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NEW DELHI -- Months ahead of the Rio Games, Indian sports officials vowed that the massive nation would turn around its long history of dismal Olympic results and be proud of its athletes.Steeplechase. Golf. Shooting. Badminton. Boxing. Tennis. Wrestling. Archery. Discus. India saw medal possibilities in all those disciplines, and the head of the governments sports authority, Injeti Srinivas, said he expected India to bring home anywhere from 10 to 14 medals.What happens on a particular day is something none of us can predict. But we should achieve this target, Srinivas said in March.You dont hear such optimism these days. With the end of the games just a few days away, India has yet to win any medals at all. Both its mens and womens field hockey teams were bounced; its best chance left at gold, silver or bronze could be in womens badminton, with Pusarla Sindhu playing a semifinal Thursday against Okuhara Nozomi of Japan.Other problems have surfaced beyond competition.The Indian sports minister was chastised by Olympic officials for the aggressive and rude behavior of his entourage in Rio. The standout Indian athlete of the games, a gymnast known for performing one of the sports most dangerous moves, confessed that shed had to cobble together her own training equipment because gymnasts get so little support.Abhinav Bindra, a rifle shooter who won Indias first individual gold, at the Beijing Games in 2008, questioned on Twitter his countrys commitment to winning.Each medal costs the UK 5.5 million pounds, said Bindra, who finished fourth in the mens 10-meter air rifle finals in Rio. Thats the sort of investment needed. Lets not expect much until we put systems in place at home.The reaction at home has been harsh.Its a disaster, said Mihir Vasavda, a sportswriter for the Indian Express newspaper. Were looking at returning (from an Olympics) for the first time without a medal since 1992.In theory, India should be a serious Olympic contender with its 1.3 billion people and tens of millions of rabid sports fans. It has a growing economy and increasing wealth, a large bureaucracy that oversees sports and a deep sensitivity about its position in the world.But none of that has helped. Instead, Indias total Olympic medal count -- 26 -- puts it slightly ahead of Portugal, a nation with less than 1 percent of Indias population. India is even behind Michael Phelps, the American swimmer with 28 medals.Nearly one-fourth of Indias medals came in London in 2012, spiking interest and giving people hope for an Olympic turning point for the country.But in a country with very little Olympic history, there is little to hold Indias attention when its athletes are losing.People dont understand the rules, they dont know who the stars are, they just cant relate to most Olympic sports, Vasavda said.They do relate to cricket -- an obsession in India. The game is played across the country, from the Himalayas to the southern tip. Its played at Indias most elite boarding schools, and on the streets of sprawling slums. Traffic in Indias car-clogged cities decreases noticeably during major matches. The biggest stars are not admired -- they are worshipped as something close to gods.The fervent following pushes every other sport to the margins, leaving non-cricketers and their coaches to scrabble for funding, facilities and support.For years, many top athletes came from the countrys economic and aristocratic elite. When Bindra won his gold, few were surprised that he was the son of a wealthy Indian industrialist who could hire one of the worlds top coaches.The multitude of sports bureaucrats and federations are widely dismissed for putting their own interests ahead of the athletes, concerns Indian Sports Minister Vijay Goel appeared to embody when he was confronted by Rio organizers for repeatedly trying to push into restricted zones. Goel later dismissed the concerns as a misunderstanding.Few Indian athletes get the official help -- coaches and trainers, housing, food, stipends, equipment -- that are the norm in many other countries.Take Dipa Karmakar, a 23-year-old gymnast from Tripura, a small northeastern state that, like gymnastics, is little more than a mystery to most Indians. After learning on equipment she made herself, this year she became the first Indian woman to qualify for Olympic gymnastics. Her success at vault is largely based on her use of the Produnova, an aerial double somersault so dangerous most gymnasts never attempt it.She says the move doesnt worry her: One can get injured any time -- anything can happen, she told the AP in an interview earlier this year.Her coach, however, says that danger is part of an equation that also includes Indias lackluster interest in Karmakars sport.We have to take this risk because we are not a strong nation when it comes to gymnastics. Dipa attempts the Produnova because it can get her bigger points and a chance to enter the finals of a tournaments, he told the Hindustan Times.She finished fourth in the vault final.While India shared a collective groan when she missed the bronze by the slimmest of point margins, some see a frightening message in her use of the Produnova.Dipa Karmakar is a symbol of Indias failure, hypocrisy and mediocrity, the popular news website Firstpost said in a headline earlier this week.If we were a nation that produced athletes with skills, Dipa would have never been forced to rely on her courage to get ahead, wrote Sandipan Sharma. But in India the pursuit of Olympic glory is contingent on an individuals decision to transcend her love for life, put it below the pursuit of victory.---Follow Tim Sullivan on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ByTimSullivan Wholesale Atlanta Falcons Jerseys . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Cheap Falcons Jerseys Authentic . PAUL, Minn. http://www.cheapfalconsjerseysauthentic.com/ . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. Atlanta Falcons Jerseys 2018 . -- Bryant McKinnie came out of his stance and lowered his shoulder into a practice squad player, causing a crisp thud to reverberate in the Miami Dolphins practice bubble. Cheap Atlanta Falcons Jerseys . P.A. Parenteau scored early in the third period to help the Avs edge Toronto 2-1 on Tuesday night. Cory Sarich also scored for Colorado (3-0-0), which is off to its best ever start. LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- NBA player Luis Scola of Argentina is among four athletes appointed to the IOC athletes commission.The appointments were made by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.The others are Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal, Egyptian modern pentathlete Aya Medany, and Jordanian taekwondo athlete Nadin Dawani.The IOC says the four will not have IOC membership, however. They are in addition to the 12 members elected by athletes to the commission for eight-year terms.The four were unsuccessful candidates in IOC athlete elections during the Rio de Janneiro Olympics.ddddddddddddhe IOC says Bach can appoint up to seven additional members in order to ensure a balance between regions, gender, and sports.Scola, a power forward for the New Jersey Nets, was Argentinas flag bearer in Rio. He won an Olympic gold in 2004 and bronze in 2008. Nehwal was the first Indian to win an Olympic badminton medal, a bronze in 2012. Medany and Dawani were three-time Olympians, and Dawani the Jordan chef de mission in Rio. ' ' '