Can India win medal at 2008 Beijing Olympic Games?

I feel a big “NO”. India will repeat its long history of going to Olympic Games with lots of hope from our hockey team but from the last two occasions the burden of wining an (I write “an” coz a winning a single medal is too much for India) Olympic medal has been shared by our shooters, who do well at World Cups, and our weightlifters, with same credentials, but fail to repeat that feats at the biggest sporting arena called the Olympic Games. And I feel this year’s Beijing Olympic Games will be no different.

Miracles do happen. And like the last Athens Olympic Games when Major Rajvardhan Singh came from nowhere to bag a lone silver medal for India. This time too, if miracle happens then some little known sportsman or sportswoman might do India proud at the 2008 Beijing Olympics . Else, I don’t see any chance of any one from the Indian contingent standing on the podium.

Luckily for the Indian hockey team, with other sportsman occasionally performing well at international meets, expectations from them have been off their shoulders. And what you say guys, I have noticed a strange thing every Olympics—that of the medal expectations from different teams.

Every Olympics, the burden of winning a medal is borne by different teams. During Sydney Olympic Games, it was the weightlifting team, and during the Athens Olympic Games it was the shooters; and in Beijing Olympics Games a lot is expected from the Archery team, especially Dona Banerjee, who was recently crowned the World Champion.

And again, the former world number one pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati have rekindle the hopes of a medal in Beijing Olympics by agreeing to join hands for this Beijing Olympic Games, which will be begin in this August.

But despite all there world class performances from various Indian Sportsman or sportswoman, I don’t know why I have this feeling that they will not be able to repeat their best performances. I know I will be accused of being pessimist to the core, but I feel ,I am simply honest.