Sunday Snippets
By Venkatesh Raghavan
The Indian Olympic contingent which commenced participating in the games since 1920 has a bleak record to speak of barring eight gold medals in field hockey. The first team event won by independent India came in 1948 when they managed to defeat their ex-colonial master in the hockey final. India’s indomitable stint in Olympic Hockey continued till 1956 when they defeated Pakistan in the finals. However, from 1960 on, there was a gradual petering down of fortunes for the Indian Hockey team. They had to settle for a silver medal after losing the finals in 1960. The team did bounce back temporarily to capture the gold medal in 1964.
Post 1964, the Indian Olympic hockey team was in for a prolonged lean patch. They won two bronze medals and returned empty handed in the 1976 Olympics. The 1980 Olympics saw the Indian hockey team win the last of its field hockey gold medals. Though we managed to win the gold, the credit stood a bit diluted as the Olympic event being held in Moscow was boycotted by most of the pro-democracy Western nations. In wake of very little credible opponents, Indian hockey team’s victory in the finals was expected to be facile and devoid of much noteworthiness.
Also read: Sunday Snippets: Indian XI in English conditions
Post 1980 there was a long 16 year drought for India in winning Olympic medals. It was Leander Paes, India’s tennis star who ended the country’s drought in winning medals. He won a bronze in the men’s singles tennis held at Atlanta in the United States. In the subsequent Olympics held at Sydney, it was the women’s weightlifting contingent’s Karnam Malleswari who proved to be the proverbial single swallow by winning a bronze. The Athens Olympics in 2004 the lone medal winner turned out to be a bronze medalist in men’s double trap shooting, namely Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
It was late in 2008, when India’s global image as a poor sporting nation witnessed the dawn of breaking into a new horizon. The Beijing Olympics held in 2008 witnessed an Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra winning the gold medal in the men’s ten meters air rifle event. At the same venue, the country’s first boxing medal came after Vijender Singh won a bronze in the event.
The 2012 Olympics witnessed somewhat of a double whammy from its women’s contingent. Saina Nehwal won the first Women’s badminton bronze for the country. Mary Kom who was later eulogized in a biopic won the first women’s bronze medal in boxing. It was in the flyweight category. From the men’s contingent, it was again boxing to the rescue as Sushil Kumar became the first to win more than one individual Olympic medal in the arena.
Coming to the final event before the forthcoming Olympics in Tokyo slated to begin on July 23, 2021, the Indian contingent had crossed well over the three-digit mark, with a team of 118 players. The focus shifted from boxing to wrestling in the 2016 event. It was the women’s freestyle event in which Sakshi Malik managed to secure the bronze medal. India also managed to hold on to its record of winning a woman’s badminton medal. This time however, the baton was passed on to PV Sindhu, who bettered Saina’s record by winning a silver medal.
Currently, the Indian team which was blessed with an extra year for practice and preparation is awaiting its tryst with the four-year event, which for the first time has been postponed by a year. What’s in store for this contingent? As India struggles to break its shackles from not being a sporting nation, it’s time to wait and watch.
