B SHRIKANT

GOLD COAST: While the big claims of Indian sportspersons and administrators about medals ahead of multi-sport events like Asian Games and Olympics usually fall flat, those made ahead of Commonwealthgamescan,however, look a tad realistic. It is because the competition at Commonwealth Games is not as strong as at Asian Games or Olympics.

With the opening ceremony of the XXI Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast just a day away, it was time to ask India’s Chef de Mission, Vikram Singh Sisodia, about India’s chances.

“The target is to get more than 64 medals we won in Glasgow. Ideally, we would love to match our best performance ever – the 101 medals we won in Delhi in2010 – but crossing the 100-medal mark looks a bit difficult,” said Sisodia.

Despite the distractions over needles, anti-doping tests, accommodation in Games Village and various other facilities, there is still scope for optimism.

ROLLER-COASTER

Since 1990, India’s performance chart at the Commonwealth Games has resembled an electrocardiogram output of a person suffering from myocardial infraction – coming out in peaks and valleys. The roller-coaster ride has seen India’s tally jump to 32 medals in 1990 and fall back to 24 and 25 in the next two editions.

Another spurt saw the count jump to 69 in Manchester in 2002 before falling to 49 four years later in Melbourne. In 2010 at New Delhi, the Indians came up with their best performance, crossing 100 medals and finishing second behind Australia. The tally reduced to 64 in Glasgow.

So as per this, India should be able to improve upon their Glasgow performance and get closer to their New Delhi count.

Another reason for this optimism is the new crop of talented shooters that have performed admirably in recent ISSF World Cups. If the shooters manage to hit the bull’s eye, India could expect a good medal count.

While shooters are expected to bag a major chunk of medals, India have high hopes from badminton, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, hockey, squash