Shobha De may not agree with me but overall it was a good day for India at RIO yesterday! Some energetic performances by Indian were the most suitable tributes to Ms DE’s views about Indian Olympians. Someone needs to tell her that our Rower, Dattu is in Rio leaving behind his mother in coma in a hospital bed. I am sure he is not there just to take selfie. Deepa’s vault performance probably inspired more Indians than what Ms De’s pulp fiction can do.

Indian hockey team came back strongly after shocking loss to Germany and sent a message to other teams that they mean business. Atanu Das was bang on to say that his ranking of 5 was not a fluke. If he continues to deal with 10 & 9 in his shots then he is certainly heading to podium. Although failed to get go all the way in her event but I still feel our shooters still have enough to carry few medals home since Jitu will be back in the range today for 50Mt pistol.

Bombalya and Deepika were watching Atanu blowing his opponents away yesterday and I am sure apart from their own reputation they will carry some inspiration from that when they start their campaign today. Boxer have arrived with a determination and I feel they have solid punches for Ms De as well. Our girls in hockey have a tough one today against Australia and I am sure they will give their best. Our lone Judo guy Avtar will be there to make his presence felt.

As I said yesterday, I am still quite bullish with our medal tally before we finish the games and I can assure likes of Ms De it won’t be waste of money for the country. I also wish to tell her that celebrities are made of show (including Selfies) and glamour whereas sports stars need to be real, passionate, determined and hardworking.