The bigger concern is that out of 117 athletes, only a handful are medal contenders, but their journey would not be easy
The 2024 Paris Olympics will be officially inaugurated with the opening ceremony on Saturday. India's campaign begins a day earlier, with archers participating in the individual ranking rounds. India is set to return to the Games with a record-breaking performance in 2020, having won seven medals—the best by the nation in a single Olympic edition. Unfortunately, despite having a population of 1.45 billion, India’s contingent comprises only 117 athletes. The bigger concern is that out of 117 athletes, only a handful are medal contenders, but their journey would not be easy.
In the following paragraphs, let us look at the toughest rivals among India’s top medal contenders.
Neeraj Chopra is the current world and Olympic javelin champion. He is India's biggest potential gold medal winner at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, Jakub Valadlejch from the Czech Republic and Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan are strong contenders who will do everything to stop Neeraj from defending his title. Vadlejch, who took silver in Tokyo, is among the most consistent javelin throwers in recent years. He was ahead of Chopra at this season's Doha Diamond League and recently topped the European Athletics Championships.
Still processing this feeling. To all of India and beyond, thank you so much for your support and blessings that have helped me reach this stage.
— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) August 8, 2021
This moment will live with me forever 🙏🏽🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/BawhZTk9Kk
Nadeem is less consistent but has already shown he can produce performances of exceptional quality. He claimed silver in the 2022 edition of the World Championships, behind Chopra. Nadeem has thrown beyond 90 metres, a distance Chopra has yet to reach.
The Indian men's hockey team, ranked seventh internationally, will compete in the Paris Olympics in 2024. In the group stage, they will face sixth-ranked Argentina, fourth-ranked Australia, and third-ranked and reigning gold medalist Belgium. Australia is likely to be the biggest hurdle because they have beaten the men in blue in some of the recent matches.
After 41 years wait..!
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) August 5, 2021
A golden moment for Indian Hockey and Indian Sports! Finally, long wait is over as India defeated Germany to win Hockey Men's Olympic Bronze medal at #Tokyo2020
India in complete celebration mood! Congratulations to our Hockey players !! #Cheer4India 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/RmeGOnCpBn
In Tokyo 2020, India was unbeaten in the group stage, except for a defeat at the hands of Australia. This was followed up with a loss in the 2022 Commonwealth Games final by 7-0 and another in April by 5-0 in the hockey test series.
PV Sindhu will look to create history at the Paris Olympics as the first-ever Indian athlete to win three individual Olympic medals. Having proved her mettle repeatedly in big-ticket events, the Indian does have the wherewithal for this, but world number two and second seed Chen Yufei would block Sindhu’s way.
In the semifinals, Sindhu may run into Chen Yufei, who has been in good form. Sindhu, on the other hand, has had an inconsistent run recently. Sindhu's season in 2023 has been challenging, with a long road to recovery from a knee injury sustained soon after she clinched gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Sindhu is going into the Paris Olympics ranked 12th in the world, with a win-loss record of 15-9 since her comeback.
Anshu Panghal won a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships and became the first Indian wrestler in the 53 kg category to qualify for the Paris Olympics. She enters this competition seeded fourth and will hope to avoid a meeting with world champion and favourite Akari Fujinami of Japan in the initial rounds. Panghal will bank on her skills and reputation to make it to the final, where she will likely face a formidable opponent in Fujinami. For the record, Fujinami has not lost a bout since 2017 and has won 111 consecutive national and international fights.
Nikhat Zareen returns as a two-time boxing world champion in the 50 kg category and will be making her Olympic debut in Paris. Her main rival for the gold medal will be Buse Naz Cakiroglu from Turkey. Ahead of the Olympics, Nikhat sparred with Cakiroglu in Turkey, identifying her as the ''biggest challenge'' in her quest for Olympic gold. In fact, the two squared up at the 2022 Strandja Memorial, with Nikhat prevailing 4-1. But Cakiroglu has back-to-back World Championship medals with a Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver finish.
