An Overview of Inidan Athletes in Rio Olympics 2016

In every four years, the best athletes around the globe prepare themselves win the gold, silver and bronze medals in Olympic. Unlike the Olympic tournament in 2012, India has made its mark in this respectful international sporting event. This year Olympic was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. PV Sindhu, Dipa Karmakar, Sakshi Malik, Pullela Gopichand and other Inidan athletes have proved that they are no less than the athletes from the developed countries but also cleared that more technical improvements and official responsibilities are required to step forward in the international gaming. By the end of Olympic, India has secured the 67th position in the participated countries in Olympic sports list. Where the male athletes have always given the best opportunities and the priorities, three young women have proved that gender discrimination can leave behind the talent.

Here is an overview of the participants from India in different segments of Rio Olympic –

Archery:

The four Indian archers participated in Olympic 2016. Atanu Das raised a hope in men’s individual 1/8 eliminations bat could not achieve success in the quarter finals. Deepika Kumari, Laxmirani Majhi and Bombayala Devi have given notable performances. There was a great hope from Kumari in archery, which she couldn’t manage to succeed. This year, the three women have proved that the country can do a lot to improve the scope for women in Archery.

Athletics:

This year 30 athletes performed in Rio Olympic from India, which was the greatest number in this slot from this country. After PT Usha’s rank in 1984, this year Lalita Babar has given a splendid performance and claimed a rank in one of the track events.

Even after doing well in the country, Vikas Gowda couldn’t make his mark in discuss throwing. With a throw of 58.99mm, Vikas ended up securing 28th position among 34 competitors. Manish Singh Rawat, who represented the country in 20km race walk event finished at the 13th position with a time duration of 1:21:21. In other hand, two other Indian players in this field, Krishnan Ganapathi and Gurmeet Singh were disqualifies. Notably, Sandip Kumar stood at the 34th position in the race walk by the end of this competition.

Thanackal Gopi and Kheta Ram, the two participants in men’s marathon made the country proud with their excellent performances but couldn’t secure any medal. Both the participants finished the marathon in the closest time difference, which were consecutively 2:15:25s and 2:15:26s. In the other hand, Nitendra Sigh tried hard in Marathon but could secure the 84th position.

In the men’s 400 m. race, Mohammad Anas has ranked 31st for 45.95 seconds.

In the group B level of men’s long jump, Ankit Sharma ranked 12th by covering 7.67m. This year, he was the only male participant from India, who performed in this segment and tried to give his best. He had to complete 8.17m. to qualify for the final round. In the 880m race by men, Jinson Johnson finished at the fifth position in the semi-finals with his best 1:45.98 seconds. He had to have 1:47.27 seconds to qualify for the next round.

Among the 48th competitors in triple jump, Renjith Maheswary ranked 30th by giving his best with 16.13miteres.

Though Muhammed Kunju, Muhammed Anas, Ayyasamy Dharun and Rajiv Arokia participated in men’s 4x400m relay team competition but due to the wrong change of legs between Dharun and Rajiv the team got disqualified.

Now, in the women athletics Sema Punia ranked twentieth in discuss throw and failed to gain success in the finals. Another participant Manpreet Kaur secured 23rd position in the qualification round of shot put. Lalita Babar became one of the top 10 athletes in the 3000meter steeplechase. She had qualified for the finals but couldn’t show her best by winning nay medal. In the finals, Babar took 9:22.74, which was three seconds less than her qualifying position for Olympics. Another participant, Sudha Singh also tried her best in this field but failed at the semi-finals. She has occupied the 30th position by her performance. Her timing was 9:43.29 seconds in the third heat of round 1.

In the women’s 800m race, Tintu Luka failed to perform and qualify for the finals but ended up securing 29th position among the 65 competitors. In the women’s marathon run segment, Kavita Raut and OP Jaisha stood 120th and 84th.

Khushbir Kaur ranked 54th in 20km race walk by ending in 40 minutes and 33 seconds. Though, she performed less than her qualifier’s round but Sapna Punia failed to make her position in 20km race walk.

Dutee Chand, the Indian Sprint player touched the timing of 11 minutes 69 seconds in the 100 meters. In 200 meters’ Sprint, Sarbani Nanda completed in 23 minutes and 58 seconds by ranking 55th among 72 competitors.

Not so great performance of Nirmala Sheoran in 400m runner’s prelims scored 35th in 53.03 seconds. At the same time, in women’s 4x4000m relay team competition, India stood at the 8 position in 3:29.33. In this team, the four team members were Tintu Luka, Nirmala Sheoran, M R Poovamma and Anilda Thomas.

Badminton:

PV Sindhu was the star of this event in Rio Olympics, who owned Silver medal. Last time, it was Saina Nehwal, who ended up winning bronze medal against of the Ukrainian player Maria Ulitina.

In the men’s division, Kidambi Srikanth fought well but lost the competition at the quarter-finals against China. In the badminton duals, Manu Attri and Sumeet Reddy lost in both the Group D matches and remained unsuccessful in the badminton doubles. After having a great success in three slots, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa couldn’t achieve their goals in the finals.

Boxing:

In the boxing competition, Indian participants have highly disappointed the country this year. This time, only 3 boxers could participate in Rio Olympics, where they were 7 last time. Bektemir Melikuziev owns the match against Vikas Krishan in the Rio Olympic quarter finals. Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana of Cuba, the popular gold medalist left behind Shiva Thapa after the 32nd round. In the pre-quarter of boxing, Manoj Kumar lost the match against Fazliddin Gaibnazarov from Uzbekistan. Though, none of the Indian boxers could gain any of the medals but undoubtedly gave a tough competition to the competitors.

Golf:

The promising, young golf player Aditi Ashok scored 41 in Rio Olympic even after giving a splendid performance, which left a hint that this young one would be going long way in her future. In the Gold men’s, Anirban Lahiri and SSP Chawrasia gained 57^th and 50^th positions.

Hockey:

After the Beijing Olympics, captain P R Sreejesh showed the talent of Indian hockey team in Rio Olympics. With a promising started the team gave a hope but ended up unsuccessful with a score of 1-0 against Belgium. In the other hand, the women hockey team from India participated in Rio Olympics for the first time in their 36 years but ended up losing the match at the qualifier’s round.

Gymnastics:

The entire nation felt proud of Dipa Karmakar. The courage and charisma she has showed in the Olympics all-rounder gymnast’s event is really matter of appreciation. After choosing the most difficult style –Produnova vault, Deepa amazed her other competitors. Though, she could manage to hold the fourth position but the world might expect her performing in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Judo:

After ranking 79^th in the Judo competition in Rio, Avatar Singh went out of the game after the 32^nd round.

Rowing:

Dattu Bhokanal took part in the men’s single scull event and ranked 13^th by ensuring the top most position in the Group C competition. This player is already a silver medal owner in Oceanic Olympic qualifiers and FISA Asia.

Shooting:

After the last term’s performance, the entire country has a hope from the shooting squad which turned in to disappointments. The veteran shooter Jitu Ray missed his target at the 50 meter Pistol men’s final. He secured the eighth position in the 10m air pistol competition.

The 2012 Bronze medalist, Gagan Narang achieved 23^rd position in the 10m air rifle event and had 13^th rank in the 50m rifle event. Chain Sign, the other participant in this arena couldn’t do well apart from seeking 36^th position in the qualifier’s round. Narang achieved 33^rd position in the 50miter rifle’s third round.

In the 10m air rifle category, Abhinav Bindra missed his target and lost the challenge at the fourth round from a minor difference. The skeet shooters Miraj Khan and Pistol Shooter Gurpreet Sigh ranked 9^th and 7^th in their qualifiers.

In the 50m Pistol qualifier, Prakash Nanjappa ranked 25^th. In the same event, Kynan Chenai and Manvanjit Sigh ranked 19^th and 17^th position.

The female participant in the 10m air pistol event ranked 14^th. Heena Sidhu has left a hope for the country if she can get what she couldn’t achieve this time. In the 10m air rifle event, Ayonika Paul and Apurvi Chandela stood 47 and 34^th in their qualifiers.

Swimming:

Shivani Kataria and Sajan Prakash, the two expert swimmers of India couldn’t earn the fame in Olympics 2016. Where Sajan ranked 28^th in the men’s 200meter, Shivani ranked 41^st in the the 200meters free style.

Table Tennis:

The table tennis quarter ended up in a disappointing way for the Indian table tennis players Mouma Das and Manika Batra. Soumyajit Ghosh and Achant Sharath Kamal also failed in their qualifiers.

Tennis:

The duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna lost the play-off round for bronze-medal in the mixed doubles. At the very first round, the duo of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna lost the match. In the women’s doubles, the duo of Sania and Prarthana took and exit at their qualifiers.

Weightlifting:

Satish Kumar Sivalingam ranked 11^th in the 77kg. weight lifting event at Rio. Saikhom Mirabai Chanu couldn’t finish at the 48kg. weightlifting even in the women’s category.

Wrestling:

The Indian wrestlers went through several controversies just before the Rio Olympics. The doping controversy of Sushil Kumar and his out-field clashes with Narsingh Yadav kept him out of the Rio Olympics. But the lady of the field saved the prestige of the country in front of the world. In the 58kg. free style division, Sakshi own the bronze medal. Though, Bobita Kumari showed a great potential but couldn’t last in the matches. Vinahs Phogat got opted out at the quarter finals after getting hurt in his knees. In the 98kg and 85kg fight, the strong wrestlers Hardeep Sigh and Ravinder Kathari lost the respective qualifiers. Sandeep Tomar ranked 14^th and lost against the world champion Victor Lebedev from Russia. Yogeshwar Dutta was another participant, who had to leave the ground due to injury.

Though, many people stated that the country has failed to stand out the expectations but the efforts of the athletes were unparallel. The name of PV Sindhu, Dipa Karmakar, Sakshi Malik and Jitu Rai has been suggested for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, 2016. The Dronachariya Award might go to the coach of Karmakar, Bishweshwar Nandi. Apurvi Chandela, Shiva Thapa and Lalita Babar can be praised with Arjuna Award this year.

Now we can expect India to motivate the girls in sports and pass more grants to make the sport academies efficient enough that the players can practice in their own country without spending outside India for quality training. The veteran players have shared after observing the 2016 Olympic participants’ performances that it could be much better if they would have provided world class academic condition. Even after having immense talent, the best of the athletes failed to perform. This is nothing new that the players have raised their voices mentioning the poor condition of the practice set-ups. This is the right time, when the Indian government should spend enough to provide an ideal sports academy that the players can prepare in a world class level ambience. Now, we can only hope to see these brave athletes in the Tokyo Olympic, which will be held in 2020.