India's insipid performance at Paris Olympics 2024

It might be hard going hammer and tongues at a nation who ended up winning 6 medals and came agonisingly close to doubling it's tally but that's just not what the underlying story connotes. A benchmark was set at Tokyo 2020 and expectations were rife that India will emulate the feat and make a few steep steps forward. But instead, it ended up being a horror run when viewed at from the larger picture. In a sentence it can be summed up as being underwhelming, uninspiring and simply not good enough.

In a relative sense, this would mark as India's most poorest showing at the Summer Olympic games. Expectations were running high but they were dashed and the eventual outcome ended up being pretty sub standard to say the least. The whiskering misses hurt terribly badly and adding insult to injury was the fact that the truly deserving never had the luck going their way. Even those who won, it appeared that there were reasons to believe that an extra yard taken could have yielded higher and richer dividends.

As the final curtains drew a close, India which sent 117 participants as part of their contingent finished at a poor 71st place out of the 91 countries that ended up winning medals. It could have been much higher but the complete lack of Gold medals and just a solitary Silver ended up meaning India was pushed to the brim as the tally standings taken into account gives higher priority for the Golds won followed by Silver and only after that the total medal count gets precedence. It was unfortunate because India finished much lesser in the table than countries with hardly a handful of India's population size.

Let's look at the list of those who claimed medals for India in the Paris Olympic Games.

1) Silver - Neeraj Chopra - Javelin

2) Bronze - India Men's Team - Hockey

3) Bronze - Aman Sehrawat - Wrestling

4) Bronze - Swapnil Kusale - Shooting

5) Bronze - Manu Bhaker - Shooting

6) Bronze - Manu Bhaker - Shooting

If finishing 4th was equivalent worthy of winning a medal, then India's list would have usurped significantly on the upside. Let's take a look at those agonising oh so near yet so far 4th place finishes.

1) Manu Bhaker- Shooting 25m Pistol

2) Arjun Babuta - Shooting 10m Air Rifle

3) Lakshya Sen - Badminton

4) Mirabhai Chanu - Weightlifting 49kg

5) Ankita Bhakat & Dhiraj Bommadevara - Archery

6) Maheshwari Chauhan & Anantjeet Singh - Shooting

Looking at those who actually garnered medals, there was still a tinge of disappointment in a few cases where there were hopes of something even better. For instance Neeraj Chopra who won the Gold and brought the country laurels back in the previous edition at Tokyo couldn't repeat the feat and had to settle for Silver. The disappointment was writ large for Neeraj though it's still a commendable feat winning back to back medals in successive olympic games. The Men's Hockey team repeated the achievement at Tokyo by claiming Bronze yet again in Paris. Having said that this was a golden chance missed to win Gold as India came astonishingly close to defeating Germany in the semifinals. They should have actually won that game if not for a plethora of missed opportunities within the box.

With respect to 4th place finishes, it's a clear case of mental fortitude missing and not able to extract the killer instinct in the clutch moments at the final hurdle. There were so many cases of faltering due to nervous frailties getting exposed at the most crucial stages. In the Badminton especially young Lakshya Sen virtually had the semifinal in the bag against the eventual gold winner but a melt down saw him losing focus and allowing his opponent to turn things around. A similar story repeated in the 3rd place finish as well. This could be attributed to lack of experience and being unable to land the killer punch but when it comes to the Olympics it only takes place once in four years and you don't get such memorable opportunities to create history every time. Manu Bhaker who was the out and out starlet of this Olympic games for India having won 2 medals also faltered at the last ditch in winning a third medal which would have been an unprecedented moment in the history of Indian sports.

Lastly one other monumental miss which ended up eventually being the biggest controversy of the Olympics was Vinesh Phogat being disqualified on account of being over weight by as minuscule as it can ever get. This was perhaps the biggest heartbreak moment for India because there was a clear Gold there for the taking. Vinesh was in full momentum after thwarting the defending champion Yui Susaki's unbeaten run of 82 consecutive victories and looked well set on course to register India a Gold medal for the ages. But alas it wasn't to be and it all had to happen just literally hours to go before the final showdown. Unfortunately an appeal for Silver also was rendered negated and she was stripped off without any medal to showcase. It could have easily been a tally of 13 medals accumulated if not for the verdict on Vinesh and if and only if those 4th place finishes could have gone plus one up but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be.

India has made rapid leaps and strides as a country to reckon with and is now considered as one of the economic powerhouses in toto with the United States and China. But when it comes to sports especially in the form of Olympics which comprises a number of track & field events India seems to be languishing right at the bottom with virtually countries hardly even visible on the world map overtaking it. This is definitely not something to be proud of and India needs to make major amends if it is harbouring hopes of hosting an Olympic games and wanting to be a sporting powerhouse in the near future. The objective this time was to attain a goal of at least a double digit medal tally but it ended up being way short albeit it was well within reach considering the factors at play. Irrespective of the outcome, bygones are bygones and India needs to introspect and set the ground work in place right away for Los Angeles 2028 to ensure the disappointment does not repeat and it's only onwards and upwards from here on going forward.

India's sterling show at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

The medal haul in the Tokyo Olympics ranks as the best ever in India's sporting history and has certainly brought immense pride and happiness to sports lovers all over the country. 7 medals overall with a dip of Gold at the fag end made it all the more momentous and something very special to remember for a lifetime. With a little more luck on the side, the tally could have even touched the double digit mark. 

Coming a little back to the period of the Pre-Olympics, things were looking quite somber and withdrawn. First up the really bad news of India's only decorated 2 time Olympic champion Sushil Kumar being put up behind bars setting a bad precedent. On top of that was the fact that many qualifying events didn't even take place due to Covid and hence some of India's medal hopefuls such as Saina Nehwal (bronze medalist at London 2012), Sakshi Malik (bronze medalist in Rio 2016), Dipa Karmakar (the gymnast who came agonizingly close to winning a medal at Rio 2016) didn't even end up participating in these games. This surely set the country back a whole lot considering lack of match practice, expected hopefuls not even qualifying and the plague of the prior Olympics notwithstanding hanging in the balance. 

From there on in to ending up winning 7 medals being a feat never achieved before is totally absolutely stupendous. Hearty congratulations to all the winners Neeraj Chopra (Javelin Gold), Ravi Kumar Dahiya (Wrestling Silver), Mirabai Chanu (Weightlifting Silver), Pusarla Sindhu (Badminton Bronze), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing Bronze), Bajrang Punia (Wrestling Bronze) and the Indian men's hockey team (Hockey Bronze). Also a huge round of applause to few other giant killers who came oh so close to grabbing glory notably Kamalpreet Kaur (Discus), the Indian women's hockey team and Aditi Ashok (Golf). It's hard to use the word commiserations here as they were literally within a whisker and just an incy wincy bit of luck either way could have swayed them to a medal. 

The immense positives apart, there were a bit of resentments also. Tennis, a sport which India is usually expected to give a fight at least from the doubles/mixed doubles front fizzled out without a trace. Also on shooting and archery where India actually fielded quite a few world rankers didn't really set the ball rolling. 

The excitement and frenzy created by the games were at an awe inspiring level. Perhaps for the first time ever, cricket actually took a back seat paving way for other sports to take over. There was so much interest for sports like Javelin, Discus and even Golf where people hardly know the rules yet wanted to follow and understand simply because of the amazing performances displayed by our stellar sportspersons. Also when you read about the humble backgrounds which most of these Olympians come from it will really make you wonder about the amount of hard work put in and sacrifices undertaken. 

This should also aid as a favorable fillip to parents wanting to enroll their children into the sporting arena. Indian parents usually go delirious when their kids achieve and there is really no field greater than sport to realize one's dream and achieve recognition at a national level. No joy can match the feat of winning laurels for the country and nothing like sport unites the entire nation.

Things are suddenly looking rosy pink after this magnificent Tokyo performance but we shouldn't forget that London 2012 games also was a big boost with India garnering 6 medals and when things were expected to get much better, we sank back big time in Rio. Hence hopefully the lessons are learnt this time and there should never be a state of going back retrograde come the next games in Paris which is now only 3 years away in 2024.

The greatest takeaway personally from these Tokyo Games is that though India is still a long way away from being a sporting powerhouse, our Olympic contingent made the world sit up and take notice through their exemplary performances. Hopefully this is a cue going forward and we should strive to win at least a double digit figure of medals going forward.

Malarendru Mugam Ondru - Yodel along with Rock 'n' Roll

This is your quintessential Rock 'n' Roll in groovy style brought to you by the inimitable musical duo of Vishwanathan - Ramamurthy. It's also perhaps the first of it's kind in this genre in Tamil cinema and the movie Kadhalikka Neramillai happens to be the first ever to be shot in Eastman colour. 

Just the way the flow of the song is structured and the manner in which it waltz away is simply spell binding. The yodeling and La La phrases are of pure gold standard. You cannot but not shake a leg listening to this lurking lavender. 

I always have been wanting to try this especially due to it's eye catching arpeggios and spinning swings which keep gyrating in an up and down cycle with effortless ease. Just happy to attempt a glimpse of the magic this song is gleamed upon in all it's glory. 

The entire soundtrack is loaded with studs aplenty and each track is worth lavishing encomiums. Malarendra Mugam Ondru was rendered by LR Eswari & MS Raju and penned by the incomparable Kaviarasar Kannadasan. An evergreen composition and truly one for the ages.