CHENNAI: Days before the Commonwealth Games began, there were expectations on India but not as much as the medals tally reflected on Sunday. Among all the bright spots in Glasgow one that glowed most was athletics. It was poetic that Gulveer Singh rounded off India’s campaign with a bronze – his second at the event. No Indian has ever done it before.
This reflected India’s performance at this Games. Adille Sumariwalla, the Athletics Federation of India spokesperson, was excited because of India’s chances at the next Games. Speaking to this daily while on his way back and transiting in London, Sumariwalla said India have performed exceptionally well. “This has been the best performance outside India,” the former AFI president said. “From three medals in Glasgow to three in Gold Coast, eight in Birmingham to 10 in Glasgow. There has been an upward trend.”
However, Sumariwalla said that this was not exactly their target. It was more like a stepping stone towards the Asian Games next month. “This event we were not really using as the final event because our final focus is Asian Games,” he said. “We are looking to do well at the Asian Games. Again, if you look at events, we have got like two medals in certain events, which show the bench strength that we have. Look at javelin, triple jump, 5000-10000m or long jump. If you look at all those events, it really shows that you have enough bench strength. If TJ’s (Tejaswin Shankar) knee had not gone bad, we might have had two medals in high jump also.”