By IANS,
Kochi : Former golden girl of Indian athletics P.T. Usha, who missed the bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics by 1/100th of a second, Saturday said that India will have to wait for an Olympic medal in athletics.
Talking to reporters here Saturday, Usha, who currently runs the Usha School of Athletics near her home town in Kozhikode district, said: “We have to wait for it because if one assesses the performance by our athletes so far it is not enough to win a medal in the Olympics. There is lack of training facilities.”
Usha debuted at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. She finished first in the semi-finals of the 400 metres hurdles in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, but faltered in the finals.
In the finals, Usha lost the bronze by 1/100th of a second but then became the first Indian woman (and the fifth Indian) to reach the final of an Olympic event by winning her 400 m hurdles semi-final. Cristeana Cojocaru of Romania had got the bronze by clocking 55.41 seconds.
She sees medal prospects in the shooting and boxing events and also by the tennis pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes if they get past the first round.
She, however, is confident that in the 2012 London Olympics, there is every likelihood that a few of her wards would come out with flying colours.