YOUNG INDIA COMES TO THE FORE

Anish Bhanwala, 15, “bunked” school in March 2018 and is now worried about his Class X Mathematics examination. The 16year-old Manu Bhaker doesn’t want to talk about shooting and is keen to learn table tennis. Mehuli Ghosh, another teenager, skipped her Class XII examination and is now wondering how to make up!

Record-makers at the 21st Commonwealth Games, India’s future sports stars are back to business — or shall we say, their schools — just days after dazzling on the big stage and bringing to the fore India’s growing prowess in the world of sport. This and much more has been India’s underlining story at the Gold Coast Games that saw the rise of the young generation and also highlighted the credentials of its women athletes.

India brought home 66 medals — 26 gold, 20 silver, 20 bronze — and 28 of those came from women athletes who are now becoming the quintessential force of Indian sport and one of its heart-warming stories.

It will be foolhardy to think success at the Commonwealth Games will translate into domination at the world level or even the Asian Games in August, but a beginning has surely been made here. And while misses from the hockey teams and the needle controversy were the two glitches, these Games will largely be remembered for the rise of the young generation. And it is time to build on them. Turn to Page 2