YEAR OF BIDDING

WHEN the Rio Olympics opened on August 5, 2016, India had their bestever Games four years ago in London. Expectations were very high. Six medals in 2012, though there was no gold like in the 2008 Games, London had sown new seeds of belief.

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There was a steady flow of money both for players as well as sports infrastructure. Corporate participation increased. Nonprofit organizations filled gaps left by the sports ministry's support system for elite athletes. In short, when India landed in Rio, the excitement was almost infectious.

As days unfolded, India realised that dreams and reality are two different things. There were no medals until the last four days. Hope gave way to despair. The repetition of losses was getting unbearably monotonous and torturous. Finally, two women-Sakshi Malik on August 18 and a day later, PV Sindhu won medals, and from six in London, India crashed to just two medals. The story in delayed Games at Tokyo was much more promising as seven medals were won with Neeraj Chopra winning gold. Three years later in Paris, the number dropped to six without gold. That again is not progress. After spending crores in training and exposure, foreign coaches, nutritionists, physios the medal tally do not reflect a healthy trend. This definitely points towards some kind of inadequacy in the system.

Bidding progress

If India are struggling to reach double figures in the Olympics, they have made considerable progress elsewhere - bidding for mega Games.