The euphoria that the success of the Indian athletes created at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2010, has subsided into a rude reality of Chinese dominance in the ongoing Asian Games 2010. Just a month back, India was dreaming of becoming a sporting nation by 2015. It grabbed 100 medals in the 10-day event including 38 gold medals. They had pipped England to the second spot in the overall medal standings. The shooters, wrestlers, paddlers, boxers, archers and shuttlers were as good as unbeatable.
In Guangzhou, however things have taken a dramatic turn. China has already claimed over 100 medals in only three days of competition including 62 gold medals. That shows how far India is behind this sporting giant. Even countries like Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei and Hongkong are ahead of us in the medals tally right now. Our sure-shot gold mines, Gagan Narang and Abhinav Bindra, have also bowed out with a silver medal only. Although our boxers, wrestlers and Saina Nehwal are yet to start their campaigns, India will in all probability fall way short of 100 medals that they managed to achieve in CWG 2010.
Hence gentlemen, it is time that we get realistic about the capabilities of our athletes on the world stage. Bagging a handful of medals in the CWG does not prove that we can challenge China. I do not think that we can do that even in the next 20 years. It is also time for some reality check in the aftermath of a thumping CWG triumph, which was our best ever performance as a country in any multi-nation sporting event. We should start the process of grooming champions immediately. We should stop going over the board with just ONE Saina Nehwal, Abhinav Bindra and Pankaj Advani. We need hundreds of them, and that too quickly.
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