DOHA: It was a quantum jump for India in terms of medals won at the 15th Asian Games but quality was missing in terms of the number of gold medals won.

The jumbo contingent of 400-plus athletes managed to return home with 54 medals — 10 gold, 18 silver and 26 bronze.

It does compare well with the 36 medals that India had won in the last edition. It is also India's second best haul ever after the 57 won in 1982 when Delhi hosted the show. The point is that the number of gold medals have come down from 11 to 10 and that is a cause for worry.

Fall in athletics

The fall was because the gold from athletics dried up this time, not quite mysteriously though. The Indian athletes were being hounded by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) and the connoisseurs feared that it may be reduced to one women's relay gold medal and that was proved right.

Athletics over the years has given 203 medals including 63 gold, and the authorities running the federation have a lot to answer.

It is so easy to rejoice the golden deeds of Jaspal Rana, Leander Paes, Koneru Humpy, Pankaj Advani, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, Manjeet Kaur and the team that we remember one day every four years, kabaddi, but where are the new heroes and heroines.

Of course, it was heartening to see the way world champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore fight against the tough windy conditions to show their undisputed class, but they too fell short of the gold.

Samaresh Jung, the best athlete in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne was grappling with his form before signing off with a 100 in the last series that solidified the team gold in centrefire pistol.

Icing on the cake

It was left to Jaspal Rana who had won the last individual medal in shooting 12 years ago as an 18-year-old to put the icing on the cake for the shooting team with two individual gold medals apart from the team gold.

Shooting did live up to its newfound status by delivering 14 medals including five silver apart from the three gold. Last time, shooting had provided two team silver medals. That was some improvement.

Tennis too lived up to its standard, though the millions may be disappointed that Sania Mirza did not win the individual gold. She did make history by becoming the first Indian to reach the singles final and led the women's team to its first ever medal.

Leander and Mahesh fought well to ward off seven matchpoints in the final to defend their doubles gold. Sania was a class act in winning the mixed doubles gold with Leander. The duo had improved from bronze.

Pankaj Advani was his usual confident self, but it was a pity that the authorities cut India's chances by restricting him to one event, when he has won the world championship in both billiards and snooker.

Humpy's success

Koneru Humpy wanted to win two gold medals and accomplished that with remarkable assurance. Viswanathan Anand may wonder whether he robbed the Indian contingent of one gold medal by withdrawing from the squad.

On the flip side, forty odd athletes and one gold medal may be hard to digest, especially after India had won seven in track and field in Busan out of a total of 11 gold medals. Even the accomplished Anju Bobby George managed just a silver. Yet, the athletes may point a quick finger at the hockey team that did not make the final for the first time.

There was the first medal for archery and squash, but 32 handball players did not reach anywhere and so were the 24 in sepak takraw.

The officials running sports in the country may have a ready answer. They may stress that the only remedy would be to host more mega events at home, after the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in 2010.

China has won more than 300 medals and nearly half of them in gold. Korea and Japan have nearly 200 medals each. Even Kazakhstan and Thailand have been able to win a lot of gold.

On a conservative estimate, let us first win 20 gold medals in Asian Games, before we start thinking about hosting it.

This is no time to rejoice but time for introspection. Otherwise, Indian sport will be left out in the cold.

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