Asian Games success merits kudos but hope is not a plan for Paris Olympics

Record medal haul in Hangzhou for the Indian contingent.

In the last two weeks, Asian Games made front-page news in most leading general news publications. Rightly so. Winning a record 107 medals at the highest levels of a continental competition is certainly creditable.

Regardless of the issues at the Indian Olympic Association and certain national federations like wrestling, the century of medals at Hangzhou 2023 is a clear reflection that the sporting system, which includes private enterprises, is certainly more proactive, athlete-focused and target driven.

Coming as it did just before the start of the Cricket World Cup at home, Hangzhou success has fired the imagination of India’s Olympic sports-loving public. To expect Indian athletes, who excelled in China, will break Tokyo 2020’s haul of seven medals at Paris Olympics in July-August next year is all but natural. But Asian Games success must be analysed from a global perspective and only then a target be set.

Olympic Standards

Just to put things in perspective, China’s Hangzhou tally of 201 gold medals (out of a total haul of 383) is more than No. 2 to 7 combined. Japan finished with 52 gold while Republic of Korea (42), India (28), Uzbekistan (22), Chinese Taipei (19) and Iran (13) finished in that order at the just-concluded Asian Games.

From an Olympics viewpoint, China is truly a global superpower having finished No. 2 in the medal tally with 38 gold medals, one less than the USA at Tokyo 2020. Korea were in 16th place with six golds, Iran at 27th with three, Uzbekistan 32nd with three golds and India at 48th after Neeraj Chopra’s javelin heroics.

China have shown tremendous all-round progress after finishing third at Rio 2016 with 70 medals, 26 of them being gold.

Hope is never a plan. To expect Mirabai Chanu to return with a silver and PV Sindhu to complete a hat-trick of Olympic medals in Paris is like putting the cart before the horse. Injury-prone Mirabai and struggling-for-form Sindhu were much below par at the Asian Games and the only Tokyo 2020 medallists to return with a medal from Hangzhou 2023 were Neeraj Chopra (javelin gold), Lovlina Borgohain (boxing bronze) and the men’s hockey team (gold).

Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, who won a bronze on his Olympic debut in Tokyo, drew a blank in Hangzhou while Ravi Dahiya, who won a silver at the last Summer Games, failed to make the Asian Games squad.

Moving On From ‘Iss Baar Sau Paar’ Slogan

From 70 in Jakarta to 107 in Hangzhou, there has been a 53 percent rise in medal haul. The slogan “Iss Baar Sau Paar” (This time it’s 100-plus) was not rhetoric. It wasn’t based on bravado but logic. The target was a realistic goal given the performance of Indian athletes in national and international tournaments leading up to the 19th Asian Games.

At least a dozen national records and four world records in shooting were created at Hangzhou. While the shooting records are significant, national records, especially set in swimming, mean nothing by Olympics standards.

Conversion of a goal depends on an athlete’s resolve to clinch the big moments in a decisive situation. Where golfer Aditi Ashok failed to secure a sure-shot gold, Parul Chaudhary’s sensational dash to gold in the women’s 5,000 metre was beyond belief. Then there were the medals from unexpected quarters like sailing, windsurfing and equestrianism.

While all this added to India’s stupendous Asian Games show, there is a line to be drawn when we think of the Olympics. Slogans will not work in Paris but a focused, well-planned approach on the possible podium finishers must be adopted. In the biggest sporting event on earth, only performance matters, rare upsets notwithstanding.

Neeraj And The Rest

Most disciplines at the Olympics leave no scope for subjectivity. Results in athletics and swimming, for example, are completely in black and white. All that matters are the clock or the measuring tape and by that yardstick, the only Indian in the realm of winning an Olympic medal is Neeraj Chopra.

Upcoming Kishore Jena has shown great potential in javelin by throwing the spear consistently in the higher 80s and will certainly be a medal contender at Paris 2024. At Hangzhou, the bulk (29) of India’s 107 medals came from athletics. Paris will certainly not see a similar story.

While women’s boxing and wrestling hold much promise, India’s biggest hope will continue to centre around the shooters, many of whom have already won quota places for the Paris Summer Games with world-class performances. At the Asian Games, Indian shooters won a record 22 medals, the second best after track and field. A 30 percent conversion at Paris will be simply outstanding.

It must be remembered that an athlete wins a quota for a country, not for himself/herself. The decision to send the best athlete for an event, especially in shooting, lies with the national federation. Consistency of form will be key to getting the final ticket to Paris.

Form, injury and drugs management will be high on the priority list of athletes who are under the government’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme. The focus will be on the 115 TOPS sportspersons who performed at the Asian Games. More than half the medals were won by them.

What’s bad news for India is that archery at Paris is a recurve competition (the traditional bow style). India dominated the compound category (the modern form) in 2023, producing three world champions – Ojas Praveen Deotale, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Aditi Gopichand Swami – who have beaten the top archers in the world with stunning consistency. In Hangzhou 2023, the compound archers accounted for most of the record nine medals won. Five golds, all in the compound section, were unprecedented.

Given all the calculations, an evening in Paris will not be the same as an evening in Hangzhou. We must appreciate the tremendous progress made at the Asian level. The government’s role in providing financial and technical support has been simply extraordinary. But Mission Paris will have to be more realistic and not built on bravado. Hope is never a plan.

Soumitra Bose is a senior journalist and a research scholar. He tweets at @soumitra65. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.