With a little over a month left for the Olympic Games to kick off in Paris, India is gearing up for what is being hailed as one of its most important appearances in the history of the mega global sporting event. The upcoming edition assumes greater significance as the country will look to better its tally after a record haul of seven medals—one gold, two silver and four bronze —at Tokyo 2020.
India had fielded 124 athletes in Tokyo and will be aiming for a similar number in Paris as well. Close to 100 athletes have already been confirmed—either through the quota, direct (meeting the qualifying standards) or rankings route—and with the qualification windows still open for some sports, an exact figure will emerge only in the coming days. In all, 10,500 athletes from 200 countries or regions are expected to participate in the Olympics this year.
In focus will be the men’s hockey team, having secured a medal (bronze) in Tokyo after a gap of over 40 years and being the Olympic champions eight times in the past. All eyes will also be on ‘golden boy’ and reigning champion Neeraj Chopra in men’s javelin throw, the shooting team (it had to return empty-handed in Tokyo after an impressive four medals—a gold, two silver and one bronze—in the past editions), badminton players PV Sindhu (she won a silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (current world No. 1 in men’s doubles), weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (she secured a silver in Tokyo), boxer Lovlina Borgohain (she won a bronze at the Tokyo Games), and the wrestling team (Indian wrestlers have clinched at least one medal in the past four Olympic editions), among many other hopefuls.
Expressing high hopes from the country’s athletes for the Paris Games, former sports minister Anurag Thakur had recently said: “We should get medals in double digits. The way we have prepared, I believe we should get medals in double digits.”
Hockey: Aiming for gold, hockey team all pumped up
“The Olympic gold has always been a dream, and we would like nothing more than to end the gold medal drought,” says Harmanpreet Singh, captain of the Indian hockey team headed to the Paris Olympics.
The drought has been a long one— 44 years to be exact, with the last gold won in 1980. In fact, not just the gold, even a medal has been elusive for the team, which won just one bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after 1980.
“We had won the bronze last time. This time, we will play for a medal of a different colour,” says Manpreet Singh, who led the team in Tokyo.
India conquered the hockey world winning its first Olympic gold in 1928, the same year the sport gained permanent Olympic status.
Such was the dominance that India played five matches and scored 29 goals, with Dhyan Chand scoring 14 of them and conceding none. They won two more golds in 1932 and 1936—a hattrick. As the Games resumed post WW-II, the India team unleashed another gold spree, winning at the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics. It won two more—in 1964 and 1980— after which the medal trail dried up.
This year, while India is all guns blazing to reclaim past glory, the going isn’t easy. For starters, the team is placed in Pool B with reigning champions Belgium, Tokyo silver medalist Australia, Rio gold medalist Argentina, world number 10 New Zealand, and world number 11 Ireland.
“All the teams are going to be tough,” says Harmanpreet, “So, it will be imperative that we take it match by match and stick to our strengths.”
“We can’t underestimate any team,” says Manpreet, adding that “in the last Olympics, South Africa beat Germany, so you can’t take any team lightly.”
To prepare for the gruelling matches ahead, India played Australia in a five-match test series last month, going down 0-5 against the world number 3. Scarred, India announced a camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Bengaluru, before flying to Europe for the FIH Pro League.
“The tour to Australia helped us realise areas we need to work on, and I always believe that we can work on our shortcomings and set things straight well before the final leg of the Pro League and the Paris 2024 Olympics,” said chief coach Craig Fulton in a release.
Despite the ‘shortcomings’, expectations run high, given how the team have progressed, especially since 2008, when it didn’t qualify for the first time ever, to the Beijing Olympics. It qualified for the 2012 London Olympics but ended at the bottom. Since then, it has been an upward journey.
“We know we are counted amongst the best teams in the world, and we are confident that we can beat any other team on our day,” says Manpreet, adding, “The biggest challenge, however, would be to maintain consistency.” Harmanpreet adds: “The Asian Games gold confirmed our berth at the Paris Olympics, but the real test begins now.”
Here, goalkeeper PR Sreejesh highlights the need to handle pressure. “Olympics is a normal tournament but its name brings with it a lot of pressure. So the players who are able to manage the pressure better are at an advantage,” he told FE, adding that while the team is in good shape, “we just need to play our natural game on that particular day to beat any team.”
Since its glorious days followed by a long drought without many laurels, the India hockey team surely has come a long way. On the Tokyo performance, coach Fulton, told FE, “It was a breakthrough for the India team. They were really conditioned, and played a nice brand of hockey.”
However, he highlights that the Olympics pressure is always challenging. “It’s eight games in 12 days. So it’s challenging. But again, we want to be the fittest Indian team to have gone to the Olympics,” he said, adding that much work remains to be done.
“The Olympic year will take care of itself as long as we take care of everything that we can control every day,” he says.
The hockey competitions will be played from July 27 till August 9.
Athletics: Golden boy Neeraj Chopra sets sights on another gold
“Strength, flexibility and body technique are very important components for javelin throwers,” says India’s ‘golden boy’ Neeraj Chopra, who is leaving no room for error ever since the countdown to Paris 2024 began.
The intense training regime with his coach Klaus Bartoneitz starts every day with a morning jog, gym training, breakfast, followed by lunch, rest, exercise and training. The exercises are tailor-made to make him stand tall, hold weights, and focus on flexibility, speed and strength and regain steady fitness levels. His training in Finland, Germany and Turkey is expected to continue till the end of July, where he is accompanied by his physiotherapist Ishaan Marwaha.
Chopra’s historic gold at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 was the highlight of India’s seven-medal tally, which was also the best-ever haul for the country at the Olympics.
Interestingly, the athletic victory was a first for India, which had not won any medal in athletics since the country started taking part in the Games in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium. Chopra’s gold for throw of 87.58 m in javelin made him the second Indian to win an individual gold, after Abhinav Bindra’s victory in the 10-metre air rifle shooting at Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Hailing from a family of farmers from Khandra village near Panipat in Haryana, and trained in javelin throw in Panipat and Panchkula, some of his winning moments are worth a mention. Chopra’s first taste of victory came at the 2012 National Junior Championships in Lucknow, where he won with a national record of 68.46 m. His first international medal was a silver in the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok in 2014, gold at the South Asian Games in Guwahati in 2016; another gold in Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2018.
After his Tokyo win, Chopra feels Indians can now take on the world, especially in javelin. “The success makes me confident of a good show in Paris,” says the 26-year-old athlete, whose aim is to arrive at the Olympics in the best possible shape. “I will do my best to defend my title. It won’t be easy as everyone is working hard, but I am happy with my preparations so far,” he says.
While his coach, physiotherapist and strength and conditioning (S&C) coach have been working with Chopra, helping him to get to peak performance capability, Chopra is looking to get a few competitive throws this season as it will be important in the build-up to the Olympics.
“It’s never easy to qualify for the Games, and to have done so at the World Championships was great. Consistency is important in a sport like javelin, and I am glad that my preparations have been going well so far. As an athlete, there will always be small niggles and injuries along the way, and these are challenging, but overall I’m happy to have booked my participation in Paris,” says Chopra, who feels javelin is one sport where one can have a good day even if one is not considered a medal contender.
However, fighting defeats mentally and physically is another feat for Chopra. “I know that all the throwers will be looking to put their best foot forward, and anyone can end up being on the podium. You can’t always win, and this is true for any sport. Finishing with silver or bronze, or a place outside the podium, has only made me even more determined to work hard and win at the next possible opportunity.”
Among a handful of Indian track and field athletes who have left a lasting impression over the years, incumbent president of the Indian Olympic Association PT Usha became the pioneer of women’s athletics after her astounding performance in the 1984 US Olympics. Usha in the 400-m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, finished fourth, missing a bronze by just 1/100th of a second. But her timing set an Asian record. Despite her four Olympic appearances in 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, she did not win any medal in Olympics, but won gold in the 1985 Asian Championship and 1986 Asian Games. Milkha Singh, fondly known as the Flying Sikh, finished fourth at the Rome 1960 Olympics—0.13 seconds behind bronze medallist Malcolm Spence of South Africa—on the running track.
But the 2024 Games will be the first in history to have equal numbers of medals available for men and women in track and field, which means the 50:50 allocation will help achieve full gender parity. A new event, the marathon race walk mixed relay (replacing the men’s 50-km race walk), and all individual track events will feature repechage rounds, meaning the athletes, who don’t qualify by place in round one heats, will have a second chance to qualify for semifinals with repechage heats.
The 4x400m relay teams have also qualified for Paris Olympics. While the women’s team comprises Rupal Chaudhary, MR Poovamma, Jyothika Sri Dandi and Subha Venkatesan; the men’s squad
features Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Muhammed Ajmal, Arokia Rajiv and Amoj Jacob. The men’s team has already broken Asian records in back-to-back global events—Tokyo Olympics and 2023 World Championships—as well as winning gold at the 2023 Asian Games.
India’s Paris-bound track and field athletes include Avinash Sable’s qualification in men’s 3,000-m steeplechase, joined by four 20-km race walkers Akshadeep Singh, Vikas Singh and Paramjeet Singh Bisht in men’s event and Priyanka Goswami in women’s event, and long jumper Murali Sreeshankar in the list of Indians who have qualified this time. So far, in long jump, Anju Bobby George’s bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships in Paris has been India’s first-ever medal. She won another when she finished fifth at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens with a personal-best jump of 6.83 m.
In fact, Sable holds a record time of 8:21.37 when he became the first Indian to qualify in the steeplechase event for Tokyo Olympics 2020, after Gulzara Singh Mann in 1952, but failed to make the finals at his debut Summer Games. Sable holds the record in the 3000-m steeplechase. He clocked a time of 8:11.20 at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham.
Para-athlete Sumit Antil set a world record of 68.55 m to win gold in the men’s javelin throw at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. This time again, Antil defended his F64 javelin throw world title in the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, to secure gold in May this year. Antil lost his left leg in a bike accident when he was 17, and has received the Khel Ratna Award in 2021.
Weightlifting: Mirabai chanu all set to lift India’s medal hopes
On the last day of her spring camp with coach Dr Aaron Horschig in Paris last month, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu was a picture of strength and determination. Holding a barbell with plates (105 kg) weighing more than twice her body (49 kg) on the nape, the 29-year-old weightlifter made 20 squats, her face turning red and the sound of grunting echoing in the room.
The effort, however, was just a glimpse of her extensive training. Chanu, the only Indian weightlifter to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, has to carry her weight as all eyes will be set on her for her second medal—and a third for the country—at the Olympics. While Chanu won a silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the women’s 49-kg category, Karnam Malleswari was the first Indian weightlifter (male or female) to win an Olympic medal. Malleswari achieved this feat by winning a bronze at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
A second medal at the Paris Games will make her the first Indian weightlifter to win two Olympic medals and, needless to say, the most accomplished athlete in the category in the country. Chanu has been preparing to bring home a weighty Olympic laurel and is both “excited and nervous” as all hopes are pinned on her for India’s weightlifting prospects at the world’s foremost sporting competition.
“This will be my third Olympics and the thought of what will happen makes me a little nervous. I had won silver on the first day in Tokyo… It adds a little pressure too,” Chanu acknowledged the weight of the Indian dream in a media interview.
“But I am thrilled that the Olympics are back within three years and that excites me,” she adds.
Chanu’s eyes are set on defending her Tokyo Olympics silver, if not clinching gold, and she intends to lift a total of 207 kg. She has been training to lift 90 kg in snatch and 117 kg in clean and jerk. Chanu has a personal best of 88 kg in snatch and she lifted the then-world record of 119 kg in clean and jerk at the Asian Championships in 2021.
The 90-kg feat won’t be easy as she already has three competitors gawking at the mark. She will be competing with Mihaela Cambei from Romania who lifted 92 kg at the 2023 European Championships, Jourdan Delacruz from the USA (91 kg at the 2019 Pan-American Championships), and Surodchana Khambao from Thailand (87 kg at the 2023 World Championships).
“It will be tough since there are more lifters who are doing well in snatch in the 49 kg. I’m looking at a 90 kg lift in the snatch and around 115 kg in the clean and jerk. I think a total of over 200 kg should be good for a medal and I am targeting 205-207 kg,” Chanu was quoted as saying in a media report.
Chanu, who was awarded the Padma Shri—the fourth highest civilian award in the country—in 2018 for her contributions to the sport, finished third in Group B of the women’s 49 kg (and 11th overall) at the IWF World Cup held in Thailand’s Phuket from March 31 to April 11 to secure a quota at the Paris Games. The weightlifting competition is a final and mandatory qualification for the 2024 Summer Olympics. It is pertinent to note that Chanu couldn’t compete since the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou due to a hip injury. After her silver medal in Tokyo, she won another silver at the 2022 World Championships and a gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Her injury, however, rendered her 2023 season to be over, having competed in only two events.
“I did not train for five months after the Asian Games. I was completely away from weightlifting, we just focused on my recovery and upper-body workouts,” Chanu was quoted as saying in a media report.
The IWF event is the only competition in 2024 that she could partake in after returning from the six-month injury layoff. She lifted a total of 184 kg (81 kg snatch and 113 kg in clean and jerk). Despite being far from her personal best, it assured her a spot at the Paris Olympics.
Nearly a month ahead of the Olympics, she has been undergoing training at La Ferte-Milon in Paris to acclimatise and prepare for the Olympics after her proposal to train in France was accepted by the Union ministry of youth affairs and sports.
Before heading to Paris, Chanu trained at NIS Patiala with coach Vijay Sharma, repping out sets of 120-130 kg, leaving nothing in her preparation for the games and bringing the third medal home.
Shooting: Thriving under pressure, shooters gun for glory
Shooting is a demanding sport—it requires precision and focus, and a lot of physical as well as mental strength. No one can know it better than shooter Anjum Moudgil, who had to spend the whole of 2023 on the sideline battling with mental health, before finally securing a spot in the Paris Olympics this year. She is representing India in the 50-metre rifle three positions event alongside 2022 Asian Games gold medallist Sift Kaur Samra.
Moudgil’s mental fatigue was at its peak in the trials for the Paris Olympics held last month. In fact, the pressure to excel had already started when she lost at both the 2018 Asian Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She had lost form and focus then, and was shattered for not being selected at the World Championships.
“I got enough time for not being in the main team for the World Championship and Asian Games. I rather prepared on my own, and kept a low phase,” says Moudgil, who feels that the pressure of good performance impacted her mental calm, and as a result, she couldn’t make it to the Asian Games.
But playing in her first international match post the Tokyo Olympics, she bagged a silver in the women’s 50-metre rifle three positions event at the ISSF World Cup in Baku in 2022 and this brought her back on track. “Not winning is something I consider as part of my journey and this makes me stronger. But I have worked on my troubled phase. Now, whenever there is a low phase, I talk to people around me, focus on family, and paint. Yes, it (painting) helps me get back on track,” adds Moudgil, whose new-found passion has helped her come out of stress on many occasions.
Today, mental calm has become as important as training and selection for the Chandigarh-based shooter representing Punjab. “I want to keep my best mental and physical level before the event. I’m working on mental health which I did not do a few years ago. I am prepared, and have now learnt from my mistakes,” says Moudgil, acknowledging the seriousness of mental health in today’s world.
If painting helps Moudgil channelise her mental state, walking or running is what does to Akhil Sheoran, another Indian shooter who is taking the flight to Paris. “I have this ritual. Whether I win or lose, I go for a long walk or for a run after every match to generalise my thoughts about the match—how the process was, what thoughts were crossing my mind, what all I need to work on. And more or less, I will say before talking to anyone or discussing about my match, or my situation or feelings, about the win and loss, I talk to myself first and hear my thoughts—what was going on with me, how I am feeling right now and what I need to do,” he adds.
The toughest competition for Sheoran is himself. “I don’t know who will win or not, I will be the competition for myself to push my limits, to compete with myself every day for every competition, to improve my skills and produce better results,” says the Baghpat-born shooter, who secured the fifth Paris Olympics quota after winning the bronze medal in the men’s 50-metre rifle three positions final at the ISSF World Championships last year.
“While preparing for Rio and Tokyo Olympics, I missed my chance by a narrow margin, but during this cycle, I realised that I am very good at my technical and shooting aspects. However, I realised that I was carrying a mental baggage of missing my opportunities in the last two Olympics. So, that mental barrier was giving me second thoughts about my self-confidence. This was the toughest obstacle that I cleared. I’m still working on my those aspects to make myself stronger for the upcoming Games,” says Sheoran.
“I am pushing my personal limits to win a gold with a record which hasn’t been done by anyone from India,” adds Sheoran.
Moudgil, Sheoran and Samra are among the members named in the Indian squad for rifle and pistol events at the Paris Olympics that also includes Bhowneesh Mendiratta, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale, Palak Gulia, Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan, Mehuli Ghosh, Tilottama Sen, Shriyanka Sadangi, Rajeshwari Kumari, Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan, among others.
Historically, Indian shooting has had its fair share of medal tally in the past few Games. Armyman Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s silver in the men’s trap at Athens 2004 was the first individual Olympic silver and first shooting medal for the country. In the men’s 10-m air rifle, Abhinav Bindra won the historic first individual gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with Gagan Narang following suit with a bronze at London 2012. Narang’s outstanding performance was in Beijing in 2008 where he got the ninth position, and in Athens in 2004, where he bagged the 12th. At the 2012 London Olympics, another shooter Vijay Kumar won a silver in the men’s 25-m rapid fire pistol event.
Badminton: Shuttlers keep medal prospects high
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty might be on a new high after climbing to the world No. 1 spot in rankings for men’s doubles by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) this year—the only doubles pair from India to achieve the feat—but they still say it’s going to be tough at the Paris Olympics.
Their expectations from the Olympics are obvious—to come back with the medal, but “the competition is intense”, says Shetty. “I wouldn’t say it is the toughest competition for a specific pair, but given the multiple pairs, it’s a very open ground where each player is playing quite well. The aim with which we enter the tournament would be to play to the best of our abilities,” he adds.
The top-seeded Indian badminton duo is eyeing its best performance at the Paris Games this year. Leading up to the Olympics, the duo has rigorous training sessions and tournaments, but they want to balance the time by playing fewer matches. “After the last tournament just before the Olympics, we have a good month of practice, and that will be our preparation for the final game,” says Shetty, adding: “We’ve had some really good wins, be it the Asian Games or the Asian Championships at the Indonesia Open, the French Open.”
After winning three BWF World Tour titles last year, including the Indonesia Open (Super 1000), Korea Open (Super 500) and the Swiss Open (Super 300), in addition to the Asian Games gold medal, the pair has won two championships this year: French Open Super 750 and Thailand Open Super 500.
However, they crashed out of the Singapore Open after suffering a shock defeat against Denmark in May. To this, Shetty says defeats are a part and parcel of the game, “We usually take the wins and defeats in the same manner as much as possible. When you work hard then losing is tough, but we’ve been able to deal with defeats and wins in the same manner, because defeats push us to come back stronger.”
Rankireddy and Shetty have joined the quota entry of three singles and two doubles from India in badminton this time for Paris. They are PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen in singles, and Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto in women’s doubles. While the Indian badminton contingent for Tokyo 2020 Olympics had four big players— Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth, Shetty and Rankireddy—Paris will see the biggest squad with a total of seven quotas.
Historically, badminton has witnessed one of India’s best performances at the Games with Saina Nehwal’s bronze in London 2012, and PV Sindhu’s silver at the Rio 2016 Olympics and bronze at Tokyo 2020, since the sport made its debut at Barcelona in 1992.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen, who is playing at the Olympics for the first time, says he wants to accept whatever comes his way. “People around me have worked well with Olympics but more than playing, it is mental health and preparedness to play such a big event,” says the 22-year old player, who made headlines very early in life with an impressive start to glory in 2014 when he won the Swiss Junior International, followed by a gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships in 2018, a silver at Youth Olympics in 2018 and a bronze at the BWF World Championships in 2021, and gold at Commonwealth Games and silver at the All England Open in 2022.
Training and preparations have been very systematic for Sen who has played some important tournaments in the past one year. “I play enough and get trained in the off season. It’s just about sticking to the Olympics and your goal. Be ready and fresh to play the Olympics and represent India,” he feels.
Sen has seen his ups and downs but has paid extra attention to play tournaments. “I started with good tournaments. In 2023, post October, I have been very focused and I did well in Europe, French and England and that’s when I could qualify,” adds Sen.
As no opponent is easy, Sen says, “I learn from every match I play. Every match teaches you as much as you could do better. I sit with my team, my coaches and trainers and listen and understand.”
Boxing: Boxers ready to pack a punch
Bringing home an Olympic medal is pugilist Nikhat Zareen’s dream and that is the motivation that keeps the two-time world champion going. “I know this is my first Olympics and a lot of people will be counting on me. I just want to focus and give my best,” says the 28-year-old boxer hailing from Nizamabad in Telangana.
Aiming to give “more than 100%” of herself, Zareen, however, acknowledges that she won’t be able to take anyone “easily”. “Everyone will be working hard and wants to win a medal for her country as the Olympics comes only once in four years,” she says, adding: “So far, I have won a medal in every competition I have participated and I will try to put all my effort into the Olympics too, and try to come back with a medal.”
Fellow Indian boxer and Tokyo Olympics bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain, too, admits that it won’t be easy. Her concern comes from the fact that she had to move up to 75 kg after her old division was scrapped from the Paris 2024 programme. She had won her medal at Tokyo 2020 in the women’s 69 kg category.
The 75-kg class is a fiercely contested one and opponents will be more powerful than the ones in 69 kg. Knowing very well about this fact, the 26-year-old boxer hailing from Golaghat in Assam, however, says she fits quite well in the category.
“I am more comfortable in this category than 69 kg because I can eat properly, so my energy level is high. I feel stronger and I can train better. With strength and conditioning, I can increase muscle and power,” she offers.
Zareen and Borgohain are among the six Indian boxers who have qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Four are women, the others being Preeti Pawar (54 kg) and Jaismine Lamboria (57 kg). Nishant Dev (71 kg) and Amit Panghal (51 kg) are the two Indian men representing India at the Games.
Lamboria made it to the Olympics at the qualifiers in Bangkok earlier this month after original quota-holder Parveen Hooda, who had booked her slot at the 2022 Asian Games by winning the bronze medal, was suspended for ‘whereabouts failures’ for 22 months starting May 17 by the International Testing Agency (ITA).
The call to participate in the Olympics came as a surprise. Lamboria was given just one week for preparation and was asked to compete in the 57-kg category, instead of her original 60-kg category. “It was an advantage as my competitors were not as tall as me. I used my height and long reach to beat them. I have an attacking game but for Paris, I am working on counterattacking and connecting my open punches,” Lamboria was quoted as saying in a media interview.
Pawar, an Asian Games bronze medallist, too, sounds positive about her prospects at the Games. “Training is going very well. We are physically and mentally fit. Training with Italy and Turkey teams, and sparring with them, has given me confidence. We had some good and close bouts,” she told FE after a special training camp held in Turkey earlier this year.
For Zareen too, the Turkey camp seemed quite beneficial as she got to spar with boxers who have already qualified for the Games. “Recently, we came back from Turkey. We had a training camp with team Turkey and team Italy and the boxers had already qualified in my category. They are a good challenge for me, and sparring with them, I got to learn many things in that camp,” she told FE.
Meanwhile, Panghal —one of the two male boxers selected for the Games—calls it ‘kismat’ (destiny) to have been able to take the flight to Paris. The 28-year-old Asian Games 2018 gold medallist had to wade through several challenges after the fallout at the Tokyo Olympics to qualify for this year’s Games. His Olympic dreams were broken after his pre-quarter final exit, making him lose a spot in the national team based on the Boxing Federation of India’s evaluation system. However, Panghal was selected for the final qualifying event—his first and only chance—after fellow boxer Deepak Bhoria couldn’t secure a quota after two attempts.
“Looking at our coaches’ faces, I did not feel that my time would come. But you get what is written in your destiny,” says the native of Rohtak in Haryana.
Panghal’s compatriot Dev, 23, is also brimming with confidence and says he has a perfect blend of speed, timing and power to be a world-beating boxer. His talents were widely noticed in 2021 when he reached the light middleweight (71 kg) quarterfinal in his first world championship appearance in Tashkent where he won bronze. Media interviews quoted him saying that he channelised his pent-up anger from the previous qualifiers where he lost against Omari Jones of the USA to make it to Paris.
“I took out my anger from America (against Jones). I had a lot of confidence that I would win this time,” he says.
India has been able to secure three bronze medals in boxing at the Olympics so far. Vijender Singh was the first to get a medal (bronze) in the middleweight category at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The second medal came from Mary Kom (also the first Indian woman to win a medal in boxing) with a bronze in the women’s flyweight division at the 2012 London Games. The medal haul continued with debutant Lovlina Borgohain bringing home a bronze in the welterweight category at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Wrestling: A fight on the mat after a fight in the court
As the country is getting ready to send off its contingent for the Paris Olympics, all eyes will be on the six Indian wrestlers competing in the mega sporting event. Not only did wrestling get India its first-ever individual Olympic medal, with Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav winning a bronze in 1952 in Helsinki, but Indian wrestlers have clinched at least one medal in the four previous Olympic editions.
Hence, expectations are naturally high from Vinesh Phogat, Antim Panghal, Anshu Malik, Nisha Dahiya, Reetika Hooda and Aman Sehrawat, who is the lone male wrestler from India to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
In a recent announcement, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said it would provide “extensive” support to the Paris-bound wrestlers and accepted Phogat’s request for more aid. “By providing an extensive support team, we aim to ensure that our wrestlers have access to the best resources, enabling their peak performance. This decision aligns with our commitment to foster an environment where athletes can thrive,” IOA president PT Usha was quoted as saying in a media report.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Singh, president of the controversy-marred Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), said more staff would be provided to Phogat, an Asian Games gold medallist. “We will ensure that Vinesh and all our wrestlers receive the necessary support to excel and keep India’s flag flying,” Singh said in a recent statement.
While expectations are high, it will be crucial to see how the India performance pans out, especially as it comes in the shadow of the biggest controversy to wreak on Indian wrestling.
Several wrestlers, including Phogat and Olympic medal winners Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, sat in protest last year, against the former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexual harassment by several female wrestlers. After months of a standstill, which saw Malik quitting the sport and Punia returning his Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, charges were framed against the BJP strongman by a Delhi court last month.
“Today we can stand without fear, our head held high, look him in the eye, the man we were afraid of for so many years. The framing of charges also sends a strong message that women can take on powerful men and they don’t have to be afraid,” Phogat wrote in a newspaper report.
“This is a big victory for the struggle of women wrestlers. The daughters of the country have had to go through such a difficult time, but this decision will give relief. Those who trolled the women wrestlers should also be ashamed,” said Punia in a post on X.
Singh is out. However, his close aide Sanjay Singh was in December elected as the new WFI chief, which was vehemently opposed by the wrestlers.
Malik quit the sport and said, “We slept for 40 days on the road.. if Brij Bhushan Singh’s business partner and close aide is elected as the president of WFI, I quit wrestling.” Telling the media that the wrestlers demanded a woman president, which would prevent the female wrestlers from being harassed, “But there was no participation of women (in the elections),” she said then.
Where are the men?
While the election to the WFI top post lacked female participation, it’s the opposite when it comes to the Indian wrestling contingent headed for Paris. After a series of upsets and heartbreaks, Sehrawat is the only male wrestler who has been able to make it to the final cut.
Here, the case of top wrestlers Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalakar warrant a mention. They missed the qualifier as they couldn’t reach the venue in Bishkek on time after they were stranded in Dubai due to floods.
This is a crucial development especially since India’s wrestling scene at the Olympics has been largely dominated by men. From Jadhav in 1952 to Sushil Kumar clinching a bronze in 2008 at Beijing, topping it up with a silver in London in 2012, and Yogeshwar Dutt claiming a bronze in the same edition. Malik’s bronze win at the 2016 Rio Olympics brought a monumental shift. In 2020, India won two medals with Ravi Kumar Dahiya’s silver and Bajrang Punia’s bronze.
After having won in the court, the wrestlers’ fight on the mat will be a crucial watch.
