It was 2008 — just months away from the Beijing Olympics — and it looked like wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt would never enter the ring again. He’d damaged four cartilages in his knee and there was nobody in India who could fix it. Luckily for Dutt, the Mittal Champions Trust (MCT), which works with Indian sports people, took charge and put him on the first plane to South Africa to be treated by one of the world’s top experts in reconstructing cartilage. Today, Dutt’s spending hours in the ring and practising furiously as he’s an Indian medal hope at the London Olympics.

Viren Rasquinha COO, Olympic Gold Quest

Manisha Malhotra CEO, Mittal Champions Trust; Pic by Jagan Nagi

Geet Sethi Co-founder, Olympic Gold Quest

Cut to 2011 and Dutt was heading off to exotic parts of the world once again. This time, his destination was the tiny town of Vladikavkaz in Siberia, known as the Mecca of world wrestling. In Vladikavkaz — which is the home of 60 wrestling champs — Dutt found both coaches and sparring partners in his weight group and he stayed for four months. The Mittal Trust once again picked up the tab.

“It has come to the point where we have a lot of athletes who believe they can win a medal. And the belief they can win – that’s extremely important,” says Manisha Malhotra, chief executive officer, Mittal Champions Trust.

Now it’s just 54 days to the London Olympics and that giant question mark is looming once again: can this country of over 1 billion people pick up the gold medals that have eluded us these years?

But this time the private sector — a mix of rich businessmen and former sports people — has been adding its weight to the government’s efforts to go for gold. So there are organisations like the Mittal Champions Trust — founded by billionaire Lakshmi Mittal — which has $10 million in its kitty and which is backing 13 athletes who’ve qualified for the London Olympics.

Lakshmi Mittal (and his son-in-law Amit Bhatia who oversees MCT on a regular basis) are not the only ones who’ve figured that Indian sports needs an extra push to turn out golden results. Take a look at Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) founded by an illustrious duo of sportsmen — former billiards champ Geet Sethi and badminton ace Prakash Padukone. “We’ve the best professionals in place for the training and needs of our athletes,” says Sethi who says he realised Indian athletes needed world-class training after witnessing first hand how they fared at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

OGQ’s chief operating officer is Viren Rasquinha, a former hockey star who’s now busy tying up all the loose ends and making sure nothing goes wrong as preparations for the Olympics moves into the last lap. Just last week he was on the road to Patiala checking out how his trio of boxers — Shiva Thapa, Manoj Kumar and Devendra Singh — were faring. “I’m just ensuring that training is going fine and finding out what extras they need,” says Rasquinha. OGQ also has other young stars like badminton player Saina Nehwal and boxer Mary Kom on its rolls. “OGQ has been of great help, whether it was a video analysis of my prospective opponents or learning new techniques from Western coaches,” says Kom, who’s currently training in Pune.

AIMING HIGH: (From top) Badminton player Saina Nehwal, discus thrower Seema Antil, boxer Mary Kom, trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi and shooter Joydeep Karmarkar

The Mittal Trust and OGQ are the heavyweights in the sports arena but there are others devoting money and super-charged energy to Indian sporting stars. Take a look at Bangalore-based GoSports Foundation which mainly has its eyes on the 2016 Olympics and after and is aiming at younger athletes. Nevertheless, two of its young sportsmen — table tennis player Soumyajit Ghosh and swimmer Sandeep Sejawal — will be going to London. “The athletes we’ve identified are national and state champions who’ve shown tremendous potential in their respective sports and are recognised as future Olympians,” says lawyer Nandan Kamath, founding trustee of GoSports Foundation.

For MCT’s Malhotra, too, it’s time for last-minute preparations. She flew into Delhi last week to be with an athlete who’d come for a medical test to get a visa. A few weeks earlier, Malhotra was in Germany where Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra — also on the MCT’s rolls — was competing in a shooting tournament in Hanover. And before that she was in Irvine, California, to check on discus thrower Seema Antil, who’s been training with a top coach there for six months. This week she’s likely to be in Gangtok to meet her archers. “I travel to all the training centres. I also try and go with them to international competitions,” says Malhotra.

During the last six years Malhotra has criss-crossed the country and the globe, handholding athletes and going for all major national sporting events — and some rather minor ones. She reckons she’s on the move for 20 days in a month and she has even made several scouting trips to rural Manipur and Nagaland where archery is part of the way of life for the tribals. The Mittal Trust is backing two archers. Says Malhotra: “Most of them are from a tribal background. At first they didn’t know me and were apprehensive. Now they’re like family. They definitely call me when there is a problem.”

At other times, she’s checking on the shooters in Pune and the boxers in Patiala. Today, the trust is backing 33 sports people out of whom 13 are going for the Olympics. “Over the last six years I’ve got to know each and every one of them,” says Malhotra who played tennis for India at the Sydney Olympics. The Mittal Trust has spent some $6 million so far. It has focused on shooting, boxing, wrestling and archery. In addition, it’s also backing Gurmeet Singh, who’s competing in the 20km walk.

How exactly do these private organisations aim to put Indian sports on the golden path? For a start, all the organisations emphasise that they aren’t attempting to take over from the government which has hundreds of crores at its disposal and which has poured in money heavily to improve standards. Says Malhotra: “The government is the biggest funder of sports in the country. You can’t do without them.” In a similar vein, Rasquinha says: “It’s a simple policy at OGQ to complement the system. We bridge the gap. The goal is the same so there’s no problem.”

Malhotra borrows a term from the telecom industry and says they aim “to provide last mile” services for the athletes. Rasquinha puts it slightly differently, saying: “The final one per cent is also very important. That is sometimes the difference between winning and losing. It could even be what you sip during a match.”

Take, for instance, how the Mittal Trust has worked with trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi for the last six years. Initially, Sodhi was keen on getting a coach who could move him on further down the road to excellence. Later, at different times, he needed a physiotherapist, a fitness trainer and also a mental trainer. He’s currently training in Italy. Says Sodhi: “It’s a very professionally managed trust. Everything is just a phone call away. For instance, if I have an injury the physio will be there immediately.”

Two other Mittal Trust shooters Heena Sidhu and Joydeep Karmarkar have trained in Germany and boxers Vikas Krishnan and Sumit Sangma have just come back from Khazakhstan.

Or look at how the Mittal Trust is working with Seema Antil who has been training with coach Tony Ciarelli in California. At one stage, Malhotra landed up in California to see her star discus thrower was finding it tough to even shop because of her poor English. Malhotra took her round to the supermarket to show her what to buy. When it became obvious that Antil was still finding life abroad tough, the trust also paid for her husband to join her. Says Antil: “I used to cycle for around 10 miles to the training ground but once MCT came to know, they arranged for a taxi immediately. And I’ve never been asked to explain a single bill to this day.”

Antil’s training is apparently paying dividends. “I crossed 62m in one go and I did this after seven years. I am feeling really good about my training and the results will be there for everybody to see during the Olympics,” says Antil, talking on the phone from her rented apartment in California.

Antil hopes she will finish in the top five in the Olympics.

Similarly, Olympic Gold Quest has brought in a foreign coach to aid women’s boxer Mary Kom who made it by the skin of her teeth to the Olympics. The reason for her sudden problems was that she had to fight in the 51kg category instead of the 48kg category which she was used to. To help her punch above her weight, so to speak, OGQ organised extensive training sessions.

“Cricketers may be paid more than us because of sponsorship and other such things, but as far as training and other facilities are concerned, they are as good as those for cricketers,” says Kom.

Catch them young: Nandan Kamath, founding trustee, GoSports Foundation, and table tennis player Soumyajit Ghosh

Olympic Gold Quest has also brought in a coach for its two archers Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai. And it’s sending shooter Sanjiv Rajput for a quick training stint abroad. “We’re helping him with the organisation and coaches, so his training is planned to a T,” says Rasquinha.

Some years ago it also paid for badminton star Saina Nehwal and her coach to go for the Hong Kong Open Super Series which she finally won. Nehwal says OGQ has been very helpful in other ways too.

“Physiotherapy was one area I needed assistance in and they were very prompt. They’ve also been very forthcoming when it comes to participating in tournaments abroad for preparing for the Olympics,” she says.

Similarly, Kom is all praise for OGQ and says she has focused solely on landing her punches after coming under its wing. Everything from her travel, training, medical expenses, diet and other sundries are now taken care of. Says Kom: “It’s a great effort and when you combine it with what the government is doing on its part, I’m very sure it will lead to Indian athletes doing well in the Olympics.”

OGQ has focused mainly on badminton, boxing, shooting, athletics and archery. It backs a total of 32 athletes out of whom 14 are going for the Olympics. The youngest athlete on its rolls is a 10-year-old badminton player who is also being coached by Prakash Padukone.

How does the government feel about private agencies moving into what has been traditionally a government-run effort? Sports minister Ajay Maken for one, gives a thumbs up. He says: “These organisations supplement the work done by the ministry and I welcome such initiatives.”

The minister is also impressed with the fact these organisations are led by former sportspersons. “I am in constant touch with people like Rasquinha and Manisha Malhotra. It helps that they are former sportspersons themselves. They understand the players’ problems and players in turn share their concerns with them very freely,” he says.

On a slightly different note, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, president of the Archery Association of India, points out that the money from private organisations is a drop in the ocean. Nevertheless, he sees nothing wrong in these initiatives. Says Malhotra: “The government, through the IOA, has pumped in hundreds of crores of rupees that no private body can match. But as long as athletes are benefiting from their programmes, nobody should complain.”

Will India be able to bring back the gold from the London Olympics? Manisha Malhotra points out that it’s tough to predict how many medals India could win. “Many of these sports — such as shooting or archery — have small margins. Anybody can win,” she says.

Sethi of Olympic Gold Quest is optimistic: “Our graph is pointed upwards and this year we should come back with at least five to seven medals.” The moment of truth is looming.