National Games: A reason for everyone to put up a show

The year after the Olympics is generally a quiet one. However, the one after the Tokyo Games, has been a bit unusual for athletes worldwide. A washout 2020, due to the pandemic, has carried the backlog of competitions to this year and packed the international calendar with a series of top events. In some sports, the Paris Olympic qualification has already begun.

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In the middle of such a tight calendar, the 36th National Games organized by Gujarat holds its own relevance for top Indian athletes. It is after seven years that a National Games is going to be held. Kerala hosted it with much fanfare in 2015, and before that Ranchi in 2011. The gap between each edition of Games has widened so much that an event of such significance and magnitude doesn't quite have as much importance as it once did in the national calendar.

A lackadaisical and warring Indian Olympic Association, fighting its own battle of survival, has done little to keep it going. The original hosts of the 36th edition, Goa, was in sleep mode for a long time and never in shape to lay out the red carpet to the country's sportspersons. The Games were not scheduled even this year, till Gujarat – the state that nurses the ambition of bringing home an Olympics -- decided to pull together the national event. Though the announcement of the Games came late for the international athletes to make last-minute changes to their schedule, it still packs a lot of enthusiasm among athletes.

This edition of the Games is well spread out across six cities -- Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar, with the Opening and closing ceremonies set to be staged in the Narendra Modi Stadium. Altogether, there will be 35 sports, including traditional sports like Kho kho, Mallakhamba and Yogasana, across 17 venues.

It will be an excellent opportunity for Gujarat to showcase its hosting capability of a multi-sport event and gain from the experience. As it is happening during the festival time, the people should be able to turn up as well. Presence of a sizeable crowd during the table tennis competition in Surat that came to see the likes of Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan, Manika Batra and others augurs well for the success of the event.

Olympic silver medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu will be the star attraction for the Games. Besides, a host of Commonwealth Games medallists will add to the quality of the competitions. The presence of long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, triple jumper Abdulla Abbobacker in athletics, top shooters like Manu Bhaker, Elavenil Valarivan, hockey goalkeeper Savita Punia will ensure there will be no shortage of stardust. Olympic medallists Neeraj Chopra, PV Sindhu might be missing but they will add a spark of glamour to the event from the sidelines.

For Sreeshankar, the Games will wind up his most successful year. With Md Anees Yahiya for company, Sreeshankar is waiting for one final burst in the long jump. Undoubtedly, there will be a lot of attention on track and field athletes after their success in Birmingham.

“I was about to end my season in a Luasanne meet as my body was tired after a hectic year. So, I took a break after CWG. But when this opportunity came to participate in the nationals, I felt it was the best way to wind up my year. I am really looking forward to a good competition,” said Sreeshankar, who remembers the buzz from the Games in Kerala. “It was real fun and I always wanted to compete in one.”

The shooters, on the other hand, are about to enter into the most important competition phase as far as the Paris Olympics is concerned. In two weeks’ time, they have the world championships in Cairo that offer Olympic quota places. Most of them will feature in the National Games, with the competition format tweaked to make it a battle among the top 16 in the country, including one from the host, Gujarat.

“I think it will serve as a good preparatory event for the world championships because we have only the top shooters participating. It will test their nerves and keep them sharp,” said national rifle coach and former international Suma Shirur.

Riflewoman Elavenil stresses the focus will remain on the world championships.

“I have been training hard and my priority is the World Championship. The National Games will be a good competition and I am excited because it is happening at my home. I think shooting in front of the home crowd will have a different feeling.”

Ankita Raina too can’t wait to perform in front of her family members and friends. “It has come after a long time and though it is tough especially for tennis players to fit in the Games in their packed schedule, but for me, it’s been an easy decision because it is happening at my home. The amount of support I have received from Gujarat is the only reason that I have come so far.”

The Nationals are the closest a young athlete can come to feeling the ambience of a multi-sport event. Sprinter Dutee Chand recalls the 2015 Games when she wanted to prove herself to the world after the hyper-androgenism case and made a stellar comeback in Kerala nationals. She has since dominated the sprint events at home. This time Dutee is competing just to inspire the younger lot.

“It is an excellent opportunity for the upcoming athletes to get a feeling of multi-disciplinary events. The kind of atmosphere it builds, the pressure that comes with it. The top players can participate to make it high profile and inspire the next generation,” said Dutee, who dearly values her National Games medals. “I wanted to show that I can prove the world wrong.

“For fans, it is an amazing experience to go out there and watch the action in front of them – a kind of experience that you see at an Asian Games, CWG or Olympics. I think it is happening at a good time during the holidays. It will bring people to the stadium to cheer for the athletes and a wonderful opportunity for the kids to get inspired.”

Over the years, the charm of Nationals might have dulled, but it continues to be the most coveted platform for the less popular sports with limited international events, and if scheduled in advance and organised well, athletes are always game for it.

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