As Athletes Bring Home Medals, Gaffes Mar India’s Olympic Fever Amid All the Excitement

The 32nd edition of the Olympic Games saw India send its largest contingent with over 120 athletes, and experts even predicted that with the quality we have this year, we could break our medals tally record and even register double figures for the first time. However, amid all the enthusiasm, some gaffes stand out as the country celebrates its sportspersons.

From boxing to shooting, India has world-beaters in its ranks and the excitement hit a new high owing to that. Ahead of the Games, athletes were given the kind of sendoff they deserve. Newly appointed Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur along with MoS Nisith Pramanik were present at the Delhi Airport when the first batch of athletes departed for Tokyo.

The state governments too weren’t far behind in their efforts as almost every state announced cash prizes for medals for winners at the Tokyo Games. As did Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi. Four Olympic athletes — Deepak Kumar, Manika Batra, Amoj Jacob, and Sarthak Bhambri — hail from Delhi this time. Earlier this month, the Delhi government announced handsome cash prizes to the tune of Rs 3 crore for all the athletes from Delhi who bag a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. Rs 2 crore will be awarded to those who win a silver medal and Rs 1 crore to those who receive a bronze medal in the Olympics. Further, Rs 10 lakh will also be awarded to all the coaches of these aforementioned athletes who receive medals.

Among the four athletes, Manika Batra, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist was Delhi’s best bet for a medal this year. Conveying best wishes to Manika and the three other athletes from Delhi, the AAP government put up posters at various places in the capital with pictures of the four athletes along with Sumit Nagal. However, in the picture, there has been a mess up. Manika who has already been bestowed the nation’s highest sports honours — Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards — is shown as a left-handed paddler while in reality, she is a right-handed player.

Unfortunately for Manika, things did not go as planned as she was ousted from both mixed doubles and singles events even before she could reach the semi-finals, the stage which assures a medal. She did scripted history though by becoming the first Indian paddler to enter the third round of table tennis tournament.

Well, it is just not Delhi where a possible noble effort by a state government met an unfortunate result. In Assam, the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government had put up posters offering support to the lone Indian athlete representing the state in Tokyo, Lovlina Borgohain. While the posters read, “Congratulations and best wishes to Lovlina Borgohain for qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, you are the pride of Assam," the picture below was that of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s instead of the boxer’s. Another such poster was seen with state’s Sports Minister Bimal Borah’s picture carrying the same message.

The Assam government had even organised a cycle rally where Sarma himself took part along with his cabinet colleagues, MLAs of the ruling and opposition parties. No cash prize was announced by the state government.

However, it was later reported that the posters were removed and new posters which featured both the Olympic bronze medal winning boxer from Assam and the state chief minister were put up.