With just a few days to go before the curtains go up on the 2024 Olympic Games in the city of Baku in Azerbaijan, the Indian contingent is ready to leave the Indian shores tomorrow evening. The 2 member strong Indian contingent consisting of Abhinav Bindra and Leander Paes will be taking part in a record 16 events.
41 year old Abhinav Bindra, India’s sole Gold medalist so far in Olympic history, will be taking part in all events that are even remotely similar to shooting including weightlifting, volleyball and gymnastics. “See, Abhinav Bindra, is our Gold medalist. It is sensible to send him to as many events as possible so that the probability of him winning another medal is fairly high. Probably Indian Olympic Committee(IOC) is the only board in the world which has nurtured one athlete for so many years and also encouraged him to take part in as many events as possible”, justifies IOC President and octagenarian Suresh Kalmadi when asked why Abhinav Bindra is taking part in so many events.
Leander Paes, at 51 years, is taking part in field hockey, equestrian, boxing apart from tennis. ‘Age is not a criteria for taking part in Olympics. I am still 51. India’s greatest engineer Sir M V Visveshwariah lived for 101 years’, says an enthusiasitc Paes. He says participation in hockey is a tribute to his father who too was a Olympian hockey player. The reference to Vishveshwariah, though, understandably perplexed everyone.
Asked why Leander Paes and not Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore(India’s sole silver medalist at Olympics) was chosen to represent India, Kalmadi triumphantly said, “He is a cricketer. Cricket is not in Olympics”. When told that the cricketer was Vikram Rathore and that Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was India’s silver medalist at 2004 Olympic games, Kalmadi said he will set up a committee to inquire whether there was any other Rathore other than cricketer Vikram Rathore.
In related news, India today celebrated 16th year of India winning its first and only Olympic gold medal. Abhinav Bindra, who won that gold in the shooting competition at the 2008 edition at Beijing, was felicitated. He was given one petrol pump in Chandigarh. Also as part of the clebrations, ‘Shoot a random object festival’ was organized in New Delhi. Consequently, 22 people were injured when they were shot at randomly as part of the festivities.
