Our athletes go out there to win now and not just participate: Anurag Thakur

Fielding their largest-ever contingent of 655 members at an Asian Games, India's journey of returning home with their richest medal haul was realised on Saturday.  

Anurag Thakur, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, shares his views with DH on the Indian athletes living up to the expectations and going beyond the set mark of a 100 medals at the 19th edition of the continental bash at Hangzhou. 

Excerpts.. 

How would you describe the feeling of breaching 'Mission 100'?

I am immensely proud of our athletes for breaching Mission 100. It is a testament to their hard work, dedication, and resilience. It is also a historic moment for Indian sport. 
We said it and We did it! The hard work and determination of our athletes to win medals for the country, the vision of Honourable PM Shri. Narendra Modi to create a holistic sports ecosystem, combined with the support extended to them through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme, Khelo India Scheme and other government funds has brought about these historic results.

Many called it over ambitious, but now that it has been achieved, what were the reasons behind setting 100 as a medal target number?

The Target Olympic Podium Scheme has a very scientific approach to their analysis. The performance of each athlete who is part of our big international competitions is monitored very closely and a head-to-head analysis is done with their closest competitors internationally.

There is a research wing that works through the year to identify the best athletes within the system. In terms of support, for the Asian Games alone, specialised training camps were organised for the preparation for Asian Games. Athletes in all disciplines had around 200 camp days and competitions. We appointed 275 foreign experts, including coaches, high performance directors, high performance managers, physiotherapists, psychologists. Besides, more than 75 foreign exposures were given to athletes.

Specialized support under TOPS has been provided to the athletes, with Neeraj Chopra (athletics), Satwik Sairaj & Chirag C Shetty (badminton), Sharath Kamal (table tennis), Vishnu Saravanan (sailing) and Bajrang Punia (wrestling) as the top beneficiaries; towards the support for International Exposures, Procurement of Sports Equipment, training, hiring of Coaches & Support Staff.

As per the requirement of athletes, they have trained abroad in the best training facilities. Neeraj Chopra has had 586 days of rigorous training across Europe, South Africa, and the USA. A dedicated foreign coach Dr. Bartonietz Klaus & personal physiotherapist ensure year-round excellence. We have done well in sailing too and sailers under TOPS were provided support to the tune of Rs. 2.88 Cr. towards foreign training & competition, procurement of equipment & hiring of coaches and support staff. Avinash Sable was provided foreign training & competitions in USA, Switzerland, Hungary & Morocco and a dedicated coach was hired for him.

In shooting, we have given ammunition Support to the tune of Rs. 4.00 Cr. along with foreign specialized training camps in Germany, Italy, France & Czech Republic along with 185 days of Coaching camps for ammunition & barrel testing. In badminton, HS Prannoy was provided specialized equipment for post training recovery and crucial sustained performance along with personal support staff—S&C Trainer, Nutritionist, & Psychologist—ensures comprehensive care.

The chunk of medals came through shooting and athletics, what are your thoughts about it?

India's performance in athletics and shooting at the Asian Games 2022 was particularly impressive. We won a total of 22 medals (7 gold) in Shooting and 29 medals (6 gold) in Athletics. 

In shooting we have done well even in the past in the Olympics, though 2020 was not a good edition for shooting, but athletics was seen as a sport where the west and African countries dominated. It was felt that we do not have the genes that are required for excellence in athletics. We have gone up to the fourth position so many times and missed the medal. But that has changed.

Change in the mindset..

I feel the Olympic Gold of Neeraj Chopra in Tokyo has made a huge difference in the mindset of athletes. There is a confidence not only in athletics but in other sports too with which our athletes compete now. Avinash Sable's CWG medal in the 3000m steeplechase, where he beat athletes from Kenya was another moment where it became clear that we are as good in that discipline.

In this Games Parul Choudhary's gold in the 5000m stands out, not only because it is a historic medal, but also because the confidence she showed in surpassing the Japanese athlete in the last 10 seconds to get the gold. It was evident that mentally she did not give up on the Gold even till the very end. Earlier they participated with the Hope of winning, now they know they can win. They go to win, not participate. That is a big change.

Many athletes have told me that when they represent the country now not only do they feel they have training at par with the best in the world, but they also feel that 1.4 billion people are supporting them. Honourable PM's initiative to meet contingents before they leave for major competitions, to directly call them after a win or even if they lose, meeting them and sharing their success once they are back has created a huge positive impact in the minds of our athletes. Yeh Hai Nayi Soch, Naya Bharath.

I am confident that India's success in athletics and shooting at the Asian Games 2022 is just the beginning. We have the potential to become a global powerhouse in these sports, and we are committed to achieving that goal.

I would also like to point out that we won first-time medals in 16 categories including disciplines such as roller skating, women's steeplechase, golf, equesterian, sailing, which goes to show that India is developing a strong sporting culture.

I would also like to mention the performances of our female athletes. They won 54 medals, which is more than half of India's total medal tally. This is a clear indication of the growing strength and participation of women in sports in India.

A few disciplines such as wrestling, boxing where we were expected to do much better didn't quite live-up to the expectations. Your comments on this?

Our Wrestlers and Boxers have tried hard and gave their all and we also have got a handful of medals. We should not forget that they are still among the best in the world. They have had a lot of success in recent years.
I am confident that our wrestling and boxing athletes will learn from their mistakes and come back stronger. We will continue to support them in every way possible.

Which, according to you, were the standout performances?

It would be difficult and unfair to pick a few of them because each medal was precious but I think Parul Choudhary's gold in the 5000m stands out as does the 100th medal brought in by the women's kabaddi team, which is particularly special because it marked the big score and it came from our traditional sport. 

We touched 107, that's 37 medals more than the last Asiad. But we are nowhere in touching distance of the top-3 on the medals tally. What needs to be done to get closer to that?

It takes a lot of time to create champions, we are on the right track, as our results show and now with a growing bench-strength, I am confident that we will move closer to those goals. The Khelo India Scheme has worked wonderfully in helping to identify and nurture athletes who are core to our bench-strength. Of the 651 athletes, 124 were from the Khelo India Scheme. Similarly 70 of them were from our National Center of Excellence. We have also restructured TOPS to accomodate and support more athletes. When the scheme was started in 2014, we supported 75 athletes, now we have 285 athletes in TOPS in the development and core group. As we strengthen this strength, the probability of medals will automatically go up. 

What is the government's vision or the roadmap to Paris and beyond from here?

The training of athletes who are likely to represent India in Paris has started 2 years back and the training is on track. We have recently also upgraded the facilities at 3 National Centers of Excellence in Patiala, Bengaluru and Lucknow to provide international-level facilities to our athletes. Besides, we have greatly strengthened our sports science facilities and hired more than 200 experts as High Performance Managers and Directors to improve overall training. All athletes will continue to get overall as well as personalised support from TOPS.