The Indians, who basked in glory after coming up with their best-ever Commonwealth Games performance in 2010, will have little hope of duplicating the New Delhi show when the athletics events of the 20th edition start at Hampden Park on Sunday.
Four years ago India finished with a haul of 12 medals (two gold, three silver and seven bronze). This included its first ever top of the podium finish after a gap of 52 years, following the gold medal won by the legendary Milkha Singh in the 440 yards race at the 1958 Games in Cardiff.
Krishna Poonia brought an end to the gold medal drought when she won the women’s discus throw. It was a glorious 1-2-3 finish with Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil following her in that order.
And, when the foursome of Manjit Kaur, Ashwini Akkunji, Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur came up with a sterling effort in the women’s 4x400 it marked India’s finest hour at the Games.
But here in Scotland, in spite of fielding a surprisingly large 41-member contingent (actually 40 since Sachin Roby is ruled out due to jaundice), the chances of a repeat look quite bleak.
In fact, anyone who has kept track of the athletes’ performances within the Commonwealth and elsewhere, would be aware of the reality.
If current rankings are taken into consideration, the most that India can hope for is a medal from discus thrower Vikas Gowda, who won silver in New Delhi. The burly thrower, who is also the reigning Asian champion, has had a best of 65.62m in the run-up. The Karnataka thrower could be in contention for the gold itself along with Australians Ben Haradine and Julian Wruck.
Besides Gowda, the other Indian in with a chance is Punjab’s Arpinder Singh in triple jump. He created a ripple at the last inter-State meet in Lucknow with a National record effort of 17.17m.
England’s Phillips Idowu, though not having performed well this season, is certain to have the crowd support and Arpinder should be as consistent as he was in Lucknow to be among the medals.
Beyond the two, Krishna Poonia and Seema Punia (nee Antil), and the women’s 4x400 team have an outside chance of winning minor medals. Anything more, from the likes of Mayookha Johny or Tintu Luka, can be nothing more than a bonus.
