Beijing, August 13
It may sound strange but it is true; shooting has replaced hockey as a sport by which India and Indians are recognised worldwide now. Eversince Abhinav Bindra broke the jinx of winning the country’s first-ever individual gold medal in shooting two days ago, all Indians, including media personnel, are greeted by members of Olympic family more as a nation of shooters than a spent force in field hockey.

Intriguingly, ever since I arrived here on August 5, no one – either from the hosts China or any member of the Olympic family – has even mentioned hockey to me or any of my fellow colleagues.

In the previous four Olympics, only identity Indians had was their association or supremacy in field hockey. Sad, as it may sound, the golden past of India that never missed an Olympic medal from 1928 to 1972 has quietly slid back into oblivion. Glories and awards, they say, have short lives and moment someone else wins an award or is crowned with glory, the earlier recipient gracefully slips back into history.

A visit to hockey venue where top 12 teams each, both in men and womens’ sections are vying with each other for honours, does not even suggest that eight-times Olympic champions are being missed. Except for a couple of Indian journalists writing on field hockey and an Indian umpire – Satinder Sharma from Chandigarh – there is no link between India and Olympic hockey any more.

The only pleasure Indians in general, and Punjabis in particular, can derive from the hockey event is that four of Canadian players, including Ranjeev Deol, Sukhwinder Singh and Bindi Kular, have roots in India. Interestingly, while India is not represented here, Sansarpur, the great little nursery of Indian hockey, is still represented in Olympics, this time through Bindi Kular.

Bindi’s father, P.S. Kular, had migrated to Canada in late 70s. But that is no consolation for a country that won eight Olympic hockey crowns between 1928 and 1980. Perhaps Moscow marked the end of road for India in hockey in general and team sports in particular. From a team game, India knew its survival and continuation in medals tally can only be in individual sports.

After 1976 – first time when India missed an Olympic medal after its debut in the Games in 1928, India returned home empty handed from the 1984, 1988 and 1992 editions of the games before Leander Paes ended the medal drought with a bronze in men’s singles in Atlanta in 1996.

Since then individual events had been giving this nation of a billion people atleast a medal. From Paes’ bronze (1996) and Malleshwari (2000), India graduated to silver in 2004 in shooting and Abhinav has changed the silver lining into gold.

India’s good showing in shooting ever since Jaspal Rana shot country’s first gold in Asian Games in Hiroshima has shown consistent improvement, culminating into a gold medal win here.

And what else could be recognition for India and its new sporting icon Abhinav Bindra, as Omega, one of major sponsors of the Olympic movement, today invited the Chandigarh lad for endorsements. True, sponsors, eyeing India as a nation of the future as well as a future market, are trying to grab Abhinav as their Ambassador as a part of their new Unique Selling Point (USP). They realise, Shooting has taken over from where hockey left 28 years ago. In future, if India can hope for yet another Olympic medal, shooting will and hockey may not be a definite possibility.