For a nation of more than one billion people, which has sent in 83 sportsmen in the 2012 London Summer Olympics, the country’s largest contingent in the games so far, to participate in 13 disciplines, a humble bronze on the fourth day of the sporting games is no feat. A gold missed in the poor performance of Abhinav Bindra, the Beijing gold winner, is a bigger loss. At present, India is 27th in the medal tally and shares that spot with ten others. Countrys like Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Romania, Georgia, Hungary, Ukraine and Chinese Taipei are ahead of India in the medal tally. This when a total of Rs 258 crore were spent on the preparation of sportspersons for the games (according to an announcement made by sport minister Ajay Maken in March 2011).  Out of this amount, Rs 20 crore were to spent on hiring foreign coaches. The sports ministry had launched a project called ‘operation excellence for London Olympics 2012’ (OPEX 2012).

Do you think we should really go gaga over a bronze?