ASIAN GAMES 2023; HOW IS INDIA'S PERFORMANCE?

Image courtesy - Hindustan Times 

The final medal tally of the Asian Games 2023 at Hangzhou, China.

(Gold, Silver, Bronze & Total)

China 201 - 111 - 71 : 383

Japan   52 -   67- 69 : 188

S Korea 42 -  59- 89 : 190

India      28 -  38 - 41 :  107

Uzb-stn 22 -  18 - 31 :   71

We Indians are proud of our record breaking performance in the Asian Games. Is this an appreciable performance? I may prefer to say it a deplorable attainment. China has bagged almost four times of medals received by us. In gold alone, when we got 28 they could get 201. Both countries have more or less same population to pick from. Chinese are not born athletes or talented in sports by birth . They train their people well in time and then send to the games venue. Most of our people have no set goals. Just send for the games; that's all. In the athletic disciplines, how many of our athletes have reached the bronze medal level of the previous Asian Game, before nominating them. It is not the people in the contingent that matters but the number of medals won that is watched by the world over.

Now look at Japan and South Korea. Current Japanese population is 12.3 cr which is less than 10 per cent of ours. In the case of medals, when we got 107 they could get 188. They got 52 gold against our 28.

In the case of South Korea,  from a meager population of 5.18 cr comparing to ours, could bag 190 medals against our 107. How these smaller countries could perform much better than us? Our sports managers are not bothered about these.

We may not get any clear answer in making comparison with these countries. But one thing is certain that whether it is Asian Games or Olympics, they set targets for each athlete and make best efforts to achieve the same. Then, most important, they are not corrupt like us. While they concentrate on their set task, we spend more time for making money. Can we make a challenge that we shall beat China in the total number of medals in the next Asian Games? Set eligibility mark of Gold, Silver and Bronze of this Games for the next one and start giving training now onwards instead of waiting for the last days. Try to pick the young ones from across the country and start the preparation.

K V George