Monday, August 13, 2012

A to Z Of Olympics

Hello Friends,

I write again, a day after the Olympics have ended on a high note for India. Statistically, India did a 100% improvement over the last games and got closer to the Top 50 nations in the world. Here is my look back at the last 15 eventful days with focus on Indian athletes:


Our Medal Winners - Hope there are many more in Rio '16 !!!

A for Archery and Athletics- These two events turned out to disappoint all the Indian fans - more so in Archery where we had the World No.1 who didn't do well and instead of accepting defeat gracefully chose to blame everything except her lack of skill/application.

B for Badminton and Boxing - 2 determined women from diverse backgrounds made us proud. Saina who already was a superstar won in unfortunate circumstances and Mary Kom galvanized the nation with her never-die spirit, winning a medal and united the fighting groups within Manipur.

D for Devandro Singh -  Devandro Singh was the Indian boxer who impressed me the most - nicknamed "Chota Tyson", he did well but lost out controversially, but I believe his time would come soon.

F for Football - Brazil missed the gold again, lost out to Mexico this time at the final hurdle. Perhaps serious introspection time for them as they currently stand at 13 on FIFA rankings.

G for Gymnastics - Gymnastics always fascinated me ever since Nadia epitomized human perfection. The reality shows in India that masquerade as "Dance shows" portray folks twisting their bodies - can they be encouraged to do this and represent India and also some of the tribals who do amazing stunts on roads?

H for Hockey - The worst ever result for a 8 time Gold Medalist - 12th among 12 countries tells a story so strong that the Sports Ministry declared that Hockey is no longer the national game for the country.

J for Judo - For the first time ever, Saudi Arabia allowed women athletes to compete and though Wojdan lost her match in less than a minute, it was a huge step forward for Saudi women.

M for Michael Phelps - The greatest Olympian ever bowed out after collecting 18 gold medals - an amazing athlete with loads of talent backed up with hard work. He is a perfect case of going out on a high - our Mumbai man...is he listening? ;-)

O for Officials - This is the greatest news - only 20 officials travelled with the team this time compared to around 165 in Beijing. A pat on the back to Ajay Maken and team - taxpayer's money well spent.

R for Rio - Rio is going to approach us in 4 years time and the passing of baton/torch during closing ceremony reminded Brazil of the high standards that it needs to meet and the long road ahead.

S for Shooting - India continued the tradition started by Bindra and ended up with one silver and one bronze. Vijay and Gagan made us proud and Joydeep missed the medal by a whisker. Hope this continues.

T for Tennis -  If only there are medals for "Verbal Volleys", India would have won Doubles and Mixed Doubles ! It was a disgraceful performance from the so called "stars" who simply could not win and were happy to project their egos instead of focusing their attention on their sport.

U for Usain Bolt - The fastest man on earth and a true legend who successfully defended 100m and 200m with record timings and also won the team relay event twice. Despite the huge expectations, he emerged strongest amidst the doubters - a lesson to learn in managing the expectations and performing.

W for Wresting - India's flag bearer- Sushil shone on the concluding day and along with Yogeshwar delivered the nice finishing touch. Sushil especially was magnificent and lost out on Gold but became the only Indian to win in successive Olympics.

Well, to conclude what has been an amazing odyssey, I  urge all of you to continue following all other sports and not limit yourself to Cricket. Only then the sponsors would come forward and support our ailing athletes and we can dream of more medals from them. Let's not focus on Olympics only once in 4 years, but start it right now and support them who go through a lot despite the system that gives them little.

Jai Hind !!!

Cheers

Pavan

2 comments:

  1. Nice one Pavan. Hope this is the beginning of a new journey - the Olympic journey.

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  2. very true. nicely summed up. The fact that we have lot of
    quarter-finalists in this edition augurs well for 2016 Rio provided we stay on course.

    ReplyDelete