Tokyo Olympics 2020: 4 sporting disciplines that can fetch gold medals for India
We are well and truly into the Olympic year with the Tokyo Olympics 2020 qualification process for most of the sports going on and athletes putting their best foot forward to qualify for the global event, preserving the maximum push for the glory of representing the nation at the big stage.
Indian athletes have also been showing consistent performances at international events over the last 12 months, especially in sports such as shooting, boxing and wrestling.
While the number of athletes who have qualified for the quadrennial meet is still relatively low with qualification for several events yet to finalize, there are quite a few athletes who have been earmarked to clinch a gold medal for the country.
And as history suggests, most of those names come from shooting and on that note, let's have a look at the four sporting disciplines that can bring about gold medals for India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
#4 Wrestling (Bajrang Punia)
The recent Khel Ratana Awardee would be India's biggest hope to win the much coveted yellow medal and become just the second individual gold medalist from the country. His performances have been consistent and top notch.
He's the only Indian wrestler with three medals at the World Championships and he has had successive podium finishes in last two years. However, rather than the happiness of winning a medal, it has been overshadowed by the disappointment of losing the gold, sometimes to younger opponents, and last year to dubious refereeing decisions.
The previous two to three years have been brilliant for Bajrang Punia, where he has effectively stepped into his favoured weight class, vacated by his Guru Yogeshwar Dutt and he has dominated the division full of talent.
He is also the reigning Asian and Commonwealth Champion and almost went unbeaten last year. If he can get the rub of the green on his side and maintain his form, he can do one over Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt to become the first wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal.