It’s often said that finishing fourth in the Olympics is peak agony. If coming last carries the sting of embarrassment, securing the fourth place inflicts the pain of being so near yet so far, something that can either drive an athlete to future glory or leave them completely crushed. India’s affair with near misses at sport’s grandest stage has been a long-standing one, beginning way back in 1956. Here is a look at the instances when Indian athletes came close but ended at just that.

1956, Melbourne: Football

The Indian football team made the semifinals after beating hosts Australia 4-2 in the quarterfinals, with Neville D’Souza becoming the first Asian to score a hat-trick at the Games.

By giving his team the lead, Neville looked like doing an encore in the last-four clash against Yugoslavia. But the Yugoslavians came back strongly in the second half to seal the contest in their favour.

In the bronze medal classification match, India lost to Bulgaria 0-3, drawing to a close an eventful few days which the great P K Banerjee would often reminisce with a hint of understandable anguish.

1960, Rome: Athletics

The legendary Milkha Singh missed out on a bronze by the narrowest of margins.

Competing in the 400m final and touted as a medal contender, the ‘Flying Sikh’ fell short by a mere 1/10th of a second after slowing down to steal a glance at his fellow competitors, an error that he would regret for the rest of his life.

This would go down as his worst memory after losing his parents in the aftermath of the partition.

Milkha almost gave up the sport after this loss and it required a lot of persuasion for him to hit the track again and win two gold medals in the 1962 Asian Games.

1980, Moscow: Women’s Hockey

With top hockey nations such as the Netherlands, Australia and Great Britain boycotting the Moscow Games over the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan, the Indian women’s hockey team had a great chance to finish on the podium in its first attempt itself.

But the team endured the agony of narrowly missing out on a medal, losing its last match to erstwhile USSR 1-3 to finish behind Zimbabwe, Czechoslovakia and the hosts.

1984, Los Angeles: Athletics

LA Olympics brought back memories of Milkha in Rome when PT Usha missed the 400m hurdles bronze by 1/100th of a second, making it the closest-ever miss for an Indian athlete in any competition.

Known as the ‘Payyoli Express’, she ended fourth behind Romania’s Christina Cojocaru, but her heroic effort left a lasting impression and she became a household name.

2004, Athens: Tennis

After a long gap of 20 years, the curse of the fourth place returned to haunt the Indian contingent when the celebrated duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi missed out on the podium at the Athens Games.

Arguably India’s greatest doubles pair in tennis, Paes and Bhupathi missed out on a bronze medal after losing a marathon match to Croatia’s Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic 6-7 6-4 14-16 to end fourth.

Before that, the Indian pair went into the semifinals as favourites but lost to the German duo of Nicholas Kiefer and Rainer Schuttler in straight sets 2-6 3-6.

At the same Games, Kunjarani Devi finished fourth in women’s 48kg weightlifting competition, but she was not really in medal contention.

Disqualified in her final attempt to lift 112.5 kg in the clean and jerk category, Kunjarani finished with a total effort of 190kg, 10kg behind bronze-medallist Thailand’s Aree Wiratthaworn.

2012, London: Shooting

Shooter Joydeep Karmakar experienced the terrible feeling of finishing a place behind the bronze medal winner in this edition.

Karmakar had finished seventh in the qualification round of men’s 50m rifle prone event, and in the finals, he ended just 1.9 points behind the bronze medal winner.

2016, Rio de Janeiro: Gymnastics

Gymnast Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian woman gymnast to compete at the Games. After making the final of the women’s vault event, she finished fourth overall with a score of 15.066 and missed the bronze medal by 0.150 points.

She introduced the sport to India and gave the message that one doesn’t have to be born in the USA or Russia to become an excellent gymnast.

At the same Games, Abhinav Bindra’s illustrious career was headed for a fairytale finish but a shooter of even his class was not spared of the curse of the fourth, as he missed the bronze medal by a whisker, eight years after his historic gold medal at the Beijing Games.

2020, Tokyo: Women’s Hockey

A little more than four decades after the 1980 Moscow Games, the members of the Indian women’s hockey team once again endured a similar pain at the Tokyo Olympics, missing out on the bronze.

The Indian side punched above its weight triggering an upset to knock three-time Olympic champions Australia to make the semifinal.

In the semifinals, they suffered a 0-1 defeat to Argentina but still had a shot at the bronze. They looked on course to win the elusive medal as Rani Rampal and Co. took a 3-2 lead against Great Britain.

But Britain scored twice to go up 4-3 and clinch the medal, leaving the Indian team in tears.

At the same Games, golfer Aditi Ashok also experienced the agony of missing out on a historic podium finish.

Ranked 200th in the world, the 26-year-old matched the best golfers in the world shot for shot. But, she eventually fell short after coming agonisingly close and finished fourth.

File photo of Sania Mirza.© AFP

File image of Sumit Nagal© AFP

Aging like a fine wine, Rohan Bopanna is all fired up for his last hurrah at the Olympic Games. Not the one who would rail against circumstances or crib about not having the strongest of partners, the veteran Indian tennis player says his comrade N Sriram Balaji has enough firepower and the scratch pairing is potent enough to test the big teams in Paris. Had Bopanna been ranked outside the top-10, India would not have any representation in the men’s doubles event at the Paris Olympics, starting July 26.

The 44-year-old had to make a choice between Balaji and Yuki Bhambri and after consulting his coaches — Scott Davidoff and Balachandran Mannikkath — he eventually settled for the more “athletic and agile” Balaji.

“I really believe that when we go out there, we genuinely have a chance to win every match, whoever we play against. It’s not like we’re just going to be written off, I feel,” Bopanna told PTI in an exclusive interview.

Bopanna has reason to have that confidence in Balaji’s ability to rise to the occasion. He had a chance to test Balaji at the French Open where Bopanna was pushed along with Matthew Ebden by the Tamil Nadu player and his Mexican partner Miguel Reyes-Varela.

Not only this, Balaji had a consistent run on the ATP Tour where he scalped a few big names such as Americans Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek — both top-10 players — at the Houston ATP 250 event on clay.

With his German partner Andre Begemann, Balaji also defeated Austria’s top-50 players Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler.

Balaji also showed that he can quickly adapt to conditions when he was asked to do the singles duty during the Davis Cup tie against Pakistan on grass. The rival was not of the highest quality but Balaji showed that he was willing to come out of his comfort zone if the team demands.

“The idea is to go prepared, at least believe in as a team. That is what we’re trying to do. With Bala, he definitely has the firepower to do well,” Bopanna said.

He also gave his reason for picking Balaji over Bhambri.

“I felt Balaji, depending on the surface we’re playing with, which is the clay, would have been the ideal partner. Currently, even if you look at (Matthew) Ebden, who I’m playing with, he’s somebody who’s more agile, more explosive on that surface.

“And for clay, especially, I need a partner who would suit me better in terms of going by the surface. If it was a hard court or a grass court, maybe Yuki would have been the preferred choice.” Bopanna though admitted that it was not an obvious but a difficult choice since he has not played with either of them on the Tour.

“Balaji can move well on both flanks? I think he is, given on the clay court, he’s definitely more athletic, given the two of us. Between me and Bala, I definitely need a partner who’s more athletic, more agile.

“Bala has similar capabilities as Matthew. Bala would be fast, quick, swift like Ebden. But Ebden comes with a lot of experience and Bala hasn’t played at that level much.” It also means that Bopanna has to be leader of the team all the time. On the Tour he has Ebden to pull the team out of the pit if Bopanna is having an off day. In the past Olympics, he had illustrious teammates like Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza.

In Paris, it will Bopanna, who has to do the heavy lifting. But did he have any choice? “There is nobody currently in the country who has played that kind of experience as Matthew Ebden. So, no matter who I played with on the country, it would be the same scenario.” Due to the considerable gap in their rankings in the past, Bopanna could never play with Balaji on the Tour. But they have planned to compete in a couple of ATP events, starting with Hamburg Open, to prepare for the Olympics.

“This is my time at home basically to rest, recover and then come back into the circuit. But I thought it’ll be nice to get to know whoever the partner I’m playing with.Try and work and at least try and prepare better than what we have done before maybe.” As the discussion veered over Balaji’s game and how he compliments him, Bopanna had a good things to say about his partner.

“His serve is definitely a big strength. He’s got a powerful shot there. Which definitely helps in the doubles game. No question on it.” Bopanna also said that they don’t just want to show up and get back. They consider themselves worthy of a medal.

“Every athlete who goes into Olympics wants to win a medal, right? There is 100 percent that belief. Everybody wants to do better than the previous time. There’s no question on it, right? That’s how life is. You want to do better. You want to keep going higher and higher.

“Nobody can tell you what can happen. But the preparation going into the games is what really matters.

“This time I was even listening that they have a fantastic medical team there to help the recovery, help the sports science, which is the first time ever, which is amazing. This is what is the progress already for what athletes can get and really see and make a difference,” he signed off.

Tennis events at Paris Olympics start on July 27. 

Carlos Alcaraz after winning Wimbledon 2024 men’s singles title.© AFP

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz overcame a worrying mid-match slump to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Sunday, defeating Ugo Humbert of France in four sets to stay on course for a fourth Grand Slam title. The Spanish world number three came through 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 against his 16th-ranked opponent to book a spot in the last-eight of a major for the ninth time in just 14 appearances. However, it was another uncomfortable afternoon for Alcaraz, who had needed five sets to see off Frances Tiafoe in the third round.

His erratic performance on Sunday saw him drop serve five times and commit an uncharacteristic 33 unforced errors.

“Playing lefties is always tricky, no matter the surface,” said Alcaraz, who lost to British left-hander Jack Draper at Queen’s on the eve of Wimbledon.

“I learnt a little bit from that. I felt great playing today, I think I played a really high level.”

The 21-year-old, bidding to become just the sixth man to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back, eased through the first set under the Centre Court roof before crucially saving four break points in the fifth game of the second.

Alcaraz wrapped up the second set despite losing his footing and tumbling towards the ground.

“I just try to fight for every ball, it doesn’t matter which part of the court I am, I just try to run in whichever part of the court I am on,” said Alcaraz.

“I give myself the chance to stay alive in the point.

“Set point is a really important point for me so I had to show the opponent that whatever shot he shoots, I will be there.

“That’s me, I will be there, fighting until the last ball and sometimes it is a good point like this one and sometimes I lose it but the main thing is just to fight.”

Despite that dramatic conclusion, Humbert stormed back, breaking the champion three times in the third set as Alcaraz went spectacularly off the boil.

Alcaraz was twice unable to hold onto breaks in the fourth set and had to fend off three break points in the eighth game to stay level at 4-4.

Left-hander Humbert then lost his bearings to hand over a service break in the 11th game and Alcaraz took full advantage to quickly seal the tie.

Alcaraz will take on either American 12th seed Tommy Paul or 36-year-old compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut, a semi-finalist in 2019.

File photo of Rohan Bopanna (left) and Matthew Ebden.© AFP

World number one Iga Swiatek crashed out of Wimbledon on Saturday, losing to Yulia Putintseva as the top seed’s 21-match win streak came to a shock end in the third round. The Polish star, who won a fourth French Open and fifth Grand Slam title last month, was stunned 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 by the Russian-born Kazakh, who goes on to face the equally fiery Jelena Ostapenko for a quarter-final place. “Feels great, I was just so focused on just playing fast and not giving her any time and that’s pretty much it,” said 29-year-old Putintseva after her win on Court One.

“I was thinking during the match that I had already beaten a world number one on grass so I think it was meant to be,” she added, recalling her win over Naomi Osaka in Birmingham in 2019.

“This is crazy guys, it was great energy from all of you and I was trying to entertain you more and more with my shots and I was taking energy from you guys.”

After winning the first set, it appeared business as usual for Swiatek, who went into Saturday’s match with a 4-0 head-to-head record over the 35th ranked Putintseva.

However, the diminutive Putintseva stormed back in the second set on the back of breaks in the fourth and sixth games.

Putintseva held her nerve to cruise to a double break and a 4-0 lead in the decider.

Swiatek saved two match points but was defeated on the third when she buried a forehand return into the net.

The Pole, who has never got past the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, committed 38 unforced errors to Putintseva’s 15. The Kazakh saved seven of eight break points.

It was only the fourth time in the Open era that the Wimbledon top seed had lost in the third round.

That fate befell Ana Ivanovic in 2008, Serena Williams in 2014, Simona Halep in 2018 and Swiatek, who was stunned by Alize Cornet at the same stage two years ago.

Putintseva, a three-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, extended her grass-court streak this year to eight wins and no defeats after winning the Birmingham title last month.

File photo of Hubert Hurkacz.© AFP

File photo of Jannik Sinner.© AFP