'Indian lifters should win at least 8 medals'

It is a delight to know that the Indian lifters have kept their focus intact and are ready to power their way up. For my money, they should bring home at least eight medals.

Sonia Chanu, Geeta Rani, Ravi Kumar, Y Renubala Chanu are my picks to win the gold medal for sure. I must admit that the lifters have done a good job to overcome the phase of uncertainty in terms of participation. Everyone was more than keen to participate in the Games since it was happening on their home turf. Knowing that their participation was in jeopardy until we paid the fine, I told them to focus on their training and leave that part of the issue to us.

The fact was that I was in a unique position to give that assurance since I am also the vice-president and have been a lifter myself. I could understand what they were going through and also had the authority to get things moving. The entire squad is a very competitive one and whenever they call me for help, I give my best input.

Kudos to their focus and hardwork. Whatever the consequences, they kept their focus and the best part is that they are peaking at the right time. The team is also strong. Don’t be surprised if someone else whose name I haven’t mentioned comes and wins the gold.

However, I would have loved if world class athletes who pulled out, had come. Not only the Games organisers but even the (Indian) athletes will be disappointed. It makes a difference. The competition level goes down to some extent. If you are not competing against the best, you can’t judge yourself as well as you want. Budding athletes from our country would miss out on seeing how world champions train, what their lifestyle is, so on and so forth. Listening and reading about what they do and actually seeing is a different story altogether. The atmosphere is competitive only when the best guys are around. For that matter even the audience would have loved to see the elite athletes performing. You don’t know when we will host such an event again.

But that doesn’t mean that the CWG is not taken seriously. I mean you can’t compare Olympics, Asiad to CWG. The pecking order will always be Olympics, Asian Games and then the CWG. If some athletes are facing bigger events after the CWG, they would obviously give the Delhi event a miss.

But a competition is a competition. It is not about who is absent but about who are there. The competition would be about who participates and wins. Let me be honest that the level of competition would not be as tough for shooters, lifters and many other disciplines including weighlifting. But mind you, athletics will be at its best. Africans are not only the best in Commonwealth countries but also around the world.

At the end of it, I can assure the Indian fans that in weightlifting we will continue the tradition of dominating the sport.

—As told to Gautam Sheth