New Delhi: After setting the field ablaze in the Asian Games, Indian athletes returned home promising to bring more laurels for the country in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Double gold medallist K M Beenamol, who along with Bahadur Singh, Shakti Singh and Neelam J Singh led the athletes out of the airport tarmac soon after their arrival from Busan late on Wednesday night, said she hoped to perform better in next year's Afro-Asian Games and in Athens.

The athletes were given a warm welcome at the airport by a small crowd gathered there. Indian athletes won 15 medals including six gold in the track and field events.

However, the news of middle-distance runner Sunita Rani being stripped off her medals after she was tested positive for a banned substance certainly took the sheen off their achievements.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi, who was present on the occasion, tried to downplay the doping scandal saying the performances should not be allowed to be overshadowed by one odd incident.

"The athletes did reasonably well in Busan. This incident should not become the talking point," he said and added that strictest action would be taken against Sunita Rani, if reports that her B-sample had also tested positive were true.

"IOA is doing its bit to stop such kind of activities. We will take strictest action against her after getting the final report from the Olympic Council of Asia and the International Athletics Federation," Kalmadi said.

The middle-distance runner was stripped off her medals - a gold and a bronze - she had won in women's 1,500 metres and 5,000 metres events respectively after the second test on her urine sample also reported to have been found to be positive.

The 22-year runner now faces the threat of a two-year ban from participating in any international or national meet and a heavy fine. Despite the scandal, the athletes were on Thursday upbeat about their showing in Busan which helped India finish eighth in the medals tally with a total haul of 34 medals - 10 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze.

Manager of the Indian athletics team in Busan P K Srivastava said though no goals were set before the start of the Asian Games, the athletes performed well to emerge winners in many events.

"We were confident as we had a good preparation. We won medals in almost all events." He said the country could have added to their tally in the track and field events had the athletes not missed their marks by little margins.

"We finished fourth and fifth on many occasions. A slight better performance in some events could have fetched us at least five more medals."

Bahadur Singh, whose only valid throw fetched him a gold in the men's shot put event, blamed the circle which restricted his movements and forced him to make errors.

"It was very difficult to be within the circle after the throw. So I was forced to come out after every attempt. Otherwise, I could have thrown the ball a bit further," said Bahadur Singh who threw the iron ball 19.03m for a top finish.

Shakti Singh took the bronze in the event with a 18.27m throw. Long jump gold medallist Anju B George said though she missed a medal in the triple jump by a whisker, she was happy to win one in her favourite event. She won the gold with a jump of 6.53m.

"I am happy with my performance. I missed a second medal as I was not comfortable in triple jump," she said. In the triple jump event Anju and Kazakhstan's Tatyana Bocharova tied in 13.26m but the Kazakh was adjudged the bronze medal winner.

Her coach and husband Bobby George, however, blamed poor weather conditions for her failure in the event. "The wind was blowing in the opposite direction and the weather conditions were adverse."

Neelam J Singh, who won the gold while setting a new Games record with a 64.55m throw in the women's discus, said though she was expecting a medal in Busan, she would not commit anything for future.

"It is the performance on the day that matters. I was in peak form when I won the medal in Busan," she said.

PTI