KOZHIKODE: As the curtain on the Beijing Olympics goes up on Thursday, former Indian ace sprinter P T Usha feels India has a fair chance of clinching much-cherished individual Olympics gold medal in shooting or boxing, although scene in athletics remains 'pathetic'.
"While there are little expectations from the Indian athletes, we can expect a brave show in disciplines like shooting and boxing," Usha said here.
With the promising Indian contenders like Gagan Narang (shooting) and Vijender Singh (boxing) raring to go, Usha, who missed a bronze by a whisker in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, said, "One has to be pragmatic and optimistic in approach as sport itself is quite uncertain."
"On a particular day, it all counts on the performance at the given moment. We do have some star performers (in Gagan and Vijender), who can assure us of an individual gold," she added.
Usha, who runs an athletic school to train young girls here, also pitches for corporate sponsorship for additional funds to the promising athletes in the country.
"I am sure that somebody from my school would win athletics gold in the next London Olympics, for which I started preparations long before", she said, referring to the brilliant show put up her school prodigy Tintu Luca at the recent Asian Junior Athletics Meet, where she won the silver in the 800m event.
Asked about medal prospect of experienced Indian tennis duo Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, she said, "One has to wait and see if they can do the trick together in Olympics too."
Although she feels this year's sports budget of Rs 781 crore was much lesser compared to China, which has allocated almost four times the amount, Usha insisted that sporting talents should be tapped in grass-root level through comprehensive programmes.
"Money alone cannot do the magic, special efforts also have to be initiated from the grass-root level to identify and promote young talents in the country.
"If you identify a talent in Kerala and ask them to go to Patiala for the training camp, it affects the athlete in many ways, including education", the 'Payyoli Express' said.
Usha thinks state-of-the-art camps should be set up in every region of the country to offer better training to the promising talents.
"We must plan at least 10 years in advance to win an Olympics gold in any event and that is what I have been doing at my training school now during the past few years", she said.
"Let us promote a true sporting culture across the country immediately so that we can take on world superpowers at least some time later and to do this concerted efforts from all quarters is required," Usha said.
