London Olympics-2012 Opening Tonight!

The much awaited London Olympics-2012 starts tonight, the 27^th July with a grand opening ceremony planned in some amount of secrecy by the celebrated filmmaker Danny Boyle (famous in India for his controversial and yet Oscar winning movie The Slumdog Millionaire). But in India the Olympics would actually start in the wee hours tomorrow, the 28^thof July. After a series of controversies concerning sponsorship, concerning India and concerning serious security issues the once-in-four-year mega World Event is finally going to unfold in all its grandeur.

India is very big country, but its presence in the Olympics has always been little—in terms of medals won particularly Gold medals. This is unfortunate and is mainly the result of a commercial approach to sports with sponsors coming forward to put money in only money-spinning games like cricket. The government’s policy has been lukewarm too with a lot of former or promising athletes rotting in uninhabitable environs or in unthinkable jobs. This time India has sent the largest contingent ever (83 athletes) to London Olympics, but the medal hopes have not increased in a proportionate way. In all, 11,000 athletes from 204 nations will be competing for honors in 39 disciplines.

In London Olympics-2012 the Indian medal hopes mainly emanate from Archery, Shooting, Wrestling, Boxing and Badminton only, though India is participating in 13 disciplines. Narsingh Yadav is a gold medal hope in 74kg freestyle wrestling. He is the son of a milkman in Mumbai slums. He had already won gold medals in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in 2010. And, he continues to live in the slums, though people here want him to make Mumbai proud! As per the latest news the Government of Maharashtra had offered him an officer’s job in the state police services.

In India’s national game Hockey, it is yes-yes and no-no depending on the mercurial team’s performances on the particular days. In Tennis, you never know. Indian Tennis stars had recently proved their expertise in petty egoistic fights only. Some people hope for medals from the Bhupathy-Bopanna pair in men’s doubles though they crashed out unceremoniously in the Wimbledon-2012. Some pin their hopes on the Leander-Sania pair in mixed doubles.

More Indian medals would certainly make the Indian fans happy, but the grand spectacle of the Olympics is set to regale one and all just for the sheer excellence of it. People across the country will be able to enjoy the London Olympics-2012 on the national channel of Doordarshan.

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