IndiaPost.com - No medal hope for Indian athletes in Beijing Olympics: Usha

KOLKATA: India does not have any chance to win a medal in athletics at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Beijing later this year, said former sprint queen P T Usha. "In athletics some of the Indian participants may improve their personal marks, but I see no possibility of any Indian athlete reaching near a position for any medal," Usha told PTI.

She said the country, however, has some chances of getting a medal either in tennis or shooting. Usha, who was in the city in connection with an athletics meet, is the lone Indian athlete who bagged gold medals in the Asian Games and missed a medal by a whisker at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

About ace long jumper Anju Bobby George's prospects in Beijing, Usha said, "Anju has passed her prime. She also needs to work on her injury management to produce good results." Usha said youngsters should be groomed properly to help them win medals at prestigious international meets.

"The aspiring athletes should also be given necessary international exposure so that they can fine tune themselves, get international experience and judge where they stand and what they lack," Usha said. "It was because of the lack of experience that I lost the bronze in Los Angeles Olympics," Usha said.

She lamented that the present generation of young athletes were not focused on their training. "In our time we had far more single-minded devotion. Youngsters these days spend their energy in too many things and don't put in cent per cent efforts."

Usha now spends all her time and energy to run her athletics academy which she started at Khojikode in Kerala. She said she was grooming some athletes including Tintu Luka, Shilpa and Aswathi Mohan for the London Olympics in 2012. "These athletes have showed very good potential and are on the right direction.

I'm sure they would be able to live up to the expectation in 2012 Olympics and bring to an end the medal drought for Indian athletes," the Payyoli Express said.