The Tokyo Olympics 2020 is less than four weeks away and here is the schedule for India and where one can watch the games and the schedule.
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After a delay of one year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics 2020 is less than four weeks away. The Games are returning to Tokyo after a gap over 50 years. Tokyo last hosted the Olympics in 1964 and after 57 years, they are back. In 1964, the hosting of the games in Tokyo saw a broadcasting revolution in the world. In 2021, it will only get better in the coming days and months. The Tokyo Olympics will see close to 200 nations participating and despite coronavirus restrictions, the games will still be a spectacle.
As for India, they will be gunning for glory in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, India came close to gold with PV Sindhu narrowly missing out on a gold medal. Sakshi Malik was the only other medal winner in wrestling. India have not won a gold medal since Abhinav Bindra’s feat in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Overall, in the last 41 years, India have won only two gold medals. The 1980 Moscow Olympics saw the Indian hockey team win gold for the last time.
Ahead of the games, here are some of the basic questions about schedule and where to watch in India.
Tokyo is three and a half hours ahead of India. If the games are held at 20:00 Tokyo time, then it will be 16:30 PM IST.
So far, close to 120 athletes have qualified for India in the Tokyo Olympics. India are looking to better their medal tally, with their previous best being six medals in the 2012 London Olympics. The Indian contingent might be confident of securing at least over five medals.
Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Equestrian, Fencing, Hockey, Golf, Gymnastics, Judo, Rowing, Sailing, Swimming, Shooting, Table Tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting and Wrestling.
The Tokyo Olympics will begin from July 23 and end on August 8. There are some events that will be beginning on July 23. Most of the gold medal events will begin from July 24. The real schedule and timings of the events will be out in the next couple of days.
In India, Sony Pictures Network India won the official broadcast rights of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. So, all events will be held on Sony Ten 1, Sony Ten 3 and Sony Six along with their HD counterparts. SonyLIV app will also telecast the live streaming of the games on mobile
Archery will see three gold medal events on July 24, 25 and 26. After that, the gold medals events will be on July 30 and July 31. Athletics will see a total of 48 gold medal events from July 30 to August 8. Boxing will see 13 gold medal events from August 3 to 8.
India will want to keep a close eye on the shooters as they are the best bets for a medal this time. There are eight gold medal events from July 24 to July 27. After a one-day break, there will be five gold medal events from July 29 to 31. The shooting competition will end on Augist 2 with two gold medals.
Hockey will have their gold events on August 6 and August 7.
A total of 48 gold medal events will be up for grabs in Athletics. From the 100m to the Heptathlon, Marathon and walking events, this field has the maximum number of medals. This is followed by swimming which will have 37 medals. This will be followed by cycling with 22 medals. In cycling, there are four events like road, track, BMX and mountain biking.
There are 15 gold medal prospects in Judo and shooting. Wrestling will have 15 gold medal prospects.
Hockey, shooting, potentially archery, badminton, boxing and wrestling represent the best chance for India to win a medal in Tokyo 2021 Olympics.
If one looks at boxing, there are nine members who are capable of winning the medal in Tokyo. Amit Panghal has been in superb form. Manish Kaushik, Vikas Krishan Yadav, Ashish Kumar and Satish Kumar are from the men’s section. In the women, six-time world champion Mary Kom will be there. Simranjit Kaur, Lovlina Borgohain and Pooja Rani are also there in the Boxing contingent.
Shooting represents India’s biggest hope. There are a total of 16 shooters who are going to participate in the various events. Angad Bajwa, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Deepak Kumar, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Sanjeev Rajput, Aishwary Tomar will be in the men.
Among the women shooters, there is Apurvi Chandela, Yashasvini Deswal, Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat, Elavenil Valarivan, Anjum Moudgil, Tejaswini Sawant are the main individuals. The events in shooting will be Skeet, 10m air pistol, 25 meter pistol, 10 m air rifle, 50 m rifle three positions.
In badminton, all hopes will once again be on PV Sindhu. The 2019 World Champion was a silver-medalist in the 2016 Rio Olympics and she will be gunning for gold in this marquee event.
When one talks about hockey, India have fallen from the top pedestal, having not won a single medal since Moscow 1980. The men’s team will begin their campaign against the Blacksticks (New Zealand) on July 24. The women’s team could begin on the same day against the Netherlands.
Archery and Wrestling are two promising fields for India. Deepika Kumari recently clinched gold in the World Cup stage 3 in Paris. Atanu Das, Deepika Kumari’s husband, will also be a strong medal contender. Pravin Jadhav, and Tarundeep Rai are the others along wti Deepika to have secured the Olympic berth.
In Athetics, Dutee Chand and Neeraj Chopra represent India’s best bet. The veteran of Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will lead the men’s charge in Table Tennis. It will be Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee in the women’s draw. In Weightlifting, there will be Saikhom Mirabai Chanu.
Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Bajrang Punia and Deepak Punia will be India’s big hopes in wrestling. Among the women, Vinesh Phogat, Seema Bisla, Anshu Malik and Sonam Malik will be the biggest stars. All eyes will be on Vinesh Phogat, who was India’s best medal contender in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Tennis will once again feature Sania Mirza but this time, she will be partnered by upcoming star Ankita Raina.
