Little did the world know that a player making his Olympic debut as second fiddle to a senior pro would return four years later to win an Olympic bronze for his country. Such is the story of India’s number one tennis star, Leander Paes.
Paes first appeared at the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, partnering the vastly experienced Ramesh Krishnan. They reached the quarter-finals, and four years later Paes went a step further to win the bronze, becoming the first Indian tennis player ever to do so.
Freestyle wrestler KD Jadhav was the first Indian after independence to win an individual medal. He won bronze at the 1952 Helsinki Games, and it took 44 long years for an Indian to win an individual medal again. Paes’ medal broke the jinx, and India have won medals at every edition of the Games since.
At the 2000 Sydney Games, weightlifter Karnam Malleswari won bronze and became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal. In Athens in 2004, Rajyavardhan Rathore claimed silver in the men’s double trap. In Beijing in 2008, Abhinav Bindra won gold in the 10m air rifle, becoming India’s first individual gold medallist. The same Games saw Vijender Singh win bronze in boxing and Sushil Kumar do the same in wrestling.
Paes was 23 when he arrived in Atlanta, ranked 124 in the world. But from the start he looked like a man on a mission. He moved through the draw, beating every giant who stood in front of him, before finally falling to the Goliath of world tennis at the time, Andre Agassi.
In his first match of the Games he faced world number 20 Richey Reneberg of the United States. Luck was on his side, as the American conceded the match because of an injury. But Paes made it clear in his next match that he was no pushover, beating world number 74 Nicolás Pereira and conceding just five games.
Every time he walked on court he brought fresh energy and a better approach. In his third match he beat world number 10 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden in straight sets. In the quarter-finals he knocked out Renzo Furlan, again in straight sets.
One match away from the final, he came up against Agassi. Agassi was not at his best, but he still had enough firepower to blow Paes away. No one can say Paes surrendered meekly, though. He put up a fight before going down 6-7, 3-6.
Next came perhaps the most important match of Paes’ career. In the bronze-medal play-off he held his nerve to beat Fernando Meligeni 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. What makes the win even more special is that he played with a wrist injury.
His win set the tone for India. A country that had gone without an individual Olympic medal for 44 years has been on the medal table at every edition since.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News
