One gold, two bronze and quite a few reasons to stop whining

There is, however, a bigger cause for celebration, a good news story not entirely told by this medal tally. It’s the story of a phenomenal, across-the-board improvement in India’s sporting standards. It’s a story to be found way below the stratospheric level of the Olympic podium. It’s one that we can appreciate only when we free ourselves from the tyranny of expectations of an Olympic medal. For, if we then take a close look at our sporting performance over the past five years, we can see an upsurge that’s for real, that will inevitably begin to reflect in medal tallies. Then Beijing 2008 will no longer look like that expression Indian sportswriters could copyright as their own forever: flash in the pan.

Now look even beyond your new, Olympic quarter-finalist heroes. When was the last time we had so many Indians in the top 15, top 30 and even the top 300 of the world rankings? Today, two shooters are in the top 10 and at least six in the top 20. Saina entered world badminton’s top 15 at the age of 18 and should at some point enter the top 10. Anup Sridhar and Chetan Anand are already in the men’s top 50. Wrestling, weight lifting, boxing, all have, between themselves, several Indians who are leading contenders in their own respective categories. So while you may have still got only three medals, such a substantial improvement in sporting standards is the real plus for Indian sport.

... contd.