With only a few days left till the Olympic Games in Paris, it remains to be seen if India will undergo another transformation in the French city.
The 33rd Olympic Games, which will begin formal competition on July 26, will provide another catalyst for change in Indian sports. For the first time, the nation is aiming for double-digit medals.
In athletics, a setback can occasionally serve as just as much motivation as a triumph. One such defeat was P T Usha’s spectacular performance in the 400 m hurdles final during the 1984 Olympics. Even though Usha missed the bronze by the narrowest of margins, she inspired many others to pursue track and field to become the next P.T. Usha and win the medal she nearly missed.
Similarly, 12 years later, when Leander Paes earned a bronze medal in men’s singles tennis in Atlanta in 1996, Indian sports witnessed a rebirth. This was the country’s first individual medal win in the Olympics in forty-four years. This victory not only marked a significant milestone in Indian sports history but also set the stage for future successes in the Olympics.
Leander’s medal win set off a series of positive developments in Indian sports. In the years after, the nation has won at least one medal at every Olympic Games, a trend that fills Indians with optimism and hope for the future of Indian sports. Twelve years after Atlanta, Abhinav Bindra added gold to glory by winning India’s first individual gold medal in shooting, a moment that marked a significant leap in our sporting journey.
After a gap of more than half a century, India returned with multiple medals from the same Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Vijender Singh clinched a bronze medal in middleweight boxing, and wrestler Sushil Kumar came through the repechage rounds to bag bronze in men’s 66kg freestyle.
India hit another peak four years later when an 83-member contingent returned with six medals — two silver and four bronze. In the last edition of the games in Tokyo, which were held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India set another record by achieving their best-ever medal haul of seven, including a historic maiden gold in Athletics by javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and a bronze in men’s hockey that ended a 41-year wait for glory in the sport that India has dominated for decades, winning eight gold medals.
India’s progress in sports will be tested in Paris. The contingent of 117 sportspersons—37 females and 70 males—will be responsible for returning with a big haul.
India will look forward to many of its sportspersons making historical achievements in Paris. Having won the first gold medal in athletics, Neeraj Chopra is eyeing another medal—hopefully gold. The 26-year-old from Haryana will be India’s biggest hope in Paris and the anticipation for his performance is palpable, as the nation eagerly looks forward to back-to-back gold medals.
Chopra has continued to excel after winning gold in Tokyo, repeating his success at the World Championships and the Golden League Final. Though his struggles with injuries have thrown a spanner in the wheel and made him miss a few events, Chopra is still India’s best bet for a medal in Paris. The relay teams have also done well in recent times, especially at the World Championships, where it reached the men’s 4×400 team reached the final.
Woman shuttler P.V. Sindhu is also eyeing history, hoping to become the first Indian to win three individual medals in the Olympics, having won a silver medal in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and a bronze in the Tokyo Olympic Games. If Sindhu wins a medal in Paris, she will become the first Indian sportsperson to win an individual medal in three consecutive editions of the mega-events.
Besides Sindhu, the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be India’s biggest hope in Paris. The former World No.1 pair has made giant strides in the last couple of years and hopes to become the first male shuttlers to win Olympic medals.
Boxer Nikhat Zareen, a two-time World Champion in the women’s 45-50 weight category, will also be high on the medal radar. Zareen also bagged gold in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022 and bronze in the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Like Sindhu and Neeraj Chopra, boxer Lovlina Borgohain and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu hope to claim a medal in the second successive Olympic Games. Lovlina had won a bronze medal in Tokyo, and now, after moving up into a higher weight category (women’s 75kg). The boxer from Assam had endured a lean period after Tokyo but has recently regained form and bagged a gold medal in the 2023 World Championship and silver in the Hangzhou Asian Games. Ditto for Mirabai Chanu, who won a silver medal in the 49kg weight category in Tokyo and will be India’s lone representative in weightlifting in Paris. Chanu also won a gold medal in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022, but the competition in Paris will be far more challenging.
India also hopes to repeat its medal-winning effort in men’s hockey. Having ended a 41-year drought by bagging a bronze in Tokyo, India will look to end a 52-year barren period by winning medals in back-to-back Olympic Games after the 1972 edition in Munich. Craig Fulton has picked a strong side comprising young and experienced players. Still, a recent slump in rankings and below-par performance in the FIH Pro League have undone the gains from the Hangzhou Asian Games, where India won a gold medal after the 2014 Asian Games.
In the French capital, India hopes to win medals in shooting, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, athletics, badminton, hockey, and archery.
The shooters will be shouldering the biggest burden of hope as they hope to find success for the first time since the 2012 Games, when Vijay Kumar and Gagan Narang won silver and bronze medals, respectively.
India shooters fired blanks at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and the Paris Olympics. Our biggest hopes in the 29-member shooting squad will be centred around rifle shooters like Sarabjot Singh, Manu Bhaker, Sift Kaur Samra, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale, and Rhythm.
With the government spending crores of rupees in training, equipment, and exposure trips for these sportspersons in the last few years, the Indians enter the Paris Olympic Games with high hopes and expect their best medal haul.
Numbers:
India’s overall medal tally in Olympics — 35 (10 gold, nine silver, 16 bronze)
India will be participating in 16 sports.
Total Indian sportspersons in Paris: 117
Total Males – 70
Total females – 47
The most significant component of the Indian contingent
Athletics — 29
Shooting — 21
Oldest participant from India — Rohan Bopanna — 44 years
(With inputs from IANS)
