Mirage of medals

It is shocking that the 27-member team which went to Doha championship this year has aimed at improving their individual records and preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay. India must concentrate on any ten fields of sport and train its sportsmen accordingly.

Hyderabad:IAAF World Athletics Championship was launched in Doha, Qatar on 27th September. This is the second most renowned sports event after the Olympics with more than 2,000 athletes participating from several countries.

There is acclaim pouring in from all corners about the arrangements made for this event in a tropical place like Doha, which is going to host the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), 2022.

This is the first tournament after 2003 in which Usain Bolt, who set a world record of 11 golds is not participating. There are estimations that Christian Coleman, who is aiming for 100m gold and Noah Lyles competing for gold in 200m are the Jamaican sprinter’s heirs.

There are bets going on that Taylor in Triple Jump, Sam Kendricks in Pole Vault and Juan Miguel Echevarría in Long Jump will create wonders. None of our athletes is there in this reputed list though.

Absence of Neeraj Chopra in Javelin Throw, Hima Das, Tejaswin Sankar and Arokia Rajiv in sprint running has let the nation’s hopes down even before entering the competition. Hima Das, who recently grabbed gold in women & 39s 400m final race in the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Finland, could not participate in IAAF World Championships due to back injury.

This was a terrible blow to India’s medal count. One must wait and see if Dutee Chand, Tejinder and Jinson would fulfil the nation’s hopes of a medal. The lacklustre show of India in athletics championship is not just limited to London, Beijing and Moscow tournaments.

After Anjum George won bronze in Busan, South Korea in 6.7m long jump, none of our athletes has given satisfactory performance. It is a fact that India’s record is better in the Asian championship.

In the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships held in Odisha, Indian athletes have outperformed Chinese athletes to bag 12 gold medals.

Although the sports ministry had lauded these athletes, the reality was different. Since China, Qatar, Bahrain and Japan concentrated on London World Championship the same year, India had a cakewalk.

It is shocking that the 27-member team which went to Doha championship this year has aimed at improving their individual records and preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay.

The current population of Kenya is 5,25,00,000. Jamaica has a population of less than 30,00,000. NITI Aayog has analysed that these two nations have chosen only two sports and won 100, 78 medals respectively. India must also concentrate on any ten fields of sport and train its sportsmen accordingly.

In fact, there were promises that 1,500 choice favourites will be selected and will be trained extensively in gymnastics, athletics and swimming. People like Anju George had pointed out that athletes who perform extremely well in junior championships are trailing behind in senior tournaments.

Although there are talks about world-class training, implementation is lacking. There must be a concrete training program in place to select the best in various fields and impart them world-class training.

While the USA’s medal rate is one per 30,00,000 and Britain’s one per 10,00,000; we could win only two medals for a population of 65,00,00,000. Sports must be made a compulsory part of the curriculum and basic facilities for the same must be improved. Only then, our quest for medals will be successful.