Rio 2016: PV Sindhu’s silver medal shows that right ingredients can lead to Olympic glory

To be completely honest, sporting achievement ranks pretty low on our national priorities. We might rage at a Shobhaa De or Vijay Goel from time to time, but it’s pretty much impotent anger that vanishes when we go back to our day jobs. The truth is despite whatever we might profess, most of us are never going to pursue a career in sports because of the huge risk that comes with it. India’s tale at Rio had so far been one of officials enjoying a foreign jaunt, the many misadventures of our new sports minister's commentary on idiotic tweets and bickering between athletes.

Not that all the athletes were insipid. The Indian hockey team did remarkably well before losing to Belgium in the quarter-finals, the eventual silver medallists. Abhinav Bindra, the only Indian athlete to win an individual gold medal came mighty close to another medal before coming fourth while Atanu Das was also impressive with his uber-cool glasses before he lost out in the pre-quarter-final.  

But things really kicked off with Dipa Karmakar’s final appearance in the vault final. Even her appearance in the vault finals was historic to begin with, given no Indian woman have ever qualified for an Olympics gymnastic event.

Not only did Dipa Karmakar come fourth in the finals, at one point she was even second, and it appeared we’d finally end our medal duck at Rio but she lost out to the last two competitors which included the legendary Simone Biles. Dipa’s event was the first one where the entire nation seemed to be united in one voice for one of their athletes, all of us moved by her story of hardships.

Kidambi Srikanth, one of Pullela Gopichand’s wards also did remarkably well and gave the legendary Lin Dan (think Roger Federer of badminton) a run for his money. However, Sakshi Malik was the one to open the tally as she became the first ‘woman wrestler’ from India to bag a medal. And then there was PV Sindhu, who for a day made us believe that a gold was in the offing. And the way Sindhu played, a gold looked feasible and even to the casual badminton observer, it was clear that we were watching two masters at battle.

Carolina Marin for the record is like Sindhu, an outlier, a Spaniard in a sport dominated by the Chinese who failed to reach the podium in women's singles. However, Marin has smashed the Chinese domination of badminton, having won the last two world championships and is currently ranked number 1. Known as the ‘Girl Nadal’, she lived up to the billing in the game showing a remarkable ability to cover the court. She also reminded us of a certain Miss Sharapova because of her almost ear-shattering grunts which was at times louder than a raucous Indian contingent cheering Sindhu on.

But all levity aside, the grit Sindhu showed against Marin proved that she is truly a big-game player, an athlete who raises her game on the big stage and whose skills have been sharpened by ace coach Gopichand. 

Moments after losing the match, Sindu said: “I ended up with silver medal but am really happy. I'm really proud about it. I'm really happy. I could not win the gold. But I really worked hard. It was anybody's game. A day before a girl has got a bronze, it's me now. We have all played well. There will be ups and downs in sport like in life. Losing one or two points. I would like to congratulate everyone. It's been a great week for me."

Sindhu also praised Marin on her Olympic gold. "I also congratulate Carolina. It's been a wonderful week for me. It's anybody's aim to win a medal at the Olympics."

Talking about the final match, Sindhu said: "In today's match both players were attacking and playing aggressive on court. One has to win and one has to lose. It was her day on centre court today."

The 21-year-old from Hyderabad said bright days are ahead for Indian badminton. "Future is good definitely. There are many players coming up, and many more will succeed. Badminton is doing really well in India. In men’s singles Srikanth lost very closely," she said.  

Sindhu’s silver is also a reminder of the potential that exists among our athletes, who seldom get the right circumstances to perform properly. Sindhu’s success clearly shows that if we are willing to back our athletes, provide them with quality coaching, and bypass the venal systems that suckle from the resources our athletes ought to get, then there are thousands of Sindhus waiting to be discovered.