Although India enjoyed its best-ever Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020 with a total of 7 medals, there were perhaps a lot of sports where India didn’t fulfill its maximum potential and today at Man’s Life, we’ll take you through some of the Indian athletes who left us wanting more at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
1. Deepika Kumari – Archery
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India had huge expectations from current world number 1 archer Deepika Kumari who enjoyed a promising start to Tokyo 2020. Kumari was seeded 9th after the ranking round and reached the quarter-finals of the individual event for the first time after edging out two-time Olympic Silver medalist Ksenia Perova in the round of 16. Unfortunately, the world number one suffered a thumping defeat in straight sets to An San of South Korea to bow out in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Individual Archery event in a disappointing fashion.
2. Atanu Das – Archery
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Another archer who left us wanting more at Tokyo 2020 in the Men’s Archery Event was Deepika Kumari’s husband and world number 9, Atanu Das. After finishing 35th in the ranking round, Das went on to defeat Yu-Cheng Deng 6-4 in the RO32 and then stunned Olympic champion Oh Jin-Hyek of South Korea 6-5. Unfortunately, Das was another Indian archer who faltered at the QF stage after losing 4-6 to local hero Takaharu Furukawa. I do believe that we’re being quite harsh on Atanu Das but based on his own lofty standards, he would’ve wanted more coming out of Tokyo 2020.
3. Vinesh Phogat – Wrestling
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After bowing out of the Rio Olympics due to a serious knee injury, it was yet another heartbreak for Vinesh Phogat at the Olympics. Despite coming into the tournament with Gold in the Commonwealth Games and as one of the top-ranked wrestlers in her category, Phogat was knocked out in the quarterfinals of women’s freestyle 53kg event to Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya.
4. Amit Panghal – Boxing
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Amit Panghal came into the Olympics as the World no. 1 and was slated as one of India’s top medal prospects, but unfortunately, the 25-year-old crashed out of the Tokyo Olympics in the round of 16 itself against the Silver medalist from Rio 2016 Yuberjen Martinez. He seemed to lack intent in his first bout and the approach was questioned by many within the sporting community. Amit Panghal left the fans wanting more, but no one can doubt his potential and fans can be confident that he will come back stronger at Paris in 2024.
5. Saurabh Choudhary & Manu Bhaker – 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event
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Indian shooters Saurabh Choudhary and Manu Bhaker raised expectations only to disappoint in the decisive round at the Tokyo Olympics. The duo finished on top in the first qualification stage of the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event and were billed as one of the favorites to win the gold. Unfortunately, the pair failed to even qualify for the medal matches and finished 7th in qualification 2 with Manu Bhaker shooting a below par 92 and 94 after suffering a technical glitch with her pistol. The shooters overall had a horror outing unfortunately in Tokyo as only ONE shooter in the entire contingent even qualified for a Final.
[Image Credit: Deepika Kumari]
Shashank Iyer