India at 2024 Paris Olympics

[Prakash 50]

Prakash Padukone Slams Shuttlers..

 

At least he opened up rather dwelling behind past glories.

 

 

Padukone stated that it was in fact on the players, at this point, to introspect, and find the way to win, rather than demand the federations to do more for them.

“The players need to introspect, and not just keep asking for more from the federations. They need to ask themselves whether they are working hard enough, because all of these players have their own physios and all the facilities. I don’t think any other country, including the US, has so many facilities.”

What frustrated the former badminton great furthermore was the heartbreaking loss that India’s Lakshya Sen endured earlier.

Sen, who had made history by becoming the first male badminton player to ever make it to the semifinal in the Olympics, was in prime position to seal a medal finish.

Padukone further expounded on his disappointment and frustration with Sen’s loss, stating that the 22-year-old needed to take responsibilty for the loss, recalirate and come back stronger.

“I and Vimal are not happy with the fourth position of Lakshya (Sen). He could have definitely gotten a medal. I know (Viktor) Axelsen might say that Lakshya is the next best, but that is not good enough because there was a possibility of a medal.”

[Madhusudhan 12]

8 hours ago, Roamingrover86 said:

Day 10-  What a horrible day! A day where we could have won 2 more medals ended with none & brutal injury to Nisha who was winning 8-3 with 30 secs left  This olympics although not as bad as Rio but the frustration, disappointment, sadness & anger is reaching similar levels. Today I switched off  & went for a walk to clear my mind after Nisha’s injury, I was morally so down! 
 

We are only  active in 6 sports now ( Shooting , Badminton & Sailing campaign ends, only Shooting can be termed a success delivering our only medals so far) 
 

6 more athletes ended their Olympics campaign today (  2 Shooting , 2 Sailing , 1 Badminton & 1 Wrestling  ) 

 

We still have 50 active athletes & have 3🥉 in our Kitty. 
As of Day 10 we are 60th  in the overall Medal table . 
 

Medalists :

 

Manu Bhaker (10m AP women) - 🥉

10m AP Mixed Team ( Manu & Sarabjot) - 🥉

Swapnil Kusale (50m 3P AR Men) - 🥉

Almost similar feeling after injury to nisha.... thats why i said we need Gold medal to overcome these colossal disappointments

[Madhusudhan 12]

4 minutes ago, Prakash said:

Prakash Padukone Slams Shuttlers..

 

At least he opened up rather dwelling behind past glories.

 

 

Padukone stated that it was in fact on the players, at this point, to introspect, and find the way to win, rather than demand the federations to do more for them.

“The players need to introspect, and not just keep asking for more from the federations. They need to ask themselves whether they are working hard enough, because all of these players have their own physios and all the facilities. I don’t think any other country, including the US, has so many facilities.”

What frustrated the former badminton great furthermore was the heartbreaking loss that India’s Lakshya Sen endured earlier.

Sen, who had made history by becoming the first male badminton player to ever make it to the semifinal in the Olympics, was in prime position to seal a medal finish.

Padukone further expounded on his disappointment and frustration with Sen’s loss, stating that the 22-year-old needed to take responsibilty for the loss, recalirate and come back stronger.

“I and Vimal are not happy with the fourth position of Lakshya (Sen). He could have definitely gotten a medal. I know (Viktor) Axelsen might say that Lakshya is the next best, but that is not good enough because there was a possibility of a medal.”

Bang on...well said

 

May be little harsh on Lakshya considering he is the player who has played most singles matches in this olympics (total 7 matches) that too with tough opponents. Again i would say luck has not favoured him as he was unable to travel to canada due to visa problems resulting i his ranking outside 16 and tough draw.

 

But medal was there for taking to Lakshya...somehow suddenly he completely lost the plot in bronze medal match and also match with Axelsen...initially i thought Axelsen was too good and mentally strong but lakhsya had the meltdown in bronze medal match indicating that its more of Lakshya fault rather than his opponents doing the right things.

 

But no excuses at all for other players more particularly Satwik and chirag... they were fresh and they won 1st set and was leading in 2nd/3rd sets in QF and gave away the match to Malaysians (who won bronze) by doing silly mistakes in service returns.

 

They will realise (both Sat-Chi and Lakshya) how one earth they lost the opportunity to win olympic medal in such a tough sport like Badmintion.

 

Only good thing is age is on their side to correct the things and hopefully they go in the right way. 

[Indian Sports fan 5]

What a day lined up tomorrow for sports fans. So much to look forward to...

 

Wednesday's schedule: https://thesportsgram.in/2024/08/06/india-at-paris-2024-day-12-schedule/

[Roamingrover86 855]

Day 11 - Day of redemption & champions . What a near perfect day we had , if only the Hockey result was in our favour it would have been a perfect day. Vinesh will get the headlines for causing the biggest shock of our Olympic campaign & she now stands one bout away from her dream . Neeraj showed again why he is a champion  but it will be hotly contested final. Hope our men can recover & get that bronze in hockey. We need to continue our medal run in hockey. 
 

We are still active in 6 sports  
 

4 more athletes ended their Olympics campaign today (  3 Table Tennis & 1 Athletics) 

 

We still have 46 active athletes & have 3🥉 in our Kitty. 
As of Day 11 we are 63rd  in the overall Medal table . 
 

Medalists : 

 

Shooting : 3 

Manu Bhaker (10m AP women) - 🥉

10m AP Mixed Team ( Manu & Sarabjot) - 🥉

Swapnil Kusale (50m 3P AR Men) - 🥉

[Prashanth 168]

What a win for Vinesh...

[Madhusudhan 12]

I thought finally we have got a gold medal winning performance after vinesh reaching finals and neeraj topping the qualification throw with Season Best and with India’s hockey semi-finals to go.

 

But we got is ill fate/mismanagement thundering on indian medal chances:

·         First India lost the semis in spite of playing good attacking hockey…still not sure of medal

·         The worst part is vinesh is disqualified due to overweight (which probably 1 billion people including me never thought of)

·         Neeraj finals is yet to come (may be this could be only one event which I would like to watch if time and mood permits)

 

After such a terrific day yesterday we are back to square i.e. 3 bronze medals thanks to shooting (again am emphasising this time shooting events happened without Russian contingent)

 

I have no qualms in admitting in advance that this Olympics performance is the worst even compared to Rio...even after 8 years of rio we are at 3 bronze and loosing medals in badminton, boxing and may be wrestling/weightlifting.

 

We should have anticipated this

·         When India has sent delegation of 117 athletes but support staff/officials of 140 (more than athletes)

·         When many federations/players are busier in ensuring their support/personal troupe to be in paris rather than planning/practicing….. like in wrestling there were news reports antim pangal and anshu malik are busier in accommodating their support staff rather than practicing

·         Before Olympics started there were news that Indian Archery korean coach was not accommodated and instead accommodated with a physio. We know how important will be a Korean coach at Olympics and still went ahead with his non inclusion.

 

Even with so much supporting staff (including best coaches, physios, doctors, psychologists, sleeping specialists etc) we don’t have solutions for real time problems like

 

·         Vinesh unable to reduce 2 kgs weight before finals (unfortunately this has become the news of wrestling world rather than vinesh defeating the unbeatable Japanese wrestler Yui Susaki)

·         Lakshya mid match slump in crucial semis and bronze medal match (definitely it could have been avoided in bronze medal match by counselling/coaching considering the semis slump)

·         Satwik and Chirag mid match slump in QF

·         So many slip ups from medal winning positions to 4^th place finishes

·         Indian archers shooting 7’s and 8’s though out 10 days of Olympics

·         No instructions from coach to nisha to feign no injury at the first instance and manage remaining 30 to 40 seconds (maybe I could be wrong here …but I felt injury to her at first instance was minor and it was aggravated after north Korean pounced on the injured hand)

 

Day after day we are hearing heart breaking stories of Indian contingent…. May be I cannot take it more…

 

To lighten up the mood now I have decided not to follow this Olympics seriously except Neeraj chopra event (just for the sake how genuine and hard worker he is).

 

I know for damn sure the sports enthusiasm in me will not keep me out for long time from following India more particularly at the multilateral games like Commonwealth, Asiad and Olympics.

 

I know this group is amazing and you people will cheer upon the Indain contingent until the end of olympics…. All the best to the group and Indian contingent… wishing more medals from the remaining events.

 

Further am damn sure that Indian contingent will come out of the mess of this Olympics (due to various reasons like under performance, mis-management, bad luck, injuries etc) and come out with flying colours in future by better management of Sports federations, improving mental toughness and better preparation.

[Roamingrover86 855]

19 minutes ago, Madhusudhan said:

I thought finally we have got a gold medal winning performance after vinesh reaching finals and neeraj topping the qualification throw with Season Best and with India’s hockey semi-finals to go.

 

But we got is ill fate/mismanagement thundering on indian medal chances:

·         First India lost the semis in spite of playing good attacking hockey…still not sure of medal

·         The worst part is vinesh is disqualified due to overweight (which probably 1 billion people including me never thought of)

·         Neeraj finals is yet to come (may be this could be only one event which I would like to watch if time and mood permits)

 

After such a terrific day yesterday we are back to square i.e. 3 bronze medals thanks to shooting (again am emphasising this time shooting events happened without Russian contingent)

 

I have no qualms in admitting in advance that this Olympics performance is the worst even compared to Rio...even after 8 years of rio we are at 3 bronze and loosing medals in badminton, boxing and may be wrestling/weightlifting.

 

We should have anticipated this

·         When India has sent delegation of 117 athletes but support staff/officials of 140 (more than athletes)

·         When many federations/players are busier in ensuring their support/personal troupe to be in paris rather than planning/practicing….. like in wrestling there were news reports antim pangal and anshu malik are busier in accommodating their support staff rather than practicing

·         Before Olympics started there were news that Indian Archery korean coach was not accommodated and instead accommodated with a physio. We know how important will be a Korean coach at Olympics and still went ahead with his non inclusion.

 

Even with so much supporting staff (including best coaches, physios, doctors, psychologists, sleeping specialists etc) we don’t have solutions for real time problems like

 

·         Vinesh unable to reduce 2 kgs weight before finals (unfortunately this has become the news of wrestling world rather than vinesh defeating the unbeatable Japanese wrestler Yui Susaki)

·         Lakshya mid match slump in crucial semis and bronze medal match (definitely it could have been avoided in bronze medal match by counselling/coaching considering the semis slump)

·         Satwik and Chirag mid match slump in QF

·         So many slip ups from medal winning positions to 4^th place finishes

·         Indian archers shooting 7’s and 8’s though out 10 days of Olympics

·         No instructions from coach to nisha to feign no injury at the first instance and manage remaining 30 to 40 seconds (maybe I could be wrong here …but I felt injury to her at first instance was minor and it was aggravated after north Korean pounced on the injured hand)

 

Day after day we are hearing heart breaking stories of Indian contingent…. May be I cannot take it more…

 

To lighten up the mood now I have decided not to follow this Olympics seriously except Neeraj chopra event (just for the sake how genuine and hard worker he is).

 

I know for damn sure the sports enthusiasm in me will not keep me out for long time from following India more particularly at the multilateral games like Commonwealth, Asiad and Olympics.

 

I know this group is amazing and you people will cheer upon the Indain contingent until the end of olympics…. All the best to the group and Indian contingent… wishing more medals from the remaining events.

 

Further am damn sure that Indian contingent will come out of the mess of this Olympics (due to various reasons like under performance, mis-management, bad luck, injuries etc) and come out with flying colours in future by better management of Sports federations, improving mental toughness and better preparation.

We all are sad & devastated. I even planned my leave specifically for Olympics . In Rio I had the worst feeling & after Tokyo thought those dark days are gone. Even if we have bad olympics it would still be at Tokyo’s level & not Rio. 
After everything in Paris I still hold hope & maybe we will be closer to Tokyo but Yes, this Olympics have been filled with disappointment. I hope a proper post analysis is carried out & people are made accountable. We can’t keep spending crores of rupees & end up with no improvements. 4 years is a long time & with correct planning & proper people in charge we can definitely turn it around. What Prakash sir said is absolutely correct , players support staffs coaches everyone needs to be accountable. In successful nations if you don’t perform your funding is withdrawn. You have to stop rewarding failure & mediocrity & it starts with media. They need to stop hyping up athletes.  
Oh! & Finally we need to stop this hosting crap. We are simply not ready be it financially or sporting wise to even come in a conversation of hosting Olympics. The politicians just like another excuse to scam money in the name of hosting an event like in Commonwealth. We need people like Parth Jindal more involved who are passionate about sports unlike a certain lady for whom everything is a PR event! 

[Siddhartha Talukdar 229]

This was the best contingent in terms of quality but we lost out due to fine margins. Hope we don't take knee-jerk reactions and take focused steps so we can cross 10 medal mark in 2028. Here are my suggestions by sport

 

Archery - If we can be world champions in compound, we can be in recurve too. I believe our results in compound can be attributed to foreign coach Sergio Pagni. So lets get a foreign coach for recurve too. Also the issue seems to be handling pressure, so a sports psychologist is must

 

Athletics - AFI is doing a decent job but the harsh reality is that our NR in many events is still not close to qualifying marks which makes a frantic race to qualify by ranking. Not sure why do our athlete participate in domestic events which yield less ranking points. Yes many athletes played in Europe this time but we could have done so in Asian events as well. Why did no one participate in Asian Throws or Jumps competiton

 

Badminton - We had decent medal contenders in Sat-Chi and Lakshya Sen this time. Sat-Chi lost because they couldn't counter Aaron-Soh's flat game which took out Sat-Chi's smaches. Perhaps, a new coach can help develop alternate strategies. Nothing on Lakshya, he had a wonderful tournament. But I think future is scary, we need a second MS to challenge, could it be Priyanshu r Kiran George. We need a successor to Sindhu, could it be Imad Faroouqui or Anmol Kharb. The partnership of Treesa-Gayathri needs to be sorted out and Tanisha needs to decide whether she needs to  be in WD or XD

 

Boxing - The intention of having High Performance Director was fine but wasn't executed well. We know boxing overall is a mess but it will stay in Olympics somehow. I think World Boxing will organize boxing and our federation should be forefront in reforms in boxing

 

Cricket - Have to add this because this adds 2 medals in 2028. Lets hope we do well like we are doing now. I seriously didn't think India would be a semi-finalist in T20 World Cup let alone win it. We have finally cracked the T20 code. WPL is helping to bring young women cricketers but need to transition Smriti Mandhana and Kaur quickly

 

Cycling - We have never qualified but lets put one last investment in our Track Cyclists - Esow, Ronaldo and Beckham. Sprint qualification is brutal but its criminal for me that Road Cycling offers 80 quotas per gender and countries like Eritrea, Mauritius, Panama, Burkina Faso can qualify and we can't

 

Equestrian - We are in Group G region (South, South-East Asia and Oceania) for qualification and its one of the easiest zones to qualify as a team. If we can win Asian Games team event, we can surely clinch team qualification. Team qualification would also ensure individual qualification and then we have to earn MER in next 1.5 years. But there were many issues with EFI this cycle, Sports Ministry should clean up EFI 

 

Fencing - Another sport where we will be on the brink of qualifying. We have decent young fencers like Taniksha Khatri (epee) and Karan Singh (sabre). I think Taniksha is a student and not sure she will take fencing as a career. If she does, groom her and any 1-2 young fencers we can find

 

Field Hockey - We are doing fine on the men's side but we need a decent coach for the women's team. 

 

Golf, Rowing, Sailing - Probably need more exposure 

 

Gymnastics - We can ignore this sport as it needs massive investment

 

Judo - Our judokas do participate in various tournaments but we should aim for a automatic qualification. We can groom 1-2 judokas per gender and they can come good in LA. We have young judokas like Asmita Dey (48 kg), Himanshi Tokas (63 kg), Arun Kumar (73 kg)

 

Shooting - I think NRAI has done a fantastic job. We have had significant improvement in results. Now we need to focus on overcoming finals pressure which I think NRAI might be looking into

 

Squash - Not sure how many quotas will be there, but we should qualify 1 per gender. Not medal contenders though

 

Table tennis - Doing good job, but we need a successor to Sharath Kamal. Maybe Sharath will take up coaching

 

Tennis - A sport in decline. Not sure who shall be the next great singles or doubles player

 

Weightlifting - A sport with promise but somehow is fizzling out. We have no one after Mirabai which is scary

 

Wrestling - Once we have a proper federation in place, everything will be fine

 

 

 

[Indian Sports fan 5]

Thursday's Schedule for India: https://thesportsgram.in/2024/08/07/india-at-paris-2024-day-13-schedule/