Blaze of hope for India as Tokyo flame is lit

The Tokyo night sky lit up as the outer rim of Japan’s National Stadium exploded in a shower of blue and white sparks, and the most unusual Olympic Games in decades were declared open

The Tokyo night sky lit up as the outer rim of Japan’s National Stadium exploded in a shower of blue and white sparks, and the most unusual Olympic Games in decades were declared open.

HT Image

Inside the stadium, which can seat up to 68,000 people but where the stands were empty, spotlights picked out isolated athletes — one running on a treadmill, one on a cycling machine — to signify the tribulations the roughly 11,000 athletes at Tokyo 2020 have had to endure to get to this moment. Lockdowns, quarantines, the cancellation of entire sporting seasons — training through it all, often alone at home, in the hope of making it to a Covid-era Olympics, which, for long, were under threat of not happening at all.

In keeping with the times, the ceremony itself was quicker and quieter than usual — instead of the usual torrent of celebrity performances and high-wire acts, it involved relatively low-key dance routines and fewer songs. When there was a pause in the music, the stadium was first engulfed in eerie silence, before noise from the hundreds of protesters gathered outside, demonstrating against the Games, seeped in.

Then it was time for the athlete’s parade, where everyone who walked out was unified by a common accessory — the face mask. Boxer Mary Kom and India hockey captain Manpreet Singh carried the Indian flag, followed by a small group of 16 athletes from the 207-strong contingent, the largest ever. This is the first time each nation nominated not one but two flag-bearers (each contingent was encouraged to name one man and one woman).

The ceremony ended with Japan’s tennis star Naomi Osaka lighting the flower-shaped Olympic cauldron, jogging up the steps of a temporary Mount Fuji erected in the stadium.

Many from the Indian contingent were not just missing from the opening ceremony because of Covid-19 protocols, but also because the first full day of competition on Saturday is packed with action.

Action, and anticipation.

There has never been an Olympics where India has the opportunity to win not one, but a handful of medals on the first day. Consider the Indians in action in the medal events on Saturday: Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela in 10m Air Rifle, where they have rotated the world No. 1 tag amongst themselves over the last two years. Valarivan, making her Olympic debut, is the number one seed in Tokyo in her event. That event will be closely followed by men’s 10m Air Pistol where India’s two shooters — Abhishek Verma and Saurabh Chaudhary — are seeded 1 and 2.

“On paper looks so, so good,” Abhinav Bindra, India’s only Olympic gold medallist (10m Air Rifle), told HT earlier this month. “A gold medal match between India A vs India B would be wonderful,” he said.

In fact, India won more medals in the 2019 shooting World Cup cycle than powerhouses such as Russia and China, an unprecedented feat (the 2020 cycle was sunk by the pandemic).

But wait, there is no time to breathe: at around the same time as the men’s pistol, Mirabai Chanu will be competing in the 49kg weightlifting event, where she holds the world record for the clean & jerk, and is ranked No 2 in the world. The medal events for India conclude with Deepika Kumari, the No. 1 ranked woman archer in the world, pairing with first-time Olympian Pravin Jadhav in mixed team archery.

At no other time in India’s weary history at the Olympics have there been more Indians ranked within the global top 3 in their sports going into the Games.

This day could go one of two ways for India. Medals are won on the day, of course, which means that despite the trail of superb performances these athletes bring to the Olympic stage, there is a possibility that there will be no medals. If that happens, it may lower the morale of the entire contingent.

But if performances go according to plan, it may also set an unprecedented tone for India’s Olympic campaign: one of great self-belief and determination, a state of mind that could open the gates for what could possibly be India’s best haul ever at the Games.

In this, the eerily quiet atmosphere of Tokyo 2020 may even help Indian athletes, many of whom are on this stage for the first time (of the 15-strong shooting team, 11 are Olympic debutants).

“You feel the aura and the atmosphere that exists in an Olympic arena and in an Olympic competition. In that sensory overload you are going to cognitively decline and that’s going to affect your performance,” Bindra had said earlier. “But here, you’re pretty much locked into your room and are going to compete. So it’s much closer to a normal tournament that you’re used to, so it should play up to our advantage,” he said.

In Rio, India had to wait till almost the end of the Games — the 12th day — for the first medal, which came from an athlete flying under the radar till then, Sakshi Malik.

This time, things could unfold very differently.