Mumbai: India had a rather disappointing campaign at the recently concluded 2016 Rio Olympics. Finishing with just two medals is an extremely low tally for a country that has sent as many as 119 athletes to the Games.
India’s performance was especially disappointing because a lot was expected from its athletes after the country bagged six medals at the London Olympics four years back.
Top male athletes like Abhinav Bindra, Jitu Rai, Kidambi Srikanth, Yogeshwar Dutt, Shiva Thapa, and Achanta Sharath Kamal failed to grab a medal at the Olympics. Meanwhile, medal hopefuls like Narsingh Yadav (wrestling) and Inderjeet Singh (shot put) tested positive for banned substances, and were not allowed to participate.
It was the women, who stepped up to save the country’s pride. Here are a few women athletes who performed well at the Rio Games.
PV Sindhu (Silver medal, Women’s singles badminton)
PV Sindhu became the first Indian shuttler to win a silver medal in Olympics. (Photo: PTI)
Saina Nehwal, one of India’s biggest medal hopefuls, crashed out in the group stage. The World No.5 was struggling with a knee injury, which eventually resulted in defeat at the hands of Marija Ulitina of Ukraine, in the second match of the group stage.
However, it was PV Sindhu, who carried the hopes of a billion hearts through to the gold medal match of the event. Amazingly, the 21-year-old shuttler lost only one game on her way to the final.
While Sindhu eventually had to settle for a silver as World No 1 Carolina Marin defeated her in the final, she gave her Spanish counterpart a real run for her money (or the gold medal).
Sakshi Malik (Bronze medal, women’s 58kg freestyle wrestling)
Sakshi Malik salvaged the pride of the talented Indian wrestling contingent by winning bronze in the women's 58kg freestyle event. (Photo: PTI)
Sakshi Malik’s performance was a breath of fresh air for the Indian wrestling community that boasts of big names like London 2012 bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt, and 2015 Asian and World Championships bronze medallist Narsingh Yadav.
Malik’s bronze medal in the women’s 58kg freestyle wrestling event gave Indian sports fans something to cheer about, at a time when they were yearning for a medal. She completed a remarkable comeback in the bronze medal match, winning 8-5 after being 0-5 down against Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan.
Dipa Karmakar (Fourth position, gymnastics)
Dipa Karmakar stole a billion hearts by performing the deadly Produnova vault at the Rio Olympics. (Photo: AP)
Dipa Karmakar arguably became the biggest protagonist of India’s 2016 Olympic campaign, as she single-handedly carried the hopes of all of the country’s gymnasts on her small shoulders.
Although she missed out on winning a bronze medal by just 0.15 points to Switzerland’s Giulia Steingruber, her greatest achievement lies in challenging the best vaulters in the world, despite hailing from a country that has little or no infrastructure in the sport. She famously had to use spare scooter parts as spring-boards, while practicing in her earlier days.
The 23-year-old also became a favourite among the international fans by perfecting the Produnova vault, a move that is considered to be fatal, if executed wrongly. Some of the top vaulters like Rio Games gold medallist Simone Biles had even said that she would not risk attempting the Produnova.
Sania Mirza (Fourth, tennis, mixed doubles)
Sania Mirza has been the face of Indian women's tennis for around a decade now. (Photo: PTI)
The ace tennis player from Hyderabad failed to impress in the women’s doubles event, where she and her partner Prarthana Thombare crashed out in the first round. However, Sania Mirza bounced back in the mixed doubles category, where she teamed-up with Rohan Bopanna.
The Indian duo whizzed through the round of 16 and the quarterfinals with relative ease, winning against Sam Stosur/John Peers (Australia) and Heather Watson/Andy Murray (UK) respectively, without dropping a single set.
However, Mirza and Bopanna could not replicate the previous results when they came up against Venus Williams and Rajiv Ram (USA) in the semi finals. The duo found the going tough against the Czech pairing of Lucie Hradecká and Radek Stepanek as well, despite putting up a brave fight in the bronze medal match.
Aditi Ashok (Finals round, golf)
Aditi Ashok was the youngest female golfer at the Rio Olympics. (Photo: AP)
Not much was expected of Aditi Ashok, who was the only female Indian golfer at the Rio Games. The odds were further stacked against her, as the 18-year-old was the youngest golfer in the women’s category of the Rio Olympics.
However, Aditi showed great character to put up a strong challenge against favourites like Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Inbee Park of South Korea. The Bengaluru-born put up a great show in the first two rounds, finishing seventh and eighth in the first and the second rounds, respectively.
Although she could not replicate her good show in the third round, her performances were good enough to take her to the final, where she finished on the 41st spot.
Incidentally Aditi finished the Olympics final three spots above Karine Icher of France, who is ranked 399 places above her on the LPGA rankings. It is safe to say that we can expect grater glories from this Indian golfer in the future.
