival in the final
and the gold medal hunt was lost for this Olympics. But Sushil Kumar made history by becoming the only Indian to bag two individual medals in Olympics.
He won the first medal which was a bronze in Beijing in 2008 .
Indian people and governments have been
celebrating the best ever Olympic medal tally and not taking the colors of the
medals seriously. The celebrations had begun earlier when shooter Gagan Narang
gave India
the first medal of the London Olympics. Then at the grand climax the six heroes
have been welcomed all over and huge cash awards announced for all of them. But
the euphoria must last longer than the London Olympics.
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| Mary Kom |
Indeed, considering India’s size and
global prominence the medal tally looks insignificant and pathetic particularly
in comparison with the top three winners—USA, China and Britain. India come a measly 55th in London Olympic rankings.
But in terms of overall lack of adequate funds, sponsors, grooming, training
and other facilities to general sports in India
this best haul remains the biggest achievement and the people of India are
rightfully happy about it. For example super-mom Mary Kom who hails from the
state of Manipur in India’s
neglected and backward North Eastern region has been rightfully getting undivided
attention and praise for her personal struggle to achieve an Olympic medal in
women’s boxing.
The beaming Indian sports minister has put
his targets at 25 medals for the 2020 Olympics. But to make that dream come
true he must envisage both an intensive and extensive promotion of all sports
except cricket in India.
For a starter he must focus immediately on Indian hockey and begin from
scratches. The Indian hockey team lost all its six matches and occupied the
last position in rankings. Barring its inability to qualify for the Beijing
Olympics Hockey discipline this is the worst ever performance by the Indian
Hockey team in Olympic history. There are despairing expressions that it would
have been better if the Indian hockey team failed to qualify again.
The grand spectacle of the London
Olympics-2012 came to an end after twelve days of excellence. India must pick
this moment to begin introspection.
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