News of Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra withdrawing from the Games has come as a shock to India and his fans, with the javelin thrower being the country’s top medal contender. Chopra just won a historic silver medal at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, and has broken individual/national records twice within the past month.
Despite the defeat, there were quite a few athletes in the Indian camp who were considered major medal contenders in their respective disciplines. TimesofIndia.com here looks at five of India’s top medal contenders who are expected to receive the laurels for the country at the Olympics.
PV Sindhu
Sport: Badminton
Event): Women’s singles, mixed team
Age: 27 years old
World ranking: 7 (On July 26, 2022)
Main achievements:
Olympic: Silver (2016 Rio), Bronze (2020 Tokyo)
World Championship: Gold (Basel 2019), Silver (Nanjing 2018, Glasgow 2017), Bronze (Copenhagen 2014, Guangzhou 2013)
Asian Games: Silver (Jakarta 2018 – singles), Bronze (2014 Incheon – team)
The commonwealth game: Gold (Gold Coast 2018 – team), Silver (Gold Coast 2018 – singles), Bronze (2014 Glasgow – singles)
PV Sindhu (Photo AFP)
One of the biggest sports stars India has ever produced, two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu will be looking to improve her performance over her previous version of the show. CWG this timeframe. Sindhu won the mixed team gold medal and the women’s singles silver medal, losing to compatriot Saina Nehwal in the final on the Gold Coast.
Last year, the 27-year-old became the first Indian woman and only the fourth badminton player to win two women’s singles medals at consecutive Olympics when she won a bronze medal in Tokyo. , in addition to her silver medal from the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Sindhu, the 2019 world champion, is in good form at the moment and will aim to win his first CWG gold in singles in Birmingham. Sindhu has won three titles in 2022, with the Singapore Open championship in July being the most recent. She also won this year’s Syed Modi International and Swiss Open.
Mirabai Chanu
Sport: Weightlifting
Event): 49kg
Age: 27 years old
Best personal: Total – 205 kg (National Record) | Jerking – 88 kg (NR) | Thrust – 119 kg (World Record)
Main achievements:
Olympic: Silver (2020 Tokyo)
World Championship: Gold (Anaheim 2017)
Asian Championships: Bronze (2020 Tashkent)
The commonwealth game: Gold (Gold Coast 2018), Silver (2014 Glasgow)
Mirabai Chanu (AFP Photo)
CWG served as a launch pad for Mirabai Chanu to continue to become one of the most beautiful weightlifters from India, as she won a silver medal at the 2014 Glasgow Olympics. She raised her medals. in the next edition at the Gold Coast, winning gold in 2018 with a CWG total of 196 kg (86 kg of the jerk + 110 kg of the jerk) in the 8 kg category.
Mirabai will once again join the CWG as a favorite to win the top prize in Birmingham, after winning a historic silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year. She registered a total lift of 202 kg (87 kg in the jerk and 115 kg in the jerk) to become the second Indian woman after PV Sindhu to win an Olympic silver medal.
The 27-year-old also holds the world records in weightlifting and recoil, when she lifted 119 kg last year at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, winning bronze with a total lift of 205 kg, Personal best achievement and new national record. . She told TimesofIndia.com in an interview that she is looking to break that WR this time in Birmingham.
Bajrang Punia
Sport: Wrestling
Event): 65kg (Freedom)
Age: 28 years old
Main achievements:
Olympic: Bronze (2020 Tokyo)
World Championship: Silver (Budapest 2018), Bronze (Nur-Sultan 2019, Budapest 2013)
Asian Games: Gold (Jakarta 2018), Silver (2014 Incheon)
The commonwealth game: Gold (Gold Coast 2018), Silver (2014 Glasgow)
Bajrang Punia (Photo AFP)
Wrestling has always contributed many medals for India at CWG, and the same can be expected from the team led by experienced wrestler Bajrang Punia this time. Bajrang has the pedigree of being one of the best Indian wrestlers of all time and a multi-medal winner at major tournaments including Olympics, World Championships, Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.
The 28-year-old lifted his silver medal from Glasgow in 2014 to gold on the Gold Coast in 2018. Since then, the 2018 world silver medalist has had another bronze at the world championships. world in 2019, making him the only Indian to have three medals in the world, and an Olympic bronze medal last year in Tokyo.
Bajrang took some time off from addiction after his success in Tokyo, and returned to the ring in April this year with a silver medal at the Asian Championships. And in June, he won a bronze medal at the Bolat Turlykhanov Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The performances are below par for his high standards, but with a weaker opponent at CWG Bajrang will start again as a medal favorite in Birmingham to defend his title.
Manika Batra
Sport: Ping pong
Event): Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles & Teams
Age: 27 years old
Main achievements:
Asia Game: Bronze (Jakarta 2018 – mixed doubles)
The commonwealth game: Gold (Gold Coast 2018 – singles, team), Silver (Gold Coast 2018 – doubles), Bronze (Gold Coast 2018 – mixed doubles)
Manika Batra (AFP Photo)
2018 edition’s ‘Golden Girl’ Manika Batra will also find a way to match her Gold Coast feats in Birmingham. Four years ago, Manika helped India usurp defending champion Singapore four times in the women’s team event. And then added a historic gold medal in singles to reach four medals in four events. She won a silver medal in women’s doubles with Mouma Das and a bronze medal in mixed doubles with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
India finished as the best country in table tennis at CWG 2018 with eight medals – three gold, two silver and three bronze, thanks to Manika’s performance afterwards. Team India will be looking to re-establish the standings with most of the medal winners from the Gold Coast returning to Birmingham to defend their medals.
After her success at CWG, Manika became the first Indian rower to reach the third round in singles at the Olympics in Tokyo. She is heading to Birmingham in great form, especially in mixed doubles and mixed doubles events.
Batra and Archana Girish Kamath are currently ranked 4th in the world in women’s doubles, the highest ranking ever by Indian table tennis players in all categories. And G Sathiyan and Batra tied for sixth place in mixed doubles.
Lovlina Borgohain
Sport: Boxing
Event): 69kg (Welterweight class)
Age: 24 years old
Main achievements:
Olympic: Bronze (2020 Tokyo)
World Championship: Bronze (Ulan-Ude 2019, New Delhi 2018)
Asian Championships: Dong (2021 Dubai, 2017 Ho Chi Minh City)
Lovlina Borgohain (AFP Photo)
Boxer Lovlina Borgohain will be aiming to open her medal account at the CWG after missing out on the final edition in 2018. She lost to gold medalist Sandy Ryan of England in the quarterfinals. conclude. That push began a towering track-and-field athlete’s journey as one of the country’s top boxers, culminating in an Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo last year.
After the CWG defeat, Lovlina came back strong to win consecutive world championship medals in 2018 and 2019. And last year, Lovlina became only the third Indian boxer, after Mary Kom and Vijender Singh, won an Olympic medal when she returned with a bronze medal from the Tokyo Olympics. Lovlina also won bronze at the 2021 Asian Championships in Dubai, her second continental medal after winning bronze in Ho Chi Minh City in 2017.
This boxer was involved in a controversy regarding her recognition by coach Sandhya Gurung, but fortunately everything has been resolved, and hopefully will not hinder her ambition to win a medal for the country. hers.
Notable mention
Apart from the above five, others in the Indian team with more shots to win the top prize in Birmingham are: Kidambi Srikanth (Badminton), Amit Panghal (Boxing), Nikhat Zareen (Boxing), Sharath Kamal (TT), G Sathiyan (TT), Jeremy Lalrinnunga (Weightlifting), Punam Yadav (Weightlifting), Ravi Dahiya (Wrestling), Deepak Punia (Wrestling), Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling), Sakshi Malik (Wrestling) ), Divya Kakran (Wrestling).
