Asian Games: Gold Glitters for India Despite Turmoil
India will take part in 28 disciplines after others including bowling, karate, modern pentathlon, rugby, soft tennis and triathlon were axed in the sports ministry's cull.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: September 10, 2014 12:02 PM IST
Even this left them just sixth on the medals table, far behind China's 199 golds and one place behind Kazakhstan, in what is not a large return for a country of 1.2 billion.
India will take part in 28 disciplines after others including bowling, karate, modern pentathlon, rugby, soft tennis and triathlon were axed on Tuesday in the sports ministry's cull. (Also read: Indian football teams cleared for Asian Games)
Their boxers will not know until a few days before the Games open in Incheon whether they will compete under the national flag -- if they are allowed in at all.
The International Boxing Association, which suspended the Indian federation in 2012 due to election malpractice, wants polls to a provisional body to be held by September 11.
"If elections are not held on that day or ratified by the world body, our boxers will not be allowed to participate under the Indian flag," said SAI's Thomson.
India's boxers may not be able to compete at all if they are not given permission to appear as independents by the Olympic Council of Asia, the body behind the Asian Games.
India may also suffer from the loss of cue sports, chess and roller sports, the source of eight of their medals in Guangzhou, which are no longer part of the Asiad schedule.
- Kabaddi kings -
Five of India's 14 gold medals in 2010 came from track and field, but they fared poorly at this year's Glasgow Commonwealth Games where discus-thrower Vikas Gowda was their only winner.
India's first and only Olympic individual gold medallist, Abhinav Bindra, leads a strong shooting squad even though China and hosts South Korea are runaway favourites in most events on the ranges.
At Guangzhou, India managed won just one gold medal in shooting through double-trap marksman Ronjan Sodhi.
But the hockey team's Australian coach Terry Walsh, encouraged by their second-place finish in Glasgow, is hoping to end the country's Asian Games drought in a sport it once ruled.
The eight-time Olympic champions have won the Asiad title just twice, both times in Bangkok in 1966 and 1998. In comparison, arch-rivals Pakistan have eight golds to their credit.
As an extra incentive, the winner of the 10-nation hockey competition will gain a direct entry to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Indian badminton is banking on P.V. Sindhu, a semi-finalist at the recent world championships, and world number seven Saina Nehwal to break China's stranglehold in the sport.
There is at least one sport in which India will shine -- kabaddi, the home-grown wrestling-style discipline in which they have won every Asiad title so far.