Kolkata: Pulling off an event like the Olympics in the post-COVID era was a daunting task for the Japanese Government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Despite strict protocols on the athletes, support staff, media, broadcasters and officials, the Tokyo Olympics turned out to be a huge success and will be remembered for a long.
For India, it was the most successful Olympics with seven medals – one gold, two silver, and four bronze. The previous best for India was the 2012 London Games where the country brought home six. In addition, India had sent 125 athletes to Tokyo — the highest in history.
There were several inspirational feats from the Indian athletes at the Tokyo Olympics. If CA Bhavani Devi became the first Indian fencer to win an Olympics encounter; discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur finished sixth in the women’s final. Aditi Ashok missed on a bronze medal by a whisker after finishing fourth.
The Indian women’s hockey team also created history as they made it to the Olympics semifinals for the very first time defeating the mighty Australians in the quarterfinals. Some won medals and some not, but India’s overall performance showed a lot of promise, won billions of hearts, and did a lot more for their respective sports.
Sportslight Media would like to express heartfelt gratitude for their outstanding performances and takes a look at the seven medalists from Tokyo Olympics.
Neeraj Chopra (Gold)
Neeraj Chopra won billions of hearts when he became the country’s first Olympic gold medalllist in athletics ending India’s 100-year wait at the sports’ grandest stage. With a throw of 87.58m in the men’s javelin event at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday, Neeraj became the country’s only second individual gold medallist at the Olympics.
Abhinav Bindra got a shooting gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After sending his spear to 87.03m in his first attempt, Neeraj bettered his mark in the second throw which got him the gold.
The 23-year-old Indian was ably helped by former world champion and pre-tournament favourite Germany’s Johannes Vetter, who was ousted after his first three throws. The silver and bronze medals were taken by the Czech Republic.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (Silver)
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu began India’s medals tally at the Tokyo Olympics with a silver on the first day in women’s 49kg weightlifting event. Chanu lifted 202kg (87kg in snatch and 115kg in clean and jerk). Chinese weightlifter Hou Zhihui taking the gold with 210kg.
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Ravi Kumar Dahiya (Silver)
Making his debut at the Olympics, Ravi Kumar Dahiya began his journey in the men’s 57kg wrestling with two back-to-back wins to qualify for the semifinals against Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev. The Indian started well, leading 2-1, but Sanayev came back and overpowered Ravi Kumar’s every move with a 9-2 lead.
However, with just 90 seconds remaining and Sanayev appeared to be assured of a place in the final, Ravi Kumar made a comeback for ages. He hit a couple of two-pointers and eventually pinned his opponent in the final seconds to win the match by fall. Ravi Kumar lost to Russia’s Zavur Uguev in the final.
PV Sindhu (Bronze)
PV Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win back-to-back Olympic medals when she bagged bronze in the badminton singles event. She started winning all her group games and hadn’t dropped a game until the semifinals. The only other Indian to win back-to-back Olympic medals is Sushil Kumar.
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In the semifinals, Sindhu faced brutal Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-Ying, who had defeated her 21-18, 21-12 in straight sets, but the medal hope remained alive. In the bronze medal play-off tie, Sindhu defeated Chinese He Bingjiao in straight sets to win her second Olympic medal after winning silver in Rio de Janeiro five years back.
Bajrang Punia (Bronze)
Bajrang Punia was touted to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics and he didn’t disappoint. Earlier, Bajrang easily won his first two rounds, had advanced to the semifinals. In the semifinals, Bajrang was defeated by Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev 5-12 on points. In his bronze medal match, Bajrang defeated Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyabekov.
Lovlina Borgohain (Bronze)
The 23-year-old Lovlina Borgohain from Assam became only the third Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal after Vijender Singh and Mary Kom. Lovlina was assured of a medal when she entered the women’s welterweight semifinals beating Chinese Taipei’s Nien-Chin Chen. However, she lost in the semifinals to Turkey’s Busenaz Surmeneli.
Men’s hockey team (Bronze)
The Indian men’s hockey team created history ending the country’s 41-year medal at the Olympics when they edged past Germany 5-4 in the bronze medal play-off match. The last time India won a medal was in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
India started with a win over New Zealand in Pool A before being humiliated 1-7 at the hands of Australia. However, the Men in Blue staged a great comeback winning the next three consecutive games against Argentina, Spain and hosts Japan to advance to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, India defeated Great Britain 3-1 to advance to the next round but were defeated 2-5 in the semifinals by eventual champions Belgium. In the bronze medal match against Germany, the whole world witnessed a neck-to-neck game that waxed and waned throughout and was eventually by India giving a reason of happiness to the 1.3 billion citizens in the country.
