Tokyo Olympics 2020

[Orang]

If we are doing better in the paralympics, that is a good sign. That means we are at least at the highest level giving more support to the differently abled than some of our peers who are doing better at the main Olympics. But, are we doing better? Or are we just getting more medals because there are more medals?

More medals and a lot of bigger Olympic programs like the US, Japan don't care as much.

Almost all of our continental rivals in Uzbekistan, Iran, Thailand are also doing the same or better.

Total medals in the 2020 Olympics was 1080. In the 2020 Paralympics, it was 1668. So 54 percent more.

We got 7 medals in the 2020 Olympics, and 19 medals in the 2020 Paralympics. A 270 percent stronger performance. And 1 Gold versus 5 Golds.

Both Iran and Thailand got exactly the same number of total medals in the 2016 Paralympics versus 2020 Paralympics. We on the other hand improved more than any of our "continental rivals", going from 4 medals in the 2016 Paralympics to 19 medals in the 2020 Paralympics.

The US and Japan both got relatively similar medal totals in the 2020 Olympics versus 2020 Paralympics. I am not sure that one can say that they do not care as much about the latter. Or, to be more accurate, all countries care less about the Paralympics than the Olympics.

I predict that India will get 12 Olympic medals in 2024 and 30 Paralympic medals in 2024.

[Orang]

A great article worth reading in full. GoSports, TOPS, OGQ and SAI among those mentioned.

Behind Paralympics glitter: Govt push, pvt effort, better training:

https://indianexpress.com/article/sport ... g-7491000/

-- Antil got a Rs 7 lakh prosthetic blade, equipment and biomechanics support, thanks to the Sports Authority of India and NGO Go Sports Foundation.

-- The Government spent almost Rs 8.2 crore on para-sports from 2018-19 to 2021-22, the Sports Minister told Lok Sabha this year.

-- The Sports Ministry funded the installation of a computerised digital target at gold and bronze medal-winning shooter Avani Lekhara’s home, apart from taking care of the heavy costs of her air rifle, ammunition and accessories.

-- Apart from facilities, governments now see para-athletes’ achievements the same way as normal athletes in terms of cash awards and jobs. This has added to our confidence.” Like Chopra, Antil got Rs 6 crore from the Haryana government for his javelin gold.

-- So, for Avani, the Government looked after certain training and competitions abroad, and we paid for her coaching here.

-- The opening of more avenues and increased incentives have seen participation spike. There were around 700 para-athletics at the nationals in 2015, and 1,800 in 2019.

-- Per another article, Bhavina Patel credited her silver at Tokyo Paralympics to a table tennis robot provided by SAI.

[arjun2761]

To be honest, everyone who makes it to the para olympics games is a winner given all that they have to overcome. The medals are just the cherry on the cake! Congrats to the entire Indian team for their excellent performance!

[prasen9]

Absolutely!!!

[srini]

I predict that India will get 12 Olympic medals in 2024 and 30 Paralympic medals in 2024.

Paralympics is on the rise and 30 may be possible there, but difficult to get into double digits for the able bodied unless we add a few more sports into medal contention. We can hope for shooters to do something and return 1-2 medals but the medals we won in athletics and hockey may not be for taking seeing how volatile it is. We kind of peaked in terms of medals in wrestling and boxing adding a few more in the same sports is now uphill.

To improve medal tally, we must have some contributions from Indian armed forces. Earlier armed forces used to focus on some areas like shooting and Rathore medaled and Jeetu rai almost did. Neeraj is from armed forces but i think he was not groomed while in forces but was just roped in after seeing his potential.

Hopefully they run some programs of their own and produce athletes who can keep the pipeline.

Army - Shooting, Sport climbing and some combat sports like judo,taekwondo etc (karate dropped for Paris'24)
Navy - Canoeing, Rowing, Sailing and surfing

If Manic Modi wants, he can make it happen by setting targets to them.

[SaniaFan]

To be honest, everyone who makes it to the para olympics games is a winner given all that they have to overcome. The medals are just the cherry on the cake! Congrats to the entire Indian team for their excellent performance!

Yes but unfortunately only that cherry translates into money. The winners are showered with the cash awards. I don't think other get anything.

[sameerph]

I predict that India will get 12 Olympic medals in 2024 and 30 Paralympic medals in 2024.

Paralympics is on the rise and 30 may be possible there, but difficult to get into double digits for the able bodied unless we add a few more sports into medal contention. We can hope for shooters to do something and return 1-2 medals but the medals we won in athletics and hockey may not be for taking seeing how volatile it is. We kind of peaked in terms of medals in wrestling and boxing adding a few more in the same sports is now uphill.

I dont think we peaked in wrestling and boxing. Still only 2 medals in wrestling and 1 in boxing. Nothing in female wrestling, we came close to 1 more medal at Tokyo with Deepak Punia losing in last 10 sec in bronze match. Also Vinesh lost in QF. We can certainly aim for 3 in wrestling in 2024. Can aim for at least 2 in boxing- mens boxers were awful in Tokyo. I agree about athletics and hockey. Those were historic medals which we won in Tokyo. No gurantee that they will be repeated in Paris. So, we do need at least a couple of medals from shooting to get to double digits.

[srini]

This is how i thought we peaked already in wrestling...There are 18 weight categories, 6 each in freestyle men and women and 6 more in Greco Roman. I just leave Greco, and we don't have a decent woman wrestler after Vinesh had her best chance at medal ruined due to mental issues. So we are basically competent enough only in Men's free style. There are several nations like Russia,Japan with better wrestling culture, history and styles like folk wrestling, sumo wrestling etc which may not exist in Olympic categories, but the wrestlers who compete in those events in their respective nations can use those grips and moves to their advantage in free style where they may be uncommon. So considering that i think we peaked at 2 out 6 medals for Men's free style. In boxing the rules were most suited when helmets were allowed and auto scoring was in place where points are awarded as match happened was best suited for Indian boxers. After that was done away with and judges after each round show 10s and 9s, it's just crap shoot and depends on which nation can buy more judges...India being poor nation may not improve on that count any time soon.

[sameerph]

Yes, if we are talking of only mens freestyle we may have peaked at 2 medals. Looking at medal tally in mens freestyle in Tokyo, only US and Russia won 5 medals each and both are powerhouses in freestyle wrestling. After that only Iran and India won 2 medals each. None of the other nations could win more than 1 medal. Japan is only as good as us in mens freestyle but makes it up with 5-6 medals in women. Others like Azerbeijan, Kazakhstan who are good in freestyle could also win only 1. So, even repeating 2 medals in next Olympics won't be that easy. If we want to win 3, we must win at least 2? 1 in women.

[Orang]

We did not peak in athletics!

-- In Javelin, next time we will have Neeraj who might even hit 90m. And we have other youngsters and experienced throwers who are already crossing 80m. If he does not get injured, Neeraj will contend in the next two Olympics. Remember that he was already crossing 85m a few years ago before injury and surgery cost him a year. The fame he garnered will surely lead to a Javelin boom in Indian villages. And we also got a Paralympics javelin gold!

-- In women's long jump, 17-year old rapidly improving Shaili Singh is on pace to hit 7m in 2024. A distance that would contend for Gold.

-- In women's discuss, Kamalpreet Kaur just got her first taste and came 6th. She will improve on that in 2024.

I am sure there will be/already are others. But these three came to mind right away.

[arjun2761]

Our shooters will need to win multiple medals for us to get to double digits. Wrestling and boxing remain the next best for multiple medals. Athletics, badminton, archery, hockey, weightlifting (in the lighter weight classes) remain other medal possibilities. Something like 3+2+2 shooting/wrestling/boxing followed by 3-4 in the other disciplines may give our double digit haul.

[Orang]

If our young athletes get their personal bests next time, we have another few "new" opportunities in track and field. And their PBs will likely improve by 2024.

See bottom half of below article.

https://sportscafe.in/athletics/article ... r-far-more

[prasen9]

That article is total nonsense.

If you want to take PB of the Indians, then you should also take the PB of the others' and then see where we rank. You cannot just take the PB of the Indians and say that the PB would have earned bronze, etc.

Also, as Mugu, et al., have pointed out, the PBs are almost always earned in Indian conditions where there is some slack in measurement, dope testing, etc. If we want to look at PBs, we should look at PBs at elite international competitions and see where we stand.

I have coached high level racewalking. Those times will vary a lot depending upon the judging. If you have compassionate or relaxed judges, athletes can go much faster. Essentially, you can bend your knees, have two feet off the track, etc. for brief times without being blatant that would cut a lot of minutes off a 20km walk. Most of our race-walkers are not world-standard. Again, if they go and get those PB times with international judges, then I would take them seriously. Irfan may have the potential and the new junior guy may have the potential but have a long way to go.

I do not know who the author is. But, it seemed like some armchair pundit who woke up and wrote an article for a blog types person.

The three you mentioned in your post above are legit. But, the long jumper is a silver medalist only in a junior event. As has been said here, there are possibly at least 10 junior #2s who are fighting for a senior medal. So, junior success does not always translate into senior one. That said, all power to these athletes. May they develop and become world beaters.

[Mugundan]

You are absolutely right Prasen! This PB business has been strected a little too far by bloggers etc to give the impression only Indians have PBs! They don't talk about others also having far better PBS than what they might have actuially returned in a global competition.
Talking of PBs, Annu Rani, our javelin thrower had a PB of 63.24m NR on 15 March this year. She threw 54.04m, her poorest in perhaps three or ffour years, in the Olympics. No questions raised about PB.
Another javelin thrower, Shivpal Singh, has a PB of 86.23m. He threw 76.40m in Tokyo to be placed 27th overall in qualification!
Priyanka Goswami (20km walk) has a PB of 1:28:45 (extremely doubtful whether it is genuine). She timed 1:32:36 in Olympics. In major competitionns, as you noted, judging becomes stricter and those who "run" are unable to reporoduce their best times. Must admit even this 1:32 for Goswami is pretty good but we should not think we have reached world standards.

[Sin Hombre]

Agree with mugu and prasen.

Indian sports journalism needs to get its head out of the gutter and understand you can't compare local PBs for Indian athletes but use Olympic numbers for everyone else.