India’s Brightest Hopes for Gold Medals At Paris

From 27 July 2024, the much awaited Olympic games begin in Paris. Olympic games are the ultimate challenge for any sportsperson, as its the only global event where 193 nations, get the chance to showcase their sporting talent. The Olympic games reflect the overall sporting culture in a nation and also shows room for improvement which can uplift a nation's mood. India is sending a 117 member contingent for the Olympic games, which is low as per proportion considering India’s 150 cr population.

India in the last Olympic broke a 13 year wait for an Individual gold medal, when Neeraj Chopra, India’s legendary javelin thrower won the medal in a dramatic fashion. Buoyed by the gold medal, Indians are also hoping for another Gold Medal this time for the man with a golden arm, however, apart from Neeraj Chopra there are other athletes as well who can bring the gold for India in multiple sports. Here are the 5 athletes who can bring home the gold medal for the nation this time.

Neeraj Chopra:

Also called as the Man With A Golden Arm, Neeraj Chopra brought smiles to the faces of crores of Indians when he won an Olympics Gold Medal in Tokyo Olympics,2021. The medal was considered unexpected by many people as the sport itself wasn’t famous in the nation back then. This time, its a different expectation, as Neeraj Chopra is coming back from highly impressive performances in the Diamond League & Asian Games. He is in very good form & shape which makes him a very strong contender for the gold medal at Javelin Throw at Paris-2024. 

Chirag Shetty & Satwiksairaj Rankireddy:

The world number 1, men's doubles badminton pair from India have a very good chance of delivering India’s first medal in the discipline. Given their recent form and the world rankings along with the fairly easy grouping that they have received, makes them a strong contender for winning a Gold Medal at the Olympics. Their main challengers would be Kim Astrup & Rasmussen of Dennmark, along with Liang/Wang of China. It may be difficult to win the gold medal but it is not impossible, given the vein of form these 2 are in. 

Nikhat Zareen:

The 2 time Asian games gold medalist, World Championship medalist and commonwealth medalist, is also one of India’s brightest hopes when it comes to winning a gold medal in the women’s 50 kg boxing category. Nikhat Zareen is in sublime touch and has recently won silver in Standija Memorial & winning the Czech Grand Prix. Nikhat Zareen has a tough pool of contenders which has the legendary Buseinaz Suremeneli of Turkey(who made the event one sided in Tokyo), Wan Yu(Tokyo Silver Medalist), which makes this particular event a treat for any neutral fan to watch. Though it may look difficult to win a gold medal, she has an outside chance of creating history, by winning India’s first gold medal in boxing after ages.

Aditi Ashok:

The golfer is one of the most criminally under-reported athletes in Olympics. In the Tokyo Olympics, she had just missed out by a whisker on a medal finish in Golf. She had first participated in Rio Olympics, where she impressed everyone with her debut performance, this time Aditi Ashok would look to create history of sorts where she has a good chance of bettering her previous Olympics performance. Though her recent form is middling, she still has a glorious opportunity as in a sport like golf its unpredictable to predict the winner.

Mirabai Chanu:

In the last Olympics, the Manipur born Chanu created history, when she won India’s first medal in weightlifting after Karnam Malleshwari, on the first day of Olympics. She had won a silver medal back then and has a very very bright chance this time to go 1 step further and convert it into a gold medal. She is currently coming back from a rich vein of form when she won the Gold Medal at Commonwealth, along with performing very well in the recently conducted tournaments of weightlifting. After Neeraj Chopra, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu has the brightest chance of winning a gold medal in Paris, 2024. 

Overall, these are the 5 best athletes and disciplines, where Indians can hope that there is a gold medal in the Olympics. There are other athletes like Women’s Archery Team, India’s hockey team, Lovlina Borgohain, Lakshya Sen(badminton), Priyanka Goswami(walking) & Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar(shooting) who can win a gold medal for India. These athletes have not been explained in detail as the above mentioned 5 have the brightest chance. Any of India’s 117 athletes have a chance of making glory at the Olympics. 

However, any performance from our athletes that betters the score of 7 medals in Tokyo,2020 would be considered as an achievement for the Indian sporting ecosystem at large. Irrespective of the performances of our athletes, as citizens, it would be our responsibility to support these athletes who are competing against athletes of 193 other nations & get inspired from their lives.

The Olympics are also a reminder for our society to prioritise sports as performance in sports shows what kind of development has occurred in the nation.

About the Author: Srikar Srivatsa Dahagam is an incoming student of MA International Economics at the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies, Geneva.