My innocuous and also loaded question -- should Prime Minister Narendra Modi get some credit for India's unprecedented medal haul at the Asian Games at Hangzhou will fetch brickbats from sickular establishment? My best of friends in the Congress party would also get annoyed?
On India's performance in the Asian Games 2023, India's Olympic gold medalist shooter and former athlete Abhinav Bindra says, "It has been the most sensational performance...Just being a former athlete and part of the sports movement in India, I think I'm incredibly proud of this day".
However, I will insist the 'new India' or (new Bharat), the Prime Minister pledged could push some of us to ask the question I have posed. You may disagree; I respect each one of your views.
"A Games replete with historic firsts, a strong return to podium in sports it had earlier missed, and memorable comebacks will end with another landmark moment – for the first time, India will breach the 100-medal mark at the Asiad," reports 'The Indian Express'.
2023 is not an accident. 'Real accident' or almost a miracle started in and around 2021. The sickular media, intellectual columnists with Chinese connections or otherwise had painted a gloomy picture of India. According to Modi had already failed' but then came good news from the sporting extravaganza.
In 2021 Olympics, India’s total Medal tally was highest so far at seven, and the country was ranked 47th. It is for the first time, we were above 50-mark.
I wrote a blog piece.
"It’s time we call it the emergence of ‘Naya Bharat’ or a ‘New India’. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the political interference has been discouraged and the talented sporting stars got adequate support.
But are there a few lessons for a democratic nation like ours?
Once upon a time – even 1990s and around India’s participation in Olympics was dubbed as a decorative exercise, something to uphold the spirit of harmonious relations with the global community!
But in retrospect, it has been proved that just a few years of reboot and things can turn miracle.
Refer blog
"India creates history by winning 100 medals for the first time at Asian Games! Our players have shown tremendous dedication, skills and character to reach the much awaited sports-milestone. Heartiest congratulations to the entire Indian contingent for the superlative achievement! The nation is extremely proud of each one of you. I wish you keep marching ahead and achieve still higher levels of accomplishments in the future." - President Droupadi Murmu tweeted.
Now this time, young boys and girls have done it in the Asian Games. The unprecedented medal haul will also ensure India’s best-ever rank at the Asian Games in over 60 years, with fourth place behind China, Japan and South Korea now secured.
Today, a host of Congress netas and those who blossomed under jugadu culture could be cursing Modi; but it is true once upon a time the Olympics did not mean sports or winning medals. To many Indians, so called sporting officials and chamchas it meant junkets and shopping! The world under Modi era is different, the good days are gone for the jugadu club and we see the results on the ground and podium.
A few of my friends from sports journalism covering this year's Asian Games say, it is surprising the manner everyone at the Games venue feel proud to be 'Indian'. It's unprecedented. Well, you may give credit to Modi or Quiz Master intellectualism of NGOs -- when they decided to call themselves I.N.D.I alliance (I.N.D.I.A).
“There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
– the quote from Donald Rumsfeld, a former US Secretary of Defence, could be relevant to ponder about.
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| Performance with a difference !! |
Let's move on !!
Here are some figures from a record-breaking campaign:
* 51 medals came just from two sports – athletics (29) and shooting (22).
* Of the first 95 medals in 20 sports, 44 came from men, 41 from women, and 9 in mixed events.
* The country has won 22 gold medals, again the most ever. Shooting has the most gold medalists – 7.
* 30 athletes have so far won more than one medal, with rifleman Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and pistol shooter Esha Singh winning the most medals by a single athlete – 4 each.
* On October 1, the team won the most medals in a single day – 15 – and there hasn’t been a single day without any medal.
Increased funding, focused training plans and routine exposure trips outside India, where the athletes practise and compete, are seen as some of the key reasons for the medal high, which follows the best-ever haul at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago. -- kindly note I am not saying this. the 'sickularly-credible' Indian Express does it !!
This march to a century has also been made possible by a record number of women podium finishers, and medals in sports the country has little or no history in, breaking decades-old records in some.
The last-minute change of mind by the Board of Control for Cricket in India – which had earlier decided against sending the women’s and men’s teams for the Asiad – also ensured two medals.
The medal count was also aided by the inclusion of team events in shooting, which wasn’t the case five years ago in Jakarta.
Thirteen of the 22 shooting medals came in team events. But even that is an improvement from the last time they were included – back in 2014 when India won just four medals in team events.
Sadly there is no much noise in the 'sickular' circle on the spectacular performance by Indian boys and girls. Their 'fear' is will Modi take away the credit? And we can assure them that Modi knows the art of 'publicity management' and hence be assured, he will do something unique yet again.
Sickularly your gang can wait for some mild shockers and anguish moments yet again.
On the tracks again, Parul Chaudhary’s gold medal in the 5,000 metres race was India’s first in the event at the Asiad since it was introduced at the 1998 Games.
The Indian team won the final against Japan 5-1 and qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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