Olympic gains: Young medallists, hopeful nation

Paris: Aman Sehrawat became the country’s youngest individual Olympic medallist in a middling wrestling campaign for India at 21. Manu Bhaker stood up and twice got counted in a bronze-filled shooting campaign for India at 22. Nishant Dev fell short fighting from being one step away of a medal in an under-punching boxing campaign for India at 23. These are young faces with differing returns from the Paris Olympics in three sports that have majorly contributed to India’s medals at the Olympics over the last couple of decades. After the 2012 London Olympics, all Indian medallists in individual events not named Neeraj Chopra, PV Sindhu and Mirabai Chanu have come from these three sports. And their performance of contrast at the 2024 Paris Games, which draws to a close on Sunday, reflects on India’s medal tally that will not go beyond the seven of the 2021 Tokyo Games. It also shows a mirror to where India should look at correcting, improving and building in the next Olympic cycle in its push towards getting there at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. In two of the country’s heavylifting trio, off-field distractions of protests and administrative tussles, and of court cases and planning flip-flops, hampered the Paris preparatory and build-up phase. Despite the turmoil that hit Indian wrestling after the country’s top wrestlers hit the streets protesting last year, it kept its trend of giving the contingent at least one medal at every Games since 2008 (keeping aside the emotions of Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from an assured medal). That it came from a young, promising debutant was a positive, as also was Sehrawat not feeling too satisfied about winning bronze, having come seeking gold. “I want to get the gold in 2028,” Sehrawat said soon after winning his first Olympic medal. The fancied names of Antim Panghal and Anshu Malik flattered to deceive, while a shot of promise came from another young wrestler in Reetika Hooda, who gave the two-time World Championships medallist Kazakhstan’s Aiperi Medet Kyzy, a run for her money in 76kg in her first multi-sport event participation. In the likes of Sehrawat and Reetika lies Indian wrestling’s potential and hunger to tap into, in a sport where Japan, Iran and USA stood a cut above the rest in Paris. “Aman showed what he is capable of going ahead, and Reetika has a lot of talent and skill as well,” Virender Singh Dahiya, India’s national wrestling coach, said. “They will have to be carefully monitored and developed further for the future.” Boxing could do with a reset button, for they were left to press panic buttons a few months before the Games. It showed in the misfiring Olympics from a squad that featured Tokyo Games medallist Lovlina Borgohain and two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen. The challenge will be to find and groom the next-in-line battery of boxers to these established names. “Till 2022, we had good bench strength. After that, it has been finished,” a boxing coach who was associated with the national set-up not too long ago, said. “Earlier, all the top four-five boxers in every weight division would be in the national camp. That kept the No.1 on their toes and gave the others the chance to improve and remain motivated. Now, the camp only has the top names with a couple of sparring partners. That needs to change.” There is young talent in the country, felt the coach, and they must be immediately brought into the national set-up and given as much exposure to foreign meets as possible for the next Olympic cycle. There’s a coaching hole too, with Bernard Dunne, who came in as the high performance director in 2022 and brought in drastic changes to the set-up, no longer around. “You can appoint the best Indian coaches and give them accountability with responsibility. Ask them to make yearly targets for every boxer and evaluate it each year leading into 2027, a year before the next Olympics,” the coach added. Shooting, in many ways, showed that a system that did not click could be tweaked and pieced together with programmes in place. From back-to-back blanks in 2016 Rio and Tokyo three years ago, a three-medal 2024 Games is a significant upswing. Lessons were learnt from the rigid Tokyo build-up phase, and the introduction of the Olympic selection trials meant shooters with quotas had to prove their mettle and form again months before the Games. A lot of the pistol and rifle shooters in Chateauroux were young, and they delivered in terms of medals — pistol shooters Manu Bhaker (two) and Sarabjot Singh (mixed with Manu), and 50m rifle 3 positions shooter Swapnil Kusale — and close fourth place finishes — Arjun Babuta in air rifle and the skeet mixed team of Anant Jeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan. However, all three medals being bronze also gives room for improvement in a sport where nations like China (10 medals) and Korea (6) have moved way ahead. There again, two of India’s three medal winners in shooting are 22. There is, thus, scope and age on their side to aim bigger in four years.

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Olympic gains: Young medallists, hopeful nation

India’s tally fell short of their double-figure target, but young medallists raise hopes of a better LA 2028

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Olympic gains: Young medallists, hopeful nation

India’s tally fell short of their double-figure target, but young medallists raise hopes of a better LA 2028