Elations, Disappointments

TOKYO 2020

- GP. CAPT. ACHCHYUT KUMAR

Every Olympics carries with it some bags of joy jumbled with some sorrow; Tokyo 2020 is no different. We had in our Olympic coverage last month termed the Tokyo Olympics as one of uncertainties, and this was proved right by the fact that despite the absence of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Djokovic failed to win even a bronze medal at Tokyo.

In a century and quarter years of Olympic history, India has a total tally of 10 gold medals, 9 silver medals and 16 bronze medals. These are not impressive figures by any stretch of imagination but what is heartening is that of these numbers, one gold, two silver and four bronze medals have been India’s latest harvest, a remarkable 20% of the total number of medals won till date. In fact, a bag of seven medals in a single Olympics is the biggest-ever bagged by India, improving upon the two silver and four bronze medals bagged at the 2012 London Olympics,

My calculations before the Games that our ladies will bring in more medals than men, went off target like the shots of Manu Bhaker, the arrows of Deepika Kumari or the punches of Mary Kom. While Mary Kom may be exonerated for having gone beyond her prime after a glorious enviable career, Deepika Kumari has now flattered to deceive in more than one Olympics. The round in which she was knocked out, she had only one 10-point shoot but a shocking three shoots of merely 7 points each out of a total of nine shoots; enough to put her out of any competition.