India Proves its Potential at Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games
It was yet another day at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and India has finished with a few more gold medals, making it an amazing conclusion to the events held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for the local spectators.
As India concludes rather professionally at the 19th Commonwealth Games, athletes from other countries as well depicted some remarkable achievements. The players participating in the Delhi Games do not have the only motive of bagging a medal as
their performances here would also play a crucial role in ensuring their participation in other upcoming mega sporting events around the globe.
For instance, take the case of Leon Baptiste. The 25-year-old Londoner, who had been suffering from a succession of injuries, made it to the 200m final finish-line in just 20.45 seconds while his closest rival, Marlon Devonish slipped to the fifth position.
For both Leon and Marlon, despite hailing from the same country, it wasn't just about having a gold medal at Delhi Games but rather they knew that on the basis of their performance in the event, the Britain's sports officials would decide on which one of them
should be given the chance to represent the country in the upcoming European championships.
The competition finally ended in Leon's favour and karma prevailed for him as he made it to the gold medal. Considering his last few days' performances, it seems that the final 200m was a massive one for him. Commenting on the success of Leon Baptiste, Michael
Johnson said that although making it to the finish line in 20.4 seconds was a good time but it wasn't good enough to sustain the top position for the athlete in the long run. However, Leon himself looked happy and confident.
Responding to Johnson, a spectator was of the view that for an athlete, the most important thing is his confidence. While giving the example of former athlete, Mark Lewis-Francis, he said that although, he too didn't had a good start but he later won the
European silver in Barcelona. He added that to him, Leon was no different than Lewis-Francis and he had the right potential to outdo his rivals at the European Championship as well.
Meanwhile, acknowledging Leon's success in Delhi, a British sports official maintained that though he didn't start well but still managed to put that to the back of his mind. He added that Leon's coach, Linford Christie had worked hard on him and told him
to forget about making rather an impressive start, after all, it wasn't about how quickly you started the race, rather it is how quickly you finish it off.
For the Indian side, Tuesday proved to be a remarkable day as the crowd also, who had not been there throughout the event, eventually showed up to support its athletes. The athletes too, by giving some remarkable performances, kept their faith in them. On
one side, Krishna Poonia swept in women’s discus while on the other side, India also won the title in 4x400m women relay quarter for the first time in Commonwealth games history.
The Indian side finished the day with two medals in both of the sprint relays. The performances of Indian athletes during the Delhi Games have made it clear that the country had all the potential to excel both on track and field.
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