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If the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney could be remembered, it would have been a nightmare without Karnan Malleswari. Our Olympic team was not at its best.
The hockey team lost all hopes in 1 minute 43 seconds where India needed to win with 1-0 instead ended up being 1-1 draw match. Had they won the match, it would have changed the scenario of hockey in the country bringing sponsorship to the team and hope in the parents to let their children make a career in hockey. Baskaran (hockey coach at the moment) said "You can't compare how much other teams plan to get gold. Three meals and accommodation is not the end of the sport."
It wasn't just the hockey that suffered, many newspaper articles pointed out incompetency of the Indian team not due to players but for their preparedness. While other countries' teams were loaded with their doctors, trainers, therapist. Indian team was suffering from being understaffed. Some writers even wrote to the point that it was "See Sydney Free" at the Indian Olympics Associations Expense, where their duty was to report to their family what they brought them from Sydney.
The players could not break their personal best on foreign soil, which they easily achieved in training.
Karnan Malleswari amid these situations, did her best, and being world champion put everything she had to win the bronze medal. It was her only sheer will strength that women can make the country proud outside the kitchen too. It has been a motivation for the women participating Olympics to do their best.
It's been 21 years, the conditions have definitely improved now, as other players who took home medals have shown.