Chopra hit his straps in his first attempt itself with a world-leading throw of 88.67m, which was his fourth career-best effort to position himself on the top of the pile. He maintained the lead till the end to win the event in his second appearance at the Qatar Sports Club.

Silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic went agonisingly close to Chopra’s best mark with a second-round throw of 88.63m, four centimeters short of the Indian’s effort.

Vadlejch had also won silver in the Tokyo Olympics. He had also won a silver in the Doha Diamond League last year with a 90.88m throw.

Reigning world champion Anderson Peters, who had won the Doha event last year with a monster throw of 93.07m, finished third with a modest best throw of 85.88m.

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It was a open and chilling depiction of the rot that has afflicted India sports for a long, long time, and it was out on the streets for the entire world to see. Olympic and World championship medallist Indian wrestlers landed at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to protest not only the high handedness of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, but they also alleged that they were subjected to sexual harassment from the BJP MP and former mafia don.

Among those present at the three-day protest dharna were Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, who have Olympic bronzes, Vinesh Phogat, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and other athletes. They started their sit-in on January 18.

Singh has, of course, denied all allegations against him and said the athletes have no evidence to support them. The athletes say they know of five or six players who have been victims of harassment.

Vinesh Phogat alleged that the president had sexually exploited and harassed women wrestlers over a period of years.

Vinesh, who has been at loggerheads with the WFI since the Tokyo Olympics, made a startling revelation and also confirmed that it was not her, but one of her colleagues who was exploited.

Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur called the wrestlers over to his place and held two long meetings. At the end, Thakur asked Singh to move away from his post for a while, while investigations are held into the allegations. The IOA, headed by PT Usha, has formed an investigative body with MC Mary Kom, former multiple time world champion boxer as its head.

Of course the entire episode will be investigated, but it is a known fact in Indian sports that well-known and often respected administrators in different disciplines have always exploited women athletes, not that even politicians have stayed away from such acts.

Several protests, from lesser known athletes, have failed to germinate. They have been, time and again, crushed under administrative boots, denied due placed in teams and even their reputations and job prospects have been destroyed. This is not new.

One has to be thankful for these famous wrestlers to bring to the open the dark and ugly underbelly of Indian sports administration.

The allegation

Veteran Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, on January 18, alleged that WFI President Brij Bhushan has been involved since many years in sexually exploiting women wrestlers. Vinesh further claimed that several coaches at the national camp in Lucknow have also exploited women wrestlers.

Vinesh revealed that while she was never harassed or exploited, one of the victims of harassment was actually present at the dharna. She was not named. The 28-year-old also claimed that she had received death threats from officials close to President Brij Bhushan after she shared issues around wrestling in India with PM Narendra Modi after the Tokyo Olympics.

Bajrang Punia termed President Brij Bhushan a ‘dictator’ and also claimed that the WFI has been run in an arbitrary manner. Some of the notable Indian wrestlers and Olympic as well as CWG medal winners were present at the dharna.

Sakshi Malik, Sarita Mor, Sangeeta Phogat, Anshu Malik, Sonam Malik, Satyawart Malik, Jitendra Kinha, Amit Dhankar, and Sumit Malik were among the 30 wrestlers present at the protest besides Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia.

Vinesh highlighted harassment and misbehaviour with female wrestlers. “Coaches are harassing women, and some coaches who are favourites of the federation misbehave with women coaches as well. They sexually harass girls. The WFI president has sexually harassed so many girls,” she revealed. Vinesh even disclosed that the president called her “Khota Sikka” post her Tokyo Olympics campaign. The organization tortured her mentally, and as a result, she even got suicidal thoughts.

A bit about Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

Singh, 66, has been the president of the WFI since 2011. He was elected for a third consecutive term in February 2019. He is a politician, currently with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and is serving as a Member of Parliament from Kaiserganj.

In 2012 he became the president of the wrestling body for the first time by defeating Congress MP Deepender Hooda. He has also called the wrestlers sitting on dharna at Jantar Mantar as puppets of Deepender Hooda. In support of his point, the official of the wrestling association cited the statements of the wrestlers sitting on the dharna, in which there was only a demand for the resignation of Brij Bhushan, but later the demand for the dissolution of the entire wrestling federation, including all the state wrestling associations, was included. 

In his defence Singh he called allegations fake. “There is no truth in any of the allegations. Why should I quit? Even if one woman wrestler comes and proves the sexual harassment charge, I am ready to be hanged. There is an industrialist behind it (conspiracy),” the 66-year-old WFI President said at a media interaction.

“There can be an investigation by the CBI or police. There is no dictatorship. These same wrestlers had met me a week back and did not say anything.”

Answering Vinesh’s death threat claims, he said, “Why didn’t Vinesh talk to me or approach the police at that time? Why did she not meet the PM or the sports minister? Why is she saying this now?”

The WFI chief said that the new policies around competition in National Championships are causing trouble to the wrestlers and that is the reason behind the protest. “Different states host Nationals and all want the country’s best athletes to compete. None of these wrestlers has competed in the Nationals. We have made it clear that only those athletes who compete and win at the National Championship will be selected for the National camp.

Brij Bhushan has also been quoted as saying that some of the wrestlers were pressured to sit on dharna. “97 percent of players are with the WFI. I am hurt by the sexual harassment allegations. Not a single player can bring such charges against me or the chief coach. Some wrestlers were pressured to sit on a dharna.”

He also responded to Vinesh’s claims against the coaches in a conversation with the ANI. “A few days ago, in a meeting, Vinesh (Phogat) demanded that the chief coach be changed. A coach can’t be changed on the whims and fancies of one player. We have to think about players from other states as well. They should have come with names of the coaches, who they claimed are involved in sexual harassment.”

The reaction from the sports ministry

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) stated that they have taken cognisance of the events and have asked the WFI to issue an explanation within 72 hours.

The MYAS statement as quoted by Quint mentioned, “Since the matter pertains to the well-being of athletes, the Ministry has taken a very serious view of the matter. The Ministry has further stated that if WFI fails to furnish the reply within the next 72 hours, the Ministry will proceed to initiate action against the federation in terms of the provisions of the National Sports Development Code, 2011.”

The Ministry of Sports on January 22 suspended Vinod Tomar, assistant secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).

Protests called off

Wrestlers called-off the protests after Brij Bhusan Sharan Singh stepped aside as the President for a month. Bajrang stated that the union Sports Minister has listened to their demands and has assured that there will be a proper investigation As a result, they were calling-off the protests.

THE LOBBY STORY

Haryana lobby has become weak in the last ten years

According to a senior official of the WFI, the Haryana lobby has been very strong in the Indian Wrestling Association. Earlier Haryana used to dominate most of the posts related to the team support staff from inside the Wrestling Federation of India. But in the last 10 years during the tenure of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, this dominance of the Haryana lobby has ended. He said, in an attempt to regain this supremacy, the case of wrestlers protesting at Jantar Mantar has become ‘Haryana vs All India’. To strengthen his point, he cited Haryana’s wrestlers being at the forefront in this whole matter and Deepender Hooda standing vociferously in their support

TIMELINE

Jan 18: 
In a startling revelation, a crying Vinesh Phogat alleged that Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has been sexually exploiting women wrestlers for many years, a charge rejected outright by the sports administrator. The 28-year-old though clarified that she herself never faced such exploitation but claimed that “one victim” was present at the ‘dharna’ they began at Jantar Mantar. So disturbed was Vinesh that she along with Bajrang Punia had even met Union home minister Amit Shah to flag their issues about three months back. Rio Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik, world championship medallist Sarita Mor, Sangeeta Phogat, Anshu Malik, Sonam Malik, Satyawart Malik, Jitender Kinha, Amit Dhankar and CWG medallist Sumit Malik were among 30 wrestlers who assembled at the famous protest site.

Jan 19: 
On day 2 of the protest, three-time CWG medallist and BJP leader Babita Phogat came with a “message” from the government in the afternoon and assured the grapplers that their demands will be met after elite wrestlers insisted that WFI be disbanded. The wrestlers’ late-night meeting with Union sports minister Anurag Thakur remained inconclusive as they refused to back down from their demand. The marathon meeting began around 10pm on Thursday. The wrestlers left Thakur’s house at 1:45am.

Politicians also reacted sharply with Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar asserted “we will not let their morale to break”. Congress leaders also came out strongly in support of the players, with former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda saying “it is a matter of great misfortune and shame that our players, the pride of the country, have to protest on the streets today”.

Jan 20: 
It was a high-voltage day. Taking cognisance of allegations of sexual harassment, the Indian Olympic Association, led by PT Usha, formed a seven-member committee, headed by MC Mary Kom, to probe the charges. The panel was constituted even as the wrestlers’ sit-in protest entered the third day which also saw them meet union sports minister Anurag Thakur for a second round of talks in less than 24 hours.

Besides legendary boxer Mary Kom and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, the panel includes archer Dola Banerjee and Indian Weightlifting Federation president and IOA treasurer Sahdev Yadav.

Meanwhile, Beijing Olympics bronze medallist boxer and Congress leader Vijender Singh also visited the protest site at Jantar Mantar, showing solidarity with the wrestlers.

Jan 20-21: 
In a late-night development, the wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya, decided to end their protest after a breakthrough was achieved during a marathon second round of talks with Anurag Thakur. Thakur said an oversight committee will be formed that will investigate the allegations. The committee, members of which will be named on Saturday, will also oversee the day-to-day affairs of the federation. Making the announcement, Thakur said the committee will submit its report in one month’s time.

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Neeraj lost the gold to a deserving winner, Grenada’s Anderson Peters, who whipped the competition with a gold medal throw of 90.54m. This was only one of his three 90m throws in the championship. Peters threw 90.21m in his first attempt and then bettered it in his second at 90.46m.

Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch won bronze with a best throw of 88.09m, while Germany’s Julian Weber finished 4th with a best attempt of 86.86m.

Neeraj made history with his silver, becoming only the second Indian to win a medal at the world athletics championships. The last winner was long jumper Anju Bobby George, who had won bronze at the Paris worlds in 2003.

Neeraj registered his gold on his fourth attempt. He started with a foul throw and then registered 82.39m with his second attempt. He improved with his third attempt, when he threw the javelin 86.37m. He made two fouls in his first attempt and the fifth attempt, but just one good throw was enough to get his name in the record books.

He was still not set for a medal, but he registered a throw of 88.13m with his fourth attempt to shoot up to second place from fourth. His fifth and sixth attempts were foul throws.

The 24-year-old Neeraj had topped the Group A qualification round and qualified for the final at second place behind Peters by sending his spear to 88.39m for his third career-best throw. Peters had topped Group B with an effort of 89.91m.

The other Indian in the fray, Rohit Yadav, finished at 10th with a best throw of 78.72m. Rohit had finished 11th overall in the qualification round with a best throw of 80.42m. The 21-year-old Indian had recorded a season’s and personal best of 82.54m while winning a silver at the National Inter-State Championships last month.

Neeraj Chopra now has completed the set of major medals. The 24-year-old, who failed to qualify for the final in 2017 World Athletics Championships and missed out in 2019 due to an injury, won his maiden medal at the world meet.

Chopra had won Indian athletics’ maiden gold (87.58m throw) in the Tokyo Olympics last year. He is only the second Indian to have won an individual gold in the Olympics, after shooter Abhinav Bindra, who clinched the yellow metal in 2008 Beijing Games.

Neeraj Chopra now is the Olympic champion, Asian Games champion, Commonwealth Games champion and a silver medalist at the World Athletics Championships.

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2021 Highlights
From the coronavirus pandemic to farmer protests, poll violence, Olympic gold, Afghanistan violence, Haiti earthquake, new variant of Covid (Omicorn, after Delta) found in South Africa, the year 2021 was filled with life-changing events. Here is a recap of some of the prominent events.

JANUARY
2 : Congress veteran Buta Singh passes away.

26 : Indian farmers’ violence. A tractor march meant to highlight farmers’ demands dissolved into anarchy on the streets of the national capital on Republic Day. Rampaging protesters broke through barriers, fought with police, overturned vehicles and delivered a national insult – hoisting a semi-religious flag from the ramparts of Red Fort, a privilege reserved for India’s tricolour. Protesters clashed with police in multiple places, leading to chaos in well known landmarks of Delhi and suburbs, leaving the farmers’ two-month peaceful movement in tatters.

FEBRUARY
7 : Uttarakhand flood. Disaster struck the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand in the form of a deluge and avalanche. As per the government reports submitted in Lok Sabha, the disaster killed 80 people, and 204 people are still missing.

9 : Actor-producer Rajiv Kapoor dies at 58.

14 : Ebola outbreak in Guinea.

24 : Narendra Modi Stadium. The Motera cricket stadium in Ahmedabad was renamed as Narendra Modi Stadium. It is the world’s largest cricket stadium with a seating capacity of 132,000.

27: Prison break in Haiti : At least 25 people died after hundreds of prisoners planned an escape from a Haiti prison. Nearly 200 prisoners succeeded.

MARCH
Bengal post-poll violence : Violence erupted after the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress returned to power for a third consecutive term. The vanquished opposition foisted unconfirmed allegations of alleged murders, rapes, and vandalism that seemingly happened across the state following the announcement of the results of the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.

15 : Deadliest day in Myanmar coup: The coup in Myanmar reached its deadliest day yet, as security forces killed at least 38 people during protests.

APRIL
23 : Deaths : 15 COVID-19 patients die as fire engulfs ICU of a hospital in Maharashtra’s Virar.

MAY
5 : Mamata Banerjee takes oath as chief minister of West Bengal for the third time.

14 : Tropical Cyclone Tauktae claimed the lives of 169 people, with at least 80 others injured. 10 died in Kerala, 8 in Karnataka, 3 in Goa, 18 in Maharashtra, 64 in Gujarat.

16 : Cyclone Amphan made landfall in West Bengal and Odisha. Up to 300,000 people in coastal areas were in immediate danger, at least 12 people died. Cyclone Amphan was a disaster bigger than Covid-19, said Mamata Banerjee.

Coronavirus Crisis in UP : Thousands of dead bodies are found floating or washing up the shore of the river Ganges. The corpses also include people that died due to Covid-19.

COVID-19 : India’s oxygen crisis: After a new coronavirus variant unleashed a brutal second wave of infections in India, hospitals in the country faced their worst nightmare with shortage of oxygen tanks and beds. Many hospitals in Delhi and around the country ran out of oxygen, with hundreds dying from a shortage of oxygen. However, the centre has claimed no deaths due to oxygen shortage were reported by states and UTs during the second COVID-19 wave.

JUNE
3 : Israel Forms New Government : Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year tenure as Israeli prime minister came to an end, as the country’s parliament approved a new coalition government led by right-wing nationalist Naftali Bennett.

18 : Milkha Singh dies : India’s ‘Flying Sikh’ dies from Covid at age of 91.

JULY
7 : Dilip Kumar, the legendary Indian actor dies at 98.

13 : Yashpal Sharma, hero of India’s maiden World Cup win, dies at 66.

21 : Raj Kundra Scandal:  Businessman Raj Kundra, husband of actor Shilpa Shetty, spent two months in jail after his arrest in a case related to alleged creation and distribution of pornographic films through apps.

24 : Pegasus spyware controversy : The phone numbers of over 40 Indian journalists were on a hacking list of an unidentified agency using Israeli spyware Pegasus. Those on the list of potential targets included journalists at Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Wire, The Indian Express, News18, India Today, etc.

24 : Tokyo Olympics 2020 gets underway

AUGUST
Till August 8 : Tokyo Olympics 2020: India finished 48th on the medals tally in Tokyo, its highest ranking in over four decades. 1 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze India produced it’s richest-ever medal haul and the finest performance of all time at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

6 : Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award renamed as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

7 : Special day at the Games: Neeraj Chopra, the 23-year-old javelin thrower from Haryana, became only the second Indian to win an individual gold in the Olympics, the first in athletics. Mirabai Chanu won silver medal in weightlifting and India beat Germany, winning bronze after 41 years in Hockey.

15 : The Afghan Disaster: As US troops left, Taliban retook Afghanistan after 20 years. US President Joe Biden said he left Afghanistan to avoid bloodshed.

16 : Haiti Earthquake: Haiti was shaken to the roots as a 7.2 magnitude (Richter scale) earthquake hit Haiti, killing over 2,200.

21 : Former Uttar Pradesh CM Kalyan Singh passes away at age of 89.

24 : Start of Tokyo Paralympics

SEPTEMBER
Till September 5 : Paralympics. India finishes 24th by securing a total of 19 medals which includes 5 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze medals. The gold medallists were: Avani Lekhara in Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1, Pramod Bhagat in Men’s singles SL3 badminton, Krishna Nagar in Men’s singles SH6 badminton, Sumit Antil in Men’s Javelin Throw F64, and Manish Narwal in Mixed 50m Pistol SH1.

16 : Virat Kohli announces that he will be stepping down as captain of the IPL team RCB at the end of the season.

19 : Charanjit Singh Channi named Punjab chief minister, first Dalit CM of the state.

OCTOBER
3 : Actor Shah Rukh Khan’s 23-year-old son Aryan was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the drugs-on-cruise case.

9 : Air India returns to Tata after 70 years: Tata Sons won Air India bid, the airline it founded nearly 90 years back – as the government accepted its winning bid of Rs 18,000 crore to acquire 100 per cent of the debt-laden state-run carrier.

21 : India breaches 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses administered mark.

24 : India crash to Pakistan as the T20 World Cup begins.

 28 : Aryan Khan was released on bail by the HC on October 28.

NOVEMBER
1 : The Supreme Court of India orders to constitute an independent panel to make a comprehensive probe into the Pegasus (spyware) snooping scandal.

19 : Narendra Modi government relents, decides to spike farm laws: Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repeal of three contentious farm laws, assuring farmer groups protesting against them for the past year that the legislative process for the repeal would be completed in the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament.

 Omicron variant in Europe earlier than thought: Even before the arrival of Omicron, European countries were witnessing a resurgence of the disease. The scary thing about this is that countries such as Austria and Germany are developed nations, with high rates of vaccination.

DECEMBER
1 : Barbados finally rejects the Queen, becomes a republic.

4 : Veteran journalist Vinod Dua dies at 67.

8 : Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and 12 others are killed in a chopper crash near Coonoor, Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu.

13 : Actress-model Harnaaz Sandhu beat contestants from 80 countries to win the Miss Universe title.

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Frankly, it is not just Neeraj, but all the medal winners and even those who just missed medals, yet fought like lions and lionesses at the Tokyo Olympics. As we move towards our 75th Independence Day, such news bears for us good tidings and hope.

The Covid pandemic notwithstanding, the biggest aid to growth and a good life for our children today lies in their parents assuring them health, the biggest wealth of all. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi promises to bring and honour all Olympians at the Red Fort on August 15, he also promises to showcase sports as a way towards this healthy growth. This symbolism should be taken seriously.

How do sports intermingle with studies? As a parent myself, I would surely want my children to do well in studies, but not at the cost of their health. Sport allows commensurate growth of all faculties of the body, including the brain. The future of the country lies in the hands of a healthy youth, not just the educated youth. To this end it becomes essential for us to realise that there has to be a process through which our schools and colleges can incorporate sports into curricula.

So far, there has not been any approved sports curriculum appended with regular CBSE or ISCE syllabus. It is treated as an external activity that schools need to initiate, but the boards have no obligation in enforcing. Sports classes should be made mandatory in school curricula. In the exams, passing a sports discipline should be made mandatory before the overall exam performance of a student is adjudged. The final marks of sports may or may not be added to the total, but passing should be mandatory. In this, the sports curricula should also include those with physical disabilities. There are sporting disciplines that are adapted to these. The Paralympics start in Tokyo on August 24, and remember that there are Indians who have been world champions at these Games.

Schools in India are supposed to have their own playfields. In case of a school not having its own playfield, the instruction is that several schools can share and use a common playfield. However, the reality on the ground shows that a playfield is probably the last requirement in a school today. If the school authorities can set up another building on their playfield and increase the number of students, that is what will be done. This attitude must change.

While we celebrate the victories of Olympic heroes, we should not simply forget their contribution a few weeks from now. Their contributions to our world, to your world are permanent. Following them is imperative. 

Last, but not the least is the issue of children getting addicted to screens. It was the television screen not too long back, now it is the smartphone. Actual physical activity cannot be replicated or substituted by apps that simulate them. Surely, smartphones are an essential commodity these days. But children must be allowed only limited time per day on these. This, of course, means that parents must spend a little more time with their children. And since even parents are busy, sports can be used to very successfully supplement for their absence. Character, that sports adds, will only benefit the family.

In this issue, we have highlighted Indian success at the Olympic Games. It is a reminder to us all that a rounded life includes discipline, discipline that a sportsperson has to imbibe to be successful. All are ingredients of a good society.

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K D Jadhav: The man from a wrestling family of Maharashtra failed to get a medal at the 1948 London Games, so he trained hard for Helsinki and won the bronze. He remains the only Olympic medallist never to get a Padma Award.

Leander Paes: Son of virtuoso athlete and hockey Olympic bronze medallist (1972 Munich Games) Vece Paes, Leander lost his Atlanta semi-final to Andre Agassi 6-7, 3-6.

Karnam Malleswari: Already a star before her Sydney advent, having won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award the year before, the girl from an Andhra village fought hard, but managed a bronze in the 54kg category, recording 110 kg in snatch, 130 kg in jerk.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore: A Major in the Indian Army then, the shooter from Rajasthan won India’s first Olympic silver in Athens. At the Markopoulo shooting range, he threw a soft punch in the air, as his scorecard read 179 points, out of which 44 came in the final itself.

Abhinav Bindra: His promise was well known. In Athens he failed, but remained quiet during press meets. In Beijing, four years later, he showed what metal he was made of, winning India’s first and only individual gold (men’s 10 m air rifle) from the Olympic arena so far.1

Vijender Singh: Beijing was a happy hunting ground for Indians, boxer Vijender adding to India’s haul with a bronze from the men’s middleweight category.

Sushil Kumar: Sushil’s first medal, a bronze, came in Beijing, from the men’s freestyle 66 kg wrestling mat. He moved up a step, to silver, in London, four years later. He lost to 2011 World Championships silver medallist and 2010 Asian Games gold winner Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu of Japan in the final.

Gagan Narang: Narang, who fell just short in Beijing, made amends in London, winning India’s second medal from the shooting range, a bronze in men’s 10m air rifle.

Vijay Kumar: In London he was under pressure to deliver, with Narang having already secured bronze. Vijay did not disappoint in the men’s 25 rapid fire pistol. Tied with China’s Ding Feng in second place with 24 points he finally came through in the nerve-wracking seventh round.

Saina Nehwal: She entered the London badminton arena with a lot of promise, but it ended in a disappointing women’s singles bronze match, her Chinese opponent Xin Wang withdrawing through a knee injury, while leading 21-18, 1-0. Saina’s bronze was the first Olympic medal for India in badminton.

Mary Kom: Adjusting to an unfamiliar weight category was difficult for the multiple-time world champion from India. In the end, Mary was defeated in the 51 kg semi-finals by Nicola Adams of the UK, but did succeed in getting a bronze in London.

Yogeshwar Dutt: He clinched a bronze in London from the men’s freestyle 60 kg wrestling mat, his thirst for an Olympic medal having started when he watched Leander win bronze in Atlanta. In London, he stayed on via the repechage rounds, but suffered an eye injury in the bout versus Russia’s Besik Kudukhov. Yet, he went on to beat North Korea’s Ri Jong-Myong for bronze.

Sakshi Malik: The 23-year-old’s bronze in the women’s 58 kg freestyle was a first for women’s wrestling in the country. At the Carioca Arena in Rio, she beat Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan, fighting back from a 0-5 deficit to win 8-5.

P. V. Sindhu: The women’s singles badminton final at the Rio Games was stiff, versus Spain’s Carolina Marin. Sindhu won the first set at 21-19, but Marin came back to clinch gold, winning the last two games 21-12, 21-15. Sindhu, at 21, became the youngest Indian to win an Olympic medal, a silver. In Tokyo Sindhu defeated China’s He Bingjiao 21-15, 21-13 in just 53 minutes to end with a Bronze. She became the second Indian athlete (after Sushil Kumar) to win back-to-back medals in the Olympics.

Mirabai Chanu: Chanu (26) won silver medal in the 49 kg division at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with a total lift of 202 kg. She went down to Chinese lifter Z.H.Hou who had a total lift of 210 kg. She Chanu’s was the second weightlifting medal for India after Karnam Malleswari.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya: The 24-Year’s old Ravi Kumar Dahiya bagged a silver medal in the men’s 57kg freestyle wrestling at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, after a 4-7 loss to Russia’s Zavur Uguev in the final.

Lovlina Borgohain: She won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the women’s welterweight boxing. In the bronze match she lost 0-5 to world champion Busenaz Surmeneli (Turkey).

Picture: Twitter

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Immediately after celebrating his Olympic gold in an almost empty Tokyo stadium, Neeraj Chopra quietly folded the national flag according to the proper flag folding protocol and kept it away, safe. The respect he showed to the flag showed how dedicated he was to his duty as Nayak Subedar Chopra, of IV Rajputana Rifles, as he was to his duty as an athlete. It was almost a quiet vindication of years of hard labour in a sport that few practise, and less follow in this country. Neeraj was just the second individual gold Olympic medallist after Abhinav Bindra, who won one in shooting at the Beijing Games.Even as his teammates cut a golden cake, later at the hotel, the 23-year-old said the immensity of it all will probably land on him when he returns home. Maybe the country, too can slowly understand that even in the super competitive world of athletics, India has a chance.

Early life : Neeraj Chopra hails from Khandra village in the Panipat district of Haryana. His father is a farmer and he cultivates a small patch of land. His mother is a housewife and he has two sisters. Neeraj was a plump kid, and to get in shape, he joined a gym. More than plump, he was an 80 kg kid, teased by local children. While at it, he met Jai (Jaiveer Singh) Chaudhary, who used to practice at Panipat Stadium. Jai believed Neeraj had a future in sport and found that his throwing arm was strong enough for him to be in javelin. He had thrown 40m in a test. Jai had represented Haryana in javelin Athlete. So, when Neeraj was just 11, he came under Jai’s wings and started practising at the gym, as well as at the Panipat Stadium. Through school, and through DAV College, Chandigarh. Meanwhile, to support himself financially, he joined the Indian Army as a Junior Commissioned Officer with a rank of Naik Subedar in 2016.

Career : Jaiveer Choudhary became his first coach. After training under Jai for a year, the 13-year-old Chopra was admitted to the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, four hours from his home. His coach was Naseem Ahmad, who made him undergo long-distance running along with the javelin throw. He was by thenm throwing 55m and then won the 2012 junior nationals in Lucknow by throwing 68.40 m, a national record. The next year he got his first international exposure, at the World Youth Championships in Ukraine. His first international medal, a silver, came in 2014, at the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok. He was progressing, now to 70m. Then he his big time, when he threw to 81.04 m in the 2015 All India Inter-University Athletics Meet, a world record in that category. He graduated to a gold at the 2016 South Asian Games with a throw of 84.23 m, equalling the national record. Then came his big show at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, where he set a world junior record of 86.48 m. he failed to qualify for the Rio Games, because the cut-off date had been 11 July, the week before the U20 championships. Now he was a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Rajputana Rifles.

In 2017 he won gold at the Asian Athletic championships (85.23m). 2018 Commonwealth Games : Gold 86.47 m).

2018 Asian Games : Gold (88.06m)

Awards : Arjuna Award – 2018

Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) – 2020 Republic Day honour.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya Silver : Wrestling (57kg).

In Tokyo he reached the final in the 57 kg, his comeback win was of particular interest. He was trailing 5-9 to the Kazakh, but with great effort, Dahiya pinned down his opponent, which meant the points deficit meant nothing. It was a win by a ‘fall’. 

Early life : Dahiya was born in 1997 in a village called Nahri in the Sonipat district of Haryana. He took to wrestling early in life, being trained by Satpal Singh at the Chhatrasal Stadium in North Delhi since he was 10.

His father Rakesh Dahiya, was a small farmer, but provided ample support to Ravi, travelling every day from the village to the stadium to deliver fresh milk and fruits. These were basic diet for a wrestler’s development. This continued for over a decade. Finally, his dedication paid off.

Career : Dahiya’s early success was when he won silver in the 55 kg freestyle category at the 2015 Junior World Wrestling Championships in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. With early success came early injury, when he was injured in 2017. That put him out of action for over a year. But he came back strongly, winning silver (57kg) at the 2018 World U-23 Wrestling Championship in Bucharest. It was India’s only medal from the competition.

In the pro wrestling league in 2019, Dahiya remained unbeaten, being part of the title-winning team, Haryana Hammers. At the 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships in Xi’an he was out of medals, finishing fifth.

The same year, debuting at the World Championships, he defeated European champion Arsen Harutyunyan in the round of 16, as well as 2017 world champion Yuki Takahashi in the quarterfinal. That was how he earned one of the six available quota places for the Tokyo Olympics. At the World Championship he had to settle for bronze when he lost to defending champion and eventual gold medallist Zaur Uguev in the semi-final.

That’ however, put him in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports’ Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). That happened in October 2019.

This was a big boost, as Dahiya went on to clinch gold at the 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi and the 2021 Asian Wrestling Championships in Almaty.

Saikhome Mirabai Chanu Silver : 49 kg women’s weightlifting

In Tokyo she had a total lift of 202 kg, becoming the first Indian weightlifter to win silver at the Olympics and the second Indian weightlifter after Karnam Malleswari (Sydney 2000) to win an Olympic medal. Not only that, en route to the medal, she logged a new Olympic record with a lift of 115kg in clean and jerk.

Early life : She was born on August 8, 1994 in Nongpok Kakching, about 30 km from Imphal city, capital of Manipur. She was born to a poor Meitei family that eked out its living in farming. She was the youngest of six siblings. Early signs of Chanu’s natural strength was evident she was just 12. Her family and others in the village noticed that she could easily carry a huge bundle of firewood back home, when her elder brother had trouble even to pick it up. Her strength had to be put to good use, said all.

Chanu had initially wanted to take up archery until stumbling into a weightlifting hall at a local sports hall in Imphal. Her idol is famous weightlifter Kunjarani Devi.

Career : As she completed her intensive training, her big break, as well as the first big success came at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. There she won silver in the 48 kg category. That also qualified her for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the women’s 48 kg category. Maybe nerves go the better of her at Rio, as she failed to finish, with no successful lift in either clean or jerk.

She did not despair, but went on to win the gold in the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships held at Anaheim, CA, United States. In the 48 kg category she notched up a competition record 194 kg in total (85 kg snatch and 109 kg clean & jerk).

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Chanu lifted a total of 196 kg – 86 kg in snatch and 110 kg in clean and jerk – to win the India’s first gold. Even before she hit gold, Chanu had broken the games record for that weight category. It was also her personal best. There was a dip in performance in the Asian Weightlifting Championships next year, settling for bronze (49 kg).

Then, that year, at the World Championships, she lifted a total of 201 kg (87kg snatch and 114 kg clean & jerk) to finish fourth. That was a new national record, as well as her PB. She was not satisfied. The strong girl from Manipur bettered her personal record again four months later when she lifted 203 kg (88kg in snatch and 115kg in clean & jerk,) en route to winning gold at the 2020 Senior National Weightlifting Championships.

Pusaria Venkata Sindhu Bronze, women’s badminton singles

Following the fading away of Saina Nehwal, the first woman to win an Olympic Medal for India in badminton, PV Sindhu emerged as India’s best bet at the international level. She did not disappoint at the Rio Games, wining silver and becoming the youngest Indian to do so. In Tokyo she became only the second Indian, after wrestler Sushil Kumar to win back-to-back medals at the Olympics.

Her arch rival and friend Carolina Marin of Spain had pulled out of these Games, but that did not make Sindhu’s path any easier. She came up against Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying, but lost. She has lost too many times against her as of now and she needs to sort her out. In the bronze match Sindhu defeated China’s He Bingjiao 21-15, 21-13 in just 53 minutes.

Early life : P.V. Sindhu was born and brought up in Hyderabad. Her father, PV Ramana, is an employee of the Indian Railways and mother is Vijaya. Both her parents had been national level volleyball players, so Sindhu was born into a sporting family. Ramana, in fact, was member of the Indian volleyball team that won bronze in 1986 Seoul Asian Games. He is also an Arjuna Awardee (in 2000).

Sindhu was educated at Auxilium High School, Hyderabad and then at St Ann’s College for Women. She chose badminton, because she drew inspiration from the success of Pullela Gopichand, the 2001 All-England Open champion. She started playing badminton at the age of eight, having learnt the basics from Mehboob Ali at the railway badminton courts in Secunderabad. She then moved to the Gopichand Badminton Academy. Coach and student parted ways later, with South Korean coach Park Tae-sang becoming her coach.

Career: At 14 she entered the international circuit, winning bronze at the 2009 Sub-Junior Asian Badminton Championships in Colombo. She won silver at the 2010 Iran Fajr International Badminton Challenge and in 2012 won the Badminton Asia U-19 title. She beat famed rival Nozomi Okuhara. Then she stunned London Olympics gold medallist Li Xuerui at the China Masters.

Four years later she won the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold women’s singles title. This was her second win in this tournament. Then she crafted her biggest success so far, winning India’s first Olympic badminton silver, at the Rio Games in 2016. In the final at Rio she lost to Marin 21-19, 12-21, 15-21. Sindhu, at 21, became the youngest Indian to win an Olympic medal.

Awards:

 National : Padma Bhushan, Third Highest Civilian Award of India (2020). Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, highest sporting honour of India (2016). Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India (2015). Arjuna Award (2013) .

Others : FICCI Breakthrough Sportsperson of the Year 2014; NDTV Indian of the Year 2014; BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year 2020.

Bajrang Punia Bronze, men’s freestyle wrestling, 65kg

Carrying a knee injury to the Tokyo Olympics all wrestlers targeted his injured knee. But that did not let Bajrang lose his heart, wrestling his heart out. In the semi-final he lost to three time world champion Haji Aliyev 5-12 and moved to the bronze match, where he won the men’s 65kg bronze medal over Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan. He completely dominated his tired-looking opponent and won 8-0.

Early life : He was born in a Jat family of Khudan village of Jhajjar district of Haryana. Early encouragement for wrestling came from his father, a former wrestler, and he started on the mat at age seven. His father did not let him feel the poverty that the family was in. lack of money did not allow him to partake of other sports, but could only involve himself in traditional sports (these were free), such as wrestling and kabaddi. Starting at a local mud wrestling school, Bajrang skipped school to go and practice. Seeing his talent, his family moved to Sonepat in 2015, near the regional centre of Sports Authority of India. He is now employed with the Indian Railways as a gazetted officer OSD Sports. He is married to the fellow wrestler, Sangita Phogat who is one of the famed Phogat sisters.

Career : Bronze at the 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships in the 60kg category. Bronze at the 2013 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest. Silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland in the 61 kg category. Silver at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. Silver at the 2014 Asian Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Finally he made gold at the Asian Wrestling Championship 2017 in New Delhi. He won gold again at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. He kept to his golden streak, when he won at the 2018 Asian Games (65 kg category).

World No. 1: He won silver at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships, but this medal ensured that he became world No. 1 in the 65 kg category. The bext year, at the same meet, he won bronze. That also was his qualifying for Tokyo.

Awards: Arjuna Award, 2015

Padma Shri Award,

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, 2019

FICCI India Sports Award 2020.

Lovlina Borgohain Bronze, 69 kg, women’s boxing

The Cfirst Olympic medal winner from Assam is a woman, and rightly so. The 5-foot 10 girl from Golaghat has, on her first Olympic outing, gained the confidence of her peers and the country. In Tokyo the 23-year-old had to settle for a bronze, after being beaten 0-5 by world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey in the semi-finals of the 69kg category. Accepted Surmeneli was too good for the Indian, but for the former muay thai practitioner it was her first Olympics and there is enough time for her go make amends and get better by the time the Paris Games come around. She became only the third Indian boxer with a podium finish from the Olympics, after Vijender Singh (2008) and MC Mary Kom (2012).

Early life : Borgohain was born on October 2, 1997, and her parents are Tiken and Mamoni Borgohain. Tiken is a small-scale businessman, eternally struggling to stay afloat in a tough economy, but managed to provide for his daughter’s ambition. She started her career as a kickboxer, but switched to boxing when opportunity beckoned. At the SAI trials at her school, the Barpathar Girls High School, she was noticed and selected by renowned Coach Padum Chandra Bodo and she landed at the SAI STC Guwahati in 2012. She was later coached by Sandhya Gurung.

Career: the big break came when she was selected for the 2018 Commonwealth Games contingent (welterweight). But, thanks to inefficient Indian officialdom, she came to know of the intimation only after the media splashed it. She had received no official call-up. The Games was a setback, as she lost to Sandy Ryan from the UK in the quarterfinals. Sandy went on to win gold. Before that, though, she had had her share of honours: bronze at the Asian Boxing Championships in Vietnam in November 2017, and then gold at the inaugural India Open in February 2018.

She also defeated Morocco’s Bel Ahbib Oumayma 5-0 in her last 16-clash in the 69-kg category at the Women’s World Boxing Championship.

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One gold, two silvers and four bronze medals, a total of seven at the Tokyo Olympic Games, beating India’s London Olympics haul of 6 is a huge lift for Indian sport. Most important was the gold from 23-year-old Neeraj Chopra in javelin, a feat that proved that Indian athletics (track and field is slowly coming of age). Neeraj, and the silver winners are the toast of the nation today, but one must not forget that in clinching bronze, Indian men’s hockey has brought our national sport back to the limelight, after 41 years in the wilderness.

Also important was the semi-final presence of India’s women’s hockey team, a statement of women’s empowerment as strong as any. In this issue, we look into our new sporting heroes, our future. Apart from the medal winners, we decided to include profiles of the entire women’s hockey squad, simply to stress on the immense hardship each girl has gone through in life, most coming from impoverished families, lifting women’s hockey to Olympic levels.

Looking ahead at the Paris Olympic Games, just three years from now, one can expect more; more in hockey, more in athletics, more in badminton, more in boxing and wrestling, we look forward to bigger participation from our women and towards world standards.

At the same time, our shooters failed, en masse, belying their world beating labels. Instead of the usual blame game that follows each sporting debacle, there is need for some serious soul searching within shooting fraternity. Why do we manage success at world levels, but fall prey to Olympic nerves? The Indian shooting armoury is strong enough to produce more Abhinav Bindras, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathores and Gagan Narangs. We need to identify what went wrong.

The other big ‘mystery’ so to say, is our archers. Deepika Kumari went to Tokyo as a world champion and as World No. 1. She failed miserably. At every Olympic Games, our archers, who had previously earned massive fame at world championships, fail miserably. That makes us doubt the very standards of such world championships. Why must India carry passengers at public cost? There should be a serious investigation into this.

Women’s boxing has come of age in India. Today, we can proudly say that India can, in future, produce more MC Mary Koms. Lovlina Borgohain proved that again.

The same with women’s wrestling; frankly, with wrestling in general. There is a general belief that wrestling, an ancient sport, was invented in India. However, the Iranians also hold that belief, historical evidences of wrestling as a sport being there from ancient Mesopotamia as well. This sport needs further nurturing, with modern training methods and more facilities.

Read on, for stories of success.

Other highlights:

1. Aditi Ashok finished fourth by a stroke in the women’s golf tournament of the Olympics, after being at second spot for three rounds. Her final round score was: carding 3-under 68 in the final round and had a combined score of 15-under.

2. The men’s 4x400m relay team finished Ninth in the final, The team clocked an area best 3:00.25 seconds, the team beat the Asian record of Qatar which had clocked 3:00.56 seconds. Against India which had clocked 3:01.85 seconds. The team members were: Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Tom Noah Nirmal, Rajiv Arokia and Amoj Jacob.

Indian medallists

The following are the Olympic Games medallists of India over the years. We have included the hockey teams as well. The entire gamut of winners is a treat for the eyes,a matter of pride for Indians.

GOLD

1928 Amsterdam Olympics: Beat The Netherlands 3-0 in the final. India’s first gold medal ever at the Olympics.

1932, Los Angeles: Defended title, defeating USA 24-1, which still stands as the biggest margin of victory in Olympic hockey history.

1936, Berlin: The Dhyan Chand-led Indian side completed a hat-trick of golds, beating Germany 8-1 – the biggest margin in Olympics hockey finals – in front of their home crowd in Berlin in 1936.

1948, London: India continued their domination in the Games despite the 1940 and 1944 Games getting cancelled due to the World War. This was India’s first medal in Olympics after independence and what made it sweeter was the fact that they had beaten Great Britain 4-0 in the final.

1952, Helsinki: Balbir Singh Sr scored five goals in the final against The Netherlands as India won their fifth straight gold medal at the mega event.

1956, Melbourne: In what marked as the beginning of the battle between the arch-rivals, India beat neighbours Pakistan 1-0 in the final.

1964, Tokyo: India came back strongly after losing to Pakistanin the in the Rome Olympics (1960), to again beat Pakistan in the final to regain gold.

1980, Moscow: India’s last gold. Played in a round robin format, India beat Spain in the final to claim their 8th gold medal in Olympics.

SILVER

1960, Rome: The 0-1 loss to Pakistan ended India’s six straight Olympic gold-winning run.

BRONZE

1968, Mexico City: This was the first time that the Indian hockey team failed to make the final of an Olympic Games. They were beaten by Australia in the semi-final and had to settle for bronze after beating West Germany.

1972, Munich: India once again failed to make it to the final, after they were beaten by Pakistan in the semi-finals. India beat Netherlands to claim their second bronze. 2021, Tokyo: India beat Germany 5-4 to bag their 12th medal in the Olympics – a bronze – after 41 years.

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The Indian hockey teams have done us proud at the Tokyo Olympics. The men won bronze, marking a return to the podium after 41 years, and the women’s team lost their bronze match against Great Britain on August 6 in an evenly-fought contest. One of the scorers for India was Vandana Katariya, a proud Dalit from Haridwar, whose family was set upon by alleged upper caste men after the team had lost the semi-final against Argentina on August 4.

But guess who was trending? Shah Rukh Khan. Because he wanted to wish the team before its semi-final match against Argentina. You may wonder why, and then try to recollect that he played a women’s hockey team coach in Chak De, remember, replete with a last-minute locker room uplifting speech?

When the women’s team was due to play the semifinals against Argentina, which they eventually lost, Khan, being the reel coach quote tweeted real coach Sjoerd Marijne, saying, “Haan haan no problem. Just bring some Gold on your way back… for a billion family members. This time Dhanteras is also on 2nd Nov. From: Ex-coach Kabir Khan.”

Marijne responded, “Thank you for all the support and love. We will give everything again. From: The Real Coach.” And a winking smiley.

But such are times that even SRK’s attempt to raise the team’s morale fell way short of the twitter troll’s patience level and became another instance to bash Muslims. While some blamed SRK for trying to claim credit (?) for the women’s team’s phenomenal show surprising many, others saw red at the actor’s innocent act.

“Aur ShahRukh Khan aa gaya mazaa??Face with tears of joy Being The Real Coach involves REAL BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS Not Merely Playing Kabir Khan a Character & Stealing Credit From REAL PERSON behind success of Indian Women #Hockey Team.THANK YOU THE REAL COACH  Sjoerd!!?Flag of India #hockeyindia #SjoerdMarijne”.

Most trolls don’t seem to realize that actors like Shah Rukh Khan don’t need to manage their own feed and even if they do, they can easily turn off the notifications.

Other twitter users wondered when would Akshay Kumar do a film on hockey, if ever.
But Coach Marijne has had the last laugh by asking if Shah Rukh Khan would do an encore in Chak De 2 given the superlative performance of the women’s hockey team.

You may not have missed it, but just in case you did! Remember the grainy under-the-metro-or-flyover video of a woman enthusiastically slapping a man with sodium vapour lamps for lighting and an eager mobile camera catching every resounding slap and a group moving with the action. The woman, Priyadarshini Yadav, claimed the man, a taxi driver, nearly ran over her and was not apologetic enough, prompting her to go into almost Insaaf ka Tarazu*  mode. That was the video.

This led to a large number of people including women seeing it as an assertive example of women’s agency. But the story didn’t turn out to be that convenient. The taxi driver, Sadat Ali, denied all charges put forward by the slap-artist and said he had no clue why his cheeks were targets for the furious woman.

If it had trended with #Lucknowgirl first, it got a befitting rejoinder #Lucknowcabdriver, the battle was joined. The woman was all over TV listing her reasons for the slap attack only to be followed by the driver’s demand that the police mistreated him and denied him food for a day or more.

Then he asked that his self-respect and dignity be returned to him. An earnest appeal but by then the driver was secondary. Old videos of the Lucknow woman hollering at people for painting their gates black surfaced.

The scandal reminded many of the Bullet case where a random tweet painted a Sikh young man as a leering Romeo and a careless motorist when that was not the case. Also the Zomato case where a woman accused a delivery man of the company of having punched her on the nose.

But given the hyper traction #lucknowgirl got, a few re-enactments complete with a bearded man playing the titular girl are out and about. So are some very busy people accessing video or photo footage of the original Lucknow girl crossing the road with headphones on etc.

This is proof that Twitter and other social media is extremely addictive and can’t be overcome with just a strong will, and a whole lotta mindfulness!

Two years after Article 370 ceased to extend autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir, August 5 saw trends both pro and anti matching each other tweet for tweet. #Article370 and #5thAugust saw tweets hailing the move of August 5, 2019. And since the Indian men’s hockey team won a hard-fought bronze on this day, they also reveled in the love showered on the PM for his efforts in helping India win medals. But Srinagar persevered in the TV glare and the Friday prayers of August 6 were solemn.

Tolerance is more or less skin-deep. But outrage on Twitter can be visited upon anyone who even mocks your idea, be it on the right side of things or on the other. That’s the case of the handle @theskindoctor13 who was suspended by Twitter and his supporters, mostly of the liberal jhola-wala type, who mounted a campaign to get him back for his satire taking on the mob. @theskindoctor13 is a dermatologist incensed by things over which most people look the other way and the media spins a new yarn over instead of speaking truth to wherever.

The return of the dermatologist is indeed good news but Twitter is at a greater loss for snapping several accounts that didn’t flinch in calling a spade a spade and not a tool to maybe dig up a bit of soil. Remember Tusky and its subsequent fading away?

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