Asian Games postponement leaves Indian athletes and federations with mixed feelings-Sports News , Firstpost

The inevitable finally happened. Asian Games 2022 were postponed to 2023 by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) amid rising speculations as COVID-19 cases have been on an increase in China, whose city Hangzhou was to host the quadrennial event from 10 September.

This disrupted preparations at the multiple ongoing national camps in various parts of India where athletes were slugging it hard in training in their bid to be in the best of shape for a grueling calendar that had the Birmingham Commonwealth Games scheduled for a month and a half ahead of the now-postponed Asiad. The deferment, in fact, not just left many athletes to halt their preparations at the eleventh hour but also leads to wastage of government resources as most of the federations have already hosted trials and will now have to do so again next year.

And with the news hitting all the camps, we spoke to athletes and officials to understand how the news affected them.

Athletics: Worst-affected

It would be safe to assume that no other discipline would be worst affected by the postponement as Asian Games have been a happy hunting ground for the track and field athletes. For instance, India won 16 gold medals at the last edition of the event in Jakarta and eight of them were won by this discipline. Apart from the gold, they grabbed nine silver and three bronze.

At the moment, the Athletics Federation of India is regulating three national camps in Patiala (javelin throwers, shot put, racewalk), Trivandrum (400m and 100m), and Bangalore (horizontal jumps and mid- and long-distance runners) while Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra has been training in Antalya, Turkey since March.

Barring Neeraj and a select few elite athletes, who are also preparing for a tougher CWG and World Athletics Championships, the remaining squad has prioritised the Asiad.

“It is disappointing news for us as the entire camp was working hard for the Asian Games,” one of the javelin throwers at NIS Patiala told the Firstpost. “For many of us, a medal at the Asian Games is a realistic target and opportunity for us to make our country proud. And also, a medal there is often helpful for us in getting a government job.”

However, for long-distance runners (any event that is at least or above 3000m) and elite athletes, who aim to compete at multiple international events, the postponement is a help.

“For long-distance runners, especially marathon runners, this is a good news because both the tournament are scheduled so close to each other that it won’t be possible for them to run at CWG and recover and peak in time for Asiad,” said Amrish Kumar, who is the former coach of 3000m steeplechase national record holder Avinash Sable.

For elite track and field athletes, the postponement means they don’t need to peak thrice this season for three different competitions.

“I had three events to compete in earlier (CWG, Asiad, and Worlds) which meant I had to peak thrice in the season,” said long jump national record holder M Sreeshankar. “But now with Asian Games shifted to 2023, we will have stronger preparation for Olympics in 2024 as there is another World Championships next year. So I would say the postponement helps.”

Wrestling: WFI to send A team for World Championships

It is a blessing in disguise for Indian wrestlers, who are training at Sonepat (for men) and Luckow (women), who had World Championships lined up 10 days after the culmination of Asiad.

Earlier, the trials for the CWG, Asiad and Worlds qualifications were scheduled for 16-17 May with those winning the trials in their respective Olympic category will head for Asian Games and CWG while the runners-up were to head for World Championship in Serbia. They were also to be joined by winners of the trials in the non-Olympic category.

“We are still waiting for a confirmation from Indian Olympic Association or SAI but once we have that, we will still go ahead with the trials as planned later this month,” said WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar. “And now with Asian Games postponed, it won’t be a problem for our wrestler instead now we can send our best wrestlers for the World Championships instead of sending a B team.”

Archery and badminton: Star athletes likely to get another shot at Asian Games qualification

The postponement to 2023 could also be a piece of good news for star recurve archer pair Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das, who missed the ticket for Asian Games after failing to make the cut at the trials earlier this year.

An Archery Association of India official told the website that while they are yet to make a decision as a meeting is set to take place soon to discuss the matter, it is likely that fresh trials will take place ahead of the Asiad next year.

The same could be true for badminton star Saina Nehwal, who may get another shot at Asiad after the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist skipped the trials to manage her workload. The badminton federation (BAI) has hinted to news agency PTI that fresh trials will be held next year.

The mood in compound archery camp, however, is not the best as it takes a severe hit on their preparations for the Asian Games as compound archery is a non-Olympic event, which makes Asiad their Olympics.

“As this is our Olympics, we give it our all during an Asian Games year,” said archer Abhishek Verma, who recently won a team gold medal at the Archery World Cup in Turkey. “Rajat (Chauhan), Aman (Saini) and I were in great form and were really pumped up about our chances in Hangzhou after winning gold in Antalya but now we all have to start it all over again the next year.”

Shooting: Another major event off their calendar

The postponement, however, leaves Indian shooters worried as this was another major shooting event off their calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After a disappointing show at last year’s Olympics, some success at the Asiad, which has the powerhouses China and Korea as competitors, would have helped especially after the event was dropped from CWG. However, now NRAI will have to find quality competition for their shooters to be better prepared for Olympic quota events.

“Very surprised at the decision,” said 2018 Asiad silver-medallist Sanjeev Rajput from the national camp in Delhi. “Olympics took place in far worse conditions so this decision doesn’t make any sense. And Asian Games were very vital not just for the medal but also in our preparations for World Championships later this year, which has Olympic berths available. Now we have just a couple of World Cups to be prepared for the World Championships.”

Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu and lifters to wait longer for a medal

Since Mirabai Chanu’s silver medal at the Olympics last year, hopes are high for the 27-year-old weightlifter to end India’s barren run at the event since Karnam Malleswari’s silver medal in 1998 and the delay only disrupts the preparation, forcing her coach to re-plan the season.

“It’s disheartening news as our wait of more than 20 years for a medal will have to wait longer,” said weightlifting national coach Vijay Sharma from the national camp at NIS Patiala. “CWG is not a tough competition for Mirabai but Asian Games had tough competition and a medal there would have only helped her grow. The postponement will now make us dump our plans and go back to the drawing board.”

As reported earlier, Mirabai will compete in the 49kg category at the event instead of the 55kg category at the CWG.

Hockey: Indian teams to wait longer for Olympics qualification

Indian men’s hockey team was among the favourites to book their Olympic berth. However, lack of competition practices due to COVID-19 meant India were often unpredictable at events they were supposed to win, including Asian Champions Trophy late last year where they finished third.

Niche sports Sepak Takraw, Wushu, etc take a hit

Niche sports such as Sepak Takraw, Wushu, Kurash, and newly-introduced Esports will take a hit as well as Games is their only opportunity to come into the limelight once in four years.

“We win medals at competitions of equal stature and even at bigger events but nothing beats the success of a medal at the Asian Games,” said Sepak Takraw player Harish Kumar. Harish made headlines in 2018 when he was found selling tea in Delhi after winning a team bronze medal in Jakarta.

The athlete still remains hopeful that all is not lost as Asian Games will be back again next year. However, with the pandemic making things uncertain, nothing can guarantee against another postponement or worse, a cancellation.

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