Our mediocrity is there for all to see." The headline in India's Mail Today on Wednesday summed up neatly the frustration many Indians feel about their country's somewhat flaccid Olympic campaign.
A nation of 1.2 billion people and between them they have mustered a measly four medals: one silver and three bronze. Even Grenada (population 110,000) managed a gold. At one point the 27-year-old Michael Phelps had won more Olympic metal in his short career than India had in more than 100 years of participation. To make matters worse, China, India's great rival in the race to become a future superpower, is in the top two in the medal table.
Hopes were high when the 83-strong India team landed at Heathrow two weeks ago. "Watch out! India is ready to make its mark in London" yelled the cover of The Week, an Indian magazine. There seemed genuine belief that the millions invested in Indian sporting talent by Britain's richest man, expat Lakshmi Mittal, could finally bear fruit.
Before the Games opened, Indians enjoyed pouring scorn on the organisational skills of their colonial rivals. "Another blooper" said the Times of India following the furore over empty seating, a pleasing example of Indians clinging on to vocabulary most "Britishers" left behind in the Raj.
The Indian archers were unhappy with their digs and particularly the indignity of sharing a toilet between six.
S Kannan, Mail Today's ponytailed "Reporter at Large", reported back on strange British customs such as not drinking and driving and the difficulty in obtaining an over-the-counter blood sugar test when you've eaten too much cake (middle class Indians can be dreadful hypochondriacs).
Meanwhile, the sports minister Ajay Maken boasted on Twitter that "everyone" he had spoken to rated the Commonwealth Games village in Delhi better than its London counterpart. India has apparently forgotten what most others remember about the 2010 Delhi games: the collapsed bridge, the mass food poisoning, the Scottish team declaring their accommodation "unfit for human habitation".
No matter. The schadenfreude turned to disappointment on day one when the much-hyped Indian archers withered under pressure. Like many of the Indian losers, Jayanta Talukdar said his team had not received the necessary support. "We need a psychologist and a physiotherapist urgently to enhance our confidence as well as mental toughness to face the level of competition in Olympics," he said, after misfiring his arrows and crashing out in the opening round.
India's sole swimmer, Adaveeshaiah Gagan Ullalmath, had a shocker in the 1500m, finishing more than 40 seconds slower than his nearest rival. He didn't have the best preparation: according to one report, he had done much of his training at a cloudy public pool in Bangalore "filled with toddlers in rubber rings and dive-bombing teenagers".
At least he made it to London – unlike any Indian cyclists. Despite Delhi building a state-of-the-art £17m velodrome for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, its doors have been closed ever since. "We had 30-odd riders in 2008. The number has come down to a handful today as most of them have switched to road racing," said Parmod Sharma, an official of the Delhi cycling association.
No wonder India's four medallists have been celebrated as if they had won gold. Boxer Mary Kom won a bronze by default after being beaten by Nicola Adams from Britain in the semi-final on Wednesday night, but the mother of five-year-old twins was still "Magnificent Mary" to all the headline writers.
"Our medallists have done us proud during these Olympic Games. I hope their achievements will spur a new generation of sportspeople," was the Twitter verdict of prime minister Manmohan Singh. Others poked fun at India's lacklustre performance, circulating a poster showing Phelps and the Chinese Olympic squad draped in their medals, juxtaposed with Indians weighed down with blingy jewellery. "We have more gold!" says the caption.
For journalist Sourish Bhattacharyya, India's lack of ambition is a national tragedy. "It was almost comical to see the country erupt into celebration when Saina Nehwal got her badminton bronze," he wrote, grumbling that while the rest of the world gunned for gold, his compatriots seemed happy to settle for the lowest step on the podium.
Some had higher ambitions, though: notably the father of Gagan Narang, the portly shooter who won India's first medal this year (a bronze).
Demonstrating the tough love Indian parents are famed for the world over, he said of his son's achievement: "It's a good achievement, although we expected a gold."
No one had a kind word to say about the national hockey team, who have lost every match. Hockey used to be India's saving grace – 11 of the 22 medals the country has won at the Olympics have been in hockey – but at London they performed the worst since 1920.
"This team doesn't deserve to be at the Olympics. They have let the whole nation down," said former player Mohammad Shahid (
Team criticised as India hit new low | DAWN.COM).
Happily, though, India this week won what matters most: on Tuesday they beat Sri Lanka by 39 runs in the T20.
