Usha’s haul has been the most outstanding

September 18, 2014 02:28 am | Updated 02:28 am IST

India's greatest female athlete P.T. Usha made the 1986 Asian Gamea all her own by winning four gold and a silver medal in the South Korean capital. Photo: The Hindu Photo Library

India's greatest female athlete P.T. Usha made the 1986 Asian Gamea all her own by winning four gold and a silver medal in the South Korean capital. Photo: The Hindu Photo Library

India, as one of the five nations behind the formation of the erstwhile Asian Games Federation in 1949 — the forerunner of the present Olympic Council of Asia — and the host of the first edition of the Games at New Delhi in 1951, can rightly take pride that the continental affair has gone from strength to strength to emerge as the second biggest multi-discipline event in the world behind the Olympic Games through the last 63 years.

But in truth, the same cannot be said about the performances of the country’s athletes as the Indian total tally of 545 medals comprising 128 gold, 168 silver and 249 bronze in no way stands any comparison to the truck loads of medals won by Japan (2,650), China (2,553) or South Korea (1,829) so far at the Games.

A quick run down of the results of the past 16 editions also reveal that the bulk of the Indian tally has come from the track and field what with the athletes having won a total of 219 medals including 70 golds.

The next best turns out to be the grapplers with 51 medals, eight of which have been gold, while boxing and tennis have contributed a total of 48 and 24 medals, with seven gold medals apiece; the same as kabaddi, an event which has consistently brought home nothing less than the gold medal right from its inception at the 1990 Games in Beijing.

In comparison the rest of the disciplines pale into insignificance as the Indian hockey team has been able to reach the top of the podium only twice — in 1966 and 1988 — whereas the country has benefitted more from cue sports and shooting, at least in terms of the yellow metal over the years.

The rest of the gold count for India has come from a variety of disciplines including football, chess, equestrian, golf, rowing, swimming, water polo and diving, while the country has won medals, either silver or bronze, from 12 other disciplines.

Yet, amongst all this mediocrity it is to be admitted that there has been some stellar individual performances as well.

Like the sprint double won by Levy Pinto in 1951, the back-to-back gold medals won by discus thrower Praveen Kumar and triple jumper Mohinder Singh Gill, shot putters Parduman Singh, Joginder Singh and Bahadur Singh and Sriram Singh in the 800m, the 100m freestyle title won by Sachin Nag and the two diving gold medals won by K.P. Thakkar, both in 1951, the 200m-400m double of legendary Milkha Singh in 1958, the long-distance double by Hari Chand in 1978 and the giant leap of 8.07m recorded by T.C. Yohannan in 1974.

As also the unique showing of tennis maestros Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in 2002 and 2006 and the golden treble of ace shooter Jaspal Rana again at Doha 2006.

But undoubtedly the standout performance of all time by an Indian at the quadrennial extravaganza remains the individual haul of four gold medals and a silver by P.T. Usha at the 1986 Games in Seoul.

‘Oosha’ wave

Only two women — Kamaljit Sandhu in 1970 and M.D. Valsamma in 1982 had won gold medals for India prior to the Seoul Games and what a showing it proved to be as the Kerala athlete not only demolished her opposition with such grace and skill but also forced the otherwise partisan crowd to adopt her as their own ‘Oosha’.

The greatest Indian athlete ever was flawless in the 200m, 400m and the 400m hurdles prior to anchoring India to its first ever win in the 4x400m relay after settling for the second spot in the 100m behind arch rival Lydia de Vega of the Philippines.

That India did win only one other gold medal in Seoul still remains an apt reminder on how Usha helped her country save the blushes at that time.

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