Dipa Karmakar - Road to Tokyo 2020

Dipa  Karmakar - Road to Tokyo 2020

Dipa Karmakar is the reason  gymnastics has became a familiar term in India.
                The gymnastic fraternity recognised her heroics when she won a bronze in 2014 Commonwealth games at Glasgow.But, India recognised her talent in Rio Olympics where she performed the breathtaking produnova vault to finish 4th.It was then people started recognising the sport and giving it some importance and respect.She received  Arjuna Award for her performance in Olympics. However she got a major setback when she suffered ACL right after the Olympics. ACL is quite a serious injury and it took Dipa two years to recover from injury.

Considering the fact that  women gymnast have a short careers in this highly demanding Sport (exceptions of some gymnast such as oksana 41) many considered her career all but over.But she returned with a bang winning gold at the world challenge cup in early 2018 making her intentions clear.But, again she suffered an injury at the Asian Games much to the disappointment of her fans and gymnastic lovers. But she has come back stronger as ever winning a bronze in cottbus World Cup 2018.

           This is what the difference between good players and champion player. India needs players like Saina Nehwal, MC Kom and  Dipa who haven't just performed in ordinary circumstances but also rose up after a certain bad patches or setbacks in their career.This never give up spirit is what makes them great. She has proved her doubters that her performance in Rio wasn't just a one off and we can expect great performances from her in future.
She has moved one step closer to Olympic quota and we hope that she not only cements her place in Tokyo 2020 but also gives India it's maiden medal in Gymnastics.

Rugved Joshi

India's performance at Asian games

india's performance at asian games

India finished  the 18th Asian games in Jakarta and palembang (Indonesia) on 8th position.We also equalled the highest no.of gold medal tally since 1951 Asian games (Delhi).We won a total of 15 gold,24 silver and 30 bronze medals.
We will take a look at how well did our athletes performed in different events.

                 

 ATHLETICS- India's most  number of medals came through athletics.
India won a total number of 19 medals which consisted 7 gold ,10 silver and a couple of bronze medals.
India's flag bearer Neeraj Chopra was the star of the tournament with his 88.06m throw in javelin proving too strong for his opponents.He also proved why he is India's strongest medal contender at the Olympics.
Another bright performer was Swapna Barman who clinched gold in heptathlon.She comes from really poor family and didn't had proper type of shoes to train.The likes of  dutee Chand and Hima das bagged silver in short distance events.So,overall India has drastically improved in athletic events which is a positive step for our preparations for Olympics.

ARCHERY - India won 2 silver in compound men's and women's team event but the recurve team failed to bag  any  medals at this Asian games.There was a time where India had a bright future in this sports with many players having potential to be world champions.Deepika kumari,Atanu das to name a few were India's medal prospects since commonwealth games in Delhi 2010.
But to India's misery they have failed to live up the expectations. Something is not just clicking for India's archery in multi sports events which is a spot of bother and area for improvement.

BADMINTON

India's star shuttlers performed well in this asiads which resulted in P.V Sindhu winning a historic silver and Saina securing a bronze medal.Badminton in Asian games has the same level as Olympics since the game is dominated by asians countries,so winning a medal in this event has a greater importance.
In men's however Shrikant  was knocked out in the very first round which is a bit sadenning​. Also,the major cause of concern is Sindhu who is consistently falling short at the  final hurdle which is the gold medal match.This year Sindhu has played 3 major tournament finals losing all the three.But looking at the upcoming Olympics India has a great chance to win a medal in badminton.

WRESTLING -
        Wrestling turned out to be a mixed bag for India with Veterans such as Sakshi Malik and Sushil Kumar failed to make a mark,Bajrung Punia and Vinesh phoghat gave india some hope with there gold's and it will be interesting to see where they stand in world championship.
Also India failed to win any medal in Greeco-Roman events which has not been india's strongest events either.

BOXING -
      With the likes of Mongolia,China and Uzbekistan it was a tough task for indian boxer to make a mark.Only Vikas Krishnan and Amit Panghal were exception.Amit Panghal defeated the current Olympics champion to win the gold while Vikas won a bronze after widrawing from semi final after getting a cut on his eye. Performance of women boxers was a disappointment as well.


TEAM EVENTS - India was expected to dominate in the team events.
It turned out to be utter disappointment.Men's and women's kabbadi team lost to Iran to settle on bronze and silver medal respectively.
In hockey men's team was so dominant that they scored a total number of 78 goals in preliminary stage but were knocked out by Malaysia. Malaysia has turned out to be a tricky opponent for India in past years and the trend continued again in this asiads.Women team lost to Japan in the finals meaning India returned with no gold medal in the events which we were assured of success.

Overall it was a satisfactory performance from Indian contingent.
We should look at this games as a dress rehearsal for Olympics.
In my point of view India will be able to win 5 medals at the upcoming Olympics, but all we can do is expect our players to perform well and hope the government and sports organisations help the athletes achieve success.

                     -RUGVED JOSHI-

Reasons for india's poor showings in sports

Olympics 2016 turned out to be a Opener for Indian Sports. India has the worst population per medal ratio in Olympic history.
with India's biggest delegation returning with just two medals.There were very few positives like the performance of Dipa Karmakar in vaulting  event finals finishing 4th. Lalita Babar playing the finals in athletics and few others.BUT we have so much to learn and improve from the Rio Olympic Games performance.
Let's take a look at some of this reasons.

Saina Nehwal

     The actual problem starts from the basic and root level itself,not many schools promote sports as they should. The sole focus is on education, but they have to understand that a child's interest develops while he is in the primary schools so it is important for schools to conduct school level competitions and give a bit more exposure in sports. A certain talent in sports should be appreciated as well.
But I don't blame the schools completely. should we? No. What does schools do? School tends to give the results which parents expect and they are only concerned about their child's  educational progress. There children having interest in sports is actually a  headache for some of the parents. many parents let their children play till the primary or Secondary School but after the 10th standard they tend to shift their childs focus only on education.Why?
Because they know that there child getting a job on the basis of sports is very low.
So,they should not be blamed solely
What does parents want? They want there child's future secure and safe.
So if government doesn't insure the sportsperson's future why should there parents want them to play sports.
   I think government plays a huge role in this subject.No doubt many schemes come and go for welfare of sportsperson,But how many are actually implemented is the real issue.
The crietria​ for the player selection is questionable as well these schemes don't reach the rural areas where our countries raw talent hides.Also there is corruption and nepotism as well.The cheap mentality of some selfish people cause our country a great loss.
Today many leaders want to control the sports associations in country not for the cause of sports but for there own good.Only a sportsperson knows the problems and needs of a sportsperson.

        In foriegn countries many Private companies sponsor or aid a particular player which helps him achieve his goal.Most notably US,UK and Australia follow this system.Indian private companies have started this trend as well which is encouraging sign.

India has great raw talent having potential to do something big in sports. India is known as a sleeping giant in sports if we give our players the perfect direction we will one day surely become  a sporting giant.

Deepika kumari (Archery)

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