India At The Olympics : From the eyes of an Ordinary Indian

                             

                            Olympic Games have always remained the ultimate challenge for every athlete in any field in every part of the World. Getting a medal in Olympic (whatever it may be:Gold/Silver/Bronze) is the main target for all the athletes for which they practice all the year round for 4 long years. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail, but the dream lives on until the very end.
                                                      
                           Indian Athletes are no different and that they can also compete have been proved by them at different times. They might not have reached the pinnacle on all instances but every time they have given their best.
                       

             This time around the Olympic Game was held in London. The City was well decorated for the event (as we have been shown on TV). The picture on the left shows the beautiful London Bridge on the River Thames being wonderfully lighted and decorated with the Olympic Symbol.
             The arenas selected for the Games were also of the highest level with all the modern facilities. The crowd cheered each and every game and if an Indian was playing and doing well, the Indian Crowd shouted like anything to cheer their countrymen/women. There was a total atmosphere of festive all over London during the entire period of the Games.

                      The opening Ceremony of the game was an event worth watching. The entire stadium was lit up with crackers and all and it looked like a heavenly place. The kids performed to different tunes and it was almost like a fairy land. The burning of the crackers revealing the Olympic Symbol started off the entire proceedings of the Opening Ceremony. It was followed by an act directed by Danny Bowl which depicted the entire history of the British Civilization to this day.

          After this slowly as time progressed it was finally time for the entire Contingent of different countries to come out hoisting their respective flag. Indian Contingent was lead by Beijing Bronze Medalist Sushil Kumar, a wrestler by profession. Behind him came the other members of the Indian Contingent and it was a beautiful scene as our National Flag kept fluttering in the breeze.

                   

         The opening ceremony came to an end with huge number of crackers going on from all sides of the stadium.

















                            The Olympic Campaign started on a sad note for India. The Archers (men & women), from whom a lot was expected, totally flopped. Their performance was below average if we have to measure it on a scale. A few more events followed and all were ending in tremendous disappointment. At one point of time especially after seeing the early exit of the Archer Team, it almost felt like that we would perhaps return empty handed. The greatest shock was the failure of the last time Beijing Gold Medallist Abhinav Bindra's failure to qualify for the finals in the Men's 10m Air Rifle. But future had something else in store for us.

                        

      The surprise came along with shooting. Gagang Narang presented India it's first medal of the London Olympics, 2012. he won a Bronze medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle and started our medal count.

       It was followed by Vijay Kumar claiming a Silver in Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol. It was also a nerve breaking finish as the competition was very tough and very close. In this competition though Gagang Narang disappointed us by failing to qualify for the finals. Vijay Kumar was a surprise to everyone though he had been performing quite well for the last few competitions.

                   
               A medal was expected from Badminton and Saina Nehwal didn't disappoint us, though the medal came through a bit of luck. Saina's opponent from China suffered a severe injury to her leg in the course of the match because of which she was forced to forfeit the match mid-way inspite of leading the score board. Still this cannot belittle Saina's achievement because she has overcome several obstacles and Chinese obstacle was the last one to cross. At the end, a medal is a medal.

              Mary Kom followed her dream and became the first woman to win a Bronze Medal in the first ever Women's boxing held in the Olympics. This is more than an achievement, it's a record and also an inspiration for many other women of our country. Mary Kom is a boxer later, she is someone else before. She is a daughter, a wife and a mother of 2 twins, but that didn't stop her from achieving her dream of becoming a world-class boxer. Such was her determination. She really deserves our salutation.

      
              Another surprise package to add a medal to the Medal Tally for India was Yogeshwar Dutt in Men's 60Kg Freestyle Wrestling. His Bronze medal match was worth watching. it was a treat to watch especially the manner in which he came back into the match and finished off the match in tremendous style. I salute your patience and coolness.

             The last man to represent India in the just concluded Olympic is Sushil Kumar and hopes were high especially after Yogeshwar Dutt won a medal the previous day. He went on through rounds and with every advancement, our hopes started rising more and more and finally it was the final match. The previous round was very tiring for Sushil Kumar as the opponent was very tough and it took it's toll in the final match. He went down to the Japanese wrestler almost without a fight and his exhaustion from before was clearly visible. Still we are not a bit disappointed with it. By winning this Silver, he has become the first ever Indian to win an Olympic Medal on two successive Olympics in the individual category He started off with Bronze in Beijing and now won a Silver. So next is surely Gold in Rio 2016.


                     Even though the above are the medalists, but that doesn't mean that other players of the Indian contingent didn't excel. Parupalli Kashyap startled everyone with his win over two players who are above him by a big margin in the rank. He eventually went down fighting but before that he has shown his class and gave a hint that if properly nourished and polished he will shine for India in the future.
                    In Athletics also in different departments the Indians displayed much better performance that other years. Krishna Pooniya went the finals of the Discuss Throw but failed to put up much of a challenge there. But we can hope that next time she will move further ahead. Other Athletes also contributed in the best way they could have done and overall it was a brilliant campaign out there for India this time around.
                  But a Dark Spot has been left behind by the Indian Hockey Team which failed miserably and ended up last in the tournament. very disappointing for every Indian. Also just before the Olympic there was a huge dispute in the Tennis Circuit involving Leander Paes, Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna which resulted into nothing but only disgrace and disgust for the entire nation as the Tennis players returned empty handed.
                   Every event is a mixture of good and bad things and so keeping that in mind it would not be wrong to say that we had a nice time at the Olympics and next year we can expect more medals from our Heroes and other unsung upcoming talented people. 

                                                                
                                                                     !! JAI HIND !!