NEW DELHI: India’s Tokyo-bound athletes are on the home stretch. With each passing day, experts are predicting a richer medal haul compared to previous iterations. And along with it comes an overdose of pressure. Expectations are ramped up to an all-time high. While the truth might be somewhere in the middle, the addition of mixed team events might just prove to be the ace up Team India’s sleeve.
The likes of Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Neeraj Chopra and Amit Panghal are expected to shoulder the majority of the medal burden but sports like table tennis and archery might spring a quite memorable surprise. Add to it the mixed events in shooting, and the picture looks quite rosy.
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The table tennis event at the quadrennial showpiece has traditionally been dominated by China that claimed 28 gold since its induction in 1988. Even with promising Commonwealth and Asian Games performances, it is difficult to envisage a singles medal coming our way. Tokyo is set to witness the first-ever mixed doubles competition in Olympics history and that seems to be India’s best bet for a medal. World No 32 and soon-to-be four-time Olympian A Sharath Kamal will combine with World No 63 Manika Batra, who is set for her second Games appearance. The duo have shown their class on the international stage overcoming current World No 8 pair and heavyweights Lee Sang-su and Jeon Ji-hee at the Asian qualification tournament in Doha where they punched their Tokyo ticket as well as at the Asian Games where the pair claimed an unlikely bronze.
There will be 16 pairs competing and with each tie being played in a knockout format, three wins is all it will take to win a medal. Both paddlers have contrasting styles — Sharath’s power game and Manika’s measured approach with pimpled rubbers — which compliment each other. “In singles, it (winning a medal) would take a miracle. But in mixed, there is a definite chance. We will face the best of the best but if we keep our wits about ourselves, there is always a chance. Our game is quite difficult to read for opponents and with positive mentality and practice, impossible is nothing,” was how Sharath summed up India’s chances.
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Archery is yet another sport where India has never tasted success. South Korea, USA, and a few European nations have traditionally been the sport’s powerhouses. Hopes were raised after the Indian men’s team qualified for Tokyo following their silver medal at the World Championships a couple of years ago. But the team have not managed to perform to their potential in the two World Cups they have been to. While that does not mean we can write them off, the performance of Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari in recurve mixed team is worth looking forward to.
The newly-married couple have claimed three individual gold so far this year in individual recurve events. That form has seeped into the recurve mixed event where they have come into their own right in the nick of time. At the Paris World Cup, the pair got the better of heavyweights USA, which included three-time Olympic medallist Brady Ellison. They also overcame the Dutch pair of Sjef Van Den Berg and Gaby Schloesser who had won gold at the previous World Cup.
“Winning just prior to the Olympics is a great sign. We are very comfortable with each other and communication is our strong suit and that has helped a lot.” Even Atanu agreed that together they are stronger. “It feels like we are made for each other. But on the ground we are not just a couple but like other competitors, we motivate and back each other.”
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Shooting is rare sport where India can count themselves among the favourites. In both rifle and pistol categories, India have the world’s best in their ranks. According to world rankings, there is Elavenil Valarivan, World No 1 in the women’s 10m air rifle while Anjum Moudgil is World No 3. In men’s Divyansh Singh Panwar is World No 2 while men’s 50m rifle 3 positions, Aishwary Pratap Singh is World No 2. In pistol events, India occupies the top two spots in both 10m air pistol sections — Abhishek Verma and Saurabh Chaudhary for the men, Yashaswini Deswal and Manu Bhaker among women. Yet, it’s the mixed events that show more promise.
2019 onwards, India have won 9 gold, three silver and two bronze medals in rifle and pistol mixed events in the World Cups and the most successful of Indian combines, Saurabh and Manu Bhaker, have claimed five top spots and one silver. “Individually, the pressure is higher. But I enjoy playing in the team format. If you are not at your peak, your partner is there to help,” Divyansh said.
Know your sport
Archery
India’s athletes
Men: Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav, Atanu Das
Women: Deepika Kumari
Events: Men: Individual & team Women: Individual
Mixed: Deepika/Atanu
Dates July 23-31, Yumenoshima Park
Paths to victory
1.Doing well in the ranking round
do well in the ranking round to get a good seed in the knockouts. The athletes having the best qualifying score will be seeded first and he/she will face the athlete with the worst qualifying score in the first knockout round. It’s important for Atanu and Deepika to have good scores as those scores will be used for the knockouts of the mixed event.
2. Handling threat of the South Koreans
Since the team event was introduced in the Seoul Olympics in 1988, the women and the men have, together, won 15 out of a possible 16 medals. The Indians will know all about them and will have to accept the reality: they will have to face them at some stage.
Table tennis
Men : A Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan
Women : Manika Batra, Sutirtha Mukherjee
Events : Men: Singles Women: Singles
Mixed doubles: Sharath/Manika
Dates July 24-30, July, Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium
Paths to victory
1.Momentum building upsets
This is to state the obvious but there is next to no chance in the singles. However, they have shown they can surprise on their day. Sharath will likely get a bye to the second round while the others will have to play the preliminary rounds as well. Considering India’s players have never even reached the last eight, all they can do is hope for a good draw and catch opponents cold.
2. Most eggs in mixed doubles basket
Sharath has remained bullish about their prospects and it will be interesting to see if his prophecy will come true. Both Manika and him have shown they can engineer takedown of better teams and win medals. Once again a good draw is important but the mixed team holds more hope.