NEW DELHI: Somewhere between officials basking in the acclaim for a memorable opening ceremony and athletes concentrating on the serious business of sport, there was scripted at the Commonwealth Games on Monday a story that is uniquely Indian. By winning silver and bronze respectively in the 48kg category, weightlifters Ngangbam Soniya Chanu and Sandhya Rani Devi Atom not only opened India's medal account in the competition, but also helped shift focus from 'dope' - a word that has repeatedly sullied the host nation's image - to 'hope'.
Consider that, till as recently as a few weeks ago, there existed the distinct possibility of India not participating in weightlifting. Facing a ban after numerous athletes failed dope tests, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) had been imposed a Rs 2crore fine by its international body and was forced to borrow Rs 1.7 crore from the CWG Organising Committee to meet participation requirements before the August 31 deadline.
If the present is payback time then Soniya, Sandhya, Sukhen Dey (56kg silver) and Srinivasa Rao Valluri (56kg bronze) have weighed in. It seems so appropriate.
Nonetheless, there is the important detail of Nigeria - and not India - securing the first gold medal of the XIX CWG. En route to scaling the podium, schoolgirl Augustina Nwaokolo set a CWG record of 175kg (77kg in snatch, 98kg in clean and jerk) to push back Soniya (167kg: 73kg+ 94kg) and Sandhya (165kg: 70kg+95kg).
While Soniya says "it wasn't our day," Sandhya sounds as upset while pointing out "I normally lift more than this during practice." The real disappointment, however, was that there was only a smattering of spectators at the venue. And that gold still eludes India.
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