Tokyo 2020: India aims to match or better London 2012

Tokyo 2020 is different. Not just because of the restrictions at venues. Covid-19 has also resulted in many athletes going into the world’s biggest sporting event without sufficient competitions or test events. For Team India, too, the lockdowns were tough; training, even more so. But, for 17 days, the athletes will strive to shift the focus of the nation from the grim to the glorious.

The 228-member contingent—117 athletes and 111 officials—is looking to better the two medals won at Rio 2016. But the real target is to match or better the six-medal haul at London 2012. While shooting is expected to deliver the most medals, there are expectations in other disciplines, too—men’s hockey, badminton, boxing, wrestling, javelin throw, and, perhaps most notably, weightlifting.

The hopes of a weightlifting medal are shouldered by the 4’11” frame of Saikhom Mirabai Chanu. At Rio 2016, a 21-year-old Chanu failed to lift any of her three attempts in clean and jerk in the 48kg category. But, five years on, she is wiser, fitter, an Asian Games and Commonwealth Games (2018) medallist, a world champion and a world record holder.

A lower back issue in 2018, plus the lockdown in 2020 seemed to have derailed her preparation for Tokyo, but the postponement of the Olympics helped. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Target Olympic Podium Scheme facilitated a stint in the US for her to work on strength and conditioning. She went from not being able to lift two days in a row to lifting twice a day.

At the Asian Championships this April, she lifted a below par 86kg in snatch, but went on to break the world record by lifting 119kg in clean and jerk. The combined total of 205kg earned her a bronze and a ticket to Tokyo. Before landing in Japan, Chanu, who hails from Nongpok Kakching, 45 minutes from Imphal, in Manipur, trained in St. Louis, Missouri in the US for almost three months.

Her coach Vijay Sharma told THE WEEK from Tokyo that they worked a lot on her strength and conditioning with Dr Aaron Horschig, a former weightlifter. “We worked a lot with Dr Horschig to improve her shoulder strength and snatch lift” he said. The withdrawal of her main competitor Ri Song-gum of North Korea (the country is not participating) will help.

By the time Chanu tests her strength against the best, India would have started its Olympic quest with a test of precision—archery. To land arrows in the 10-ring over the standard competition distance of 70m, it takes great skill, a calm mind and a strong heart. Many times, in order to ensure consistency, the shots have to be fired at the exact same stage in the cycle of an archer’s heartbeat.

For Deepika Kumari, 27, the run-up to Tokyo has been all about controlling the mind and the heart to keep past disappointments at bay. Her outings at London 2012 and Rio 2016 were disastrous. But, Kumari and her archer husband, Atanu Das, put up strong performances and won medals in the World Cup Stage III in Paris, just three weeks before the Games.

Kumari’s triple gold elevated her back to world No 1. However, her performance in Paris came in the absence of archery power house South Korea, which decided to skip the World Cup ahead of the Olympics. “I don’t want a repeat,” said Kumari, before leaving for Tokyo. “It is the past, but it will play on my mind. So, it is about trying my best to keep myself free of all those negative thoughts and focusing just on my shooting.”

As the women’s team failed to qualify, Kumari practised against her male teammates—Das, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav. Kumari had booked her spot in 2019, and the archer from Jharkhand is in with a chance of winning a medal in her individual event (recurve) and in the mixed team event. The mixed event is making its debut at the Games and only 16 of the 29 teams will make it to the matchplay phase.

While archery has failed to produce an Olympic medal thus far, shooting has got India medals in three of the last four Games. The disappointment in Rio produced a reaction from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI). Changes ensued, resulting in a new crop of fearless shooters dislodging many a veteran. Consistent performances by fresh blood have resulted in Olympic debutants making up 11 of the 15-member team.

The shooters returned with record medal hauls from the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in 2018 and dominant performances in International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cups. The NRAI, too, deserves praise for swiftly moving the Indian squad to Croatia for training and competition before the second lockdown at home. But, the performance in the World Cup in Croatia last month was lukewarm.

NRAI president Raninder Singh said the circumstances cannot get better than what they are currently. “You can’t expect everyone to win every day, but on a given day, all my shooters are capable of winning,” he said. “It is evident in their results and pedigree.”

Saurabh Chaudhary (10m air pistol), from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, and world No 2 Rahi Sarnobat (25m pistol) from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, are in fine form.Chaudhary, 19, has won eight medals at ISSF events since he came into the national squad post Rio. The 2018 Asian Games gold medallist is in with a chance of winning two medals—in the individual event and the mixed team event, in which he forms a formidable combination with the talented Manu Bhaker. The duo has won five back-to-back golds at ISSF World Cups.

Bhaker, 19, is the only Indian shooter competing in three events. Sarnobat, the Asian Games gold medallist, was the team’s best performer in Croatia, where she broke the world record on her way to the gold. For the men’s pistol team, the main threat is Iran’s Javad Foroughi, who beat the Indians in Delhi and Croatia this year. The Chinese have not competed in international events and remain an unknown quantity.

The women’s 10m air rifle team has Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan. Until the start of this season, both were dominant. World No 1 Valarivan, 21, has, however, disappointed in the two World Cup outings this season. Divyansh Singh Panwar, 18, enjoyed a meteoric rise to world No 1 in the men’s 10m air rifle, reinforcing India’s faith in youth. He was initially rusty post the lockdown, but is now looking sharp again, and expectations are still high.

The Indian women’s hockey team is competing in the Olympics for only the third time. The previous outing in Rio ended with elimination in the group phase. The team lost four out of its five matches, conceded 19 goals and scored just three. Goalkeeper Savita Punia said: “At Rio, we were happy to have qualified after 36 years, but we lacked experience at that level.”

The team has bounced back well. The tenth-ranked Indian women qualified for Tokyo after beating the US 5-1 in the first leg and overcoming a stiff challenge in the second leg to prevail with an aggregate of 6-5. The team got international exposure tours to Argentina and Germany earlier this year and while it did not win a match, the team held its own.

Coach Sjoerd Marijne feels a quarterfinals place is a realistic target, but added that from thereon in, it is anybody’s game. “I just want to see that this team reaches its potential and my job is to help achieve that,” he said. The squad has a good mix of youth and experience and is led by 26-year-old forward Rani Rampal. India’s group consists of Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and South Africa.

The men’s team goes in with far more expectations and the weight of history. But, the last of India’s medals—its eighth gold—came at Moscow 1980 (it also has one silver and two bronzes). Halfback Manpreet Singh leads a team focused on a podium finish. The team had excellent outings against the Netherlands in 2019, and Belgium and Australia in 2020. But, Covid-19 hampered the momentum.

Six players tested positive after returning to camp last year. But, since tours resumed, the team has not lost a match. It played Germany and Britain twice each. In April, in the tour to Argentina, India prevailed in a shootout in the first match and beat the host 3-0 in the second match. But, Argentina, the Olympic champions, will be looking to make amends after being drawn into the same group as India in Tokyo.

The others in the group are Australia, New Zealand, Spain and host Japan. Coach Graham Reid said: “If you look at the 12 teams that are going to the Olympics, we have beaten 10 teams in the last two years; we have not played Canada.” He added that this recent record is an important point to note. “If we play well, if we do our things, we are definitely aiming to jump onto that podium,” he said.

In badminton, world champion P.V. Sindhu has little left to prove, but she will be determined to better her silver medal in Rio. Apart from Sindhu, only three Indian shuttlers will be in Tokyo. B. Sai Praneeth will compete in the men’s singles and Satwik SaiRaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will play in the men’s doubles. It remains to be seen whether the absence of chief coach Pullela Gopichand will hurt the Indians.

Sindhu has been handed a tricky draw with a possible quarterfinal meeting against home favourite Akane Yamaguchi. Sai Praneeth has his task cut out for him, having been drawn into the same half as world No 1 Kento Momota of Japan and world No 2 Victor Axelsen of Denmark. The doubles team would have to produce something special to survive its group, which has the top-ranked Indonesian pair.

In track and field, it has become usual for a slew of national records to be broken in the Olympic year. This year was no exception. Nine members of the Olympic team broke national records this year. But, usually, in key moments at the Games, things fall apart pretty quickly. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra remains the lone genuine medal contender. The rest of the 26-member squad has mountains to climb.

Take discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur. She is ranked sixth in the world and threw her personal best and national record of 66.59m in June. But, her competition in Tokyo includes world champion Yaime Perez of Cuba, who threw 68.99m this year, and two-time world and Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic of Croatia. Perkovic has thrown the discus beyond the 67m-mark an unbelievable 65 times!

Post Rio 2016, the Athletics Federation of India put its faith in the 4x400m relays to deliver the elusive medal. But the women’s relay team failed to qualify for Tokyo. The men’s team managed to qualify, but could find it tough to advance past the preliminary rounds. Shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor broke the Asian record with his 21.49m throw in June, but would need a special throw to get to the finals.

Golf will see Anriban Lahiri and Aditi Ashok represent India for the second consecutive time. Also in the team is Udayan Mane, who Lahiri has grown up playing with. Lahiri has chosen best friend Chikkarangappa to caddy for him. All are students of coach Vijay Divecha. “The Olympic experience is not like anything else,” said Lahiri, who finished 57th in a field of 60 at Rio.

“You’re playing a smaller field and are always going to play a golf course that you’ve never played before,” he said. “Professional golf is four days of stroke play, the same format, and if I finish fourth, it is still a good result. At the Olympics, you don’t get anything for coming fourth.” He finished tied for third at the Barbasol Championship in July. It was his best result of the season and a timely boost before Tokyo.

The Olympics is also about the lone rangers who work hard away from the limelight to qualify for and compete at the grandest stage of them all. Shushila Likhmabam, 26, qualified for judo (women’s 48kg) via the additional continental quota. She is India’s only judoka in Tokyo. And, at her first Olympics, the Manipuri girl, ranked 46 in the world, has little chance of a podium finish. But she can definitely walk in with her head held high.

Gymnast Pranati Nayak, 26, follows in the footsteps of Dipa Karmakar, who finished fourth in Rio. She got the Tokyo ticket via the Asian quota after the cancellation of the Asian Championships. Her hopes of qualifying had diminished after faltering on the beams at the 2019 World Championships. She was training at clubs in Kolkata when she first got news of her possible qualification.

From there, it was a race to get ready. Once her qualification was confirmed, a bio bubble was created for her at the SAI centre in Kolkata. Nayak, the daughter of a bus driver, is not thinking of the challenges she faced during preparations. Her focus is on her routines. “She is strong on the vaulting table and our first target is to qualify for the finals,” said her coach Lakhan Manohar Sharma.

Timed to perfection

WHEN MILKHA SINGH lost out on an Olympic medal by one-tenth of a second in 1960, or P.T. Usha did so by one-hundredth of a second in 1984, it was Omega that timed the races. The Swiss watchmaker has been timing the Games since 1932, and has time and again introduced newer, more sophisticated technology to clock results across the various sports on display. For the latest Olympics, Omega has introduced a few commemorative pieces, the latest being two new timepieces made in full 18K yellow gold. The new Seamaster Aqua Terra pieces come housed in 38mm or 41mm yellow-gold cases, with the laser-engraved dials displaying a pattern inspired by the Tokyo 2020 emblem.