India set for worst performance since 1992

Months ahead of the Rio Games, Indian sports officials vowed that the massive nation would turn around its long history of dismal Olympic results and be proud of its athletes.
Steeplechase. Golf. Shooting. Badminton. Boxing. Tennis. Wrestling. Archery. Discus. India saw medal possibilities in all those disciplines, and the head of the government’s sports authority, Injeti Srinivas, said he expected India to bring home anywhere from 10 to 14 medals.
You don’t hear such optimism these days. With the end of the games just a few days away, India has yet to win any medals at all.
The Indian sports minister was chastised by Olympic officials for the “aggressive and rude” behavior of his entourage in Rio. The standout Indian athlete of the games, a gymnast known for performing one of the sport’s most dangerous moves, confessed that she’d had to cobble together her own training equipment because gymnasts get so little support.
The reaction at home has been harsh. “It’s a disaster,” said Mihir Vasavda, a sportswriter for the Indian Express newspaper. “We’re looking at returning [from an Olympics] for the first time without a medal since 1992.”
In theory, India should be a serious Olympic contender with its 1.3 billion people and tens of millions of rabid sports fans. It has a growing economy and increasing wealth, a large bureaucracy that oversees sports and a deep sensitivity about its position in the world.
But none of that has helped. Instead, India’s total Olympic medal count — 26 — puts it slightly ahead of Portugal, a nation with less than 1 percent of India’s population. India is even behind Michael Phelps, the American swimmer with 28 medals. MDT/AP