Madhusudhan

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 4th 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.

Even though this is not the right forum to post this am posting this as todays wrestling result of vinesh has triggered these feelings to me. 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 4th 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.

This was not at all surprising...indeed i wanted to sound it yesterday itself There were news reports that She and Anshu Malik are more busy in arranging passes to their support staff rather than practicing https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/paris-olympics-2024/indiaparis/support-staff-jitters-for-antim-panghal-ahead-of-olympic-bout/articleshow/112327014.cms It was also reported that Reetika and Aman continued with practicing with the support available in games village...but same is not said about Antim and Anshu

completely agree

this is too hard to face our fate is such that after entire nation has celebrated acorss print / digital medal vinesh winning medal at olympics, we are back to 3 bronze medals

now its officially confirmed on paris Olympics website cuban wrestler will play the finals

agreed...may be i have jumped the gun but very hard to digest that india will loose the silver medal because of negligence conisering how hard it was for india in this olympics to win a medal other than broze

she was overweight by 2kgs yesterday...now they say that after todays weight in she is still overweight by 100gms thats where my point is....how can the indian delegation not be aware of her overweight which could cost India silver/gold medal have they don't know 100 gms overweight...i dont want to go into details of how to reduce weight by 2kgs in a day...every one knows there are so many ways there are other ways to ensure that atleast silver medal stays with India...its a gross negligence from the indian delegation at paris olympics Or is there some thing fishy considering the issues faced by the vinesh in the recent past What ever it be this matter needs to be thoroughly investigated and accountability needs to be fixed

How can Indian contingent miss out on weight cut off despite knowing that it will lead to disqualification and loss of medal There are so many ways to reduce your weight by 2 kgs in a day so that at least silver medal is guaranteed to India Btw till now official website of Paris Olympics has not updated the disqualification of Vinesh for finals What ever it be this needs to be thoroughly investigated as it has costed india a gold/silver medal for which we are desperate

Vinesh was so focused and its tactical master class from her in 1st round and semis adopting defensive style and attacking at right time In QF since she consumed lot of energy in 1st round adopted little aggressive style...hope she gets her tactics spot on in the finals

what a redemption for vinesh after rio and tokyo disasters flawless performance in the semis

vinesh confirmed the medal...terrific performance

vinesh through to semis...such a tough bout umpiring in this match seems to be out of place

2 big good news from neeraj and vinesh almost at the same time We were waiting for this...hope this gets translated into big medals

such a master class and tactics from vinesh... defending till the last time and pouncing on last 20 seconds

she won

omg its a challenge

vinesh did the unbelievable and unthinkable

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.

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

New additions to tough pill to swallow: Lakshya sen loosing energy and plot after winning 1st set and leading in 2nd set and Nisha getting injured with heavy lead and 1 minute to go in quarters Its disheartening to see so many 4th place finishes and we faltering at medal matches/moments despite doing good till that time. At times players faltered (archery mixed team scoring 7s and 8s at will in semis and bronze match, sat-chi and lakshya surprisingly loosing the plot from comfortable positions, shooting contingent loosing medal from 2nd place position etc) At time luck played with indian players (nisha getting injured while winning QF, Nishant day light robbery, Nikath getting tough draw etc) With the way things are going we should not be surprised if Indian hockey team / Neeraj / Wrestlers / Mirabhai chanu finished in 4th place Now the magic number 7 seems to be little far away.....i hope indian contingent will turn the tide and crosses Tokyo mark. We need Gold medal performance to cheer up the mood !!!

american seemed little passive while playing polish girl....nisha with her active wrestling would have fancied her chances with american...what i meant was had indian reached final there will not be japanese girl to be intimidated

Such a hard luck for nisha...she was comfortably leading north korean girl with 1 minute to go Disaster struck her and india in form of injury.....with the way she was wrestling and japanese girl out of competition india lost a sure shot medal here For her to be in repechage for bronze first north korean girl has to reach final and nisha has to be fit by tomorrow for 2 matches....fingers crossed

Initially we had confusion whether this Olympics will go in the lines of Rio or Tokyo…. After end of 1st half of games it seems we are in between Rio and Tokyo thanks to shooting (minus Russia). Second week performance will decide in which way we will go. As of now we have performed well enough to be in medal contention (multiple 4th place finishes) and but not as medal winners….hope in this week we will see performances as medal winners. It all depends on Neeraj , Wrestling, Hockey and Lakshya sen now. Already we lost 2 sure shot medal predictions Nikhat (thanks to tough draw) and Satwik-Chirag ….i hope Neeraj is fit enough and performs to his standards. I hope wrestlers will come out of the mess in internal affairs and raise their standards. Underperformers: As always Archery team…..despite getting good draws faltered at crucial times by scoring 7 and 8 Performers till now: Manu Bhaker, Shooting contingent, Lakshya sen and India Hockey team (these people performed to their level and raised their standards which is desired at Olympics) Tough pill to swallow – Satwik and Chirag losing in quarters after winning 1st set comfortably and leading in 2nd/3rd sets & Nishant loosing the bout and medal despite boxing better I hope we will see medial winning performances in second week from the Indian contingent and crosses the Tokyo mark.

What a final day it is for India 1. Aditi finished in Amazing 4th position in golf 2. Bajrang getting Olympic bronze 3. Neeraj finished indian campaign in best way with gold!!!