Tokyo was good, but Paris will be much better: Batra

Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Batra 64 is over the moon and rightly so considering the nationrsquos 48th place finish at the Tokyo Olympics is their best in four decades On the medals front too Team India collected a record seven medals beating the sixmedal haul at London 2012ldquoEvery Indian athlete who competed in Tokyo is a hero and the medalwinners are superheroes As an administrator I feel very proud Remember at the Olympics we are competing with 206 nations No other sporting event has such a huge participationlsquoTop 50 finish is crediblersquoldquoSo to finish in the top 50 is credible Before the Games I had predicted a double digit medal finish but we arenrsquot way off that mark eventually The athletes can take a break or rest for a few days now but as an administrator my work towards Paris 2024 begins today Tokyo was good but Irsquom sure Paris will be much betterrdquo an elated Batra told midday over the phone from New Delhi on Monday as Indiarsquos Olympic medallists arrived in the capitalNarinder BatraIndia won four bronze medals Lovlina Borgohain in boxing PV Sindhu in badminton Bajrang Punia in wrestling and the Indian menrsquos hockey team two silver medals Mirabai Chanu in weightlifting and Ravi Dahiya in wrestling and a historic firstever gold in athletics Neeraj Chopra in javelin throw at the Tokyo GamesBatra felt that the achievement is more special given the COVID19 protocols in place ldquoIt was not easy to train and perform in Tokyo given the COVID19 restrictions Though the organisers were very efficient and things seemed normal all around just the thought of a pandemic surrounding you can make things difficult But our athletes followed all regulations and diligently performed the selftesting exercise daily wore masks throughout and maintained social distancing at all times And while doing all this they put their best forward in the competitions too Thatrsquos the reason we saw some record performances like the 4x400m menrsquos relay new Asian record of 30025 seconds and 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sablersquos new national record of 81812 seconds feat to name a fewldquoAlso we had some impressive fourthplace finishes like Aditi Ashok in golf and the womenrsquos hockey team This would not have happened if the athletes had not given their bestrdquo explained BatraIndiarsquos success in the national game hockey however is the highlight for Batra who is also the President of the International Hockey Federation FIHHockey on a highldquoHockey runs in my veins like blood and Irsquom always most passionate about it I expected a medal from the Indian menrsquos team and Irsquom proud of the manner in which they delivered The womenrsquos team did well too though they narrowly missed out on a medal Itrsquos a good beginning and I can only see womenrsquos hockey progressing hereonrdquo said Batra a former president of Hockey India and the Asian Hockey FederationIndiarsquos shooting contingent 15member team returned without a medal for its second straight Olympics but Batra refused to train his guns at them ldquoLook the shooters performed very well in the buildup to the Games and thatrsquos why they qualified with such good scores Itrsquos just that on the given day of the competition itrsquos possible that the pressure got to them or their opponents did better than them This can happen to the best of athletesrdquohe concludedAlso Read Kohli congratulates Indias Tokyo Olympics athletes We are so proud of you