Dec 21, 1998
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ASIAN GAMES What a Fall One after the other medal hopefuls put up a pathetic display during the first few days exposing the inadequacies of the Indian sporting system. By Rupinder Singh in Bangkok
Although star weightlifter Karnam Malleshwari won a silver later, India's final medal tally, it seemed, would fall far short of expectations. The biggest disappointment early on was the diminutive weightlifter N. Kunjarani, regular winner of medals in international competitions and the winner of two bronzes in the 1990 and 1994 Asian Games.
But it seemed odd that Kunjarani who had lifted 72.5 kg in snatch last year a few months after a knee operation could only manage 70 kg in Bangkok. Similarly, the girl who regularly did 105 kg in the clean and jerk in practice fell short by 10 kg in competition. Was it possible that she was not fully fit? In early 1997 Kunjarani's troublesome left knee was operated on by a Delhi-based doctor, A. Rajgopal. She returned to practice after treatment under physiotherapist Bela Sethi. In May 1998 she complained again of pain, this time in her right knee. Rajgopal and Sethi prescribed therapy and she attended 10 sittings. Yet, when asked to return three weeks later for further therapy, she failed to turn up. Did her trainers at the Asian Games camp believe they knew better than specialists? Says Sethi: "She may not have recovered in time and that could have been a big factor." Adds former selector P.K. Mahanand: "She has not lost, she has been made to lose." Whatever, the point is that gifted weightlifters like Kunjarani fail to deliver because of the lack of a proper sports development system. This is the epitaph of Indian sports. Says Sandhu: "Look how smaller countries like Myanmar, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and Thailand have shown improvement." India still has only a handful of women weightlifters while most other Asian countries have thousands in their ranks. In fact, all those who bring glory to India -- be it Leander Paes, P.T. Usha or Jaspal Rana -- do it despite the system. Yes, the Sports Authority of India pays 25 foreign coaches above $1,500 (Rs 63,000) a month. But the entire system is ridden with factions and politics and there is no proper method to weed out the inferior. "Even a bad plan is better than no plan," said George Gandy, once one of Britain's best-known long- and middle-distance runners. In Indian sport there is no system, no plan -- and so no winners. Check out Japan in contrast. Its system is well in place. Swimming head coach Koji Ueno, for instance, began by concentrating on school and university stars. He designed a specific plan for each swimmer, monitored their training loads carefully and gave them exposure to the right levels of competition each year by making them swim against American and Australian swimmers. In India they do it slightly differently. When swimmers training for Bangkok complained about the cold water (it was at the wrong temperature, resulting in swimmers falling ill) and greasy food, an official replied, "If you don't want to go to Bangkok, just say so." India's swimmers finished last in many events. The Japanese though boast of a handful of potential world-class swimmers. In fact, since the Hiroshima Asian Games where the Chinese swimmers crushed the opposition, the Japanese have dominated the pool. In Bangkok, Japanese swimmers claimed six golds in the first four days. On the track too, the Chinese marathon runner who was expected to win easily was shocked by Japanese runners who bagged the first and third spots. So surprised were the Chinese that Lou Dapeng, a top China sports official, lashed out at his country's coaches for not keeping abreast of the latest methods and called them "outdated". Lou believes the Japanese methods have the scientific edge. Though the Chinese took over the medal race, Lou exhorted the Chinese coaches to come up with a more disciplined system that would reinforce their supremacy in Asia. Indian administrators alas were too busy still talking about their "medal hopefuls". |
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Every Asian Games is replete with stories of sudden surprises. This
time the Japanese, known to play second fiddle to the Chinese, took on the Asian giants
and beat them in almost every possible event. At least in the first three days. The
Chinese, who like to establish their supremacy by winning every gold medal available,
stood stunned. But, of course, every Asian Games also breeds tales of familiarity. And for
that one has to only glance at the Indian contingent where once again in the early stages
"medal hopeful" after "medal hopeful" finished at the bottom. 
This time she finished last in the 48 kg category
with a total lift of 165 kg while China's Liu Xiuhua won the gold with 185 kg. It appeared
that she had an off day as she failed to come close to her best in both the snatch and the
clean and jerk. "I just don't know what happened," she sobbed. Even her coach
Pal Singh Sandhu didn't have soothing words: "Even if she had done her best she would
not have figured among the medals this time." 
