India-named girl from Netherlands finishes 4th and misses out on a medal in breakdancing at Paris Olympics 2024
India Sardjoe, hailing from the Netherlands, emerged as the winner of the first-ever breakdancing battle in Olympic history on Friday, August 9. She went past the refugee team member Manizha Talash in the B-Girls pre-qualifier battle, advancing to the group stage.
Notably, the Afghanistan B-Girl Manizha Talash was disqualified from the Paris Olympics 2024 for sporting the words "Free Afghan Women" on her cape during the pre-qualifier breaking routine. As a result, India Sardjoe qualified for the group stage.
Breaking, also called B-Boying, B-Girling, or Breakdancing, made its Olympic debut at the Summer Games in Paris. There were two medal events - one each for men and women, with 16 B-Boys and B-Girls competing at the event.
The format included a round-robin stage, with qualified players moving to the knockouts. 16 breakers were split into four groups and were allowed to dance against others from their group for a minute each.
The two best breakers from each group stormed into the knockouts, with each breaker getting eliminated from the competition and the last two best breakers making it to the grand finale.
India Sardjoe missed out on a medal at Paris 2024
After putting up an impressive performance in the round-robin stage at the Paris Olympics 2024, India moved to the quarter-finals, where she defeated Ayumi from Japan by 17-10 to advance to the semi-finals.
However, in the semi-finals, she suffered a defeat to Ami of Japan by 10-17. In the bronze-medal battle, India lost to 671 from China by 8-19 to settle for the fourth position. Ami secured the gold medal, while Nicka from Lithuania clinched the silver medal.
Who is India Sardjoe?
B-Girl India Sardjoe scripted history by emerging as the first breakdancer to bag a win in Olympic history. Hailing from the Hague, Netherlands, India's father is Indo-Surinamese, while her mother is half Indian and half Dutch descent.
During her childhood, she took up football as her main sport before moving to hip-hop. However, she found hip-hop to be boring and switched to break dancing. She won the Dutch National Championships when she was only 10.
She became the Dutch, European, and world champion in just six months, hogging the limelight in 2022.