Rio Olympics 2016: IOA responsible for India's poor performance, says Milkha Singh

Milkha Singh during a media event

Things are not going as expected for the Indian contingent in the on-going Rio Olympics having failed to add a medal to their tally after 3 days. Former Olympian Milkha Singh feels that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) should be held responsible for India’s poor performance. Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra failed to make the cut for a podium finish missing out by a whisker in the Men’s 10-meter air rifle category in which he won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Flying Sikh had also missed the bronze medal by a negligible margin during the 1960 Rome Olympics.

As quoted by the Indian Express, the legendary athlete said, “True, we have not being doing well (in Rio). In earlier Olympics, we have done better, winning medals, even gold, silver and bronze. The IOA will have to take responsibility for this.”

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"The standard of India's performance (in Rio) has gone down as compared to earlier Olympics," said the former quarter-mile runner. After three days of action at the Rio Olympics, Indians have still not won a medal, with star shooter Abhinav Bindra missing out on a podium finish by a whisker in men's 10m air rifle event last night. Milkha said the IOA should call a review meeting after the Olympics to chalk out plans on how the country can do better in the future Games.

Indian women’s archery team also lost a close match, while all the four Table Tennis players have been shown the door in the first round. Expectations from the Tennis’ stars also went in vain as the men’s pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna, as well as the Women’s pair, was eliminated in their respective first round ties. The largest Indian contingent ever is still to taste success at the biggest sporting spectacle and the last minute loss to Germany in field hockey seems to have added more pain to the wound.

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Milkha Singh did not forget to laud India’s performance in less popular sports like the remarkable achievement of Dipa Karmakar in gymnastics. Speaking about Bindra’s slip from the bronze medal he said, “The pressure did him (Bindra) in. He won the gold in (Beijing) Olympics and he must be aware that the whole of the countrymen were keeping their eyes on him. It can happen under pressure."

India’s medal hopes are now resting on shuttlers like Saina Nehwal and P. Kashyap, archers Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das and shooters Gagan Narang and Heena Sidhu.The Indian men’s hockey team would like to bounce back against Argentina after their loss to Germany.