The lull inside the Athletes Village was suddenly broken by a huge, unexpected roar. The noise emerging from a block tucked into the East corner of the Village attracted a few curious onlookers. A few Kazakhstan athletes who were jogging around the village stopped by and, with a puzzled look, watched the Indian hockey players break into a jig. High-fives went around and imaginary selfies were clicked.

The team’s leisure training session, which involved an ad-hoc game of cricket among other things, had just concluded and here, they were practising their celebrations — for goal and for gold.

Terry Walsh stood in a corner, smiling. The chief coach broke the celebrations and called it a day. In his two decades in coaching, the Australian would rarely have come under such scrutiny. He knows his job is on the line if, in a fortnight’s time, the team does not win the gold medal in Incheon. Not just him. Quite a few heads may roll if India fail to book a ticket to Rio 2016.

Walsh and his team aren’t the only ones feeling the heat. Reputations will be on the line over the next two weeks for quite a few heavyweights of Indian sports, making their participation in the Asian Games more than a mere academic exercise for the likes of Abhinav Bindra, Saina Nehwal and Mary Kom, among others.

Bindra may have won independent India’s first Olympic gold and a dozen Commonwealth Games medals, but an Asian Games individual gold has continued to elude him. Since he quietly sneaked into the Games Village a couple of days ago, the Beijing Games gold medallist has spent most of his time at the shooting ranges — even on Friday, which was an optional training day for Indian marksmen. Bindra may not have much to prove but an Asian Games gold is the only piece of jigsaw missing in his puzzle. Or as he said, to give his ‘nephew something new to play with.’

For Mary Kom, the next two weeks may well prove to be decisive in determining in which direction her career is heading. This will be the first time since the Olympics that she will take part in an international tournament. Her journey since the historic bronze two years ago has been rather tumultuous. Post the birth of her third child, Mary Kom had to undergo a surgery, deal with weight issues and also fend off rising challenges from emerging Indian boxers.

Pinki Jangra beat Mary Kom at the Commonwealth Games trials, sparking a controversy of sorts. But a month later, she settled the score and landed in Incheon on Friday, trying to prove a point — yet again.

Unlike Mary Kom, Nehwal faces the challenge not just from the mighty Chinese but also from within. PV Sindhu’s second world championship medal has heaped more pressure on Nehwal and her latest ‘split’ with coach Pullela Gopichand has put her further into the spotlight. Vimal Kumar, Nehwal’s present coach, avoided answering questions on her preparations for the Games, but the quarterfinalist from the previous edition has her task cut out.

Sania Mirza, who reluctantly agreed to be a part of the contingent, will be hoping to win her seventh Asian Games medal while for ace archer Deepika Kumari, Incheon might well be the last chance to prove that she means business. Vikas Gowda and Yogeshwar Dutt will, meanwhile, lead India’s charge in athletics and wrestling.

Stars missing

A few of the country’s biggest medal hopes, though, won’t be seen in action. Last edition’s gold medallist in the 75kg category Vijender Singh is out with an injury, while two-time Olympic medal-winning wrestler Sushil Kumar and India’s highest-ranked tennis player Somdev Devvarman have opted to concentrate on other competitions.

India is also forced to field a second-string tennis contingent in the mega event after veteran doubles player Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna pulled out of the Games to revive their rankings through participation in professional tour events. Besides, India will not be competing in its strongest sport, cricket.

Despite all the problems, India is bullish about its prospects at the Asian Games. Having sent a strong 722-member contingent (541 athletes, 181 officials), India is expecting to return with 75 medals, 10 more than Guangzhou Asiad.

The culling of cue sports, chess and roller sports, the source of eight of their medals in Guangzhou, might have an impact, but India is expecting an improvement in boxing, archery and wrestling, where it had a disappointing show the last time.