BY GAGAN NARANG
Finally, the Tokyo Olympic Games is closing in. And it brings a flood of memories from my own journey. I was like Alice in Wonderland when I went to Athens in 2004; I was heartbroken that I missed the air rifle final by one point in Beijing four years later; there was redemption in London in 2012 when I won a bronze medal; and, 2016 is another story altogether.
Having transitioned from fan to competitor and a medallist to a mentor now, I can say I am enjoying the challenges of giving back to my sport.
My foundation which runs Gun for Glory discovered air rifle shooter Elavenil Valarivan in the Sanskardham School in Ahmedabad. And it has been a revealing journey mentoring her to World No. 1.
Shooting is an expensive sport, and some excellent talent does bow out because of this. Our endeavour is to dig diamonds out, polish them and send them to the National Camp.
We are all answerable and there is greater accountability. We are doing the best to ensure that we help athletes overcome the hurdles that come in the way of talent attaining optimum potential.
I can see we are putting a system in place to ensure that the best talent is found and, importantly, retained. The Khelo India Games, the scholarships and the accredited academies are a step towards that.
The better athletes graduate to the development group in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme and the best talent and potential is supported as TOPS (Core group).
There is a growing participation by private players, with even crowd-funding surfacing occasionally.
The ecosystem is cracking in place with a more professional approach, with focus on high-performance development, across all disciplines. We can say without fear of being contradicted that these are exciting times for Indian sport.
I can see that Tokyo2020 has marked a couple of new milestones already – India will be sending its largest contingent to an Olympic Games and in more disciplines than ever before.
To me it is an indication of the good work being done by everyone in backing talented athletes to pursue their dreams.
And it will only be fair to expect unprecedented results leading to a bigger medal haul this time. I am aware that uncertainty is an essential part of sporting competition but since we have done the best to provide our athletes the opportunity to be well prepared and in the best physical and mental shape, I am hoping that the results will be commensurate with that.
Even though I watched it on a black and white television set back in 1992, the sight of an archer using a blazing arrow to light the Olympic Flame sparked a fire in me.
I tracked the Sydney Games closely as I was already on my journey as a shooter.
Having competed in four Olympics, I am now expecting our athletes to gift me more memories from Tokyo.
(Gagan Narang is a 2012 London Olympic Games bronze medallist and is ploughing back to sport through Gagan Narang Foundation’s Gun for Glory programme).