In 2013, Japan was chosen to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. The country received a fair share of popularity on social media for its clever logo portraying both the year of the Olympics and the Japanese flag. However, due to the COVID pandemic, this major sports event was postponed. Nevertheless, the games are set to begin by the end of this month as the Olympic flame arrives in Japan.
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Out of the 206 participating countries, India is one of them and will compete in 18 of the 33 sporting events. The famous boxer Mary Kom and Hockey player Manpreet Singh will be the flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony, and Freestyle Wrestler Bajrang Punia at the Closing Ceremony. These are some of the 121 Indian Olympians striving for excellence in Tokyo.
Archery – 4:
4 Indian archers have qualified to compete in archery at Tokyo Olympics. Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav, and Tarundeep Rai will play for both Men’s Individual and Men’s Mixed Team and veteran Deepika Kumari will play both Women’s Individual and Mixed Team alongside Atanu Das.
Athletics – 27:
In Men’s Category for Track and Road, M.P. Jabir will compete for 400m Hurdles. Muhammed Anas, Yahiya, Noah Nirmal Tom, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, and Naganathan Pandi will participate in the 4 x 400m relay. Sandeep Kumar, Rahul Rohila, and Irfan Kolothum Thodi will partake in the 20km Walk, and Gurpreet Singh for the 50km Walk. Lastly, Avinash Sable will join 3000m Steeplechase.
For the Women’s Category, Dutee Chand will be the only female athlete playing for both 100m and 200m. Priyanka Goswami and Bhawna Jat will partake in the 20km Walk.
In 4 x 400m Mixed Relay, Sarthak Bhambri, Alex Antony, Revathi Veeramani, Subha Venkatesan, and Dhanlakshmi Sekhar will represent the Indian Team.
For Men’s Field Events, Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh will be involved in Javelin Throw, Murali Sreeshankar for Long Jump, and Tajinder Pal Thoor for Shot Put.
Women’s Field Events will be covered by Seema Punia and Kamalpreet Kaur for Discus Throw, and Annu Rani for Javelin Throw.
Badminton – 4:
Men’s Singles Event will be played by B. Sai Praneeth, and Men’s Doubles by Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Women’s Singles will be played by former Olympian silver medalist P.V. Sindhu.
Boxing – 9:
In Men’s Category, Amit Panghal will compete in Flyweight, Manish Kaushik in Lightweight, Vikas Krishan Yadav in Welterweight, Ashish Kumar in Middleweight, and Satish Kumar in Super Heavyweight.
In the Women’s Category, former Olympian medalist Mary Kom will partake in Flyweight, Simranjit Kaur in Lightweight, Lovline Borgohain in Welterweight, and Pooja Rani in Middleweight.
Equestrian – 1:
India only has 1 Equestrian, Fouaad Mirza, who will participate in the Individual Event.
Fencing – 1:
For Fencing also only one Olympian will represent India and that will be C.A. Bhavani Devi, who will compete in the Women’s Sabre Event.
Field Hockey – 32:
Both Women’s and Men’s Field Hockey Teams will participate in Tokyo Olympics Field Hockey Tournament. The women’s team will be led by Rani Rampal and the men’s team captain is Manpreet Singh. Each team consists of 16 players.
Golf – 3:
Anirban Lahiri and Udayan Mane will partake in Men’s Individual and Aditi Ashok in Women’s Individual in Golf.
Gymnastics – 1:
Pranati Nayak will be the only Indian gymnast for the Tokyo Olympics and will participate in All-round Event.
Judo – 1:
Even in Judo, only Shushila Likmabam will compete in Women’s 48kg Category.
Rowing – 2:
Arjun Lal and Arvind Singh will be the Indian duo partaking in Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls.
Sailing – 4:
As the only woman athlete for sailing, Nethra Kumanan will take part in Women’s Laser Radial. Vishnu Saravanan will compete in Men’s Laser, and K.C. Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar in Men’s 49er.
Shooting – 15:
Men’s Skeet will be taken care of by Angad Bajwa and Mairaj Ahmad Khan, 10m Air Pistol by Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma, 10m Air Rifle by Deepak Kumar and Divyansh Singh Panwar, and 50m Rifle 3 Positions by Sanjeev Rajput and Aishwary Tomar.
In the Women’s Category, Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini Deswal will compete in 10m Air Pistol, Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan in 10m Air Rifle, and Anjum Moudgil and Tejaswini Sawant in 50m Rifle 3 Positions. Bhaker will also partake in 25m Pistol with Rahi Sarnobat.
Mixed Shooting Event will have 4 teams, two each for 10m Air Rifle and 10m Air pistol.
Swimming – 3:
Srihari Nataraj and Sajan Prakash are the first two Indian swimmers to qualify for the Olympics and will attend Men’s 100m Backstroke and Men’s 200m Butterfly events respectively. Maana Patel will compete in Women’s 100m Backstroke.
Table Tennis – 4:
Sharath Kamal Achanta and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will be competing in Men’s Singles, and Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee in Women’s Singles. Mixed Doubles will have Batra and Achanta to represent the Indian Team.
Tennis – 2:
India will only play in Women’s Doubles with Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina.
Weightlifting – 1:
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is the only Indian weightlifter to play in the Olympics and will participate in Women’s 49kg.
Wrestling – 7:
In Men’s Freestyle, Ravi Kumar Dahiya will partake in the 57kg Category, Bajrang Punia in 65kg Category, and Deepak Punia in 86kg Category.
In Women’s Freestyle, Seema Bisla will compete in 50kg Category, Vinesh Phogat in 53kg Category, Anshu Malik in 57kg Category, and Sonam Malik in 62kg Category.
