Paris Olympics: Govt to tighten purse after below-par show

NEW DELHI: The govt is busy reviewing the country’s performance at the Paris Olympics, which concluded in July-August and where Indian athletes won six medals, including a silver by javelin star Neeraj Chopra.

The expectations were of a double-digit medal tally as projected by both the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in their respective internal assessments prior to the Games. However, as things panned out, India finished a disappointing 71st on the medal tally with Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh, Swapnil Kusale, Aman Sehrawat and the Indian hockey team winning a bronze each, apart from Neeraj’s second-place finish.

This was not the result the country’s sports administrators had expected after Tokyo Olympics’ seven-medal high. SAI has been busy these days holding discussions with every national sports federation (NSF) whose athletes competed in Paris. It is looking to understand where things went wrong despite spending Rs 470 crore on 16 disciplines during the cycle – from the end of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to the start of the Paris Games.

During these discussions, SAI has realised a few things: the sports body has to be judicious in its spending, there’s a need to revisit annual calendar for training and competition (ACTC) presented by NSFs, dependence on foreign coaches and support staff who high salaries have to be minimised, induct fresh and promising faces in Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) keeping an eye on the future and every proposal submitted by athletes for international exposure and training abroad can’t be processed.

There’s a sense of disquiet within the sports ministry over India’s low medal count in Paris despite spending huge amounts on fulfilling every demand of NSFs and athletes, be it holding international camps or clearing proposals of athletes to train abroad.