Mumbai, July 11 (IANS) By now, every Indian would have heard this sarcastic jibe many times over about how a country of more than a billion has so few Olympic medallists.

As another edition of the quadrennial showpiece is set to begin in less than two weeks, the question can be heard loud and clear as to how many medals Indian athletes will win in Tokyo.

While India has won at least one medal at each Olympics since 1996 Atlanta, when Leander Paes bagged a bronze medal in tennis, there is no denying that the achievement is nothing compared to countries a fraction of the size of India, who have won medals by the bagful.

In more than 100 years of participation at the Olympic Games -- starting from the 1900 edition when Calcutta-born British Indian athlete Norman Pritchard won silver medals in men's 200m and the now discontinued 200m hurdles -- India has won only 28 medals in all (9 gold, 7 silver, and 12 bronze).

Though in recent times, India has become a force to reckon with at the Commonwealth Games -- over 100 medals in 2010 New Delhi and 66 in 2018 Gold Coast -- and at the Asian Games -- 69 medals in 2018 Jakarta -- sportspersons have returned meagre picking in successive Olympics despite some courageous performances from the likes of Milkha Singh (1960), Gurbachan Singh Randhawa (1964), Sriram Singh (1976) and PT Usha (1984). In between, wrestler Khashaba Jadhav won a bronze at the 1952 Games in Helsinki.

From 1928 till 1980 -- barring 1976 in Montreal when the synthetic turf was introduced -- the men's hockey team has ensured a medal in each edition -- eight gold medals in all with six of them in successive Games.

The last gold in hockey came in 1980 and after that India endured a barren patch till 1996 when Paes won bronze and Abhinav Bindra clinched the country's first individual gold in 10m air rifle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

India's best medal haul was at 2012 London when the sportspersons rode on the money pumped in for training and competition for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, bagging six medals -- two silver and four bronze.

Though the pickings have been meagre, there is always hype and hope around India's Olympic Games participation. And, Tokyo 2020 is no exception.

With 12 days to go for the Olympics, it's time to take stock of how realistic these expectations are. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the Sports Ministry expect a double-digit count in Tokyo.

"India, with its vast population must play a bigger role in the Olympic Movement and that is possible by winning more medals. India must cross double digits (in medals)," the then sports minister Kiren Rijiju had said on the occasion of 100 days to Tokyo.

IOA president, Narinder Batra, too had said that he was expecting medals in double digit. "We are expecting 120-130 athletes to qualify for the Olympics. I expect the medal haul to be in double digits this time."

Batra told a leading sports website recently that a double-digit haul was possible.

"We should be competing in 41 medal positions. I am confident that we should be touching double-digit, I won't mention the colour," Batra had said last month.

Whether India's medal count in Tokyo gets into double figures or not is not the issue. What is important is that athletes give their best-ever performances in the Japanese capital and live up to people's expectations even if the medals tally doesn't go into double digits.

Hopes are being built mostly around shooting, boxing, wrestling, badminton, archery, and hockey. Besides, there is also hope that javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will become the first Indian athlete to win an Olympic medal.

Massive efforts have gone into preparing the 126 Indian athletes for the Games, despite the hurdles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here's a look at some of the efforts that have raised hopes of a decent haul in Tokyo.

1. As many as 160 athletes -- 124 individual athletes besides the men's and women's hockey teams (18 players each) -- are part of the 'core group' of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme, the government's flagship programme for sportspersons.

2. The government has ensured that national camps resume in a safe and secure manner in the National Centres of Excellence post lockdowns.

3. The government ensured the availability of foreign coaches and experts to the sports federations. Nearly 43 overseas coaches and support staff have got contracts extensions till the end of the Olympics.

4. A budget of Rs 1,091.52 crore has been allocated to 18 federations between 2016 and 2021 for Olympic and Paralympic Games preparations.

5. In all, Rs 44.41 crore has been sanctioned under TOPS for 32 Olympics-bound athletes in seven disciplines since 2016.

6. A contingent of 15 shooters and support staff is in Croatia training for Tokyo.

7. Nine boxers who have qualified for Tokyo are training in Italy since June.

There is no denying that India's major medal hopes rest on its shooters and boxers. The 15-member shooting squad includes world championship medallists and world cup winners.

Flyweight boxer Amit Panghal, who won gold at the 2018 Asian Games and silver at the 2019 World Championships in Russia, is seeded No. 1 in his category, while six-time World Championships gold medallist MC Mary Kom, bronze medallist at 2012 London Olympics, is ranked third.

"Preparations are going very well here in Italy; we are getting good sparring partners as we have many good boxers here, many of them who have qualified for Olympics. The motivation is high and it is evident in their behaviour and body language. They were motivated," Indian boxing's high-performance director Santiago Nieva told IANS from Assisi, Italy.

The men's hockey team too has done well in recent times, climbing up to fourth in the FIH rankings. It gave a good display in the Pro League matches against World Champions Belgium and Netherlands last year and against reigning Olympic champions Argentina in April.

Though their Pro League campaign ended prematurely due to the second wave of COVID-19, the team is confident of a podium finish.

Bajrang Punia, Deepak Punia, Vinesh Phogat are the main medal hopes in the seven-member wrestling squad which is training in different parts of Europe. While, Bajrang is the Asian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Vinesh has won gold at the 2018 Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Asian Championships. Both Bajrang and Vinesh recently said that their Tokyo preparations were going on smoothly and are confident of a good show.

But, then, competing against the best at the Olympics is not the same as competing in continental events and world championships.

One just hopes the Indian athletes find the motivation to drive their Olympics dreams.

--IANS

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