INDIA’S WONDER WOMEN
“I WAS IN TEARS AFTER LOSING IN THE SEMIS.MY COACH, PARK, REMINDED ME THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BRONZE AND FINISHING FOURTH. THAT HIT ME—I KNEW I HAD TO GET THAT MEDAL”
P.V. SINDHU, 26 BRONZE, WOMEN’S SINGLES, BADMINTON
“I WAS DEJECTED AFTER THE RIO GAMES. AFTER WINNING THE 2018 COMMONWEALTH GAMES, I HAD DREAMT OF WINNING AN OLYMPIC MEDAL. IT HAS FINALLY COME TRUE”
MIRABAI CHANU, 26 SILVER, WOMEN’S 49KG WEIGHTLIFTING
“I HAD LOST TO N.C. CHEN FOUR TIMES. FOR ME, THE CHALLENGE WAS TO PROVE TO MYSELF THAT I COULD BEAT HER. I DIDN’T HAVE A STRATEGY. MAIN KHUL KE KHELI”
LOVLINA BORGOHAIN, 23 BRONZE, WOMEN’S WELTERWEIGHT BOXING
P.V. SINDHU HAD JUST WON her second Olympic medal and the few of us from India who were in the stands at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza were understandably ecstatic. After all, Olympic medals are still hard to come by for India, and Sindhu is the happy exception who lived up to her billing, with back to back medals on the world’s biggest sporting stage.
Sindhu knew I’d press her for an exclusive interview, and was happy to comply. But these were exceptional circumstances, and the Covid-safety norms at the Tokyo Games were understandably stringent. Neither of us knew, though, at the time how difficult it would be to pull off what is now, between us, a routine post-match/ event ‘exclusive’. As soon as she emerged from the mandatory post-match dope test, the organisers made for Sindhu, to shepherd her to the safety of the athletes’ room. Stepping out for the interview would be a breach of government-mandated protocol, and the warning was stern: “You can’t return to the athletes’
