MEDAL HOPES

INDIA claimed the maximum number of medals in shooting in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and they hope to play an encore when the country hosts the 19th Commonwealth Games in Delhi from October 3-14. The shooters also were lucky to get some kind of practice since the Karni Singh Shooting Range was one of the first venues to be completed. But in the case of other events in which India hope to strike medals, the home advantage was lost as the competition venues were completed only at the fag end.

Some disciplines were held as test events, but that was for a brief period in which the players could not really acclimatise themselves with the home conditions, which require sustained practice for a few days in the run up to the Games.

India hope to lift a clutch of medals in tennis, which will make its Commonwealth Games debut in Delhi, table tennis, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, archery, hockey (men and women) and athletics to not only bolster their overall medals tally, but also to give a decent fight to table toppers like Australia and England, who are expected to garner most of the medals on offer.

But this time around, the selection criteria for shooting was so stiff that Samresh Jung, who had won five gold, a silver and a bronze in 2006 to be adjudged the best athlete of the Melbourne Games, has been selected for only one event, as compared to four last time.

Samresh can win a maximum of only two medals this time in the individual and pairs events of the standard pistol. The home event will be a great climbdown for Samresh as he had done well in the 2002 Manchester CWG too, winning two gold and three silver medals.

Surprisingly, 10 of the gold medallists, who had helped India annex 23 gold, 17 silver and nine bronze medals in the Commonwealth Championship at the Karni Singh shooting range in February this year, have either missed selection, or will not be shooting in the same events.

Gagan Narang, who won the World Championship gold in air rifle, is tipped to win three medals as he will be shooting in all three rifle events. Overall, India will be fielding 36 shooters for the 120 medals at stake. Indeed, shooting will be critical to India’s overall medals tally as they aim to better the tally of 16 of the 22 gold medals India won at Melbourne.

In Delhi, the shooters are expected to fetch around 30 medals. And the burden of winning the medals will rest on Jung, Narang, Abhinav Bindra, Manavjith Sandhu, Ronjan Sondhi, Anjali Bhagawat, Anuja Jung, Avneet Kaur, Suma Sirur and Tejaswani Sawant.

In tennis, the medals are expected from Sania Mirza, who will be competing in the women’s singles and mixed doubles with Leander Paes, the men’s doubles team of Leander and Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna and Somdev devvarman.

The Indian players, all veterans in the Grand Slam circuit, are likely to fully exploit the home conditions at the magnificent R. K. Khanna tennis complex.

Badminton sensation Saina Nehwal, who is ranked third in the world, is expected to triumph in the girls’ singles of badminton while medals are expected from the mixed doubles pair of D. Viju and Jwala Gutta and the men’s singles and doubles players.

Olympic bronze medalist Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt will spearhead the hosts’ medal hunt in wrestling in the 66 kg and 60 kg weight categories respectively while another Beijing Olympics bronze medalist, Vijender Singh will lead the fight in the boxing ring.

Indian archery team coach Limba Ram was confident that the men’s and women’s recurve and compound teams should strike at least six medals while paddler Achanta Kamal was expected to replicate his gold-winning show at Melbourne. — MSU