CHENNAI: Battling extreme weather conditions and below average accommodation facilities, the Indian athletes rounded off a historic campaign with 10 medals — 2 gold, 3 silver, 5 bronze — at the Youth Olympic Games at Dakar, Senegal which concluded on Friday.
With this campaign, the 17-member contingent achieved the second-highest ranking (21) in the four Olympic games they have participated so far. In the 2018 Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, India won 13 medals with a 46-athlete contingent.
To name a few such achievements, young boxers L Ambekar Meetei (men's 50kg) and Gunjan (women's 48kg) became the first Indians to win gold medals in their events on Thursday. Before their historic bouts, swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu (bronze in 100m & 200m freestyle), hurdler Shourya Ambure (bronze in women's 100m hurdles) and shuttler Tanvi Patri (silver in singles) became the first Indian women to bag medals in their respective events.
To witness all this was former Asian champion and shot putter Om Prakash Karhana, the chef de mission for this contingent. "With this performance, I realised that the team were so dedicated, and the athletes were so focussed and talented," he told this daily from Senegal.
When the former athlete was initially called on for his role, he had expected around seven or eight medals in total. "They have exceeded my expectations. The two gold medals from the boxers; they had put on a strong show, they kept the opponents under pressure and Shourya Ambure's hurdles medal; I thought she would make it to the finals but to win a medal in extremely hot and humid weather was not easy for her," he said.
While athletes have spoken on the standards of accommodation being provided to them, Karhana felt that it was a 'blessing in disguise.' "Sure, four athletes had to accommodate themselves in one room. We were given table fans for each bed. I told them it is a problem for everyone and they adjusted really well. When one athlete rested, the other was out of the room.
“I felt with no air conditioning, the athletes did not fall sick. If you look at the performance, it kept improving. Although they were worried about not having one, they acclimatised to it well," he said.
Karhana believed that most of them can handle the expectations after they transition into the senior level events. "The only question is the motivation, which is a key factor for athletes. In society, there is a lot of pressure on education. A parent of an athlete in this contingent wants their child to prioritise academics. If they show the same devotion to sport, they will easily match world-class standards. If there is a problem, the government, federations, and coaches should sit together and talk to the athletes about their priorities so that there is no issue in the overall development. That is our collective responsibility,” he explained.
The former shot putter thanked the sports ministry, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Sports Authority of India (SAI) for their support. "I would also like to thank my department at ONGC (where he works) for having relieved me for national duty," he said.