Veteran Indian hockey player Ignace Tirkey feels that India, a former hockey powerhouse needs an Olympic medal to revive the game in the country said The Hindustan Times. It was mentioned in the report that Tirkey said that since 1980 in Moscow, the country has not won an Olympic medal so it now a high time for them to win a medal so that it would help in reinstating interest of the game in the country where cricket is a religion.
Ignace who is the only Olympian in the current team apart from Sandeep Singh said that it is highly fortunate for him to represent the country in the Olympics but then it is only medal that matters.
Meanwhile a report in the Deccan Herald says that Indian swimmer Gagan AP Ulalmath has been granted an Olympic berth by the FINA under the ‘universality’ quota which now sees other more qualified swimmers such as Viradhwal Khade (100m freestyle), Sandeep Sejwal (100m and 200m breaststroke), Aaron d'Souza (200m freestyle) and Saurabh Sangvekar (1500m freestyle) missing out the cut.
Under the FINA rules, every country must have a representation at the Olympics and even though there were four swimmers who crossed Olympic Selection Timing (OST) but then Khade, Sejwal and Sangvekar were not included in the list of those qualified from among those OST swimmers, hence Gagan was selected to represent the country.
