New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) India’s lower-than-expected medal haul in high-yielding disciplines like athletics and badminton was scrutinised at the Sports Ministry’s review of the country’s Asian Games performance here on Thursday with questions raised about injured athletes travelling to the mega-event.
The meet was chaired by Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and was attended by Minister of State for Sports Raksha Khadse, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President P T Usha, Sports Secretary Hari Ranjan Rao and representatives of the National Sports Federations (NSFs).
The review also sought to plan ahead for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
India won 85 medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, including 21 gold, significantly lower than the 106 medals achieved in the previous edition in Hangzhou, China.
“The Minister was very clear that there is no dearth of resources and the NSFs can no longer complain about financial support. The federations have to deliver. They have to not just make presentations but deliver on the ground,” a top official present in the meeting told PTI.
“But there were no major fireworks per say. The federations presented their insights and the Minister asked them to plan ahead.”
It is reliably learnt that injuries to key athletics stars such as hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, and triple jumper Praveen Chithravel, which were stunningly revealed during the Games, were raised by Usha when Athletics Federation of India (AFI) advisor Adille Sumariwalla presented his analysis of the performance.
“At this point, the Minister intervened to say that instead of specific cases, the focus should be on analysing the overall performance,” the source said.
Even star runner Avinash Sable’s fitness status was under the scanner after he did not start the 5000m race following a fourth-place finish in his pet event — the 3000m steeplechase competition. He was the defending champion in 3000m steeplechase and won a silver in the 5000m race in Hangzhou.
Overall, the the gold count in athletics was down from six to one this time. The total haul in the discipline was also lower with 24 medals, which was five less than the number achieved in the previous Games.
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI), which is celebrating a landmark performance that includes an unprecedented three gold medals, promised to deliver more if provided “continued institutional support”.
The BFI is currently embroiled in an internal power struggle between its President Ajay Singh and Secretary Pramod Kumar who have suspended each other citing multiple violations.
However, none of the administrative mess came up up for discussion during the review meet.
The National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) was represented by its Secretary Pawankumar Singh.
The performance of shooters, especially in pistol, was relatively poor this time with double Olympic-medallist Manu Bhaker ending medal-less.
Eleven of India’s 21 gold medals in Aichi-Nagoya came on the last two days of the competition. Archers, the men’s and women’s hockey teams, boxers and women golfers ended up being the star performers.
In contrast, badminton yielded only one men’s team bronze. A major disappointment was defending men’s doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty exiting from the first round itself. The performance was partly attributed to hectic scheduling which led to players competing more than one match in the space of less than 24 hours.
The Sports Ministry, before the Games, had stated that over Rs 700 crore had gone into preparing the athletes in a three-year cycle. India had sent a 501-strong contingent of athletes to the Games. PTI PM MRM MRM
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