Ashwin Ferro sports@ mid- day. com EVERY four years, Indiau2019s top athletes hope to see their countless hours spent in training and competition and the blood and sweat shed therein, culminate in an Olympic medal. Most fail. But itu2019s their behind- the- scenes stories that deserve gold medals. All of them. Boria Majumdar and Nalin Mehtau2019s Dreams Of A Billionu2014 India and the Olympic Games ( published by Harper Sport), is a fine compilation of just these stories and more.
Tale of two grapplers The book introduces itself with an apt comparison between a fallen hero and a super star at the 2016 Rio Games. Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sakshil Maliku2014 one, who promised to deliver the stars but was ousted by a freak injury and another, who grappled into the history books by becoming Indiau2019s first womenu2019s medalist in wrestling at the Games. The two tales are summed up perfectly: u201c While Sakshi was feted and celebrated across India, Vinesh was left all alone struggling with an injury and an uncertain future.
It was a stunning shift because Vinesh was supposed to be the star, whereas Sakshi was the underdog.u201d Some of the booku2019s classic chapters are Gopichandu2019s Revolution, Abhinav Bindra and Mother Mary, among others.
The split between badminton coach Pullela Gopichand and his star student Saina Nehwal is also well documented in another chapter, u2018 Saina, Sindhu and Tokyo 2020u2019, with none other than Sainau2019s now husband and fellow shuttler, Parupalli Kashyap, admitting that, u201c Saina felt Gopi sir was hers and her alone. For years, Gopi had worked on her. All of a sudden, he now had a lot of players to look after and Sindhu had started to show good results. I donu2019t blame either Saina and Gopi for the fallout.
I had started to see things go wrong and did my best to control the negativity, but I was helpless.u201d Sindhuu2019s meteoric rise is another significant chapter, covering the tall struggles of Indiau2019s u2018 tallestu2019 badminton star.
Hockey highs and lows The authors have also indulged in some in- depth research for a special chapter on Indian hockeyu2019s rise and fall at the Olympics, titled The National Game. Right from Dhyan Chandu2019s indomitable side that beat the Germans in their own backyard in 1936 to the Roelant Oltmans- coached Indian teamu2019s administrative struggles in Rio, the hockey coverage flows and ebbs well.
Just that we would like to disagree with the suggestion that, u201c there is an outside chance of a medal in menu2019s hockey at the 2020 Olympicsu201d, because, going by Manpreet Singh & Cou2019s sheer form, we believe that there is a strong possibility that Indian hockey will finish on the podium in Tokyo.
u2018 I donu2019t blame Saina or Gopi for falloutu2019 Nehwalu2019s fellow shuttler and hubby P Kashyap opens up in book on Olympics India shuttler Saina Nehwal and coach Pullela Gopichand after her London 2012 bronze win. pic/ afp
