Paris Olympics: Can India better their record medal haul at Tokyo

The Tokyo Olympics turned out to be something of a watershed for India in more ways than one. The country won seven medals, which surpassed its previous best tally of six medals which was won at the 2012 London Olympics.

Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian in the country’s independent history to win a track and field medal, and that too a gold. The Indian men’s hockey team won a medal for the first time since 1980 by taking bronze after a thriller for the ages against Germany. PV Sindhu became just the second Indian athlete, and the first woman from the country, to win medals at two consecutive Olympics. Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya added to Indian wrestling’s proud tally at the Olympics while Lovlina Borgohain became the third boxer from the country to win a medal.

India’s previous Olympics after a record haul

Apart from the wrestlers, all of these athletes will turn up for India again at the Paris Olympics starting July 26. While all of them are among the medal contenders in their respective sport, with a few new additions to that list as well, Indian fans might be wary of what happened the last time the country tried to follow up on a record haul. That was at Rio 2016 after India won six medals at London 2012. Three out of the six medallist – badminton star Saina Nehwal, freestyle wrestler and four-time Olympian Yogeshwar Dutt, and rifle shooter Gagan Narang, featured in the Indian contingent and all of them failed to add another to their tally.

There were no medals in shooting for the first time since 2004 and no medals in boxing for the first time since 2008. Abhinav Bindra missed out on a podium by half a point while Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna finished fourth in mixed doubles tennis. The first medal finally came as a bit of a surprise result with Sakshi Malik becoming the first Indian female wrestler to win an Olympic medal by securing bronze. Sindhu then followed suit, winning silver in women’s singles badminton after a gold medal match for the ages against Spain’s Carolina Marin. That was all the medals that the contingent won.

A few historic firsts realistically possible

Indian sport has never seen anything like javelin star Neeraj Chopra. He is not the first Olympic medallist from the country to avoid the dip in performance and success that has plagued a number of fellow members in that esteemed club after their big moment at the Games. Sindhu and boxing great Mary Kom have both won gold at World Championships of their respective sports and yet, no one has quite done it like Neeraj. He enters these Games as the reigning Olympic, Asian and World champion in men’s javelin. Neeraj has prioritised his fitness over competitions this year, even giving the Paris Diamond League a miss and regardless of how pragmatic one may be with their predictions, it is not at all an exaggeration to say that he is favourite to win gold again at these Olympics, an achievement that would be unprecedented among Asian javelin throwers, let alone those from India.

Sindhu hasn’t had the best of runs by any stretch of imagination since Tokyo 2020. In recent tournaments, she lost in the early rounds of both the Indonesia and Singapore Open and hasn’t been in action since the former. However, just her reputation to come good in big tournaments makes her one of India’s brightest medal hopes. If she manages to get a trinket in Paris, she will become India’s most successful Olympian with three medals. Her fellow badminton stars Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have achieved a host of firsts in men’s doubles since the Tokyo Olympics. They haven’t competed since the Singapore Open in early June, where they lost in the first round but have a chance at becoming the first Indians to win an Olympic medal in men’s doubles badminton.

Boxers Lovlina Borgohain and Nikhat Zareen are both in contention to medal in Paris. Nikhat is already a two-time world champion going into these Games while Lovlina is looking to become the third Indian after Sushil Kumar and Sindhu to win medals at consecutive Olympics. She could even become the fourth to do it, if weightlifter Mirabai Chanu gets there before her. Mirabai had started India’s medal rush in Tokyo by winning silver in 49kg weightlifting.

Eyes on the shooters again

Despite the seven medals that the country won at Tokyo, there would be many who would’ve argued that it should have actually been much more had the shooters performed the way did in all the years leading up to the Games. Manu Bhaker will be making her second Games appearance, having had a forgettable experience in Tokyo. She has been in good nick in the intervening years, winning the women’s 25m pistol team gold at the Asian Games and securing an Olympic quota by finishing fifth in the women’s 25m pistol event at the Asian Shooting Championships 2023. Bhaker is the only Indian athlete to be competing at multiple event, putting her in the ring for women’s 10m air pistol and women’s 25m pistol. 23-year-old shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar will carry India’s hopes in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions in Paris.

Hockey chances up in the air

The men’s hockey team were among the favourites to finish on the podium in Tokyo and they lived up to those expectations by winning bronze. Since then, they have had to deal with quite a few hits. A disappointing World Cup campaign led to head coach Graham Reid being replaced by Craig Fulton. The team has dialed down its attacking intensity under Fulton and that has resulted in them looking a far more solid at the back, something that had been a problem under Reid.

Fulton led India to gold at the 2022 Asian Games and the manner in which India dominated the teams from their continent there and at the Asian Championships before that made it look like they could realistically aim at upgrading the colour of their Olympic medal in Paris. However, then came a tour of Australia in which they lost all five games they played and a rather disappointing European leg of the Pro League, all of which leaves India seventh on the rankings going into the Olympics. They also have a tough group consisting of Belgium, Australia and Argentina, all ranked above them, New Zealand who had dumped them out of the World Cup, and Ireland.