India’s entries at Tokyo Olympics 2021 set a new benchmark for Indian youth

India managed to rank at 48^th position in Olympics 2021. On the other hand, our neighbouring country, China, ranked 2^nd in the medal tally at Tokyo Olympics 2021 and it is considered in the top five largest populated nations along with India. Isn’t it a lesson for India?    

As India sent almost 127 contingents for 18 sporting events at the tournament. Among these, as we all know that India bagged 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze. Whereas, China sent more than 430 participants to compete in 225 sporting events and brought home 38 gold, 32 silver and 18 bronze and 88 medals in total. That’s a huge marginal difference in medals and participants competing in the number of games.  

Surprisingly, India won those 7 medals from the least-expected games. There were times when participants didn’t get promoted to the status of a winner but their performance didn’t let us down. In fact, it inspired us to stand up for underrated sports in India and start a new era of sports talk.

       Weightlifting

Weightlifting's silver medal gave India its first medal of the Olympics 2021. Women began competing in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Karnam Malleswari won a bronze medal in the women's 69kg weight class at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. She was the first woman in India to win an Olympic medal. Now, in this sport, Mirabai Chanu in the 2021 Olympics, winning silver medal. It seems like India’s weightlifting is led by women which is actually a good sign for women's sports. Breaking all the stereotypes of women can’t lift. Along with this Jeremy Lalrinnunga was the first Indian to win a gold medal at Youth Olympics 2018 more precisely III Summer Youth Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

      Golf

Starting with one of our inspirations for the blog a 23-year-old, Aditi Ashok was on the edge of winning an Olympic medal but missed it and ended her tournament in the fourth position as a young Indian golf player on the leaderboard. What if one of those three medals had gone to her? She would have been labelled as a Golf trendsetter. Although this khel is played by an elite class of society and this stereotype is breaking down. There was an increase in sales of golf equipment post-covid period and her Olympic win could have hyped golf in India and this khel could have received the deserved attention.   

  But, did we fully acknowledge India’s almost medal-winning worthy performance in sporting events like golf or fencing?  

       Fencing

It took the Indian government 23 years to recognise the Indian Fencing Association Body. In 1997, modern fencing, a combat sport, was officially introduced in India. In 2021, Bhavani Devi made her Olympic debut in fencing. Women's Sabre 2020 was held in Olympic Summer 2021. On the 26th of July 2021, an Indian fencer started with a dominant 15-3 win against Tunisia's Nadia Ben Azizi in the round of 64 of Women's Sabre. It was also India's first fencing appearance in the Olympics 2021, alongside Bhavani Devi. Her Olympic campaign, however, was cut short by France's Manon Brunet, the world's third-ranked fencer. Her performance was exceptional given that she was making her Olympic debut for the first time. Since her debut, the fencing emoji has been widely used on Indian social media platforms.

            Hockey

When was the last time you watched an Indian hockey team playing on your television?

Apart from the commonwealth games 2022 and the Olympics 2021, when was the last time you watched the Indian hockey team on your television? Hockey reached its peak in India through British rule. Indian hockey team won its first Olympic gold medal in 1928 in Amsterdam. Under British rule, India won three consecutive Olympic gold medals i.e 1928 Amsterdam, 1932 Los Angles and 1936 Berlin. Due to World War II, India being under British colony, it didn’t participate in two Olympic games 1940 and 1944. Post-independence, India participated in the Olympics after hiatus of 12 years and won its first Olympic gold medal as an independent country in the 1948 London Olympics. India had two consecutive hat-trick win in the Olympic games, the first as a colonized nation. Other hat-tricks win as an independent country in the following years 1948 London, 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne.

To the present day, India leads in the medal tally of hockey in the Olympics with 12 medals including 8 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals. After achieving so many Olympic medals in Hockey, it’s questionable India’s acknowledgement of this sport. In Olympics 2021 women's and men's Indian hockey teams gave their best where women lost their bronze medal match against Great Britain and the men won their bronze medal match against Germany.

Tokyo Olympics 2021 was so special for India that we can’t conclude our blog on these four sports. We have got more to say and speak for more underrated sports and players’ performance. Therefore, stay tuned for part II of this blog.

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