As India ends its Olympic campaign with six medals, here’s a look at how the nation’s top athletes performed at the quadrennial showpiece
Bronze Hockey
India’s Paris Olympics campaign concluded as Reetika Hooda fell short in the wrestling quarter-finals, and golfers Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar finished out of medal contention. A total of 117 athletes participated across 16 disciplines, winning six medals — one silver and five bronze. India just fell short of its previous best at Tokyo 2020—seven medals (one gold, two silver, four bronze) and ranked 48th. Athletics led the way with a robust 29-member squad, while India also fielded its largest-ever shooting contingent (21).
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Shooting stars on target
Manu Bhaker became the first Indian woman to win a shooting medal at the Olympics and also the first Indian athlete in the post-Independence era to win multiple medals at the same Games. Manu won bronze in the 10m air pistol event and then partnered Sarabjot Singh to become the first Indian shooting pair to win an Olympic medal. Swapnil Kusale then won bronze in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions — India’s first Olympic shooting medal in this event. Prior to this, India had never won more than two medals in a single sport at any Olympics, with the previous best being two shooting medals at London 2012 and two wrestling medals at Tokyo 2020.
Bronze: Swapnil Kusale (shooting), Aman Sehrawat (wrestling), Manu Bhaker (2) and Sarabjot Singh (shooting) Silver: Neeraj Chopra (javelin throw). Pics/AFP, Getty Images
Neeraj Chopra shines bright
Javelin star Neeraj Chopra produced his career’s second-best throw of 89.45m, but was beaten to the gold by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem (Olympic record of 92.97m). This was only India’s second Olympic medal in athletics. Neeraj became India’s third two-time Olympic medallist (after Sushil Kumar and PV Sindhu).
Also Read: "It was such a crucial match": Amit Rohidas on missing the semi-final
Hockey heroes do it again
When India beat Tokyo Olympics silver medallists Australia 3-2 in a group game here, it marked their first win over the Aussies at the Olympics since 1972. India then went on to achieve back-to-back Olympic medals in hockey after 52 years, rallying to beat Spain 2-1 in the bronze medal match, for a record-extending 13th Olympic hockey medal.
Bronze: Manu Bhaker (2) and Sarabjot Singh (shooting)
Aman, the youngest medallist
Wrestler Aman Sehrawat (bronze in 57kg men’s freestyle wrestling) became India’s youngest individual Olympic medallist — 21 years and 24 days, beating shuttler Sindhu’s record—21 years, one month and 14 days at Rio 2016.
Paddlers progress
Star paddler Manika Batra became the first Indian TT player to progress to the pre-quarterfinals of the Olympics. Olympic debutant Sreeja Akula matched her feat.
Just off the podium
India had many agonising fourth-place finishes. Shooters Arjun Babuta and Manu narrowly missed in the men’s 10m air pistol and women’s 25m air pistol events, respectively. In the mixed skeet event, Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan lost their bronze medal match to China by one point.
In archery, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat lost their bronze medal match to USA’s Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold 2-6. Lakshya Sen lost to eventual champion, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen in the semis and followed it up with a bronze medal defeat to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu (49kg) also finished fourth. Competing in her third Olympics, Mirabai lifted a total of 199kg (88kg snatch + 111kg clean and jerk).
Finally, Vinesh Phogat (50kg freestyle), who became the first Indian women wrestler to reach an Olympic final, was disqualified after failing her second weigh-in. She has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), seeking a joint silver medal. If she wins, India will match their Tokyo performance.
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