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Games medallists euphoric about Asiad

Ace shooter Jaspal Rana led the star parade of medal-winners as the Indian contingent arrived in New Delhi this evening to a tumultuous welcome after participating in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi expressed satisfaction at the overall performance of the Indian contingent. ''After almost 20 years, we got a medal in badminton and in hockey, we reached the semifinal stage after a long while,'' Kalmadi told reporters.

The IOA president said India's prospects would be better at the next Games, because ''women's weightlifting might be included, and India has a big chance in that event. Wrestling will also be probably included at the next Games,'' he added.

Kalmadi was particularly euphoric of the shooting squad. ''In shooting we have the youngest team in the world,'' he said.

Most of the medal-winners expressed their determination to perform even better in future events.

An elated Jaspal Rana said his next target is the Asian Games, to be held in Bangkok in December, and soon after that he would start training for the Olympic events.

Denying any plans to migrate to Australia as reported, Rana said he would go Down Under for training with his coach, obviously with an eye on the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Shooter Manavjit Singh said the creation of a new Games record, especially in the presence of European champions and Olympic gold medallists, gave the team a lot of confidence. ''Though I missed the bronze by one point, my endeavour will be to put up a much better show at the Asian Games,'' he said.

Satendra Kumar, who got a silver, said, ''It was my first big competition. The pressures were there, but I tried my best and gained valuable experience.''

Askok Pandit, who teamed up with Rana to get a gold, felt his own performance was not upto the mark. ''But it was enough for the Games,'' he said, adding, ''I will try to improve for the Asiad, where the competition will be very tough.''

Shooting coach Sunny Thomas said the performance of his pupils was satisfying. ''It was good to see Rana hitting the 582-point mark in air pistol, which is an Olympic event,'' he said.

The Asian Games will be tougher because of participation by Korea, China and Japan, Thomas felt.

He was also all praise for Rupa Unnikrishnan, who shot a gold. ''Her score of 590 was also quite laudable,'' Thomas said.

Silver-winning boxer Jitender Kumar (24) exuded confidence that he would win a gold in the Asian Games, capitalising on the lessons learnt in Kuala Lumpur. ''We reached the finals after 24 years,'' he said. "The bouts were tough,'' he added, referring in particular to the one against his Kenyan rival in the semifinal.

Boxing coach G S Sandhu said, ''The boys have started gaining in confidence. We will get together to prepare for the challenges to be faced at the Asian Games.''

Weightlifter Satish Rai (27), who picked up one gold and two silver, was not too happy with his performance. ''I wanted to get three gold medals,'' he said.

Rai felt that a course of medicine following a bout of food poisoning before leaving India affected his performance. ''I felt giddy midway through the lift in the clean and jerk event,'' he said.

UNI