Rio medal haul: SAI couldn’t have been further off the mark

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 30

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) had predicted that India would win 19 medals at the Rio Olympics, with shooters and wrestlers tipped to bring home four and three medals, respectively. SAI had zeroed in on the rather unrealistic number on the basis of a broad assessment it carried out with regard to the chances of Indian athletes winning a medal at the Summer Games.

The disappointing show by the 118-member strong Indian contingent, which returned with just two medals from Rio, shows that SAI was completely off the mark in its assessment. SAI’s 244-page assessment report, a copy of which is with The Tribune, was based on the “compilation of the data with respect to each athlete’s performance in major international events during the last three years and a comparative analysis with respect to medal performance bench-mark set up at the last Olympics as far as measurable sports were concerned”.

With respect to non-measurable sports such as boxing, wrestling, badminton, tennis and table tennis, the analysis was based on “qualified athletes’ performance against top-ranking/medal-winning athletes in respective disciplines in addition to their current form”. An analysis was also done to ascertain the stage (quarters, semis, finals and 8th-16th rank) up to which an athlete/team was expected to progress in Rio.

High expectations 

According to the assessment, athletics, archery, badminton, boxing and tennis were expected to yield two medals each, while gymnast Dipa Karmakar and the men’s hockey team were supposed to clinch a medal each.

In the end, the big and time-consuming exercise carried out by SAI proved to be way off the mark. SAI’s assessment and hopes were fuelled by the performance of the Indian athletes in the Glasgow CWG and the Incheon Asian Games, and a few other international events. SAI, while carrying out the assessment, made the mistake of not realising that the Olympics are an altogether different ball game with around 11,000 athletes from 205 nations chasing the medals.

Incidentally, Sakshi Malik, one of the two medallists, wasn’t among SAI’s medal hopefuls. As per its assessment, she was supposed to bow out much before the medal bouts. The Rohtak girl, however, defied all odds, and assessments too, to become the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics. SAI had pinned its hopes on Yogeshwar Dutt, Narsingh Yadav and Vinesh Phogat.

Shooting pain 

In shooting, the SAI assessment had marked all 12 shooters as medal hopes and expected each one of them to make the finals of their respective event. Sadly, none of the first-timers could go beyond the qualification round — Chain Singh finished 36th in the 50m rifle prone and 23rd in the 50m rifle 3 positions, Prakash Nanjappa 25th in the 50m pistol, Mairaj Ahmad Khan10th in the skeet qualifiers, Kynan Chenai 19th in the trap, Apurvi Chandela 34th and Ayonika Paul 47th in the 10m air rifle. Big names like Gagan Narang, Heena Sidhu and Manavjit Singh Sandhu, too, drew a blank in their respective events. Abhinav Bindra’s creditable fourth-place finish in the 10m air rifle and Jitu Rai’s eighth position in the 10m air pistol were the only silver lining.

In archery, SAI had penned down Deepika Kumari as a bright medal hope on the basis of her impressive showings in the World Cups and the World Championships. But again, Deepika faltered at the biggest stage and lost in the pre-quarters of the individual event. The women’s team, comprising Deepika, Laxmi Rani Majhi and Bombayla Devi, lost in the quarterfinals.

SAI’s project officers were quite ambitious in hoping a podium finish from the men’s hockey team, which had finished last four years back at the London Games. The team, led by goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, did come up with some courageous performances in the league stage, but went down to Belgium in the quarters. SAI was expecting a medal from throwers Vikas Gowda and Seema Punia, but they, too, failed to live up to its expectations.