Due to the immense promotion that the Sony Sports channel did about the Olympians, one cannot help taking a look at how the Olympics went. Not only that, the magnanimous investments they made in the sports sector is also commendable.
India were third in the medal tally in the 2018 Commonwealth games. And unsurprisingly they had had their best Olympic campaign ever. With 1 gold, 2 silvers and 4 bronzes, finishing 48th in the tally, India surely have stepped up their game. Let’s take a look at all their medals from Tokyo.
Mirabai Chanu really gave India a head start and opened their account of medals on the very first day of the Olympics. She won silver in women’s 49 kg weightlifting after being able to lift 202 kg in total.
After that PV Sindhu, India’s biggest hope in this year’s Olympics, finished on the podium with racket and shuttle. She grabbed the bronze medal beating China’s He Bing Jiao in women’s singles Badminton, making her the first Indian woman and second Indian athlete to win 2 individual medals in the Olympics.
Then Lovlina Borgohain came on the scene when she beat Chinese Taipei’s Nien Chen-Chen in the quarter-finals. She fell short in front of the reigning champion Busenaz Surmeneli ensuring India’s third medal in Tokyo.
After that, Ravi Kumar Dhaniya, in his debut Olympics made India proud. He made it look like India will finally get a gold medal after 12 years. But Russian World Champion Zavur Uguev came out to be too good for him in the men’s 57 kg freestyle wrestling finals. Nonetheless, India sees a bright future in him. He has bagged the second silver and fourth medal for India in this edition.
Indian men’s hockey team has probably been one of the best teams in the Olympics history. Their triumph in 7 consecutive Olympics was remarkable. But somehow they didn’t manage to win any after the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
The drought has finally ended. Beating Germany 5-4 after coming back from 3-1, India won bronze in men’s hockey. Their women’s team was also close to a bronze medal but fell agonisingly short in the relevant match.
India’s wrestlers were not yet done with hustling for medals yet. After beating Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov in the medal play-off in the men’s 65 kg freestyle, Bajrang Punia grabbed a bronze, India’s 6th from Tokyo.
They started well and finished better. India’s Neeraj Chopra on the second last day of the Olympics grabbed the gold medal. His giant throw of 86.48 metres made it sure that he threw at the furthest, his medal was the brightest and India’s flag rose to the highest. He is the only second athlete to win an individual gold medal for India after shooter Abhinav Bindra in 2008, not to mention India’s first gold in the Javelin throw.
With all these, India undoubtedly proves themselves to be on the rise in the sports arena. And if not so, their vision at least is to be right up there.
The writer is currently an HSC graduate from Dhaka Residential Model College