Paris Olympics: A look at India’s top 10 medal prospects

The moment of reckoning has finally arrived. After months of chatter on whether India can breach the double-figure mark in Olympics for the first time, they are almost at the starting block, with a 117-member contingent set to take part in the Paris Games.

Can Neeraj Chopra beat his niggles to defend the country’s first-ever gold medal in athletics? Or can the Satwik-Chirag duo cap their brilliant run with what could be the first badminton medal for men? The expectations will be no less high of the Harmanpreet Singh-led hockey team, the current Asian Games champions. 

The expectations of a billion people will ride high again after India’s highest ever tally of seven medals in Tokyo, not to speak of the 107-medal haul in last Asian Games in Hangzhou. National Herald tries to make a shortlist of 10 medal prospects for India.    

Neeraj Chopra (javelin)

The reigning Olympic and world champion has often said that he makes light of the word ‘pressure’ on him, preferring to derive excitement from it instead. The 26-year-old will look to defend his Tokyo gold and while he will be one of the top medal contenders, it won’t be an easy run. Chopra is yet to breach the 90-metre mark, unlike some of his rivals such as Germany’s Johannes Vetter or Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem. 

There is a niggle which has been bothering the javelin ace, but then Neeraj is taking no chances with it as he skipped a number of build-up meets to focus on the job at hand. This season, he has done his bit though with a gold at the Paavo Nurmi Games, a silver at the Doha Diamond League and won the Federation Cup at home. The entire country will wait and watch when he gets down to action towards the business end of the Games.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty (badminton)

The men’s doubles pair of Satwik-Chirag, on form, are better poised to land a medal than even P.V. Sindhu. Until recently,  the pair was ranked world no. 1 in men’s doubles for a long stretch before losing it to the Chinese duo of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang. 

Often heralded by the Indian media as the 'Indian Express' of badminton (aka Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi in tennis), they have proven their mettle in the last two years by winning several titles, including India’s first-ever Asian Games gold in badminton, Commonwealth Games gold and the French Open Super 750 title in 2022. They were also a key figure in India’s historic Thomas Cup win in May 2022, not to speak of the Swiss Open 2023. ‘’They are the pair to beat,’’ maintains Pulella Gopichand, the national head coach.

P.V. Sindhu (badminton) 

History beckons Sindhu, India’s only women’s double Olympic medallist, who encountered a tough three-year Paris Olympics cycle due to a dip in form and injuries. She had been one of a kind as on the back of winning a silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sindhu clinched a bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It will be interesting to see how she fares this time, especially against her Chinese rivals.

The shuttler has got an easy group where she faces Estonia’s Kristin Kuuba and Maldives’ Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq. At 28, the Indian badminton diva is rich in experience and vows to play it ‘smart’ in her third Games.

Men’s hockey team

The men’s hockey team had always been the country’s sentimental favourites for the Olympics medal, with a rich history of eight gold medals in the past. A bronze medal in Tokyo, which ended a 41-year drought, and the consistency in their performance in recent times makes Harmanpreet Singh & Co medal hopefuls again. 

The team has been placed in a tough pool with strong teams like Australia, Argentina, Belgium and New Zealand, but the Asian Games and Asian Champions Trophy winners look well prepared under new South African coach Craig Fulton.

The team, which boasts two four-time Olympians in Manpreet Singh and P.R. Sreejesh, have had a heavy dose of match practice in the past three years and training camps in Switzerland and SAI Bengaluru ahead of Paris.

Mirabai Chanu (weightlifting) The pocket-sized weightlifter became a household name after she won a silver in the 49 kg category at the Tokyo Olympics to usher in their medal-hunt. However, the Manipuri has been struggling with hip and thigh issues for most of the last year. The injury forced her to withdraw midway from the 2022 Asian Games.

The Union sports ministry, meanwhile, has invested over Rs 2 crore for her training and injury management and her training stint in a French town ahead of Paris is expected to play a vital role in her recovery and getting acclimated to the weather.

Nikhat Zareen (boxing)

Nikhat Zareen, the feisty 50 kg class boxer and a two-time world champion, is expected to go hard for a podium finish. A darling of social media, she had lost only two bouts since she rose to fame in 2022, which included an unexpected semi-final loss to Thailand’s Raksat Chuthamat in the Asian Games. However, Zareen, whose gold medal win in the 2022 Commonwealth Games helped her garner national attention, looks battle-ready for her debut Olympics.

Lovlina Borgohain (boxing)  

The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist has the right mix of experience and technique, though she is faced with the additional challenge of shifting to a higher weight category (75 kg)  after the 69-kg category in women’s boxing was scrapped in Paris.

Last year, the Assam sports icon won world's gold in her new kg class, not to speak of a silver at the Grand Prix Usti and Labem in the Czech Republic last month. The tall boxer has a real chance of accomplishing a historic feat in Paris as pundits believe that the boxer can better Mary Kom and Vijender Singh’s feat of one Olympic medal each and become India’s first boxer to have two Olympic medals to her name.

Manu Bhaker (shooting)  

Touted as one of the country’s most promising talents, the popular Manu Bhaker needs to justify her billing this time. The 22-year-old athlete is going to represent India in three events: women’s 25m air pistol, women's 10m air pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team. 

The Haryana-born athlete was in unstoppable form at the Olympic Selection Trials (OST) rifle/pistol held in Bhopal in May and has former Indian shooter Jaspal Rana back as her coach after an infamous fallout. Bhaker has won medals at several international tournaments, including World Championships, ISSF World Cup, Youth Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games, but needs to hold her own on the biggest stage now.

Vinesh Phogat (wrestling)

It has been a tumultuous last year-and-a-half for Phogat, who was one of the main faces of the protest against Brij Bhushan Singh, the tainted former president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). However, the two-time Olympian is now back in business, looking to bow out with a flourish. 

After being eliminated in the quarter-final stage of the last two Games, Phogat will look to make amends when she competes in the women’s 50-kg category in Paris. She is the only Indian female wrestler to win a gold medal in both the Commonwealth and Asian Games after the disappointment of Tokyo.

Aman Sehrawat (wrestling)  

After Bajrang Punia, who? The 20-year-old has raised hopes as the only male wrestler from India to qualify for Paris and therefore has much riding on his shoulders. The 57 kg freestyle wrestler won a bronze at the 2022 Asian Games and a gold at the 2023 Asian Championships. The Haryana-born wrestler might have to face three-time Worlds bronze medallist, Armenia’s Arsen Harutyunyan in the quarter-final and all eyes will be on him.