Surprised that nobody picked my error in saying that India came back with four bronze. I forgot about the two silver medals.
Just to give more "stray thoughts" on the Games, it was good to see the Saudi women taking part. What a big leap for women in that country where women have been fighting to get a driving license. It was really nice to see the country Sarah Attar complete her 800 m run, finishing last. The 19-year old athlete, who was born and lives in the US, was widely cheered by the crowd. She could help but give a big winning smile for the crowd's appreciation as she came into the straights and crossed the finish line. She was one of the few hijab-clad women, including her teamate ,judoka Wojdan Shaherkani, and Qatar's Noor Hussain Al-Malki and Oman's Shinoona Salah al-Habsi who enriched the games. Bahrain also had a few women athletes, mostly of Ethopian origin. It was also heartening to see the young Qatari high jumper, Mutaz Essa Barshim, take the bronze, sharing with two others. I liked the way he asked the crowd to clap when he was preparing for his jump. Watched the Saina Nehwal match and observed that the Indian was facing a stiff opponent in Wang X for the bronze medal.. However, I had hopes that Saina would come back strongly in the second game, having lost narrowly in the first game. The Chinese was tiring out as Saina fed her high toses, some of which the left-handed Wang returned with telling round-the-head cross-court drops to Saina's right forecourt. I could see that Saina felt bad that her opponent suffered and had to retire just after the start of the second half. Saina is a fighter. With a little more experience to the powerful Chinese, as proved by Saina's conqueror in the semis, Wang Y H, who lost in the final to her Chinese teamate, Li. Saina will be back in Rio as a much improved player, that much I feel assured. India's other badminton hope, Kashyap Parupalli's run up to the quarterfinals was impressive. He did well in the first game against his skilful opponent, Lee CW, losing by two points but could not keep the pace in the second, gaining just 11 points. As for the other Saina, her partnership with our own Leander in the mixed doubles, was not much worth writing about. The pair lost 5-7 and 6-7 to the Belarus team in the quarters. I have always found Saina's game to be erratic. Known for his good netplay, Leander didn't rise up to expectations. Many unforced errors on these two saw them bow out. The pre-Olympic game of who is going to partner which other of the Indian players in the men's double and mixed doubles caused enough agony to the fans. The players themselves seemed sapped of their energies even before they set foot on the Olympic court. It was a mess that one is used to in Indian sport. I felt that at least Leander Paes and Saina Mirza would take the bronze and it would be a fitting finale to Leander's Olympic career. Leander has been the mainstay of Indian tennis for long and that has given him so much command that officials find hard to deal with him, leave alone his teamates. No point going into the men's doubles nor the women's doubles. Lack of unity among the players played its part in Indians not faring as much as was expected of them. My heart goes out to Tintu Luka who came sixth in the semifinal heats with an impressive under 2min run. I wished she had emulated her coach and hero, PT Usha, in making to the final, as PT Usha did in the 400m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles games, where the Indian runner came fourth, narrolwy missing the bronze. I could see Tintu was putting all she had into her run but it wasn't good enough. Tintu's performance has, at least, brought women's athletics into focus after a long time. Mery Kom Hmangte was another woman who should inspire Indian women to take to boxing in a big way. Her bronze medal victory will remain a fine chapter in women's contribution to Indian sports. Earning two medals - a silver and a bronze - in each of the two groups, wrestling and shooting is a further boost. Sushil Kumar's win, a silver, in wrestling is one better than what he did in Beijing, where he won a bronze. Dutt was lucky to have got a second chance, thanks to the repechage account, and came out successfully with a bronze, sharing it with USA's Scott in the 60 kg Freestyle. One big failure was that of Deepika Kumari in archery. As world's number one, India's hopes for a gold rode on her but she went out in the first round. Such are the shockers. I did not see her on TV. I was not interested in archery, shooting and judo. I did see boxing and Mary Kom's victory, and both the winning wrestlers in action. But nothing dismayed more than the Indian hockey team. In close relation, Pakistan too were dismal. There has a shift in the game, moving from the subcontinent to Europe and later to Latin Americ, some years ago and now the gap seems to have widened. The brand of hockey has changed and the Indian and Pakistan way of playing is now relegated to the back. Though one did see some sparkles in the art of dribbling by a couple of Indians and Pakistan, nothwitstanding the fact that a few Europeans and some of the Argentines have mastered the Indian way of moving the ball up, it is now just enough in today's game that is more of push-and-run variety. As usual, the coach blamed the players and the players seemed inadequate in dealing with the situation on the ground. Kudos to skipper Chetri for admitting that India was not good enough for the Olympics. A greater tragedy is that the game is getting stepmotherly treatment in India. A national game is in decline, thanks largely to the infighting in the boardrooms of offialdom and the media promotion of cricket that has resulted in hockey starving of public exposure. Eugene Correia
