This refers to the editorial, “low hanging fruit ignored” (August 20). India’s medals drought at Rio ended with Sakshi Malik getting a bronze and PV Sindhu bagging a silver. But there is no gold in our kitty.
There was a time when the Olympic gold was reserved for India in hockey. In recent years, apart from Abhinav Bindra’s gold for shooting, we haven’t secured the top spot in any sport. India has just 28 Olympic medals to its credit wheras America’s Michael Phelps alone has 26 medals, including 23 golds.
Another nation worth emulating is China, which having participated for the first time in 1984, matches the US in the medals tally in most of the games.
The editorial has rightly noted few individual medal-winners are able to repeat their performances, whereas athletes from other countries are able to deliver repeatedly. look at Jamaica’s Usain Bolt as an example, not to mention Phelps. The Government needs to keep politicians away from sports, and invest in sporting infrastructure.