India’s track and field star Neeraj Chopra scripted another medal-winning performance in men’s javelin to give the cricket-crazy nation more reasons to cheer feats beyond televised professional cricket extravaganza. He won silver at the world athletics championship in the United States of America but displayed fortitude and ability to fight back as he was facing the danger of finishing without a medal of any metal. In unfavourable wind conditions, he touched 88.13 metres in the fourth round in a final dominated by three mind-boggling 90m+ throws by the gold winner Anderson Peters.
Quite the rock star of the athletics world with a following running into hundreds of millions of people now after winning the Olympic gold, the Panipat Express had to shake off the after-effects of a long celebratory round post-Tokyo Olympics to get back into the thick of action. He became the first male athlete and only the second Indian to win a medal at the world championships (Anju Bobby George won bronze in Paris 2003 clearing 6.70m in the long jump) to add to his gold medals at the junior worlds, Commonwealth and Asian Games.
Fortunate to be an Indian athlete in an era of freedom and, more importantly, the financial reach to train wherever in the world and under the best international coaches, Chopra leads a brigade of sportspeople who are proving that cricket is not the only sport that Indians need to revel in.
Shuttler P.V. Sindhu is another shining example of a sportsperson adopting the most scientific, modern training methods to dominate his/her sport. She made all of India proud with her gold in a Super500 series Singapore Open, slaying demons of the mind along the way and now looking the part to progress to gold at the Commonwealth Games opening this week in Birmingham, UK.
To perform consistently at global level today, there are very hard yards to be put in at training. Lakshya Sen is another from this new brigade considered most promising in badminton, a barometer of fitness. Look around beyond the cricket arenas and the Indian sporting scene has a lot to commend itself for while also serving a reminder that Team India cricketers haven’t won any significant cups or medals lately.
