Tokyo 2020
Indian athletes who can still win medals at the Tokyo Olympics
Here, we take a look at Indian athletes who can still win medals for the country at the Tokyo Olympics.
Even though India had a great start to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with weightlifter Mirabai Chanu opening the country's account on the very first day of the Games, things have since gone downhill within the blink of an eye.
The shooters, considered to be India's biggest strength, have come up croppers with no medals across seven events in four days. In fact, no one apart from the 19-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary even managed to reach a medal match so far.
While things have not really worked in favour of India over the past couple of days, there certainly is still hope from quite a few athletes.
Here, we take a look at Indian athletes who can still win medals for the country at the Tokyo Olympics.
Amit Panghal
Amit Panghal is the only Indian boxer out of the nine qualified who has a realistic chance of winning a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The 25-year-old entered the quadrennial event as the World Number 1 and will start directly in the Round of 16 from 31st July 2021.
Bajrang Punia
The ace wrestler from the country, Bajrang Punia, will be seen competing in the Men's 65kg Freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics. The 27-year-old is seeded second in his weight division at the Tokyo Olympics and is expected to help India win a medal in wrestling for the fourth consecutive edition of the Games.
Vinesh Phogat
Vinesh Phogat will enter the Tokyo Olympics as World Number 1 in the Women's 53kg division. The 26-year-old was expected to win a medal five years back in Rio de Janeiro but had to pull out due to a career-threatening injury. Vinesh has come a long way since and will definitely be eyeing to shrug off the Rio debacle with a podium finish in Tokyo.
Neeraj Chopra
The star javelin thrower from the country, Neeraj Chopra, is expected to end India's medal drought in athletics at the Tokyo Olympics. While it is not going to be easy for the 23-year-old by any means, he is surely the one Indians are counting on to create history.
Kamalpreet Kaur
Kamalpreet Kaur has been one of the most recent finds for India. The 25-year-old discus thrower came to the limelight earlier in March this year, when she qualified for the Olympics with a national record throw. Kamalpreet then bettered that record a couple of months later to show to the world that she is quite certainly a dark horse for India at the Tokyo Olympics.
PV Sindhu
India will be once again counting on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro silver medallist, PV Sindhu, to get them a badminton podium in the absence of Saina Nehwal. It is not going to be easy for Sindhu, who will have to face the likes of Akane Yamaguchi, Tai Tzu Ying on her way to the podium. But then 2016 was not easy either, was it?
🏸 PV Sindhu is through to the knockouts!
— The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) July 28, 2021
21-9
21-16
🇮🇳 India's ace shuttler defeats 🇭🇰 Hong Kong's Ngan Yi Cheung comfortably to proceed to the next round.#PVSindhu #Tokyo2020 #Badminton pic.twitter.com/z8oyfDciiQ
Mary Kom
Mary Kom is the seventh seed in the Women's flyweight at the Tokyo Olympics. Now no one expects a seventh seed to earn a podium finish, but she is not anyone; she is the great Mary Kom. The 38-year-old has already started well, winning her Round of 32 bout. Just a couple of good wins more there certainly are hopes of Mary Kom returning home with her second Olympic medal.
