India at Rio: Biggest contingent eyes richest medal haul

August 4, 2016

rioRio de Janeiro, Aug 4: Dope scandals marred what was turning out to be a euphoric build-up but India's biggest ever contingent would nonetheless be eyeing a historic medal haul when the 31st Olympic Games -- the first ever in South America -- get underway with the opening ceremony here tomorrow.

The Indians are eyeing their first ever double-digit medal haul riding on the sheer number of qualifiers this time, standing at 118 now after sprinter Dharambir Singh and shot-putter Inderjeet Singh were told to stay back after being caught in the dope net.

Not to forget, the drama that chased wrestler Narsingh Yadav ever since he was selected ahead of double Olympic-medallist Sushil Kumar. Narsingh was caught in the dope storm as well but managed to clear his name after convincing NADA that he was victim of conspiracy and sabotage.

But despite all the controversies that plagued the Olympic build-up, what cannot be overlooked is the improved performances of Indian athletes which makes them strong medal contenders.

On the first day of competitions on Saturday, India can eye a medal from Jitu Rai, the pint-sized star whose pistol has been shooting medals at almost every event he has participated in.

Jitu is the reigning 50m air pistol champion at the ISSF World Cup and the favourite to repeat Abhinav Bindra's gold medal feat of Beijing 2008.

Currently ranked 3rd in both 50m pistol and 10m air pistol, the 28-year-old has won two golds, three silvers and one bronze in the World Cups, an Asian and Commonwealth gold and besides an Asian Games gold.

Competing in both the events, the Nepalese-origin shooter is undoubtedly the favourite for a top finish in a star-studded 12-member team.

In his fifth and final appearance, Abhinav Bindra, who would be India's flag-bearer at tomorrow's opening ceremony, would look to end his career on a high even though he has not been in his top form.

Bindra will be joined by London Olympics bronze-medallist Gagan Narang, who will compete in three events, in his fourth appearance.

Focus will also be on the likes of Heena Sidhu, Ayonika Paul, Apurvi Chandela -- the three women shooters.

Another big medal prospect for India would be wrestling. While it remains to be seen how Narsingh (74kg freestyle) overcomes the tumultuous build-up he endured, London Olympics bronze-medallist Yogeshwar Dutt (65kg freestyle) would be expected to to do an encore or even better his feat.

The eight-member squad -- for the first time -- will be represented in all the three formats -- Men's freestyle, Female wrestling and Greco-Roman.

After Geeta Phogat became the first woman wrestler in an Olympics in London, the family will see two representations in cousins Vinesh and (48kg) Babita Kumari (53kg) who will join Sakshi Malik (58kg) to make it three in the ring.

Having defeated the 2014 World Championships silver-medallist Iwona Matkowska en route to sealing an Olympic qualification with a gold medal, Vinesh shows a lot of promise.

Inside the boxing ring, a squad of three will carry India's hopes. For a discipline, that had a record eight entries in 2012, this time it will be under-represented with three men in the ring.

Of the three, there are high hopes from the duo of Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg), both of whom are World Championship bronze-medallists and are ranked sixth in the world.

Then there's the senior-most member of the team, Manoj Kumar (64kg), the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion who will be the dark-horse.

Having failed to live up to the hype four years ago, the Indian archers have arrived about 15 days early to acclimatise themselves as they hope to make their mark by clinching at least one medal in the women's team event.

The experience of L Bombayla Devi, who is competing in her third Olympics, along with the talented former world number one Deepika Kumari and promising Laxmirani Majhi make them a potent force among the Koreans, Mexicans and Italians.

Tennis too had a controversial Road-to-Rio when Rohan Bopanna preferred lower-ranked Saketh Myneni over the senior-most Leander Paes before AITA's intervention stopped a repeat of London-like skirmish.

Athens bronze-medallist Paes would aim for his dream doubles Olympic medal in his seventh straight Games -- a record for any tennis player.

But it is the duo of Bopanna and Sania Mirza in the mixed doubles where India have a better medal chance as they can complement their game styles to match each other's abilities.

Badminton too is seen as a medal prospect for India where London bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal and the promising PV Sindhu, who won two World Championship bronze medals in 2013 and 2014.

Nehwal, who bagged the singles bronze after her Chinese opponent Xin Wang withdrew with injury in London, will have to overcome her demons in Spain's Carolina Marin, Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei, and China's Li Xuerui.

Her Australia Open Super Series win in June has put her in right stead but it's Sindhu who may be the dark-horse.

Gymnastics also holds some promise where 22-year-old Tripura girl Dipa Karmakar became the first female gymnast from India to qualify for the quadrennial event.

Having secured the Olympic berth from the same place, Dipa is confident of doing well and has an edge in the Produnova -- a double frontal vault -- with a difficulty rating of 7.0.

The record entry of Indians in this edition has been due to the qualification of the men's and women hockey teams.

The men's team has had some captaincy rotations in Sardar Singh and PR Sreejesh before the latter was handed the responsibility.

But overall the team coached by Roelant Oltmans looked consistent and is primed to make the last eight under the new format.

India, who are clubbed with Argentina, Canada, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands, will be the lone face of Asia in the draw.

Golf is back in Olympics after 112 years and India have the Anirban Lahiri, SSP Chawrasia in men and 18-year-old Aditi Ashok in women in a field depleted by the pullout of top four -- Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, citing Zika virus threat.

"Lahiri sounds good but Olympic medallist Lahiri sounds way better," the world number 62 has said.

When the Olympics conclude with athletics, India will only make their presence felt with its biggest ever squad in a discipline where medal is a far-fetched dream.

There have been some heroics of Milkha Singh, PT Usha and Anju Bobby George in the last five decades but athletes have only always added to the numbers on most occasions.

This year will not be any different and it remains to be seen who among them qualifies for the semifinals or finals. The focus will be on discus thrower Vikas Gowda who is making a third appearance.

Also Kerala jumper Renjith Maheswary, who touched 17.30m his best in six years recently, will be closely watched alongwith the trio of steeplechasers Lalita Babar, Sudha Singh and marathoner OP Jaisha.

Spotlight will also be on the gritty Dutee Chand who is back on track after winning a landmark gender case against the IAAF and has become the first Indian sprinter to qualify for the Olympics in 36 years.

This year will mark the debut of rugby sevens in which teams are made up of seven players instead of the usual 15, while each half is reduced to seven minutes from the usual 40.

India will also be competing in judo, rowing, swimming table tennis and weightlifting making in the ultimate show on the earth featuring 207 countries, 28 sports in 41 disciplines.

In London 2012, India had doubled Beijing's tally of three and it remains to be seen whether they can sustain the same growth rate despite the obstacles.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 3,2020

New Delhi, May 3: In a startling revelation, India speedster Mohammed Shami has claimed that he thought of committing suicide thrice while battling personal issues a few years ago, forcing his family to keep a watch over him at all times.

He said his family members feared he "might jump" from their 24th floor apartment.

Shami, one of India's leading bowlers in recent years, opened up on his personal and professional life during an Instagram chat with teammate and limited overs squads' vice-captain Rohit Sharma.

"I think if my family had not supported me back then I would have lost my cricket. I thought of committing suicide three times during that period due to severe stress and personal problems," Shami revealed during the session on Saturday.

Now one of the mainstays of Indian bowling attack across formats, the 29-year-old was struggling to focus on his cricket, then.

"I was not thinking about cricket at all. We were living on the 24th floor. They (family) were scared I might jump from the balcony. My brother supported me a lot.

"My 2-3 friends used to stay with me for 24 hours. My parents asked me to focus on cricket to recover from that phase and not think about anything else. I started training then and sweated it out a lot at an academy in Dehradun," Shami said.

In March 2018, Shami's wife Hasin Jahan had accused him of domestic violence and lodged a complaint with the police, following which the India player and his brother were booked under relevant sections.

The upheaval in his personal life forced his employer BCCI to withheld the player's central contracts for a while.

"Rehab was stressful as the same exercises are repeated every day. Then family problems started and I also suffered an accident. The accident happened 10-12 days ahead of the IPL and my personal problems were running high in the media," Shami told Rohit.

Shami said his family stood like a rock with him and the support helped him get back on his feet.

"Then my family explained that every problem has a solution no matter how big the problem. My brother supported me a lot."

Speaking about another painful period in his life after his injury in the 2015 World Cup, Shami said it took him almost 18 months to get back on the field.

"When I got injured in the 2015 World Cup, after that it took me 18 months to fully recover, that was the most painful moment in my life, it was a very stressful period.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 1,2020

Melbourne, May 1: Reclaiming the top spot in Test cricket has brought smiles back on their faces but Australia coach Justin Langer says beating India in their own den remains the ultimate test and their numero uno status will be put to test when they clash with the Virat Kohli-led team.

After a tumultuous transition phase post the ball-tampering scandal, Australia on Friday displaced India as number one side in Test format but Langer is aware that it does not take long for the situation to change.

"We recognise how fluid these rankings are, but at this time it was certainly nice to put a smile on our faces," Langer told Cricket Australia website. "We've got lots of work to do to get to be the team that we want to be, but hopefully over the last couple of years not only have we performed well on the field, but also off the field," Langer added.

The former left-handed opener underlined what he felt will be the ultimate test of character.

"Certainly a goal for us has been the World Test Championship ... but ultimately, we have to beat India in India and we've got to beat them when they come back (to Australia).

"You can only judge yourself as being the best if you beat the best and we've got some really tough opposition to come," Langer put his priorities in place. The team he insists needs to get better as now others will come gunning for them.

"Getting to No.1 is a great thing, but when you're No.1, you're always the hunted," Langer said. "We've been the hunters for a while, now we're the hunted and we need to get better and better."

Langer also hoped that white ball team under Aaron Finch will win the World Cup. "I know how hard it is to win World Cups ... everything has to go right. One day, I'd love to see Aaron Finch with all his mates lift that T20 World Cup above his head."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 5,2020

Colombo, Jul 5: Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Mendis was on Sunday arrested for knocking down a pedestrian while driving, police said.

Mendis hit a 74-year-old man, killing him in the wee hours, in the Colombo suburb of Panadura.

He is to be produced before a magistrate later today, police said.

The 25-year-old wicket-keeper batsman has represented Sri Lanka in 44 Tests and 76 ODIs. Mendis was part of the national squad which had resumed training after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Sri Lanka's international assignments, including a tour by India, have been cancelled due to the pandemic.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.