india: CWG 2022: India makes strides at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games

In competitive running, a slow start off the blocks can be strategic – to conserve energy for that final burst. A slow start, however, can also be just that – resulting in trailing through the race. Indian track and field sports, no doubt, has had a slow start of the latter variety. But there is a noticeable picking up of pace. Of the 61 medals India has picked up at the Commonwealth Games (CWG), 8 are in athletics, including the sole gold won by Eldhose Paul in triple jump. At the 2018 Queensland CWG, the haul had been 3. But the numbers don’t quite tell the full story.

Much of India’s athletic mythology has swivelled around ‘legendary’ medal-missers – Milkha Singh nearly winning a bronze in 400 m at the Rome Olympics, P T Usha nearly winning in 400 m hurdles at the Los Angeles Olympics. At the just-concluded World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia – a ‘higher’ platform than CWG – Rupal Chaudhary became the first Indian to win two medals (silver in 4×400 m relay and bronze in 400 m). In 2018, at the same meet at Tampere, Finland, Hima Das had won an historic gold for India. Neeraj Chopra, of course, became India’s darling with his javelin Olympic gold last year. The catchment areas of boxing, wrestling, shooting, badminton and hockey are being joined by our runners, throwers and jumpers.

These strides are not happening by a nation simply willing them. GoI‘s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), set up in 2014, along with private outfits like Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), JSW Sports and GoSports Foundation, have been working hard – and professionally – making ‘Indian athletics’ no longer an oxymoron. Much yet needs to be done for India to punch its weight. But Indian athletes are no longer default also-rans.