Express News Service
CHENNAI: Of late, Indian Olympic sports have plunged into such darkness, that the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham would be a welcome respite. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was in turmoil, even now it is going through some tumultuous times, and cases in court and it touched its nadir when the president resigned just a few days before the Games.
There was no clarity as to who was running the IOA and numerous other allegations and counter allegations among two rival factions (one led by the president and other secretary general) within the organisation made it one of the worst phases in the history of the IOA.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has warned India. Quite a few National Sports Federations are suspended. In short, everything is a mess.
In days leading up to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, there was the ignominy of athletes testing positive for banned substances too. One of the fastest woman athletes tested positive for banned substances, then her replacement.
There were a couple of para-athletes who were provisionally suspended too. Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain was peeved at officials for ignoring her request to accommodate her personal coach, who was later given accreditation for the Games.
Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra pulled out at the last moment after sustaining a groin injury during his silver-medal effort at the World Championships in Eugene. In short, there were more echoes off the field than on it.
Finally, as the curtains are set to go up in Birmingham, hopefully, the focus will be on sport and nothing else. Time for us to celebrate superhuman effort and achievement on the field: these bunch of sportspersons who will defy human limitations and abilities to surmount hurdle after hurdle to stand atop the podium.
After the Olympics, the likes of double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist lifter Mirabai Chanu, Lovlina, Tokyo 2020 medallists in wrestling Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya, TT legend A Sharath Kamal, defending champion Manika Batra and up and coming stars like shuttler Lakshya Sen, boxer Jaismine Lamboria will be seen in action when the sporting activities begin on Wednesday. Women’s cricket would be another highlight of the Games.
This is the first time that women’s cricket is being inducted into CWG.
India has decided to hand over the flag to Sindhu to lead the Indian contingent at the Opening Ceremony on Thursday evening. She replaces Neeraj, who pulled out on Monday. According to the IOA, it is an endeavour to promote gender equality in adherence to the Olympic Charter.
IOA acting president Anil Khanna said IOA has been promoting gender equality and this time the number of male and female athletes are almost the same.
However, since the organising committee has conveyed to the IOA that two flag bearers can be named, they are expected to announce another name besides Sindhu to do the honours.
Though India are expected to sweep events like weightlifting and wrestling, in sports like badminton (at least in men’s), squash, table tennis, and hockey (both men and women) the competition is expected to be quite challenging.
In athletics, that is one of the toughest events in CWG, after the withdrawal of Neeraj, the onus would be on others to give some kind of respectable show.
In swimming and cycling, of course, India would need to improve considerably to be counted among medal hopes.
With shooting and archery not there at the Games, the medal tally 66 medals in Gold Coast four years ago would not be matched.
India finished third behind England and Australia with 26 gold and 20 silver and 20 bronze. India had won a total of 16 medals (including 7 gold) in shooting at Gold Coast.
The training and competition of athletes were ably supported by the Sports Authority of India and the national sports federations.
Whether India finishes on top we don’t know, but as far as the Olympics sport goes, this Games would give us those beautiful moments to cherish and preserve for the future.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsBit.us is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
