Jul 25 surprise and a few more would be eyeing the perfect closure to their glittering careers as the 117-strong Indian contingent aims for a better-than-before performance in the Olympic Games, starting here on Friday. India returned from Tokyo with seven medals, and it is only natural that a double-digit performance is now desired in Paris. Except for wrestlers, who have waded through a highly controversial build-up, athletes in all disciplines have have had no complaints about their preparations. Whether it was training abroad or getting the best of facilities to sharpen their skills, there was planning in place.

But will the hard work, the strategies and the unbridled support translate into medals?

The Big Picture

It will be a Heculean task to match the Tokyo figures of seven medals, given that except for reigning Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, not many are top contenders in their respective disciplines.

More than half of the 117-member contingent is from three sports — athletics (29 ), shooting (21) and hockey (19). Of these 69 athletes, 40 are debutants.

In other sports too, there are debutants like tennis player N Sriram Balaji and wrestler Reetika Hooda. They are not exactly inexperienced, but largely, India’s campaign will be driven by the athletes, who will be competing on a stage this grand for the first time.

Then there are the seasoned ones who would be expected to raise their game suitably.

Two-time medallist shuttler PV Sindhu, tennis player Rohan Bopanna, legendary table tennis player Sharath Kamal and hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh are certainly playing their last Olympics.

The hockey team has endured patchy form in the build-up to the Games, the boxers and wrestlers are lacking in real competition time. The shooters too have notched up mixed results heading into the Olympics.

The track and field athletes, especially Avinash Sable, have done well of late, but compared to their global rivals, their performances don’t seem enough to put them in the bracket of medal hopefuls.

For instance, steeplechaser Sable has been consistently bettering his own national record. His best stands at 8:09.94 but there are seven international runners who have achieved better timing than that in the run-up to the Games.

Given this, Even making the finals will be considered a huge achievement.

Best Chance

India’s hopes for podium finishes largely hinge on Neeraj, despite concerns around his adductor niggle, and the in-form badminton duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.

The coveted 90m mark has eluded Neeraj from Tokyo to Paris but the ace javelin thrower seems to be doing just enough, and most importantly, consistently, to land global titles.

On big competition days, Neeraj has fared better than his other fancied rivals and if he is fit, the javelin thrower from Panipat will have a chance to become only the third athlete in India’s sports history to win back-to-back Olympic medals.

Only Sindhu (2016 Rio and 2012 Tokyo) and wrestler Sushil Kumar (2008 Beijing, 2012 London) have managed to win two consecutive medals.

Rankireddy and Chirag have grown into one of India’s most formidable men’s doubles teams and they are being seen as certain medal winners.

Talking about Sindhu, she is not in the best of form and has also got a tough draw but if she can come through the initial rounds, the vast experience could help her make the medal round.

Hockey

The men’s hockey team has been inconsistent. It lost all five games in Australia recently after a mixed run in the Pro League. It was a far cry from the Asian Games in Hangzhou where the team emerged champion.

Penalty Corner conversion and maintaining the tempo throughout a match remain a concern.

And if that’s not enough, the Indian team has been clubbed with heavyweights Australia, Belgium, Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland. There is no room for error if the team has to make the top-four from this pool.

Shooting

It’s been a quiet build-up for the 21-member shooting contingent, the biggest ever, compared to London and Tokyo where stars such as Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary had raised medal hopes with their exceptional performances in the run-up to the Games.

Even Divyansh Panwar and Elavenil Valarivan were hailed as future superstars but all of them have flattered to deceive.

There is hardly any spotlight on shooters but still Sift Kaur Samra (50m three position) , Sandeep Singh (10m air rifle) and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (men’s 50 m rifle) have it in them to end the 12-year wait for a medal.

Gagan Narang, who is now India’s Chef de Mission, was the last Indian shooter to climb the podium when he won the 10m air rifle bronze in the 2012 London Games.

Wrestling

The sport has delivered a medal for India in the last four editions. The hopes of winning four to five medals were raised for the Paris Games but the protest against the Wrestling Federation of India brought the sport to a standstill.

There was no national camp, and no competition for a long time. The qualified wrestlers have trained on their own at the centres of their choice — both in India and abroad.

Fitness status of many is not known, but going into the Games, Anshu Malik, Antim Panghal and Aman Sehrawat are considered India’s best bets. Reetika Hooda, the U-23 world champion, will be a dark horse.

Others

The archers and TT players have qualified for the Games on the basis of their rankings. While it is a huge achievement for TT players, the same can’t be said about the archers.

They have promised a lot in the past too but have not been able to deliver. The recent episode of their coach being denied the Games accreditation means the campaign has started on a negative note.

Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, the Tokyo Games silver-medallist, has struggled with injury and form of late and is perhaps not in the best frame of mind. There are question marks if she will be able to repeat her success.

Experienced boxer Nikhat Zareen and Nishant Dev will be watched keenly as their latest results have been encouraging. So far, India have won 35 medals at the Olympics with shooter Abhinav Bindra (2008) and Neeraj Chopra (2021) being the only two individual gold medal winners.

It’s time to turn aspirations into achievements. Let the Games begin.

The upheavals in wrestling in the last two years have “severely affected” the growth of the sport in India, feels Olympic medallist grappler Yogeshwar Dutt, though he is still optimistic that the six-member Indian squad can win two medals at the Paris Games beginning on July 26. Sustained protests by six of the country’s top grapplers, including Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia and Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat, against former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh led to wrestling activities in India coming to a grinding halt for close to a year and a half.

It had a cascading effect with national camps and competitions being postponed, adversely affecting preparations for Olympic qualification events and, in turn, preparations for the quadrennial showpiece.

“Yes, I feel really pained with the way the last one-and-half to two years have been for Indian wrestling. The sport has passed through a really bad phase and it has severely affected the sport’s growth and had a negative effect on the followers of the game here,” said Dutt, bronze medallist at the 2012 London Olympics, on the sidelines of an event ‘Glory of Five Rings’, organised by Manav Rachna Educational Institutions.

Dutt, who also tried to break the impasse when the protest was at its peak, was also saddened that the turmoil led to fewer number of Indian male wrestlers qualifying for the Games.

“In 2004 (Athens Olympics), six free-style wrestlers had qualified, after which 3, 4, 5 (male) wrestlers have made it to the Games every time. Sad that just one male wrestler, Aman Sehrawat, could qualify for Paris. But all credit to the women wrestlers, who secured five spots, which is a very good thing to happen,” he added.

Dutt refused to comment on Vinesh’s prospects at the Games. The 2018 Jakarta Asian Games gold medallist was at the forefront of the protest against Brij Bhushan over his alleged sexual harassment of female grapplers.

Asked about Vinesh’s chances in the 50kg category, a relatively uncharted territory for the 29-year-old as she has earned most of the laurels in 53kg, Dutt said, “See, five girls have qualified and women can win one maybe two medals.

“Some of them are very experienced as well. Be it Antim Panghal (the youngster who will compete in 53kg) or some other woman wrestler… so we have hope that we can win two medals.

“Olympics are never easy for anyone. Everyone has a dream of winning an Olympic medal. Our wrestlers have worked hard, they have some level of experience as well.” Dutt also hoped that the wrestlers will not break the tradition of never returning empty-handed from four successive Olympics.

Sushil Kumar won bronze in 2008 Beijing and four years later clinched silver in London, where Dutt claimed bronze. Sakshi Malik clinched a bronze in 2016 Rio before Bajrang Punia (bronze) and Ravi Dahiya (silver) brought home more glory from Tokyo.

“Six wrestlers are going to Paris, out of which five are girls. We have got six medals in wrestling in the last four Olympics. We have high hopes from Antim and Reetika Hooda, the new kid. They should win because we have a tradition of winning medals since 2008.”

Antim Panghal will bring her prodigious wrestling talent to Paris 2024 as the 19-year-old is expected to be a medal contender in the 53 kg weight category in the upcoming Olympic Games. Panghal’s journey began at the young age of 10 years, inspired by her elder sister, a kabaddi player, who encouraged her to pursue wrestling. In an exclusive feature on JioCinema’s ‘The Dreamers,’ she opened up on her wrestling journey which saw her become the first Indian woman to win gold at the World Junior Championships.

Reflecting on her early days, she said, “Before stepping onto the mat, I feel jitters, but once I am on the mat, the fear and nerves take a back seat. The spirit is all about fighting and winning.”

The two-time Junior World Champion’s journey met a turning point at the 2022 Commonwealth Games trials, where a lost bout sparked her to put in extra effort and enter the best stretch of her young career. “The loss at the trial for the 2022 Commonwealth Games to Vinesh Phogat was tough, it motivated me to work harder.

“I went on to win a gold at the Junior World Championships, becoming the first Indian woman to do so, and later won a silver medal at the 2023 Asian Championships. My life changed after the 2022 Commonwealth Games,” she shared.

Panghal also discussed the importance of resilience and learning from setbacks. “If I lose a match, I don’t dwell on it. I motivate myself to do better and move on. I believe that the Almighty has a better plan for me, and there are lessons to be learned from my losses. The final seconds of the semifinal bout at the World Championships taught me the importance of focus and attentiveness.”

Looking ahead to Paris 2024, Panghal aspires to follow in the footsteps of Sakshi Malik, India’s only female Olympic wrestling medallist. “The country has placed its faith in me, and I want to live up to their expectations. Once I set my mind on something, I ensure it gets done,” she said.

Panghal created history as the first Indian woman to win gold at the Junior World Wrestling Championships in 2022, defending her title in 2023. She replicated her feat by earning a bronze medal at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships, a bronze at the 2022 Asian Games, and a silver at the 2023 Asian Wrestling Championships.

File photo of Vinesh Phogat.© X (formerly Twitter)

File image of Vinesh Phogat.© SAI

File photo of Bajrang Punia.© X (formerly Twitter)

Google Doodle pays tribute to India’s first woman wrestler Hamida Banu.
| Photo Credit: Google Doodle

It was on this day in 1954 when Hamida Banu defeated famed wrestler Baba Pahalwan in just one minute and 34 seconds. While Baba Pahalwan deemed it fit to retire from professional wrestling, Banu’s career expanded to international arenas and her victories reported across the globe.

Commemorating Banu’s victory and to pay tribute to her as “India’s first woman wrestler,” Google on May 4 put up a colourful doodle on its homepage.

Born into a family of wrestlers in the early 1900s near Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Banu grew up wrestling, winning over 300 competitions throughout her career that spanned the 1940s and 1950s at a time when women’s participation in athletics was strongly discouraged.

Banu, however, competed with men anyway, and issued an open challenge to all male wrestlers, wagering her hand in marriage to whoever defeats her, Google wrote in a post.

Banu’s success in international matches gained her further acclaim. One of these matches was the one against Russian woman wrestler Vera Chistilin, who she defeated in under two minutes.

Having made newspaper headlines for years, Banu came to be known as the “Amazon of Aligarh”.

The bouts she won, her diet, and her training regimen were widely covered.

According to a BBC report, she weighed 108kg and was 5ft 3in tall.

“Her daily diet included 5.6 litres of milk, 2.8 litres of soup, 1.8 litres of fruit juice, a fowl, nearly 1kg of mutton and almonds, half a kilo of butter, 6 eggs, two big loaves of bread, and two plates of biryani,” the British media outlet reported.

Reuters noted that she slept for nine hours and trained for six.

A “trailblazer of her time,” Banu not only fought fellow wrestlers but the norms of her times.

“Hamida Banu was a trailblazer of her time, and her fearlessness is remembered throughout India and across the world. Outside of her sporting accomplishments, she will always be celebrated for staying true to herself,” Google’s note read.