Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A 16-year-old swimmer from Kolhapur, an archer from Imphal and tennis8217;s old hands 8211; The Sunday Express profiles the notable faces among the Indian squad for the Olympics starting on August 8
Virdhawal Khade
Sport: Swimming
Events: 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle
Kolhapuris, it would seem, are no good at guiding hapless travellers with their non-landmarks. But in their own rambling way, they pave the signposts of the journey as you invariably reach your destination.
8220;Go to Beijing. You8217;ll see the most stunning azure blue swimming pool, and then the world8217;s most talked-about streamlined structure going by the name of Michael Phelps8230; don8217;t stop there.8221; Headed to China for his maiden Olympics, Kolhapur boy Virdhawal Khade would be at home with that twisted set of instructions.
At 16, setting off ripples in Indian pools, Khade will travel to Beijing with an eye firmly on London four years from now. Flapping his giant arms, kicking forward his 6 ft 2.8 inch frame on the world8217;s biggest swimming stage, this teenaged trainee of Bangalore coach Nihar Ameen is expected to take the sport a full body-length further in the next two editions of the Games. A Beijing rehearsal to a London mega-show is on the cards for swimming8217;s boy-man wonder.
Competing at the FINA World Youth Swimming Championships in Mexico last week, Khade knocked off precious milli-seconds from his previous timings to clock 22.6 seconds 50m freestyle, 50.49 100 free and 1 min 50.35 200 free for new national records in the three events he8217;ll race at Beijing. The freestyle sprints are the most fiercely contested events, and Khade will need to drop to at least 22.2 in his favourite 50 free to make the semi-final. Timings of 49.5 100 free and 1.49.5 200 are over-ambitious targets set by coach Ameen for his ward, who, however, believes 22.2 is realistic.
But what is turning heads is not this Vernier-scaled number crunching. Riding Khade8217;s Mexican wave this past week were Ricardo de Moura, the Brazilian member of FINA8217;s Technical Committee, and Camillo Cametti, veteran Italian aquatics writer with Il Mondo Del Nuoto. While the senior scribe joked about a heated final in the men8217;s 50m freestyle after 8220;the surprising Virdhawal Khade IND, born 1991, 22.69 posted the second-fastest qualifying time, and followed it with a 50.49 in 1008221;, the Brazilian talks in earnest about the swiftly changing profile of swimming. 8220;The World Swimming Junior Championship opened a new window of opportunity. For the first time ever, an Indian swimmer was a finalist in a FINA world event 8212; V Khade 5th on 50 free and 7th on 100 free. This proves that swimming has grown more than any sport in the last Olympic cycle,8221; he wrote.
Inheriting his hoopster father Vikram8217;s genes for a tall body-type, Virdhawal is blessed with the physique and high levels of motivation required for a pursuit of a medal for India at a top international meet. How he deals with the loneliness of swimming training routines in the next four years will be crucial as he seeks perfection of technique in his starts and turns, and builds on his strength.
These are heady times for swimming8212;the Americans are brimming with the 8216;Phelps Phactor8217; NBC8217;s coverage of the American swim-idol chasing the Mark Spitz record has forced China to alter the schedule for the benefit of the US audience. There was never a better time to make waves as an Indian swimmer. From Kolhapur.
8211; Shivani Naik
Anju Bobby George
Sport: Athletics
Event: Women8217;s long jump
At 5 ft 0 inches, Anju Bobby George is a tall woman by Indian standards. But it8217;s on the field that the long-jumper8217;s stature dwarfs most of her compatriots 8212; male or female. Not since PT Usha did India have an athlete who could promise so much and deliver too, until Anju.
She jumped into national consciousness when she won a bronze medal against world-class competition at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, and then clinched gold at the Busan Asian Games the same year.
In 2003, she truly arrived at the world stage. Jumping 6.70m, a little short of her personal best at the time, she got a bronze at the World Championships in Paris 8212; the first Indian athlete ever to win a medal in the Worlds. With only a year to go for the Athens Games, this fuelled the expectations of local fans, who believed she would get India8217;s first Olympic medal in athletics in Athens 2004.
When the big day arrived, an unfazed Anju gave it all in her first jump to leap 6.83m8212;a new national record8212;and suddenly a gold looked on the cards. But she slid down the leaderboard as her competitors kept raising the bar. In the end, her career-best proved not nearly good enough, and she had to settle for the sixth place.
But it seems she touched her peak in Athens. But for the 2005 World Athletics final, where she jumped 6.75m for a silver, she hasn8217;t been able to touch even the 6.70m mark since. Injuries and age took their toll and she couldn8217;t even win a medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
On the face of it, Anju seems to be shaping well ahead of the Beijing Games. She has a hat-trick of golds at the Asian Grands Prix 8212; Bangkok, Korat and Hanoi 8212; in the past month. But in reality, her performance hasn8217;t been as impressive as it sounds. Statistics hide more than they reveal. But sometimes they are just too obvious to be outrightly rubbished. Her best jump last season was 6.65m. This year it8217;s just 6.55m 8212; about a foot short of her best. As Anju slides down the slope, the chasm between her and the world8217;s best is widening, to the extent that her season8217;s best doesn8217;t even figure in the top 80 jumps of the year: 62 long jumpers have fared better than her this year. The writing is on the wall. One hopes she gives it her all and walks off holding her head high in Beijing.
-Daksh Panwar
Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi
Sport: Tennis
Event: Men8217;s doubles
A million bumps along the road to Beijing for India8217;s favourite warring duo, and yet, the medal talk has not wavered in intensity. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi continue to keep us captivated8212;so what if it8217;s with their squabbling. The two say now that they have called it a truce 8220;for the country8221;. And thank god for that.
By all accounts, an Olympic medal in doubles tennis is something that India should8217;ve won long ago, while the two used to get along and didn8217;t have to grit their teeth before getting on with business. But all the personal problems aside, there is no denying that they will be motivated once they step on the big stage in what is clearly their last chance to grab some Olympic silverware together. The 2004 agony in Athens must still hurt. Just as their their hands were closing on a bronze medal, Croatians Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic whisked it away in a legendary 16-14 final set that kept India on edge till the wee hours of the morning. It was one of those matches that almost all tennis fans remember where they were when it was going on.
The backdrop against which Leander and Mahesh head to Beijing is anything but perfect. But once they step out on to court, the multiple Grand Slam champions have shown that they have the ability to put their personal differences aside and pull off those cotton-wool drop-volleys and booming backhand returns that once helped them rule the doubles world. After all, they got India the Asian Games gold at Doha in 2006. Both age and competition, however, have caught up with them. Last week they were the top seeds at the Indianapolis championships but lost in the first round. Another close one8212;12-10 in the 8216;super tie-break8217; against Slam veteran Daniel Nestor of Canada and Frederic Neimeyer. Kingsize fame is being chased by many illustrious names at this year8217;s Games and, at 35 and 34 years of age, Lee and Hesh know their time has almost run out. What they may lack in their personal relationship will have to be made up by the hunger to succeed.
-Shreya Chakravertty
Vijender Singh
Sport: Boxing
Event: 75 kg
The best laid plans have a strange tendency of going wrong. Consider the example of boxer Vijender Singh, who eventually made it to Beijing but whose road to qualification was fraught with anxiety, self-doubt and disappointment.
Doha Asian Games bronze, Melbourne Commonwealth Games silver, Arjuna award: Riding high over the last two years, Singh was expected to be the first Indian boxer to make it to the 2008 Olympics. But a shocking second-round defeat at the Chicago World Championships, followed by strike-two at the Asian qualifying meet in Bangkok in January, put paid to his chances. As his astounded coach struggled to explain what was happening, Singh switched off his phone to avoid the same questions. The 22-year-old admitted he was devastated. But after a bout of soul-searching in solitude, he resurfaced for his final shot and won gold in the qualifying tournament in Kazakhstan.
Shaken and stirred by the experience, Vijender now understands the value of the Olympics after learning the ropes the hard way. He beat 75-kg Olympic champion Bakhtiar Artayev of Kazakhstan two months ago in an elite tournament that featured most of his potential opponents in Beijing.
Vijender made his Olympic debut four years ago in Athens. Young and overawed, he lost in the first round. 8220;Rest assured,8221; he says after rediscovering his self-belief, 8220;that won8217;t happen this time.8221;
Shreya Chakravertty
Bombayla Devi
Sport: Archery
Events: Women8217;s
individual recurve, team recurve
Named after Bombay, the city of her birth, Laisham Bombayla Devi may not be as popular as her Olympic team mate Dola Banerjee, but the national champion is being seen as one of the athletes who could spring a surprise at the Beijing Olympics. Quiet, reserved, some even say enigmatic, the 21-year-old is only the second archer from the Northeast to make it to the Olympic team8212;Mizo boy Lalremsanga participated in the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Discovered early by one of SAI8217;s talent-hunt programmes in the Northeast and moulded by renowned trainer B Gunicha Devi, Imphal8217;s Bombayla first broke into the national circuit with a convincing but out-of-the-blue win at the 26th Senior National Championship in Kolkata in 2006. She carried the form into the following year, going from strength to strength to retain the national title in 2007 in Jamshedpur and then finish an encouraging 28th in the Leipzig World Championships. Bombayla was a member of the team that won bronze medals at the Dover World Cup and the 15th Asian Championships in Xi8217;an, China last year. Getting better with experience, her first international gold was in the individual recurve category at the Asian Grand Prix in Isfahan, Iran, last October.
Training at the SAI centre in Kolkata, Bombayla is now hoping to get to the top of her game at Beijing. Says Paresh Nath Mukherjee, vice-president of the Archery Association of India: 8220;The team is in form, including Bombayla. But I don8217;t want to be too optimistic, I think their challenge is to ensure they don8217;t buckle under pressure.8221; He adds, 8220;As for Bombayla, the more she is allowed to prepare quietly, away from the media glare, the better her chances of getting a medal.8221;
-Nadim Siraj
Gagan Narang
Sport: Shooting
Events: 10m air-rifle, 50m prone,
50m three-position
Having already penned a descriptive coffee-table book, Gagan Narang can eloquently fire away about the pet peeves of shooters in India. For the largest contingent of serious contenders flying to Beijing, their sponsorship, ammunition and weapon-tweaking troubles, make for quite a harrowing build-up. But the 25-year-old from Hyderabad has consistently managed to shoot from upwards of the hip while staking the loudest claims to an Olympic medal.
The first Indian shooter to qualify for the Olympics, Narang will also be the most prolific one on view. Competing in three events 8212; 10m air-rifle, 50m prone and 50m three position 8212; he is required to stand, kneel and lie prostrate while wielding his air-rifle.
But the marksman goes into the event on the back of a very strong venue-history. It was in China that he shot his first gold medal at the Guangzhou World Cup two seasons ago, and this April, rallied towards a bronze finish in heroic fashion in his pet event 8212; the 10m. A former World
No 1, Narang is ranked eighth currently.
8220;It felt good to win the bronze in China in April after my credibility had been questioned,8221; he says about the doubts that were raised about how he8217;d cope with the tri-fold workload. Narang is not kidding himself into believing that the past record will assure equal success in the future. 8220;Shooting at the Olympic range and getting used to the conditions was good. But the Games are a different ball game,8221; he says.
8220;My coach Hungarian Lazlo Szucsak and I both feel that I can be a good multi-event shooter. Who knows, it might just be my day8230;8221; he says. Still, having equalled the world record of 600/600 in 50 m rifle prone at the 39th Grand Prix of Pilsen in Czech Republic, Narang is equally confident of his other events.
Though shooting essentially pits a man against his own wits, the 10m air rifle event boasts a strong field from China besides India8217;s own Abhinav Bindra. Narang has never had it easy8212;financial help could have come much earlier, and converted some of the bronzes into golds. But there are no regrets as he mixes concentration with flamboyance.
-Shivani Naik
