India's super seven who gave the country its most successful Olympic campaign

Tokyo 2020 has been the most successful campaign of the Olympics in Indian history. The edition witnessed seven medals, with one gold medal, two silver and four bronze medals. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra scripted history by winning the first gold medal in athletics in Indian history. Weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu made the nation proud by winning a silver medal. Wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya stunned one and all his prowess, displaying supreme fearlessness through thick and thin. Boxer Lovlina Borgohain, badminton star PV Sindhu, the Indian men’s hockey team and wrestler Bajrang Punia recorded a bronze medal apiece, displaying great confidence and courage.

However, the athletes faced their fair share of challenges which make their accomplishments all the more beautiful:

1) Neeraj Chopra: Neeraj Chopra hurled the javelin into the sky with supreme confidence and prowess in the men’s javelin throw final, leading India on to a maiden athletics gold medal in the Olympics. The 23-year-old needed barely a minute on his maiden Olympic outing to secure a spot in the final, topping the qualification stage. Neeraj was simply expected to challenge Johannes Vetter in the final. However, the Indian scaled his way to the summit with his second throw of 87.58m enough to seal the first gold since Abhinav Bindra (2008, men’s air rifle 10m). What many do not know is that Neeraj didn’t compete on the international stage for 17 months, between January 2020 and June 2021.

2) Mirabai Chanu: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won a medal on day one of Tokyo 2020, marking the first instance of a medal being won by India on day one of an edition of the Olympics. Mirabai was inches away from winning a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio games, but failed to complete a regulation shift. The weightlifter completed a sensational turnaround in Tokyo, marking an 87 kg lift in the snatch, and a 115 kg lift in the clean and jerk. This feat seems even more impressive by the fact that Mirabai went without competition from December 2019 to April 2021.

3) Ravi Kumar Dahiya: The wrestler completed a dramatic turnaround with 90 seconds left to play in his semifinal clash with Nurislam Sanayev, trailing 2-0. Ravi closed the gap to 5-9 before pinning Sanayev to book himself a spot in the final. While the Indian was defeated in the final, he became only the second Indian wrestler to win an Olympic silver medal. Ravi also maintained Indian wrestling’s proud run of bringing back at least one medal from every Olympic Games since 2008. The wrestler however comes from a poor economic background, with the local administration in his village in Haryana making special arrangements to ensure his parents could tune into the action without any electricity cuts.

4) PV Sindhu: PV Sindhu showcased impressive resolve, overcoming a defeat in the semi-final by securing the bronze medal with a 21-13, 21-15 win against HE Bing Jiao of the People’s Republic of China. Sindhu enjoys the unique distinction of being the only Indian female athlete to win multiple Olympic medals. She also became only the fifth female shuttler to win two Olympic singles medals. Sindhu featured in five tournaments from March 2020 till the start of the Olympic Games.

5) Lovlina Borgohain: The 23-year-old welterweight boxer became the second female boxer from India to win an Olympic medal, after winning a bronze in Tokyo. Lovlina earned her medal by defeating 2018 world champion Chen Nien-Chin in the quarterfinals, prevailing 4-1 on points against the pugilist from Chinese Taipei. The 23-year-old was however battling concern over the treatment of her mother’s kidney ailment at the same time, having used the money she received as part of her Arjuna Award for meeting the expenditure incurred.

6) Bajrang Punia: Bajrang Punia returned with a bronze medal, despite being forced to forfeit a match a month ago after injuring his right knee, which would remain strapped through most of his contests in Tokyo. Bajrang was defeated by Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliyev in the semis. However, he made a soaring comeback in the bronze medal match against Daulet Niyazbekov, having lost to the Kazakhstan grappler in the 2019 world championship semifinals. The 27-year-old pulled off a dominant 8-0 triumph, making his presence felt with a fantastic performance.

7) Indian men’s hockey team: The Indian men’s hockey team had spent most of the last one and a half years locked down at a national training facility in Bengaluru. They had enjoyed a total of four days at their respective homes, in the six months leading up to Tokyo 2020. However, they pushed back all the pain and suffering to lead the nation on to their first medal in 41 years in hockey.