Tokyo 2020
Top international achievements of India's Tokyo Olympics-bound athletes
From Sania Mirza to PV Sindhu, there are going to be some top sportspersons from India who will be in action at Tokyo Olympics. So, let's have a look at them.
Indian badminton player PV Sindhu (Source: BWF)
We have arrived in July and Olympics is just 20 days away from us, after it was postponed for a year due to the coronavirus infections and lockdowns across the world. A total of 116 Indian athletes have qualified for Tokyo Olympics so far, which begins on July 23. There are some Indian athletes who have achieved a lot at the international level and are the medal contenders for India at the Tokyo Olympics. Let's have a look at them and their top achievements at the international events.
Deepika Kumari (Archery)
Deepika Kumari born on (13 June 1994) is an Indian archer who will be representing India in women's recurve & mixed team event pairing up with Atanu Das at Tokyo Olympics.
Achievements
- In the 2009 World Youth Championships, she won gold in individual cadet women's recurve event.
- In the 2010 Commonwealth games, she won gold in both individual women's recurve and women's team event.
- In the 2012 Turkey World cup, she won the individual recurve gold medal and was crowned as number one in Women's recurve archery in the same year.
- In the 2014 Wroclaw world cup, she won gold in the team event.
- In the 2015 World Championships, she won a silver medal in the team event.
- In the year 2016, Deepika kumara received the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in India.
- In the 2018 World cup, she won the first individual gold after six years in world cup which was held at Salt lake city, United states.
- In 2021 Paris World cup, she won hat-trick of gold medals winning individual, women's team and mixed team event.
- Since 2012, Deepika has won a total of 35 medals, including 11 gold medals across various events at the Archery World cup.
MC Mary Kom (Boxing)
Mary Kom born on (24 November 1982) is an Indian boxer who will be representing India in 51kg category at Tokyo Olympics.
Achievements
- Women's world boxing championship was introduced in 2001 and Mary Kom has won a medal in each of the eight editions so far.
- World boxing championship: (2001 – Silver), (2002 – Gold), (2005 – Gold), (2006 – Gold), (2008 – Gold), (2010 – Gold), (2018 – Gold), (2019 – Bronze)
- She won a bronze medal in the 2010 Asian games in Guangzhou, China.
- She won a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics making her the first Indian woman to win a medal in boxing.
- At the 2014 Incheon Asian games, she won the gold medal, making her the first Indian woman to win the Asian games title.
- At the 2018 Commonwealth games, she went on win the gold medal, which was the only missing games medal in her cabinet.
Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling)
Vinesh Phogat born on (25 August 1994) is a freestyle wrestler who will be representing India in 53kg category at the Olympics.
Achievements
- Her first major medal was gold in 48kg category at the 2014 Glasgow commonwealth games.
- At the 2014 Incheon Asian games, she won a bronze medal in the 48kg category.
- She won gold medal in both 2018 Commonwealth and Asian games.
- In 2019, she jumped to 53kg category and won bronze medal at the Asian Wrestling Championship in 2019.
- She won her first gold medal in this category at the Asian Championship 2021 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Bajrang Punia (Wrestling)
Bajrang Punia born on (26 February 1994) is a freestyle wrestler who will be representing India in 65kg category at the Olympics.
Achievements
- First major medal came up at the 2013 World championship, where he won bronze medal in 60kg category.
- Won silver medal in the 2014 Incheon Asian games (61kg category)
- Won silver medal in the 2014 Commonwealth games (61kg category)
- Won silver medal in the 2018 World championship (65 kg category)
- First major gold at the games, when he won in the 2018 Commonwealth games (65kg category)
- Won bronze medal in the 2019 World championship.
- Recently, won silver medal in the 2021 Asian championship.
PV Sindhu (Badminton)
PV Sindhu born on (5 July 1995) is an Indian professional badminton player who will be representing India in women's singles event at Tokyo Olympics.
Achievements
- In 2013, she won her first grand prix title at the Malaysian open.
- In the same year of 2013, she won the bronze medal and made her the second Indian to win a medal at the World Badminton Championships.
- 2014 was a great year for her as she won bronze in women's singles at the commonwealth games, bronze in women's team event at the Asian games and one more bronze in World Badminton championship.
- In 2016, she won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics and became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver
- At the 2018 Commonwealth games, she won gold in the women's team and silver in the singles.
- At the 2018 Asian games, she won silver in the women's singles
- In 2019, she became the first Indian to win World Badminton championship when she won World Badminton Championship in Basel.
Sania Mirza (Tennis)
Sania Mirza born on (15 November 1986) is a professional tennis player who will be representing India in women's doubles at the Tokyo Olympics. She will be pairing up with Ankita Raina in this event. The 34-years-old will be taking part in her fourth Olympics.
Achievements
- In 2009, she partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi to clinch the Australian Open mixed doubles title.
- In 2010, she won silver in women's singles and bronze in women's doubles at the Commonwealth games.
- In 2012, she again partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi to win the French Open.
- In 2014, she partnered with Bruno Soares to win the US Open.
- In 2015, she partnered with Martina Hingis and won three back-to-back Grand slam titles ( Wimbeldon, US Open and Australian Open) and she even rose to number one in WTA Doubles Rankings.
- She has won 8 medals in Asian games starting from 2002 Asian games to 2014 Asian games.
Rani Rampal (Hockey)
Rani Rampal born on (4 December 1994) is a hockey player who will be representing India in women's hockey at Tokyo Olympics. She will be leading the Indian women's hockey team in this Olympics.
Achievements
- In 2009, she was named as the "best youngest player of the tournament" in the FIH Women's Champions Challenge.
- Was part of the team that won silver at the 2009 Asia cup.
- Was named as the "best young player of the tournament" in the 2010 Women's Hockey World cup.
- She was named as the "Player of the tournament" at the 2013 Junior World cup.
- She was part of the team that won bronze medal in the 2014 Asian games.
- For her consistent performances, she was awarded with Arjuna award in 2016.
- In 2018, she was part of the team that won silver at the Asian games.
- In 2020, Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri.
Saurabh Chaudhary (Shooting)
Saurabh Chaudhary born on (12 May 2002) is a sports shooter who will be representing India in men's 10m air pistol & mixed team 10m air pistol at Tokyo Olympics.
Achievements
- Won gold medal in 10m air pistol at the 2018 Youth Olympics
- Won gold medals in all three events: 10m air pistol, team event and mixed team event at the 2018 ISSF Junior World cup.
- Won gold medal in 10m air pistol at the 2018 Asian games.
- At the ISSF World cups, he has 13 medals (8 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze) i two gold medals came in 10m air pistol individual event.
Saikhom Mirabhai Chanu (weightlifting)
Saikhom Mirabhai Chanu born on (8 August 1994) is an Indian weightlifter who will be representing India in 49kg category at Tokyo Olympics.
Achievements
- In 2014, she rose to fame by winning silver medal in 48kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth games in Glagow, Scotland, at the age of 20.
- In 2017, won gold at the World Weightlifting Championship in United States and became the first Indian weightlifter to achieve it in over two decades.
- In 2018, she received both Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Padma Shri from the government.
- In 2021, she created new world record in the women's 49kg clean and jerk with a lift of 119kg.
Neeraj Chopra (Athletics)
Neeraj Chopra born on (24 December 1997) will be representing India in Javelin throw at the Olympics.
Achievements
- In 2016, he won his first international gold medal at the South Asian games in Guwahati.
- In 2016, he won a gold medal at IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He also set a world junior record of 86.48m
- In 2017, he won the gold medal at the Asian Championship held in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha
- In 2018, he won gold at the 2018 Asian games in Jakarta, where he created a national record of 88.06m.
- In addition to gold in Asian games, he won gold in three more competitions in 2018, including the gold in Commonwealth games in Australia, the Sotteville Athletics Meet in France and the Savo games in Finland.
- In 2018, he was awarded with Arjuna award by The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.
- He broke his own national record by throwing 88.07 at the Indian Grand Prix 3 in Patiala this year.
