Disappointing Exit in a Knock Out Clash

It must be very hard going hammer & tongs at a team who've performed admirably well during this whole World cup campaign but the ultimate truth is that this defeat would rank as one of the lowest ebbs in India's cricketing cabinet.

This was perhaps easily the greatest chance to win a world cup title and to go down against an unfanciful team like the Kiwis who themselves have had a history of getting outgunned by fellow Asians Pakistan (1992 & 1999) and Sri Lanka (2007 & 2011) in the semifinals hurts really bitter. This is one defeat which is personally a bit too painful as I've been slowly but surely dreaming of the big picture for sometime now. Especially having been in sterling form throughout the tournament swatting past virtually all opponents with ease, the expectations of the big triumph slowly started resonating. And when the moment came to actually stand up and conquer the world in the big knock out clash, the performance wasn't there to witness. The fall came at the most opportune time when it mattered the most.

I really don't have the heart like many to say 'well played guys, you fought till the very end' as finally it's the falling short which is harrowing the thoughts as history isn't created or replicated so easily. Today is an extremely disappointing day in the annals of Indian cricket and personally as a fan, this pill is too contaminated to swallow. Few days reminisced make me sad with respect to Indian cricket and this chance gone abegging stands added to the list of Indian cricketing woes. 

India's on & off campaign at the 2016 Rio Olympics!

Thus ends India's campaign at the Rio Olympics 2016 with a solitary silver and a bronze medal. The trio of girls - Sindhu, Sakshi and Dipa have given the country a lot to rejoice through their superlative performances. Against the odds, they proved their mettle and showed that they could compete against the World's best and made India really proud. Srikanth's almost near attempt at giant slaying the all time great Lin Dan was phenomenal. Lalita Babbar's achievements were heartwarming and so were a few others. Pullela Gopichand was the true Dronacharya propelling 2 of his proteges Saina and Sindhu to back to back bronze and silver medals in London and Rio respectively. Considering there has been just 5 Indian woman who have won medals in the 120 year history of the Olympic games puts this achievements come to light all the more being the man instrumental behind both medals (man or woman) obtained in Badminton.

The moments of joy cannot however be looked at in isolation without touching upon the disappointments and which were plenty. Shooting which has been a much sought after medal winning sport fizzled off failing to seize opportunities. Sania and Bopanna should have surely won a tennis medal and it was heartbreaking to see the way they slipped in the semifinal despite being well in control. And not showing up in the bronze play-off accentuated it further. The Paes-Bopanna spat was ugly and it compounded with them getting knocked out in the first round. Hockey, the sport which India still rules by a country mile taking history into context getting dumped out in quarters was hard to take. Reaching this stage itself was being seen as a shot in the arm looking at previous performances but being a country who has been the greatest ever in this sport with a glorious haul of 8 golds,1 silver and 2 bronze, we are just chasing lost glory and falling short every time. The treatment meted out to Narsingh Yadav, a strong Olympic hope was outrageous and the flat showing in Wrestling was like the final nail in the coffin.

This was our largest contingent ever with over 100 participants and coming back with just 2 medals as opposed to London's 6 surely indicates we have gone retrograde. The medals and near medal feats came from unfancied stars which was a silver lining but there is no hiding the fact that on a panoptic view, this has been a rather low key performance by India barring a few who salvaged pride ensuring to keep the flag waving high.

This Rio performance cannot in anyway be undermined as an alibi but this needs to be taken as a cue and things need to be set right at the core grass root level. Also by providing better facilities and infrastructure and harnessing a greater sporting culture, India should hopefully be coming back with a much richer tally at Tokyo 2020.