India at London 2012: Can the trio bring a smile back on our faces?

Barring a few pockets of sunshine, the Indian contingent again slipped on a wet day at the Games. Sluggish starts from the women’s archery team, the mixed doubles pairing of Gutta Jwala and V Diju in Badminton, Somdev Devvarman (Asian and Commonwealth singles gold medallist) in Tennis as well as shooters Heena Sidhu and Annu Raj Singh means that they will return home from London without any medals.

However, there were a few promising performances on a soggy Sunday with Swarn Singh Virk comfortably winning the repechage race in the men’s singles rowing, while medal hopefuls Jai Bhagwan and Saina Nehwal were on the ball from the word go with thoroughly confident and professional performances in boxing and badminton.

Amid the gloomy start, India has a lot to look forward heading into a new week at the games. Serious medal contenders Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang will be on show in the discipline of shooting, while the Indian men’s hockey team will try to restore lost glory as they take on the mighty Dutch in their opening encounter.

At London 2012, Indian fans will be particularly looking forward to the performance of three athletes – Abhinav Bindra, Vijender Singh and Sushil Kumar, as they have previously won medals in Beijing 2008, and have maintained their form since those games. More importantly, they have vital experience of not only in participating at the Olympics, but of winning medals, which will give them an edge in their competition.

Having said that, it is extremely hard to defend a medal at the Olympics, especially a gold. The most notable example at London 2012 being that of swimming great Michael Phelps, who dominated the pool at Beijing 2008, winning eight gold medals, but has looked a pale shadow of himself at London 2012, finishing fourth in the 400m individual medley, and only managing silver as part of the highly fancied American team in the 4X100m freestyle relay.

On the other hand, there are a few examples of athletes successfully defending their gold medals at the games. An instance of sporting greatness at London 2012 was witnessed yesterday, when the South Korean women’s archery team won their seventh successive gold medal at the Olympics since 1988. That speaks volumes about the sport in Korea – the systems and infrastructure in place to consistently produce champion archers.

All Indian sports fans will be hoping that Bindra, Vijender and Sushil can defend or better their medals at London 2012, and leave a lasting legacy in their respective sports in India, inspiring a new generation of Indian shooters, boxers and wresters. But can this trio soak the pressure of expectations of a billion sports fans desperate for a truly global Olympic icon? Does the trio have the mental make-up to sustain the hunger of another medal at London 2012? Monday will answer some of these questions…

By Suheil Tandon

(The author is Co-founder & Partner, Pro4Sport Solutions, a high-performance coaching firm that trains young athletes in the sport of Basketball, Cricket, Football and Table Tennis)