Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

[saip]

Trinidad and Tobago guy at 86.16 is leading. Chopra fouled

[saip]

Nadeem is at 92.97 Olympic record, probably Gold

[sum]

Pak is gold for sure

[AkshaySG]

Since medal tallies are ranked by Gold we will finish behind Pak for the first time in I don't know how long?

Some sobering for our atheletes, IOA and fans as a whole.

For a sliver lining : We are all quite disappointed w Neeraj's silver and yet he just became the most decorated Indian Olympian of all time, No other individual has a Gold & Silver

[S_Madhukar]

I had a sinking feeling that Neeraj might be caught short by Nadeem Indo-Paki dynamics not withstanding. Yet congratulations to the man who may well have single handedly revived athletics in Bharat!

[hanumadu]

Let's wait for the dope tests. He is a pakistani after all.

[Suraj]

Nadeem's earned it - he's one of those rare big throwers but not consistent. But he threw a monster when it counted. That's really the only way Neeraj can be beaten on a big stage - he'll consistently crank out 88-90 throws every time to win, typically.

[Vamsee]

Neeraj's throw in this Olympics is better than Tokyo. Its just that this time the competition is very very strong. Neeraj's biggest strength is his consistency. Most of the times he throws between 88-90. He will be back again as a 30 year old for LA Olympics. If he can raise distance by another couple of meters by 2028.....

[Suraj]

So we'll end on 1 silver and 4 bronzes. Perhaps 5 if Sehrawat wins repechage. A very poor performance overall.

The only person who maintained his world class performance remains Neeraj Chopra. His consistency is other worldly. Practically every single time he shows up, throws 88.xx or 89.xx and that's enough to win gold. His two silvers - one each in the Olympics and Worlds - are both the result of someone throwing a 90+ seasons best , something that rarely happens. Given his consistency he will pick up at least one more world and Olympic title - Zelezny was competitive into his mid 30s.

[sum]

Mind blown that SoKo managed 13 gold already ( few more might drop in ), twice their Tokyo haul with half the athletes sent ( 141 vs 237 in Tokyo)
Extraordinary consistency of the finally selected folks!

Really sad on the backward dip of India in these games with a lower medal tally. Seems we are still a very looong way away from being consistently good ( though Neeraj showed that one can be consistent and good over time without excuses) . Need to unearth atleast 5-6 more Neeraj to have respectable positions in future medal tally’s.

[VenkataS]

I think this points to lack of sporting infrastructure at the grass-roots level in the country and a systematic plan to medal at the highest level. As a percentage of its total annual budget expenditure Indian government spending on sports (0.075%) appears to be the same as that of South Korea. Not the case with China as it appears to be spending 0.7% of its annual budget on sports.
India spent about 3,397.32 crore on Sports (around $414 million) in 2023-24 whereas China spent 115 Billion Yuan in 2021 ($18 Billion).
China appears to be spending ~40 times more than what we are in sports.

[Amber G.]

Ramnujan Inspires Gold Medal and world Record in Paris Olympics!

I have written about Prof Ken Ono - one of the world leading authority about Ramnujan's work in Math dhaga many times.

Ken Ono, a world-renowned mathematician, has made significant contributions to the field of number theory. He was an advisor for the film "The Man Who Knew Infinity," which tells the story of Srinivasa Ramanujan's life and work. Ono's expertise also extends beyond academia; he helped Olympic gold medalist Kate Douglass optimize her performance in the 200m breaststroke, (World record) using mathematical techniques to analyze and improve her technique. Douglass, who holds the American record in the event, credits Ono's insights for her success. Ono's unique ability to apply mathematical concepts to real-world problems has made him a sought-after collaborator across disciplines.

Picture Credit: Prof Ono

[Amber G.]

She is Shivani Pawar. 26-yr-old Head Constable in BSF. Farmer's daughter from MP.

Shivani is a wrestler. Won Silver at U-23 World Wrestling Championship, Gold in World Police Championship & Bronze in Asian Championship.

VINESH PHOGAT FINISHED HER CAREER!

How?

Vinesh lost in 53 Kg category to Anju 10-0 in 16 seconds in Olympics Qualifyiers. Threatened IOC to allow her to participate in 50 Kg category ON SAME DAY.

53 Kg Vinesh fought against 50 Kg Shivani & won 10-6. That means not comfortably inspite of having weight advantage.

But Vinesh was sent to Olympics & Shivani to her duty as BSF Constable. Don't know if Shivani will be able to contest in next Olympics as she will be 30 then.

That means, Vinesh Phogat finished her career for satisfying own ego & still couldn't control own weight. Got disqualified & made Bharat a laughing stock.

But....Piddis, Liber@ls & CONgress will call "Bharat ki Beti" because she is a Jat & Haryana elections are near.
About Shivani?....She doesn't even exist for this breed.

[hanumadu]

Nadeem's earned it - he's one of those rare big throwers but not consistent. But he threw a monster when it counted. That's really the only way Neeraj can be beaten on a big stage - he'll consistently crank out 88-90 throws every time to win, typically.

Nadeem also threw a 91+ on his final attempt. Others were also close behind Neeraj. Others are inching up slowing while Neeraj also added a couple of meters. He says he is carrying an injury. He has to cross that 90 meters and then some sooner or later.

[Supratik]

Very slow progress shown by the Sports eco-system. We have done what we did 4 years back minus the Gold. Very few quality athletes. They should revisit whether it will be prudent to hold OG in 2036. Or attempt AG 2038 and go all-out on it. Maybe OG in 2040s.

[SBajwa]

We did not sent young athletes., most were veterans of 1+ Olympics. Need to focus on youngsters that are 17 years - 21 years old for at least 25% of the athletes in Olympics (just for an experience and to face toughest level) An average age of an Olympian is 27 but they get exposed much earlier.

Time to rebuild with younger athletes in Archery, Boxing, Wrestling, Athletics, Judo, Gymnastics, Swimming and sports like climbing, etc.

[Supratik]

We send many young athletes. They did not perform well. The system is still not working. I think we should give them 1-2 chances. After that say goodbye. We have done it with the shooting team this time. Should do with other sports.

[AkshaySG]

Aman Sehrwat wins bronze, 1 Silver & 5 Bronze for us

Although as I posted earlier if some of near misses went better we could have been easily having a double digit tally with a couple of golds and silvers

[Suraj]

Great performance from Sehrawat. Just turned 21 days ago, already the world junior and Asian champion. His semifinal loss is to a Japanese who's a prior world champion and who also has an Olympic and world silver. The Japanese is almost 29 and this is his last cycle. Sehrawat should aim to dominate this weight class for the next 5-6 years at the world level - he won all his matches by technical superiority and can keep building on that.

[Supratik]

Am getting news that Sreejesh will be junior hockey team coach. Very good decision.

[hanumadu]

We seem to have a good wrestling program going by the under 17 and under 20 results during the last couple of years. With the controversies over the WFI president, I hope the program is not going to rot.

[chetak]

Am getting news that Sreejesh will be junior hockey team coach. Very good decision.

Supratik saar,

One agrees most emphatically.

his own state has ignored him repeatedly

nice to see some well deserved recognition and good fortune coming his way

sometimes, even cold hearted babooze can be moved to do the right thing

[bala]

I have a few suggestions for grooming the right talent for olympics. a. Catch them young b. Incentivise coaches for gaining medals such as olympics, asian sports, etc. c. Recruit top level coaches from videshi lands. d. use top notch sports science to craft the perfect diamond for competition - every thing helps in fine tuning athletes and their performance. e. need to scale up school level facilities for all kinds of sports.

I find many youth in villages good in swimming, diving skills, etc. The army has some good athletes, are they allowed to compete in Olympics? Things like shooting, archery, skiing, endurance come naturally to soldiers. I think India is doing a poor job in spotting the right talent and grooming them for the big competition. Parents are to be blamed for not encouraging the kids to flourish in such skillsets, it is always study, study. Private institutes have to adopt such programs and guarantee athletes a future career in their companies. Reliance, tata, all the IT tech giants can come up with some program. You have to put some money towards world class programs which compete at the highest levels.

[Suraj]

We seem to have a good wrestling program going by the under 17 and under 20 results during the last couple of years. With the controversies over the WFI president, I hope the program is not going to rot.

The women's side needs a major rethink. It's clear that neither Vinesh in 50 nor Antim in 53 were appropriate. Both failed effectively the same way by being devastated by the effect of weight cutting. Both were strong medal contenders. Antim's cutting went completely awry and she got savaged in her first match, while Vinesh's tale doesn't need repetition. The conditioning and support staff - and the planning - failed here.

Aman Sehrawat is a great find - just turned 21, already World U23 and Asian senior titles and now Olympic bronze to follow his AG bronze. Both times he ran into the Japanese who won gold. The U23 title is nothing to scoff at - no other Indian has ever won that title. And he did it when he was 19. Bajrang Punia won a silver and rthat's the closest before. He should aim to win the World Seniors at least once before LA28 and aim to be a leading contender.

When it comes to wrestling, the Japanese are someone to aspire too - Aman's category has two extremely good Japanese - one of whom beat him on the way to AG gold, the other to the OG gold. It just goes to show that to succeed in wrestling we need enough depth to field at least 2 strong players per weight class, so the natural competition between them ensures they're hungry for success.

[SRajesh]

https://www.hindustantimes.com/sports/o ... 58398.html
Is this the reason our athletes in weight category loose because the malaise is too widespread.
Not sure if the other courtries do as well.
Imagine not allowed to sleep the night before fight just to keep the weight down, how would you go and fight??
The weight category events contenders need to be properly selected.

[Suraj]

Indian sport has gotten to the point where 20-30 golds per AG is now the standard. That's well beyond anything we could do even 10 years ago. But that doesn't really translate at OG level because the competition standard and intensity is just much higher. It's an interesting conundrum - we can reap a lot of medals at continental level now but don't have the ability to handle pressure at OG level.

This means that to medal we can't depend on single champions like Neeraj. Bless the guy - we have no one else like him, someone who keep showing up and throwing far enough to win world level event after event unless a competitor is having a really special day.

There was an interesting story about how Sarabjot Singh's coach had to intervene because his shooting hand was shaking from nervousness during the mixed team pistol bronze match. He said its because it's his first Olympics, but he is a former world champion, 2x world cup golds, AG gold and Asian champion. Sure he's just 22 but what more does it take to harden someone so accomplished ?

Thankfully that didn't turn into another 4th place. But a lot of events did - all the 4th places and QF defeats add up to 10+ missed medals. Even if we didn't win a gold, 12-15 medals would have been satisfactory. 6 medals definitely is not.

It's clear that in shooting, the Asian and World titles only identify prospects, they don't prove the prospects can succeed in AG/OG. To accomplish this needs rigorous training. The Chinese and Koreans do this - in an AG/OG year their best disappear into an internal training system and come out winning a lot.

There needs to be vicious domestic competition in multiple OG medal prospect events such that athletes are hardened sufficiently. Shooting is probably the only sport where this is being applied to a reasonable extent, but it's not enough. Whatever process they have now, make it twice as hard competition wise. It'll create a bunch of shooters who are able to withstand pressure. What's more, shooters can have up to 20 year careers.

[SBajwa]

Thank you Suraj ji! Very good analysis

[vera_k]

Now chess is not yet included in the Olympic games. However, the chess phenomenon may provide a template for other sports. A whole bunch of young prodigies are competing at the highest level.

[Suraj]

Now chess is not yet included in the Olympic games. However, the chess phenomenon may provide a template for other sports. A whole bunch of young prodigies are competing at the highest level.

We have talented individuals in chess but have never won a regular Chess Olympiad. Why is that ? The Chinese have won even the men's title twice and the women's title several times.

India has one joint win in the online event in 2020 and couldn't even win in 2022 at home with Russia and China missing, instead ending up with two bronzes despite having the strongest women's team and second strongest men's team - playing with the boost of home conditions. That doesn't inspire confidence in tournament play of the kind you'd see in the Olympics.

They didn't win either men's or women's titles at the 2022 AG, losing to Iran in the men's team. and finishing with two silvers, while the Chinese picked up 3 golds and the Iranians the 4th. That is a poor signal of their ability to play as a team, despite having on paper the strongest men and second strongest women.

To win at multi-sport events it's not enough to stop thinking at having talented individuals, but to recognize that to play such events is a particular skillset that needs specific physical and mental training. Broadbased AG and OG successes are successes of systems producing results. India cannot succeed at scale at such events while focusing primarily on individual talent.

[hanumadu]

Now chess is not yet included in the Olympic games. However, the chess phenomenon may provide a template for other sports. A whole bunch of young prodigies are competing at the highest level.

We have talented individuals in chess but have never won a regular Chess Olympiad. Why is that ? The Chinese have won even the men's title twice and the women's title several times.

Not withstanding your points on mental and physical conditioning, India never had a strong mens team. Apart from Anand, we had Vidit and Harikrishna who were in the low 2700s at best. At last Olympiad, the bronze was won by second team consisting of the prodigies. This time they are in the first and only team.

Since then and since the Asian games, Arjun, Gukesh and Praggnanadha have significantly increased their elo rating. I would be disappointed if we don't win at least a silver this time and a gold in the next couple of cycles when more youngsters will probably replace Harikrishna and Vidit.

If you are disappointed so much, how much more should the Americans be? They stole players from all over the world to build the strongest team by far only to perform miserably.

[Suraj]

Pointing to others failures to justify our own isn’t at pathway towards anything meaningful.

In the entire history of the Chess Olympiad we have two bronzes. China, with a team of approximately comparable historical strength, has two golds and a silver. Their wins came when they were respectively the third and sixth strongest team, and they played away. Even Uzbekistan has a good and silver - the gold at Chennai two years ago.

You don’t have to be the greatest rated team to be the best conditioned and most motivated to win.

In sporting counties that place a huge premium on winning, the Chess Olympiad and the even bigger debacle at the AG last year would have triggered a very detailed inquest into why the team could not perform and deliver at least one, if not both Olympiad golds and multiple AG golds.

The Chinese and Americans show up at Olympics desperate to add to their counts and perform amazing things as a result. China winning gold in women’s tennis or BMX racing for example. The sort of organized effort to bring to bear sporting success as an assertion of systemic power is essentially absent in Indian sport.

[hanumadu]

As for as open chess is considered, we never had a decent team before 2016. There only have been three regular Olympiads since then, 2016, 2018 and 2022.
In 2014, we won a bronze without Anand. We were the second lowest ranked team among top 10 finishers.
In 2022, our B team performed above their ratings. We could have won the gold if Gukesh (was not so naive/was not inexperienced/did not go on an ego trip).
He had a draw with three fold repetition against Absattarov of Uzbekistan but refused to take it, lost the game and India the match and the gold to the eventual gold medal winners. If we had won that one game, we would have ended up with the gold and Uzbekistan bronze.

I won't base my judgement on just two or three Olympic cycles when we realistically had a chance based on rankings only in 2022. We might not have overperformed but did not underperform either.

[AkshaySG]

Some people here and elsewhere have rightly mentioned improving CWG/AG performances and having consistent medals there which will slowly translate into OLY medals however we need to analyze performances in those events much deeper than just medal counts

For Ex in AG 2022 we had a very respectable 4th overall with 28 golds however in this Olympics we were 13th in Asia, For some events it makes sense as Asian shooting, athletics competition can be quite far behind world level and athletes with better training opportunities routinely skip those events too but in quite a few other events there is a noticeable drop in terms of the scores/times the same athletes get at AG vs OLY.

As far as rankings are concerned while there is absolutely need for general improvement of all sport throughout the country if we had just 2 or 3 events we could absolutely bank on for Gold no matter what it would significantly improve our rankings

The table is so top heavy that 4 Gold medals get you in the top 20, For context we have never been better than #48.

Countries like Uzbekistan who primarily focus on 3-4 sports but absolutely dominate them are ranked 12th and better than generally "sporting" nations such as Spain, Belgium, Serbia etc

New Zealand who are good at watersports (sailing, canoeing, kayaking) managed to get 5 Golds, 3 Silvers and 2 Bronzes just in those and finish 11th overall.

[Suraj]

Uzbekistan is actually a good example of concerted effort on events like this. Check their Olympic performance since 2008. They’ve gone from India like performance to top 20 level performance within 15 years . It shows in AG too, where they picked up 22 golds. Unlike us, they translated their AG performance meaningfully to OG too.

Indian sports science, conditioning and general approach are well behind what’s needed to win at these events . We aren’t going to succeed by sending talented people. At this level, everyone is the most talented of their lot. The winners are those conditioned to overcome circumstances where victory is decided by the smallest of margins.

[chetak]

They are going to appeal again and these appeals will continue until the haryana elections are not over

AajTak@aajtak · 2h

Vinesh Phogat Petition Dismissed: एक से बढ़कर एक पहलवानों को किया चित, पर नियमों से ऐसे पटखनी खा गईं विनेश फोगाट

[chetak]

They are going to appeal again and these appeals will continue until the haryana elections are not over

AajTak@aajtak · 2h

Vinesh Phogat Petition Dismissed: एक से बढ़कर एक पहलवानों को किया चित, पर नियमों से ऐसे पटखनी खा गईं विनेश फोगाट

[chetak]

vinesh phogat receives a grand welcome at Delhi airport: ‘I thank the entire country’

this fraud returned empty handed from paris after exceeding her weight category and is tipped to collect 16 crores in "prize money"

[Vayutuvan]

@chetak gaaru, please mention the names of these two. First one is Neeraj ?, and the second ?

[hanumadu]

@chetak gaaru, please mention the names of these two. First one is Neeraj ?, and the second ?

Manu Bhaker, double bronze medalist in shooting.

[chetak]

@chetak gaaru, please mention the names of these two. First one is Neeraj ?, and the second ?

Manu Bhakar saar.

Manu Bhaker OLY (born 18 February 2002) is an Indian sport shooter and Olympic medalist. She won two bronze medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The second is Neeraj Chopra javelin throw, silver medalist at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.