Watching most events live helped me give a first-hand perspective to jury

Olympic gold medallist M. M. Somaya drew insights from deputy chef demission role at Hangzhou Asian Games 2023.

Olympic hockey gold medallist and senior Sportstaraces Awards jury member M. M. Somaya was the deputy chef demission for the Indian contingent at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. While he calls the experience nourishing, it made life on the jury hard for the veteran. "I was present at the Asian Games and saw so many of them perform. When you compare that with performances one has heard or read about, it's difficult to decide on a clear winner. For the first time, I was surprised at myself. Usually, when I decide on a winner, I stick to it. But this time, some of the decisions were very hard to make," Somaya said about the awards process this year. "I was able to watch most of the events live. It helped me give a first-hand perspective to the jury. But then, comparing that to someone I have not seen personally made it challenging. That's where having a jury as diverse as this — where members have watched multiple sports and some are even involved in administration — makes things easy for us. In addition to that, the feedback given to us by field journalists from Thehinduand Sportstargave us a detailed picture of how the nominees stacked up. That helped our discussions be more thorough," he said. Somaya lauded the Indian contingent's discipline and resilience in Hangzhou as he recollected the elation of seeing India cross the century mark in the medal tally. "The confidence of our current sportspeople, which potentially comes from exposure to international events at an early stage, is different from our times compared to now. They have great ambition. At one stage, it didn't look like we'd go beyond 70 medals, our tally from the previous edition. As time went on, athletics (29 medals), shooting (22), and archery (9) came good for us. Even disciplines like rowing and equestrian, areas where we've thought winning might be difficult, came through. Overall, it was a satisfying campaign in Hangzhou. I am glad they've set a benchmark. This is the inflection year. Winning so many medals is a big thing. We will be better prepared and more confident in the Olympic year," he added.

With increasing success across the sporting spectrum coming India's way, Somaya admits that the jury has had to constantly shift its benchmark for choosing winners.

"It's getting harder because we have nominees who are winning more internationally, and that too gold medals. This pushes us to set a higher benchmark, perhaps. It's not just about playing at the international level anymore. It's about getting a gold medal. If there's more than one gold medal winner, we need to look at whether a continental or world record was achieved. That addition will set them ahead of the pack. Pegging the benchmark higher makes it interesting. I would look at excellence and maintaining consistency over a considerable period," he explained.