Gritty determination of Indian sportspeople on show at the Asian Games
ASIA is at present gripped by the fever of the Asian Olympics – the Asian Games under way in Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia. From 41 participants from 11 National Olympics Committees (NOCs) featuring six sports disciplines in the first Asian Games hosted in 1951 in New Delhi, the 18th edition in Indonesia has grown to host more than 11 000 participants from 46 NOCs, featuring 40 disciplines.
With a few days to go before the Games conclude, the Indian contingent has done reasonably well. At the time of writing, the Indian kitty had 54 medals in disciplines including athletics, shooting, wrestling, rowing, tennis, badminton, archery and equestrian events.
While the prowess of our sportspersons has been well respected in disciplines like shooting, wrestling, tennis and archery, the story of India’s rise in badminton deserves a special mention. And the credit for making India a badminton powerhouse largely goes to one person – Pullela Gopichand, who has become an institution in himself.
An acclaimed and decorated badminton player in his time, Gopichand reached the pinnacle of badminton’s hall of fame by winning the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001.
The All England is the holy grail for all badminton players – the world’s oldest and perhaps most prestigious tournament. He was the second Indian to accomplish this feat, after Prakash Padukone, the world and All England champion in 1980. Gopichand was trained at the Prakash Padukone academy; in 2008 he went out to set up his badminton training academy in Hyderabad, by reportedly mortgaging his own house.
And this was one investment that paid off brilliantly, for it produced players and laurels at a furious speed and intensity. Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, P Kashyap and Srikanth Kidambi, among others, were sculpted under the tutelage of Gopichand, the “Dronacharya” – guru par excellence of Indian badminton.
Accolades earned by these players are superlative and numerous; a representative sample will be in order. Saina won the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics, singles gold medals at the 2010 and 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG), and reached the pinnacle of world number one in 2015. Sindhu, another star performer from the Gopichand stable, became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal in 2016. She is currently the world number two player. Sindhu and Saina shone in the current Asian Games when they took silver and bronze in the women’s singles. Srikanth reached world number one status for a brief period earlier this year; Kashyap won the singles gold medal at the 2014 CWG.
The disciplined and strict training regime at the Gopichand Academy, with every minute detail supervised by Gopichand, is lore in India.
Let’s look at the “Dronacharya” in the field of wrestling. In a 2016 blockbuster Bollywood biopic, Dangal, actor Aamir Khan immortalised the story of the Phogats. The protagonist of the movie was an amateur wrestler from the province of Haryana – Mahavir Singh Phogat, who served as the father, coach, physio, cook, driver, sponsor; all roles combined into one for his daughters. He went against the tide, fought stereotypes that discouraged the participation of women in sports, developed a training infrastructure through meagre resources at his disposal and trained his two daughters, Geeta and Babita, into world class wrestlers. Geeta won India’s first gold medal in women’s wrestling at the 2010 CWG; Babita won the bronze medal at the 2012 World Wrestling Championships and the gold medal at the 2014 CWG. His niece, Vinesh Phogat, another CWG gold medallist, continued her winning streak by claiming the women’s gold medal at the current Asian Games.
India has had a rich tradition of such wrestling coaches, like Guru Hanuman, Guru Satpal and others who produced stars in the realm through their dedication.
A few other stories of unmatched demonstrations of inspiration and determination by Indian sportspersons also emerged from the Games.
Swapna Barman became the first Indian heptathlete to win gold at the Asian Games. The heptathlon, a track and field competition made up of seven different events, is considered one of the most difficult athletic challenges, a test of skill, endurance and stamina.
Big deal? Check this out – Swapna was born in a family of meagre means in West Bengal, with six toes on each foot (no, she did not have custom built shoes for this competition). She had been plagued by injuries to her knees, ankle and back, and her jaw was taped up because she was suffering from excruciatingly painful toothache. The big smile on her face after winning the gold medal came with a lot of pain. “Pain is the best motivator,” said Swapna.
Sprinter Dutee Chand brought glory in the form of a silver medal in the women’s 200m dash. Coming from an unprivileged background devoid of even minimum resources, Chand broke through the barriers and registered her potential far and wide.
She also had to suffer because of the controversy over hyperandrogenism, which led to her being dropped from the 2014 CWG and Asian Games. She fought the case successfully in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Manjit Singh won the gold medal in the men’s 800m dash, ending India’s 36-year wait for an Asian Games gold. Without any regular source of income and no resources to support his ambitions, Manjit’s quest was sustained purely by his fire to excel.
We salute our gritty sportspersons and gurus who continue to bring laurels to the country.