Matchsticks

It is the kind of litmus test every athlete loves to hate. Particularly, if he represents a nation of medal-starved couch commentators. So, it’s quite an awesome burden that the Sydney-bound Indian contingent carries on its shoulders. The men and women who constitute this contingent know that they must make the games a matter of pride for the billion pairs of eyes peering into the ubiquitous television every minute of each day. They are also fully aware of the fact that these eyes won’t be satisfied by anything less than a few medals. And the odour of scandal emanating from the quarters of the sleaze merchants of cricket have only made these athletes’ task tougher.

They know that they must force the focus back on to the track. Leander Paes knows this. And so does the hockey team. When Paes held the tricolour at the opening ceremony, he could certainly feel the weight on his shoulders, the burden of carrying the hopes of a nation lusting for medals of any colour. Perhaps it is a little too much to expect him to repeat his instinctive victory at Atlanta four years ago. But then, that’s the way we’ve been all these years - latching on to the glimmer of hope everytime we’re shown one.

"Playing for my country means a lot for me. And this is a great moment in my life, perhaps the greatest," Paes had said four years ago after winning the bronze. Talk of national pride and he’d occupy the top rank. But the point is, can Paes repeat the Atlanta feat, something that had been a pleasant surprise four years ago? And then, again (should we be so greedy), can he team up with his now-friend-now-estranged partner, Mahesh Bhupathi, to win a doubles medal?

A wildcard entry this time, Paes cannot wipe out the memories of his and Bhupathi’s ignominious first-round exit from this year’s US Open from the mind of even the most die-hard of his fans. Add to this a couple of more pieces of bad news - the niggling injury that’s been bothering both Paes and Bhupathi, forcing them to stay out of singles tournaments for the past three months. While Paes’ wrist injury has kept him out of tournaments for most of the last three months, Bhupathi is still nursing a shoulder which was operated in November last year. The duo did not even take part in the Tashkent tournament, in the process robbing them of vital match practice. The awesome twosome are back together once again after an eight-month gap and their appearances in the Hamlet Cup (they managed to reach the last four) and the US Open haven’t given us much reason for cheer.

On the positive side is Andre Agassi’s absence from the singles fold. But, does Paes have any chance before the Mark Philipoussises and Patrick Rafters of this world? One thing we can be certain about is that the duo’s biggest advantage lies in their ability to lift their game by a couple of notches when it comes to national pride. Haven’t we seen it on numerous occasions in all those Davis Cup matches? And Sydney is certainly no less.

Then there’s hockey. The tag of an eight-time gold medallist is like a millstone hung round the neck of each man in the team and Sydney would be their chance to wipe out the bitter memories of Atlanta - where they finished a poor eighth. And here’s a chance for poetic justice - they take on Argentina in their opening game on Sunday, the team they lost to in their first game in Atlanta, before going into a tailspin. If one were to go by cold statistics, there’s nothing much to crow about. Indian hockey’s last best effort at the world level was the 1975 World Cup victory. We have slid from the fifth to the eighth position in the last four Games and a physically unfit team came ninth in the Utrecht World Cup two years ago.

A victory at the Bangkok Asian Games the same year rejuvenated the team and a direct entry to the Games was also ensured. At least, this time those who matter in Indian hockey also seem to mean business. The team was sent to Sydney almost a month before the tournament so that they could acclimatise themselves to the venue. And with the collective experiences of star forwards Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar, both in their third Olympics, on their side what bigger boost could the team have possibly asked for?

Not just that, Baljeet Singh Dhillon, Deepak Thakur and Gagan Jit Singh are also a part of the team and Indian hockey is today boasting of its best strike force in a long time. That apart, the midfield of Mohammed Riaz, captain Ramandeep Singh and Baljit Singh Saini and the defence marshalled by Dileep Tirkey, observers say, is good enough to match any rival team. But still, everyone’s playing it. There is no talk of bringing medals back home - to start with, even a place in the semi-final would be considered good show. Can this be the golden year for Indian hockey? Perhaps, Sunday’s match would be the first step towards that much-cherished goal.

At a time when the entire nation is talking of medals in tennis and hockey, one person perhaps everyone’s forgotten about is P. Gopichand in badminton. He’s reached a career-best world ranking of number 10 and with Aparna Popat, who comes back after a three-month ban for a minor doping incident, these two could once again revive the memories of the Padukone era. They are in tough draws, and with little match practice, their task will be even tougher.

And if one were to go by the world and Olympic records, the Indian quartet of Paramjeet Kaur, Manjima Kuriakose, Rosa Kutty and K.M. Beenamol in the 4x400 relay don’t figure anywhere near. The Indian women’s best is 3:28:11, and compare this to the US women’s 3:20:91. Even though coach Bahadur Singh is hopeful that they will improve their timing to somewhere around 3:26, for that all important spot in the final, it seems highly unlikely that will bring back home some medals.

But then, who’s stopped us from dreaming? Hasn’t that been our favourite pastime all these years?