India can target 10 medals at Athens: PwC

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has predicted an unprecedented medal haul for the country at the forthcoming Athens Olympics. A study conducted by the professional services firm has said the Indian Olympic team could target as many as 10 medals this time.

India managed only a single bronze medal in the previous edition at Sydney in 2000. The analysis by PwC has taken into account factors like population, average income levels, whether the country is the host nation and whether it was previously a part of the Soviet bloc, to arrive at an estimate of the final medals tally of the participating nations.

A similar study was done at the time of the Sydney Olympics, which analysed how medal performance was related to economic and political factors.

"The macroeconomics team of PwC (UK) has conducted the new study, which is an updated version of the one PwC published in 2000 that analysed how medal performance at Sydney was related to economic and political factors. We have extended the research to include data on medal performance from the four Olympics since 1988 in order to produce some benchmarks against which performance at Athens can be judged," the company said in a press release.

The PwC study says though larger and wealthier countries perform better at the Games, the outcomes do not seem to be proportional "" relative to their size, many small countries do very well.

The model also seeks to explain the dichotomy in the performances of nations like China and India. Though the two are the most populous countries in the world, China won 59 medals at Sydney compared with India's lone bronze.

"Our model can explain some of this divergence, but still suggest that India is a significant underperformer, with a medal target of 10 medals for Athens. Indian sports tends to be focused on events that are not included in the Olympics, such as cricket. Sports like cricket, which is not an Olympics sport, may attract potential stars away from athletics and other Olympic events in India," said Deepak Kapoor, PwC India leader for entertainment and media practice.