Paris, Aug 16 (IANS): Ahead of his arrival in New Delhi from Paris on Saturday, India’s Chef de Mission (CMD) Gagan Narang has hailed the performance of Indian athletes in the recently-concluded 2024 Paris Olympics. A total of 117 Indian athletes participated across 16 sports in Paris and India ended their campaign with six medals -– one silver and five bronze.

Although hopes were high to surpass the Tokyo medal tally of one gold, two silver and four bronze, Narang believes several takeaways from this Games can pave the way for a brighter future and a better medal haul in LA 2028.

“Firstly, I congratulate the medal winners. A total of 6 medals (1 silver, 5 bronze) is a commendable effort,” said Narang.

“Though, personally, I feel we could have finished with a few more medals, it is worth mentioning the near-misses. There were at least six 4th place finishes and quite a few of our athletes finished in the finals of their respective events. This is encouraging, and we should take heart from these results, introspect on the fine margins and how we can better these performances," Narang stated without mincing his words.

There were six near-misses, reminding Indian sports fans of the agony from the Tokyo Olympics where the Indian women’s hockey team ended with a heart-break fourth place, yet won a billion hearts with its performance.

Similarly, in Paris, shooter Arjun Babuta narrowly missed out on a medal in the men’s 10m Air Pistol, and in the Mixed Skeet event, Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan came close, losing the bronze to China by a mere one point.

Although Manu Bhaker gave a roaring start to India's campaign with back-to-back bronze in women’s 10m Air Pistol and the Mixed Team events, in the company of Sarabjot Singh, she narrowly missed adding a historic third medal in women’s 25m Air Pistol.

Meanwhile, the Indian archers Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat lost to China in the Mixed Team event finishing fourth, thus recording India’s best-ever Olympic performance in archery. Lakshya Sen made history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to reach the semis in men’s singles. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu also missed out on a podium finish by 1 kg and finished fourth.

“There are many learnings and takeaways from these performances in Paris. From what I saw at this Olympics, it’s only the small margins that we need to close in now to elevate this performance,” he said.

“I will be submitting my observations in an extensive report to the IOA and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. India has come a long way in the past decade, and we had a fully-equipped medical team at the village with Dinshaw Pardiwala as CMO. We will grow from strength to strength to compete with USA and China in the future in sport science backup as well,” Narang opined.

In this new Olympic cycle, Narang emphasised that National Sports Federations (NSFs) should come up with a strategic roadmap to increase participation at the Olympic Games.

“We must find ways to build a strong sports culture and increase the number of participations from India. That should be our goal for this new Olympic cycle. Also, most importantly I feel whilst we are teaching our athletes how to win, we must also teach them how to accept defeat and come back with a bang,” stated the Padma Shri awardee.

To further grow the sports culture in the country, Narang believes that collective efforts must be made to chart out an athlete’s career trajectory, which also includes long-term financial literacy, and utilise the athlete’s experience by absorbing them into the system.

“To further the growth, collective efforts are being made and should be strengthened further to chart our athlete's career. We need to plan life after sport for an athlete so that their approach is long-term. Financial literacy, absorbing them into the system and utilizing their knowledge and experience, creating job opportunities in district, state and national sports organizations as administrators and coaches should be a priority," he said.

"Only then will parents and the athletes feel secure to pursue the sport professionally and invest their time and efforts in it. We must also focus on athlete’s mental well-being, this is extremely critical for athletes to feel assured and that they are cared for,” he added.

From being an ace shooter, and having tasted Olympic glory himself, Narang was playing a new role at the Olympic Games this time.

About his personal experience as India’s Chef de Mission, he said, “It was a special, and memorable experience. There were also several challenges but we had unparalleled support from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as well as Govt of India who ensured our athletes had all possible support and anything we needed even in the last hour, was provided with. These Games were perhaps the best-coordinated effort across stakeholders and this in a way made my job easier,” Narang signed off.