India At The Olympics

“Every athlete gave his or her best”, Prime Minister Modi tweeted.

A new sense of objective born out of the shameful Olympic data that put the total number of medals won by India in the entire Olympic history at just about what a single man, Michael Phelps, has gathered all by himself, which stands at 28.

The silver and bronze medal won by PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik respectively not only saved India from the embarrassment of drawing a blank at Rio but also earned them a lot of fans for their fantastic performance, especially from a country that lacks the infrastructure and financial support a sportsperson requires.

Hundreds of people lined the streets and politicians competed to have selfies with the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal.

Wrestler Sakshi Malik whose podium finish ended India’s drought for the first medal at Rio Olympics also has a good share of Twitter followers.

On the other hand, Sindhu emerged to be India’s biggest star this year as she defeated higher-ranked opponents back-to-back before settling for a silver medal in the final against World No. 1 Carolina Marin.

India had sent its largest contingent ever to Rio Olympics and the country won two medals-one silver, one bronze-at the sporting extravaganza.

Another athlete, who became the redeem for the country in the Rio Olympics, was lone gymnast Dipa Karamakar.

If our sportspersons can achieve this feat and represent India in Olympics with minimal push given to sports in India, imagine the medals we would bag if other games are taken seriously in the cricket-frenzy nation.

Although the 23-year-old debutant from Tripura missed a bronze medal by a whisker, she managed to perform Tsukahara (14.866) in her first attempt before successfully executing risky Produnova vault (15.266) in her second attempt in the women’s individual vault final at the Rio Olympics.