Tokyo 2020: India begin marketing campaign with historic silver, end with uncommon gold

The Tokyo Olympics began with a bang for India with weightlifter Mirabai Chanu turning into the second particular person silver medallist on the Games from the nation. It then went by a lull because the shooters and archers did not dwell as much as expectations earlier than a wave of positivity got here again with the performances of the lads’s and ladies’s hockey groups and PV Sindhu’s bronze medal victory. It all got here to a crescendo with Neeraj Chopra profitable a historic javelin throw gold.

India ended up surpassing their earlier greatest tally at an Olympics of six medals, which the contingent achieved on the 2012 London Olympics, with Neeraj’s gold being their seventh medal. It got here within the final occasion of the Tokyo Games that featured an Indian.Mirabai Chanu leads good begin Some of India’s largest medal hopes have been in motion on the primary day of the Olympics itself within the type of Mirabai, competing within the ladies’s 49kg weightlifting class, pistol shooters Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma and rifle shooters Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandella.Saurabh Chaudhary dominated the qualification however may solely end seventh whereas not one of the different shooters may attain the finals.However, Mirabai Chanu, who was India’s sole entry in weightlifting, ended up turning into the primary Olympic medallist within the sport since 2000. The diminutive Manipuri lifted a complete of 202kg (87kg+115kg) to higher Malleswari’s efficiency greater than 20 years in the past. With this effort, Mirabai additionally exorcised the ghosts of the 2016 Games the place she had did not log a single authentic carry, leaving her shattered.”Finally it has happened, I got the silver medal… 5 years of hard work has bore fruit. I am very happy, I don’t have words. I want to say thank you to all my supporters – coach, family, weightlifting federation of India,” Mirabai instructed India Today after profitable the medal.”I was very sad after failing in the Rio Olympics. Then I won the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, after that I thought of keeping an Olympic ring with me. That is when I dreamt of winning an Olympic medal and that’s when I made this earring and kept it with me. This silver medal is the result of all the sacrifices I have made in my life,” Mirabai stated.A lull with shiny sparksThis was adopted by a lull by way of medals. Bhavani Devi, the primary Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics, dominated Tunisia’s Nadia Ben Azizi 15-3 to file a win. She then misplaced to World No.3 Manon Brunet however she has ended up enjoying a pioneering position in her sport in India.Among the archers, Atanu Das shocked Korean nice and London Olympic gold medalist Oh Jinhyek to achieve the Round of 16. There he misplaced 4-6, thus marking the tip of the Indian archers’ marketing campaign on the Olympics.Deepika Kumari, who was participating in her third Olympics, misplaced within the quarter-final to eventual gold medallist An San of South Korea.Meanwhile, boxing nice Mary Kom was knocked out within the first spherical whereas in what was her remaining look on the Olympics. Mary was sad with the consequence, saying that she had thought she had received untill after the battle.The medal rushBoxer Lovlina Borgohain, in the meantime beat Taiwan’s Nien-Chin Chen within the quarter-final to progress to the medal rounds. In doing so, she confirmed a minimum of a bronze medal for herself, turning into the third Indian boxer after Vijender Singh and Mary Kom to take action. Lovlina couldn’t progress past the semi-finals, nonetheless, dropping to world primary Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey.PV Sindhu was progressing serenely by the ladies’s singles badminton subject, chasing her second Olympic medal. She had not dropped a sport till she reached the semi-final, the place she ended up dropping to Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan. However, Sindhu saved her eye on the prize and beat China’s He Bing Jiao within the bronze medal match, thus turning into the primary Indian since Sushil Kumar at London 2012 to win two particular person Olympic medals.The Indian males’s and ladies’s hockey groups recovered from their shaky begins within the match to progress to the knockouts. It was the primary time that the ladies’s crew had reached the stage they usually ended up gorgeous gold medal favourites Australia to achieve the semi-finals.The males additionally reached the semis, the place they misplaced to eventual gold medallists Belgium. They then performed an exhilarating bronze medal match in opposition to Germany and received 5-4, securing a primary Olympic medal for Indian hockey in 41 years. The ladies additionally performed a thriller of a bronze medal match and whereas they ended up on the dropping aspect, they earned plaudits for the battle that they confirmed all through the match.The focus then turned to the wrestling contingent, which featured contenders Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia. However, it was the quite softspoken Ravi Dahiya who stole the present by profitable silver within the males’s freestyle 57kg class. Disappointment was in retailer for Vinesh Phogat, nonetheless, as she misplaced her ladies’s 53kg quarter-final bout to Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya. This was Vinesh’s second Olympics, together with her marketing campaign in Rio ending with an damage. Bajrang received bronze after dropping within the semi-final and later beating Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan.Neeraj Chopra had already made historical past within the qualification spherical of males’s javelin throw by topping his qualification group. With Germany’s Johannes Vetter, the runaway favorite to win gold, struggling to achieve the 85m mark, Neeraj took the lead together with his first throw of 87.03m. However, he bettered his efficiency within the following spherical with an 87.58m.”At the time (while competing) there wasn’t much on my mind. Was just thinking that I have worked so hard for this moment, I am going for the throw, and the entire focus is only on that,” Neeraj later instructed India Today.”A lot of things about the journey flashes before you (while standing on the podium). There were a lot of times when I was wondering what is going to happen to my career especially when I was injured. But after winning gold, none of that matters. Feels like whatever God gave me was for the good. It did give me goosebumps (when I was standing on the podium and the national anthem was being played). Tears didn’t come but yes I felt a lot of emotions at the time,” Neeraj added.