Medals quest: Focus on a few core sports

The math is evident. India needs to double down on shooting, wrestling and boxing.

One silver, five bronze, six fourth-place finishes and one medal lost to rules — that is the sum total of what India has achieved at the Paris Olympics. It may, at first glance, seem like a poor outcome given that India sent 117 athletes to the Games. But, if even a couple of those fourth-place finishes — the most for India at any Olympic Games — had come through, the country might have had its best-ever Games. The gold medal was missing, but very rarely can it be guaranteed, and it took a very special throw to beat Neeraj Chopra into second place. One reading of this is that Indian sportspersons are definitely performing better than before and that, in turn, suggests the focus on sport will start to pay off sooner rather than later.

India's players pose on the podium with their bronze medals after the men's final field hockey match between Germany and the Netherlands during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in Colombes on August 8, 2024. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)(AFP)

That focus, now, must be on how to convert these near misses to medals. And that requires a plan and professionalism. It also requires India to concentrate on a few core sports rather than spread the net too wide. China, with 40 gold medals, is sitting atop the medals table, with 23 of those medals having come in just four sports — diving, table tennis, shooting and weightlifting. The Unites States has 40 golds, with 22 coming from athletics and swimming. Seven of Australia’s 18 golds came in swimming. Japan’s 20 gold medals got a huge boost from three sports that earned 14 of them.

The math is evident. India needs to double down on shooting, wrestling and boxing. It will take time, money and a sense of adventure to realise the country’s dream but one key ingredient, the athletes, is there. That is where it all begins.