Olympic Games Paris 2024 

by Rajesh Beri  

Many thanks to the readers who enjoyed reading my first article written after Team India’s triumph at the recent T-20 Cricket Championship. I was hoping my second article would celebrate the Triumph of another Indian team on the World Stage and until 2:30 pm on the East Coast of USA, on this 6^th day of August, that hope was still alive.  

I am of course talking about the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ahh... Paris, the city of lights, outdoor parks, lofty monuments, major museums, the center of fashion, gastronomy and much more, the IOC could not have chosen a better venue to host the Summer Games.  And the organizers of the Paris Games did not disappoint, the opening ceremony was held outdoors, a cavalcade of 94 boats carrying 10,500 of the World’s finest athletes, down the river Seine, with millions of spectators lining the riverbanks, enjoying the open-air show. One hopes that all future Olympics will follow Paris’s lead.

On to the games, the first big event for Indian audiences, was the Men’s hockey game against New Zealand, the surprising winners of the first Olympic Turf Hockey tournament in 1976. And what an exciting game it turned out to be. Trailing 0-1, India equalized in the 24^th minute, took the lead in the 34^th minute only to let New Zealand tie the game and it was left to the Indian Captain, Harmanpreet Singh to score a game-winner in the last minute off a Penalty Corner to secure a heart-stopping victory. Somehow, I had a strong feeling that India will pull out a victory and the team indeed deliver. I was also sure that the next game against Argentina would test Team India’s mettle and did it ever. Once again, it was the Captain to the rescue, scoring a last-minute equalizer to secure a much needed draw and oh by the way, India’s ace goalkeeper, Sreejesh saved a Penalty Stroke to keep India in the game midway through the third quarter.

Meanwhile, on Day 2, India’s Ace Shooter, Manu Bhaker grabbed a bronze medal in the 10 m Air Pistol, becoming the first Indian Woman to win a medal in an Olympic Shooting event. Manu did not stop there, 2 days later with her partner Sarabjot, won another bronze in the 10m air pistol mixed team event becoming the first Indian Athlete to win 2 medals in the same Olympics. A heartbreaking fourth-place finish in the 25m pistol final denied Manu an unprecedented third medal at these games. The same fate felled Arjun Babuta (4th in the 10m Air Rifle event), Maheshwari and Anant (lost bronze medal match by 1 point in skeet shooting), the archery pair of Dhiraj and Ankita (lost bronze medal match) and India’s ace shuttler Lakshya Sen.

There was no heartbreak for the Indian men in their next match, comfortably cruising to a 2-0 shutout win over Lowly Ireland, and then giving a tough match to top ranked Belgium, defending a 1 goal lead for an entire quarter before succumbing 2-1 at the end but not before the Belgium defense had to make a goal-line save in the last minute.  It was apparent to the fans that the Indian team had a match-winning defense and an offense capable of securing penalty corners but struggling to convert them into goals.  Having already qualified for the quarter-finals on account of their victory over Ireland, India faced their nemesis, Australia in the final pool game. The Indian stars, rose to the occasion, with Sreejesh making half a dozen difficult saves, Harmanpreet scoring a brace and young Abhishek scoring his second field goal to secure a tough 3-2 victory.

Confidence-brimming, India faced Great Britain in a do-or-die quarter-final match, the same team they had defeated in the Tokyo games in the quarters. The game turned out very differently than anyone would have expected. India were down to 10 men for the rest of the game on a somewhat harsh Red Card penalty to Indian defender Amit Rohidas in the 18^th minute, but somehow managed to gain a 1-0 lead on a penalty corner, by who else, but Captain Harmanpreet.  The lead lasted only a few minutes and India were left with the daunting task of defending the entire second half short-handed. Our players rose to the occasion, fending off wave after wave of Britain’s attacks and if something got through, there was sticky pads Sreejesh to squat it away. When the final horn sounded, the British looked utterly defeated and India outplayed them in the Shootout with Sreejesh making a brilliant save to secure a heart-stopping victory.  

The semifinals against Germany on Day 11 started off well with India dominating the first quarter, securing 9 penalty corners’ but converting just one. Was this a bad omen? Nah, I thought, they have done the same in previous games but alas, Germany was a different breed. They settled down, took control of the midfield and India were left to defend it’s turf, any attack was quickly snuffed out by the stout German defense. Germany dominated the game except for a short spell at the beginning of the third quarter. Still, King Sreejesh was there, guarding his citadel until the 57^th minute when Germany scored a third goal driving a dagger through their hearts. India did manage to finally penetrate the German defense and had two near misses at the end, but it was the Germans moving on to the Final.  No, Team India championship at the 2024 Olympics. The best we could hope for is a Bronze medal.

Day 12^th at the Olympics brought further misery to the Indian Camp.  Vinesh Phogat, on her seemingly unstoppable run to the Gold Medal in Women’s wrestling, was disqualified for being slightly over the weight limit, a cruel fate indeed. It was with great trepidation that I sat down to watch India and Spain slug it out for the Bronze medal.  The two teams had met previously, in the 1980 Olympics Final with India winning 4-3. The outcome today was no different, a hard fought 2-1 victory by India to secure the Bronze medal providing some much-needed solace to the tortured Indian fans after the events of the previous day. It was exhilarating to win the Bronze in Tokyo, and today’s win was comforting. The 4^th place jinx broken; I join my fellow Indian fans in shouting “The floodgates are open, Let More Medals Flow in Paris”.

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