Undoubtedly the most memorable Olympics in modern history, the Paris edition of the event will end this Sunday. The games managed to draw attention to some of the most least-watched sports ever. India, for example, which is a die-hard watcher of Cricket, rallied behind its athletes from track-and-field, shooting, wrestling, and hockey. Indian sports fans suddenly turned up in massive numbers to watch these events, helping them come into prominence after decades of being shadowed by the dominance of cricket.
Indian hockey sees its long-lost glory, and other sports interested the Indian audience too
India does not lack talent in sports. This year’s Indian contingent was composed of 117 athletes, who participated in a total of 69 events. A lot of them have missed a medal by some bare numbers, but they’ve earned widespread acclaim in a country that doesn’t have time for sports other than cricket. Lakshya Sen became a huge favorite for a medal with his spectacular show in the Men’s Singles Badminton event. Competing in his debut Olympics at just 22, he performed phenomenally in all his matches, but lost the bronze medal match.
Like him, Indian spectators also watched other athletes with great interest. And that has benefitted in reviving the former national sport of India, hockey. The Indian hockey team was a stalwart of the sport at the Olympics, having 8 golds in its 13-medal tally. Hockey lost prominence when no wins came after 1972. In this while, cricket peaked and hockey players who had brought so many accolades to India got pushed into the background.
But the Paris Olympics turned the spotlight back toward the game. The team, led by Harmanpreet Singh, stunned Australia into defeat – a country that Indian fans have bad blood with because of cricket. But the team sadly failed to win the semi finals against Germany. The audience hoped that the team would clinch bronze in its next match, and saw it bear fruit.
Captain Singh scored two fabulous goals in the course of the match, and allowed veteran player and goalie P Sreejesh to end his career with a medal. The hockey team increased India’s bronze tally to 4 in the Paris Olympics, and were celebrated by spectators online. What’s heartwarming is that they also supported the team when it lost to Germany in the semi-finals.
Giving importance to athletes like Neeraj Chopra means hope for under-represented future talents in India
Neeraj Chopra was India’s greatest hope for an Olympic gold, given his stellar performance in Tokyo in 2020. Fans waited with bated breath until 11:55 pm on August 8th, to see Chopra perform. More than 5 crore people tuned in to watch the finals, almost at par with the viewership of the T20 World Cup final. But Chopra was the lone man who the country stayed up for until the early hours of the next day. He was later dethroned by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who stunned himself and the other participants by registering a record-breaking throw of 92.97 meters. Chopra bagged a silver, and it is a commendable fact that he achieved the win with a persistent Groin injury that also led 5 out of 6 of his throws being fouls.
Viacom 18, India’s broadcaster of the Paris Olympics, estimated a 15 crore viewership on JioCinema, and 120 million on linear TV. A good portion of that turned up in one night itself. Indian athletes this year have nearly done the unthinkable: it’s not easy to get such a huge population interested in sports other than cricket.
This gives these avenues opportunities to become more developed, acquire better sponsorships, and a way to make these athletes the best versions of themselves. India has sportspersons in every nook and cranny, and a lot of them come from underprivileged backgrounds. The exposure and appreciation that these sports have received in the Olympics bode well for future talents, now that they have the attention of a larger audience.
