Hyderabad: The Olympic games are considered the world's premier sports competition in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in as many as 50 disciplines from 33 sports.
The 2020 Summer Olympics is set to be held in Tokyo, Japan from 24th July to 9th August. These games are set to see the introduction of additional disciplines within several Summer Olympics sports which includes 3x3 basketball, freestyle BMX and Madison cycling along with new sports such as karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding. These games will further see the reintroduction of baseball and softball as a sport.
So far, India has only managed to win 28 medals in the 24 Summer Olympic Games that it has participated in since 1900. Of these, 9 are gold, 7 silver and 12 are bronze. Even with a population of more than a billion people, in 2016, India managed to win just two medals, that too, none of them were gold. India won 1 silver and 1 bronze, courtesy of PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik at the 2016 Rio Games.
Despite the catastrophe in 2016, the future doesn't seem to be bleak as our country is finally accepting other sports apart from Cricket. A lot of new medal prospects have emerged in the last few years as India is hopeful for having a good run in the upcoming Olympic Games.
India's best hopes at the Tokyo Olympics 2020:
1. PV Sindhu
The Hyderabad-born ace Indian shuttler became a nationwide sensation when she claimed silver at Rio, at the tender age of 21. Sindhu would be 25 during the Tokyo Olympics and thus much expectations will be rested on her as she would be vying for yet another medal in the upcoming games.
Although Sindhu is not having much of a good form presently, yet she is at her prime. Thus by the time of Olympics, she is expected to bounce back and regain her form. Currently, she is world No. 5 in Women's Singles and thus she definitely has a chance to repeat her heroics from the last tournament.
2. Shiva Thapa
India has long been a force to reckon with in amateur boxing. Vijendra Singh and Mary Kom have already made the country proud by winning India a couple of medals in the Olympics and Shiva is expected to achieve the same feat.
Recently, Thapa became India’s first gold medallist at the President’s Cup boxing tournament after getting a walkover in the finals in Astana, Kazakhstan and is most certain to land India yet another medal in the newly-introduced Olympic category of 63kg.
3. Manu Bhaker
Over the years, the likes of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar have claimed medals in Olympics, and Manu Bhaker is also expected to do the same. Bhaker is the youngest Indian to have won a gold at the ISSF World Cup and is also a junior and senior champion in 10 meters Air Pistol.
She is in fine form of late and is definitely one of the hopefuls to land India yet another Olympic medal in the upcoming games.
4. Mirabai Chanu
Manipur born Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is an Indian weightlifter who is also a former world champion. Chanu is the only Indian hope who can have a chance to win India gold in weightlifting. She came into much limelight after breaking the Commonwealth record five times to bag herself and the nation yet another gold at the 21st Commonwealth Games. If she continues her emphatic form, she can be surely considered a medal hopeful in the 48kg category.
5. Vinesh Phogat
After an injury ended her run at the Rio Olympics, Vinesh went on to bag two golds at two major tournaments, the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Asian Games. With her win in the Asian Games, she became the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold.
In the year 2019, Phogat became the First Indian Athlete to be nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards. She can be definitely be considered to help India land an Olympic medal in the upcoming games if she continues with her good form.
6. Neeraj Chopra
Neeraj is a 21-year-old Indian track and field athlete who represents the country in the javelin throw. Presently, the Haryana born athlete is recuperating from an elbow surgery while being ranked ninth in the world.
He has won gold medals in both the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games last year with efforts of 88.06m which also happens to be a national record and 86.47m respectively. He has emerged as a truly world-class athlete and a bright prospect for Indian athletic's elusive medal in athletics.
We may still have a long road to go before India is amongst the front runners in the medals tally at Olympics but we’re on the right track to making it happen.
Even though it is not possible to create world-class athletes in short time span, with more and more support towards young athletes and many initiatives there is an air of positivity that is fueling the desire to win amongst the young athletes. Now, all that India needs is passionate followers to support and motivate the athletes throughout their hard-fought journey.
