The Race To Glory: How Indians Fared So Far

The Olympic Games have been underway for almost a week, and Indian athletes have already left their mark on the world's greatest sporting stage. India announced its entry at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics when Mirabai lifted the nation’s spirits by opening the medals tally with a silver medal. A few days later, PV  Sindhu raised our cheers by winning her second Olympics medal. The third medal came from 23-year old Lovlina Borgohain as she bagged bronze in her maiden Olympic Games. Let's take a look at some of India's significant performances so far in their Tokyo 2020 Campaign!

Weightlifting:

Mirabai Chanu won silver in the 49 kg category, becoming the first Indian medalist at Tokyo Olympics. With this medal, the nation rose to a roaring start in the medals tally.

Tennis:

Sumit Nagal, who became the first Indian to advance to round 2 in the Olympics since Leander Paes in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, bowed out after losing to World No.2 Daniil Medvedev. His journey was cut short, but the performance still provided a ray of hope for all Indians.

Hockey:

In a historic first, the women’s and the men’s teams reached the semi-final together for the first time ever in the Olympics after beating Australia and Great Britain respectively. For the women’s team, this is their first semi-final ever. While the men’s team reached the first semi-final since 1972, they lost to the World Champions Belgium, now aiming for a bronze medal. We will be looking forward to cheering the teams to reach the podium!

Boxing:

While Mary Kom bowed out after throwing some powerful punches, Lovlina Borgohain won bronze in her debut edition.

Badminton:

In a historic feat, PV Sindhu won bronze in the Women’s singles in Badminton and became India’s first female two-time Olympic medallist.

Rowing:

Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh finished sixth with a timing of 6:24.41, making it India’s best ever sailing result at the Olympics.

Table Tennis:

Paddler Manika Batra stunned higher ranked Margaryta Pesotska and further became the first Indian paddler to reach till round 3. She eventually lost to Austria’s Sofia Polcanova. Paddler Sharath Kamal came down after a valiant fight against Ma Long, while Sutirtha Mukherjee lost 4-0 to higher ranked Fu Yu in Round 2.

Swimming:

Sajan Prakash became the first swimmer to make the cut by meeting the Olympic ‘A’ Qualification, he finished fourth just falling short after missing qualification by 0.11s. Sajan Prakash later exited with a timing of 53.45 seconds in the heats.

Athletics:

Avinash Sable bettered his national record by clocking 8:18.12 in the heats to finish seventh in the 3000m steeplechase event. In the mixed 4400m relay round, Team India finished 8th with a season-best timing of 3:19.93 in Round 1 heats. In her debut Olympics, India’s discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur qualified for the Discus Throw final with a massive 64M throw and became the first Athletics finalist at the Tokyo Olympics. She later finished 6th in her debut final.

Equestrian:

With a historic Olympic entry in Equestrian after 20 yrs, Equestrian Fouaad Mirza and his equine made a leap to the final in the eventing jumping individual category.  The duo wrapped up their campaign with a commendable 23rd place finish.

As we’re midway through the final week of the Olympics, we hope to see more medal-winning performances, and we will be rooting for all the Olympians who will begin their Olympic quest!

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