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India ends Olympic campaign with six medals
The slogan “Iss bar, dusk ke paar" appeared to be working at first, but once the medal hunt in shooting came to a halt, the Indian challenge began to falter.
Wrestler Aman Sehrawat added a final bronze to India's medal tally of 5 bronze and ! silver medal. / X@AmanSehrawat57
India started its Olympic campaign in Paris with a bronze medal in shooting. Competing in her second Olympic Games, Manu Bhaker, a shooter from Jhajjar in Haryana, opened the country’s account with a podium finish in the 10 m Air Pistol event.
She emerged as the new sports icon of the country as she got her second bronze in the same games in the 10 m Air Pistol Mixed team event in partnership with Sarabjot Singh. She came close to winning her third successive medal in Paris as she finished a close fourth in her pet event of 25 m Air Pistol.
Swapnil Kusale became the first male athlete to win a medal for India in Paris. He finished third in the 50 m Air Rifle 3 positions. Other shooters came close but could not win a medal. Arjun Babuta was one of them.
With three bronze medals in shooting, there was a hiatus in the hunt for medals. However, expectations were high from the 117-member Indian squad that had set a target of getting into double figures for its medal tally with the slogan “Iss bar, dusk ke paar."
While it appeared to be working at first, once the medal hunt in shooting came to a halt, the Indian challenge began to falter.
Vinesh Phogat had raised hopes of the first-ever silver or gold in women's wrestling. But it was not to be. Rather, it left a bitter taste in the mouth. The badminton squad also gave hopes of a couple of medals, including third in a row by women’s singles ace, PV Sindhu, and world champion men’s doubles pair of Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
However, after they failed to cross the pre-quarterfinal hurdle, shuttler Lakshya Sen emerged as a strong contender for the first-ever badminton medal in the men’s section. He, however, met his fate in the defending champion Viktor Alexsen before losing the bronze medal hope to Malaysian Zii Jin.
In the final days of the games, another bronze medal victory in hockey warmed the hearts of fans not only in the country but around the world. It was a historic feat as the last time India won back-to-back hockey medals at the Olympics was in 1968 and 1972.
For India, the silver lining in its medal tally came in the form of Neeraj Chopra's second consecutive Olympic medal, which, while not gold like his first, was a humble silver. It accorded some respectability to the Indian medal tally that stood at one silver and four bronze medals. It was a rare achievement by any Indian athlete to win a gold and a silver in back-to-back Olympic Games.
India won a bronze medal in wrestling, its sixth overall. Aman Sehrawat scripted history by becoming India's youngest even medalist at the Olympics as he claimed bronze in the 57kg freestyle wrestling event beating Darian Toi Cruz (Portugal) 13-5 in the bronze medal match. It was also India's first medal in wrestling at this year's Olympics.
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