2020 - The year of hope for Indian Olympic sports
The year 2020 will be a big year for Indian sports. The Tokyo Olympics 2020 brings with it a lot of expectations from Indian athletes and we hope they are able to live up to the pre-Olympics hype and expectations.
Till date, India has managed to bag a total of 28 medals in the Olympics, including nine Gold medals. All but one of these Gold medals have come in hockey (with the last Gold in hockey coming in 1980).
The only Gold medal from the Olympics medal tally apart from hockey was bagged by Abhinav Bindra in the 10m Air Rifle Shooting event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In terms of the overall picture, India's best-ever showing in terms of number of medals was in 2012 when the country clinched a total of six medals.
At the Tokyo Olympics 2020, if the athletes perform up to expectations and luck is with the Indian contingent, there is a high possibility that the Indian athletes break the record for most medals clinched by the country in a single edition of the Olympics.
On that note, let's take a look at the biggest prospects for landing a medal at the quadrennial event.
Shooting
A record 15 shooters have booked their spot in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and will be keen on clinching a medal for the country.
The 15 shooters who have qualified for the Olympics will be representing India in multiple events such as the 10 m Air Rifle, 10 m Air Pistol, 50 m Rifle 3 Position, 25 m Pistol and Skeet. That being said, here are a few shooters who are prime contenders for a medal.
Saurabh Chaudhary has been producing outstanding results from the past few tournaments he has taken part in, including his six Gold medal wins at the ISSF World Cups that were held last year. Apart from that, he also won a Gold medal at the Asian Airgun Championship and two Silver medals at the Asian Shooting Championship. With the women’s 10 m Air Pistol event being India's strength as well, Saurabh will have a realistic chance of medals in both the men’s 10 m Air Pistol and mixed team 10 m Air Pistol events.
Manu Bhaker is the biggest hope for India in the women’s 10 m Air Pistol event. In 2019, she won five Gold medals at the ISSF World Cups and also clinched two Gold medals at the Asian Shooting Championship.
Apurvi Chandela will be the biggest medal hope in the women’s 10 m Air Rifle event. Last year, she won three Gold medals at the ISSF World Cups. In the same event we also have Anjum Moudgil as a strong contender although her pet event would be the 50 m Rifle 3 position. With India having a strong men’s 10 m Air Rifle team, we can expect a medal in the mixed team 10 m Air Rifle event as well.