India?s Greek tragedy

The Indian challenge at Athens is dying a slow death and the only hope is long jumper Anju Bobby George, reports Alok Sinha.

The Indian challenge, if we may call it that, is dying a slow death here.It's still a week to go at Athens 2004 and we have only one athlete, long jumper Anju Bobby George to look forward to with some hope.

The euphoria generated by Major RVS Rathore's silver medal in shooting gave way to shock and despair after Pratima Kumari and Sanamacha Chanu tested positive. The performance of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi gave the Indian contingent reasons to smile once again. But their heart-breaking loss on Friday night, after a four-hour slug-fest against Croats Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic, left most Indians here in tears.

Saturday morning brought in new possibilities and the walk to the hockey pitch at the Helliniko centre had a purpose to it. By afternoon, you were looking for a new word for disappointment.

The hockey team, despite its great-now-shoddy-then display had stayed alive. It is now reeling under the shock of the solid Kiwi punch.

The 1-2 defeat against New Zealand did generate some controversy over the winning goal but even a draw would not have helped the team much. From a medal hope, this team has been reduced to a shattered bunch of men, struggling to stay in the top ten now.

There were that small moment which made you sit up late on Friday night — Binu K Matthews qualifying for the 400m semi-finals and in the process becoming the first Indian after Milkha Singh to enter this stage in 400m in Olympics. He also set a new national mark in the process, clocking 45.48 secs.

But then you realised it would be a mere footnote in the athletics record books here.

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