14 gold + 17 silver + 33 bronze medals = Indian Glory at Asian games 2010

  
  The muck that it raised, organising the Commonwealth Games, has been made out to be the darkest chapter in India’s sports history. But, like every dark cloud has a silver lining, this one proved to have a golden lining.

  From pure performance point of view, thanks to the motivation the CWG provided to the athletes of performing in front of their home crowd, every penny spent on hosting the event now seems to be worth it.


  Given India’s stunning success at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, not many Indian taxpayers will mind that many of the crores have been lost in corruption. Such is the feeling of pride at India’s best-ever haul since 1951 Asiad.


 The Indian contingent exceeded all expectations by winning 14 gold, 17 silver and 33 bronze medals for their best-ever haul of 64. It’s not something which happened out of the blue. The conclusion, clearly, is that, the Asian Games performance is the reward for the Rs 678 crores the Indian government spent on the preparation of their athletes for them to put up a show at the CWG.
 Some of the CWG champions got carried away by the success at home. As a result, their performance at Guangzhou slipped, especially the shooters, but those who maintained their focus reaped rich rewards. The athletes in the track and field events (five gold medals), the boxers (two gold medals, three silvers), tennis team (two gold, one silver) were the toast of the Indian contingent.
 Not to forget Pankaj Advani’s win in the billiards event from where it all started, followed by rower Bajrang Lal Thakar’s gold in his back-breaking event and the kabaddi men’s and women’s hunger to maintain India’s supremacy.


  It was a heroic show for all, especially, as the atmosphere at the venues in their hostile neighbouring countries was as intimidating as it can get. The Chinese crowd back their champions like nowhere else and the pressure can unnerve the most seasoned of fighters. But, as the locals here will agree, these Indians proved to be a different kettle of fish. The 2010 Asian Games is a fine tale of India’s guts and glory.