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The South
Asian Life & Times - SALT |
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Contents Cover Story
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This Special Issue of SALT is a tribute to all the
Indian athletes who will be representing the country at the London Olympics
starting 27 July, 2012. We had the opportunity to converse with many
athletes in person – and feel privileged to publish the inspiring stories of
their beginnings, their struggles, their triumphs and setbacks, hopes and
dreams and foremost of all – the passion and dedication for their chosen
sport. They are the country’s best and raring to bring home the gold. Just as we go to print, 81 Indian athletes are
confirmed to participate in London Olympics – the largest Indian contingent
ever. The 60 men and 21 women have worked extremely hard to make it to
London. It was a rare opportunity
to watch the athletes train in Patiala
- at the NIS Complex – Asia’s premier
sports campus.
The team of seven male boxers couldn’t
have been in better spirits – determined to win. The Chief National Boxing
Coach, Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu, felt positive about their training and skills.
Mary Kom, the first female Indian boxer to qualify for the Olympics, is also
a favourite for the gold medal. She has generally fought in the 46kg
category, but in London she will compete in the 51kg category - the lightest
for women at the Olympics. India’s wrestlers have
fared exceedingly well in recent international competitions. Sushil Kumar
and Yogeshwar Dutt – the gentle giants of Indian wrestling – are perhaps the
two most mild-mannered and endearing grapplers. SALT met them at their
training centre near Sonepat in Haryana – a state in north-west India, where
wrestling and boxing stir up more passion than cricket.
The significant Indian story this Olympics is that
‘Women Have Arrived ’ – not only in badminton and athletics, but also in
boxing, wrestling, archery, and judo. Mary Kom, the boxer from Manipur, has
won five successive world titles; Deepika Kumari, the archer from Jharkhand,
is World No. 1 in Women’s Individual Recurve; Geeta Phogat, the wrestler
from Haryana, challenged all social norms in a state with the worst
sex-ratio in the country, to win the Gold in wrestling at the 2010
Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Olympics have never
looked so bright for India. This just might be the year of India’s ‘Gold
Rush.’ Roopa Bakshi
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