By Ravi Kant Singh, IANS
Hyderabad : Narjit Singh won India’s only individual gold at the 4th Military World Games here and the boxing team brought in four bronze medals. But the overall performance of the Indian contingent was disappointing.
Winning the other gold for India were the Enterprise class sailors R. Mahesh and Girdhari Lal Yadav in Mumbai. The hosts finished eight days of competition with two gold, one silver and seven bronze medals.
Boxers saved India by picking up four bronze medals apart from Narjit’s gold, showing that India do have a good chance of winning international medals in the ring.
After all, apart from A.L. Lakra, who failed to be among the medal winners, none of the others are part of the national team that will represent India at the world boxing championships in Chicago the coming week.
Men like Hari Krishan Belwal and Narjit are good future prospects and are already knocking on the doors of national selection.
Volleyball was another revelation as they spiked their way to the bronze, defeating Qatar in straight sets. China and South Korea proved a cut above. But the fact that Indians never surrendered meekly is testament to their fighting spirit.
Jeetender Kumar and Chatholi Hamza picked up bronze medals on the track and, with more training, could be medal prospects in international events soon.
Hamza especially did well to match Kenyan runners stride for stride and was only beaten on the final bend of the 1,500 metres race.
Vijay Kumar along with C.K. Chaudhary and Hambir Singh shot their way to the team silver in the 50 metres centre fire pistol event but that was all that India could gain from the shooting range.
Vijay, who shot a record 590 in the team event, missed an individual medal after a shoot-off for the bronze.
Lt. Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, though given the honour of lighting the games’ flame, did not compete because double trap did not figure in the competition.
Shooting has seen a surge in interest in the last few years but the armed forces marksmen still lag behind. This was clear from their scores in the competition here.
The football team did itself proud by qualifying for the quarterfinals where they lost by an extra time goal to eventual champions Egypt, who made short work of their opponents in the semi-finals and final.
More than the performances, the games would be deemed a success if they spark a revival of sporting activity among the men in uniform, something that has suffered greatly in last two decades.
One of the reasons cited is the deployment of troops for internal security duties. But if the games can rekindle interest in sport, Rs.15 million – what the 4th Military Games cost — would have been well spent.