While injured Shobha ran on, others threw it away

That Shobha will not win any medal was a foregone conclusion long before the Olympics. But the fighting quality she displayed in the 800m in women’s hepthathlon earned the praise of everyone around. She was injured in the javelin event and was carried out, yet returned to finish third in the 800m. She finished 11th overall, but sitting in the stands I felt proud for her. She proved that she was there to fight it out, not as a passenger like some of her esteemed teammates.

It was heartening to see that everyone around in the stadium felt in the same way. Carolina Kuft of Sweden and Lithuania’s Austria Skujyte, who won the gold and the silver, respectively, were the first to congratulate Shobha for her efforts. Even the Indian officials, who are otherwise famous for their indifference towards the cause of the athletes, rushed to look after Shobha. She deserved every bit of it.

Soma Biswas also did reasonably well, finishing 24th with 5965 points. I expected a little better result from Soma since she is more experienced than Shobha in this event.

Equally praiseworthy was KM Binu’s show in the men’s 400m though he could have done better in the semi-finals. He perhaps gave away his best in the heats. He could clock only 45.97 in the penultimate round and finished seventh. But I think that he would be a force to reckon with in the next Olympics if he starts practicing seriously from now. Binu is yet to find his right rhythm since he has shifted from 800m to 400m not very long ago.

While Shobha and Binu made us feel proud, the performances of Bahadur and Anil were shameful. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw such highly experienced athletes making so many foul throws. They either did it deliberately or there must be some mystery behind it. Those who are sitting at the helm of Indian sport should probe deep into what exactly went wrong in these two cases. Was Anil, who achieved his qualification mark in a meet somewhere in Belgium, fully fit for the Olympics? If yes, then why did he perform so poorly?

At the moment I am eagerly waiting for Anju Bobby George’s long jump event. I am sure that Anju will feel inspired after watching Shobha’s great efforts. I had a brief talk with Anju only on Sunday. I advised her to stay focussed and not to get distracted by the pathetic show by some of her teammates. It is good to find that the temperature here is around 30 degree, which will be fine for Anju to give her best.

While coming out of the stadium on Friday I went through the wrong gate and lost my way. The local people, however, helped me to get a taxi. The cab driver grabbed this opportunity and charged me double the actual fare but I could somehow reach my destination. Next day I watched the Indian hockey team play New Zealand. This team, too, I thought, has lost their way like me but there is no one around to guide it back to the right path. Though I don’t have much knowledge about the technical aspects of hockey, one thing I can say for sure that some drastic changes are needed in the team as well as in the game’s administration. Otherwise, we will keep on getting humiliated in a game that was our pride at one point of time.

(Chivach sports)