IOA confident of bigger medal tally at London Olympics

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra today exuded confidence of a better showing by Indian sportspersons in the London Olympic Games and other international competitions this year.

 

"We are hopeful that our medal tally in this year's Olympics will be better than the 2008 Beijing Olympiad where we had bagged three medals," Malhotra said.

 

India is likely to take part in 15 disciplines - subject to qualification: Aquatics, Athletics, Archery, Boxing, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Shooting, Rowing, Sailing, Table Tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting and Wrestling.

 

Malhotra said the IOA had asked the concerned sports federations to specifically find out the requirements of the sportspersons who have qualified and are likely to qualify for the Olympics and try to provide them coaching and training facilities.

 

He said since the qualification of sportspersons(in individual as well as team events)is based on unified criteria laid down by the respective international federations, the selection is transparent and without any bias.

 

Malhotra admitted that not all the qualified sportspersons are medal aspirants, because some of them may make the cut just reaching the minimum qualifying standard but still there are many disciplines where India will be a stake holder.

 

He said the IOA's assessment of more medals this time is based on the performance of sportspersons in various international competitions and Olympic qualifiers.

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Malhotra said he shares the concerns of the hockey fans. "I fervently hope that our hockey teams (men and women) will make it to London. I was also deeply disappointed when we failed to qualify for Beijing Olympics last time. I hope this time our teams will win the Olympic qualifiers to be held next month here," he said.

 

He said he was hopeful that more shooters, archers and boxers would qualify to fill up the remaining slots.

 

"It is a very good sign for Indian sports that now the international sporting fraternity is looking at sportspersons from our country with respect and awe," he said.

 

"There is going to be no lack of funds for them so I hope this time the sportspersons will bring more good news for the countrymen."

 

He said that was up to the concerned federations to inform IOA about the facilities their qualified sportspersons require and "we will do our best to provide those facilities to the players. Lack of funds or facilities are not going to be excuses any more."

 

So far, 25 sportspersons have qualified for the Games. They are:

 

Archery(4): Jayant Talukdar, Deepika Kumari, L Bombayala Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro.

Aquatics(2): Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal.

Athletics(7): Babu Bhai, Gurmeet Singh (20 KM Walk), Vikas Gowda (Discus), Om Prakash (Shot Put), Myookha Jony (Triple Jump), Tintu Luka (800m), Krishna Poonia(Discus).

Boxing(4): Devendro Laishram(46-49Kg), Jai Bhagwan (60 kg), Manoj Kumar(64 Kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg).

Shooting(8): Abhinav Bindra, Ronjon Sodhi, Sanjeev Rajput, Vijay Kumar, Gagan Narang, Hari Om Singh, Rahi Sarnobat, Anuraj Singh.

 

NNN

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