Melded into history

Published>Sun, Oct 17 10 03:17 AM

"The Games belong to the athletes and athletes will perform." When 'gold-finger' Abhinav Bindra said this at the start of the 19th Commonwealth Games, we weren't in a position to predict a second place for India in the games and that the host nation would clinch its biggest-ever gold medal tally with its best performance ever. But Indian athletes did it, and how! Controversies chased the games on a daily basis, but the Indian contingent rose beyond all that to make their nation proud.

Be it the first Commonwealth gold for India in athletics after a yawning gap of 52 years, or the great medal haul in wrestling and shooting, or the inspirational display by the crisis-ridden hockey team that won its first-ever medal, a silver, at the CWG?it has been smiles all the way in the arenas. Picking up 101 medals in all at one single international sporting event was something of a dream till the start of CWG 2010 for this cricket-worshiping nation. And talking about cricket, though the Test series with Australia turned out to be an epic victory for the Indian cricket team, our athletes in the CWG received as much attention, interest and support from the spectators, if not more, as the men in blue of Indian cricket. If thinking beyond cricket was ever a problem in this country, it just wasn't so over these 11 days.

While these games would be remembered for rather avoidable reasons and controversies, spanning from corruption and delays in preparation to mismanagement of volunteers and from empty stands in the stadia to the mad scramble for tickets, they would also be remembered for the Indian contingent's stellar performance. Never before did the Indian contingent reach such a summit of success.

Call it the home advantage or the effect of an emphatic crowd backing, Indian athletes have raised the bar for themselves and ignited the hopes of an entire nation, that this performance will provide the ever-needed elixir for sports and sportspersons in India. India has dared to dream, yet again!

Source: Web Search