What Are India’s Prospects At The London Olympics?

Image: Illustration: Anjan Das; Images: shutterstock

Boxing, wrestling, shooting, archery, badminton — these are events where Indian athletes are traditionally talented and we currently have fine talents who are in great form. Currently, they are on par with the best in the world.

[In badminton,] Saina Nehwal is ranked World No. 5. All the four players ahead of her are Chinese who are playing at a very high level. She has not had the best performance this year, but you can never count her out. She is an amazing talent. I am sure she will get physically much stronger and fitter and that will play a major role in getting her confidence back. She is definitely a genuine challenger for an Olympic gold.

But if anyone has the courage, the talent and the boxing brain to win an Olympic gold, then it is definitely M.C. Mary Kom. She has won five World Championship titles which is an amazing feat in a physical contact sport like boxing. Women’s boxing is being introduced in the Olympics for the first time in London. So, this is her first chance and maybe her last.

It is tough to challenge for medals in team sports. The trend will mostly continue this time as well and I foresee individual sports giving India a much better opportunity to win medals at the London 2012 Olympics.

Olympic Gold Quest [OGQ] already has 10 athletes who have qualified for the London Olympics: Gagan Narang, Sanjeev Rajput, Vijay Kumar, Annu Raj Singh, Shagun Chaudhary (shooting); Manoj Kumar and Devendro Singh (Boxing); Tintu Luka, Vikas Gowda and O.P. Singh Karhana (Athletics). All of them have a chance at an Olympic medal.

There are many athletes outside OGQ who can shine in London. Ronjan Sodhi is a huge hope for India. Abhinav Bindra and Sushil Kumar are champion athletes and we all hope that they will both be at their best for the Games.

There is a lot of controversy going on now in Indian sports with the hockey federations, the Sports Bill and the doping charges. But I don’t believe top level athletes get swayed by what’s happening in the world outside of their respective sporting arena. So, while a hockey player may be affected by the controversies afflicting hockey, I don’t believe this will really affect the preparations of other athletes from other disciplines. The Sports Bill is basically good for Indian sportspersons and for Indian sports, so that should motivate our sportspersons to do well.  

Also, sportspersons are getting a great deal of support from the government, the national sports federations and organisations like OGQ. But there is still a lot of hard work to be done. We must not compromise on the quality of our preparations.  

Geet Sethi, the winner of five World Professional Billiards Championships, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the Padma Shri and the Arjuna Award. He is a co-founder of the Olympic Gold Quest.

(As told to Abhishek Raghunath)