Bolstered by a better-than-expected performance in the Commonwealth Games (CWG), Indian athletes would now look to assert themselves against the sporting might of continental powerhouses such as China and Japan in the 17th Asian Games commencing here on Friday.
A total haul of 64 medals in the CWG held in July-August should act as the springboard for the Indian contingent to better the medal tally claimed at Guangzhou, China, four years ago.
However, the reality is that Asian Games is far tougher to excel in than CWG, barring a few disciplines, especially with the Chinese juggernaut set to roll once again followed by the might of South Korea, Japan and a few other countries.
In 2010, the total medals scooped by the Indian contingent at the Asiad was 65 (14 gold, 17 silver, 34 bronze) — a month after a record haul of 101, including 38 gold, in the New Delhi CWG.
India finished at a creditable sixth spot on the table in Guangzhou which was topped by hosts China with a haul of 199 gold medals.
The sixth place finish in Guangzhou was India’s best in Asian Games history after the fifth spot it grabbed when hosting the pan-Asian sports spectacle in 1982 at New Delhi.
The country’s medal hopes in tennis, in which it has scooped up 23 medals in the previous editions, have been dented severely by the pullout of top players Somdev Devvarman, the men’s singles winner in 2010, and doubles specialists Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna.
Thankfully for the contingent, top woman player Sania Mirza will be seen in action here.
The hockey competition is also very important for India with the Asian Games winners gaining a direct entry into the Rio Olympics two years later.
Hopes high on shooters, athletes The athletics squad has men’s hopeful Vikas Gowda and seasoned women’s discus specialists Krishna Poonia and Seema Punia.
There are also talented track athletes like Tintu Luka, and national men’s triple jump record holder Arpinder Singh along with men’s high hurdler Siddhanth Thingalaya.
Shooting will see the likes of Olympic Games gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang striving for the gold which eluded them four years ago.
Ironically Bindra, who has won Olympic, World and CWG titles, has not won a single individual medal in the Asian Games and this could be his last chance to set that record straight.
There are also new shooting stars to look forward to like freshly-crowned men’s CWG champions Jitu Rai (men’s 50m pistol) and Apurvi Chandela (women’s 10m air rifle), apart from teenagers Malaika Goel and Ayonika Paul, who won silver medals at Glasgow.
In the absence of Sushil, the wrestling squad would be looking towards London Olympics bronze-winner Yogeshwar Dutt to end a 28-year wait for gold in grappling.
Tough competition in badminton
There is also the racquet discipline of badminton, spearheaded by the women’s duo Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu.
The competition for Saina, Sindhu as well as the men shuttlers like P Kashyap would be extremely stiff from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, hosts Korea and Japan to name a few.
Saurav Ghosal and Deepika Pallikal would be spearheading the campaign in squash in which the country is expected to win medals in all four categories.
