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It’s a dream for any athlete in this world to win an Olympic medal for his/her nation, but to participate in the biggest sporting event, the players have to qualify through various tournaments. Indian players are also working very hard to make their dream of winning an Olympic medal come true and just because of their hard work and determination 26 players from our country have qualified for the Olympics so far. Here are their names according to their event in which they have qualified.
ARCHERY
Indian woman trio of Laishram Bombayla Devi, Deepika Kumari and Chekrovolu Swuro booked three Olympic quota places in the women’s recurve team event in the World Championships in Turin in July 2011, by defeating the defending champions Korea in the semifinals 216-212. The three girls have also qualified for the women’s recurve individual event. In the men’s individual event Jayanta Talukdar has also booked his berth for the Olympics. But there are some events left in 2012 through which some of the other archers like Tarundeep Rai, Rahul Banerjee and others can qualify for London 2012.
ATHLETICS
During various Olympic qualifying events of athletics, including the World Athletics Championships in Korea last year, 7 athletes from India have qualified for the Olympics 2012.
1. KRISHNA POONIA (women’s discuss throw) – Krishna Poonia qualified for the London Olympic Games in discus with a gold-winning performance of 61.12 metres at the Fling throws meet in USA in Oct 2011.
2.TINTU LUKA (women’s 800 meters) – Tintu Luka qualified for the Olympics in the 800 metres at the World championships in Korea last year by making a season best of 2:00.95, and passed through the Olympic qualification standard of 2:01.30.
3.VIKAS GOWDA (men’s discuss throw) – Vikas, the 6 feet 10 inch, gangling 28-year-old, Mysore born discus thrower, qualified for the London Olympics 2012 during the world championships last year. Gowda threw the discuss 64.05 metres and achieved the olympic qualification mark of B standard which was 63 metres.
4.MAYOOKHA JOHNY (women’s triple jump) – Mayookha qualified for 2012 Olympics in triple jump, going past the London Games ‘B’ qualifying standard of 14.10m. She jumped 14.10 metres and grabbed the bronze medal at Asian Athletics Championships last year. She became the first Indian women triple jumper to cross 14m mark.
5.OM PRAKASH KARHANA (men’s shot put) – India’s top shotputter, Om Prakash Singh, threw his personal best of 20.04 metres and hence qualified for the London Olympics.
6.BABUBHAI PANOCHA & GURMEET SINGH (both 20 km walk) - With impressive performances at the 18th Dublin International Grand Prix of Race Walking, Gujarat’s Babubhai Panocha has qualified for the 20 km walk at the 2012 London Olympics along with other Indian sportsman Gurmeet Singh. National champion Gurmeet Singh clocked 1:22:05, finishing 9th in the 20km event held at Phoenix Park, Dublin Sunday. Gurmeet bettered the ‘A’ standard of Olympic qualification 1:22:30. Babushka also qualified with a B standard mark of London Olympics.
BOXING
During the World Boxing Championships in Baku last year 4 Indian boxers qualified for the London Olympics 2012.
1.VIKAS KRISHNAN - This 19 year old boxer, who won the Gold at the Asian Games in 2010, not only qualified for the Olympics, but also won the Bronze medal at the World Boxing Champonships last year, becoming the second Indian after Vijendar Singh to win the medal at World Championships. He qualified for the Olympics in 69 kg weight category.
2.JAI BHAGWAN - The 2009 Asian Championship silver medallist also qualified for the Olympics by defeating European Championship quarter-finalist and seventh seed David Joyce of Ireland in pre quarters of World Championships. He qualified in the 60 kg weight category.
3.MANOJ KUMAR - Commonwealth Games gold medallist boxer from the village of Kaithal, Manoj Kumar is all set to contribute in Olympics 2012 after he qualified in the quarter final of World boxing Championship. He qualified in the 64 kg weight category.
4.DEVENDRO SINGH - 19 year old Devendro Singh also qualified for the mega event in the 49 kg weight category. He stunned some high ranked opponents in the World Championships.
2008 Olympics games bronze medalist and 2010 Asian Games gold Medalist Vijender Singh lost in the 1st round of World Championships and hence failed to qualify for the Olympics, and 2010 CWG gold medalists Suranjoy Singh & Paramjeet Samota were also unable to make it to the Olympics in that event. It’s not over yet, they have a chance to make it to the games by qualifying through Asian championships in April, this year.
SWIMMING
So far, 2 Swimmers from India have qualified for London Olympics 2012.
1.SANDEEP SEJWAL - Indian swimmer Sandeep Sejwal qualified for the 2012 London Olympics after clocking 1:02.62 in the 100m Breaststroke event at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai in June 2011.
2.VIRDHAWAL KHADE - Top Indian swimmer Virdhawal Khade qualified for the 100m freestyle event in the 2012 London Olympics at the 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai. The Asian Games bronze medalist clocked 50.34 seconds to make the invitation cut for the quadrennial Games.
SHOOTING
Till now the maximum number of players who have qualified in the Olympics in India are from shooting; a total of 9 shooters have booked their berths for the Olympics.
1.ABHINAV BINDRA (10m air rifle) -Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games despite finishing a lowly eighth in the 10m air rifle event of the Shooting World Cup in Munich, Germany.
2.GAGAN NARANG (10m air rifle) – Khel Ratna Awardee Gagan Narang was the first Indian shooter who qualified for the London 2012, he won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Munich with an impressive score of 699.
3.RONJAN SINGH SODHI (men’s double trap) – World no 1. Ronjan Sodhi scored a total of 183 hits (144 in the qualifications, and 41 hits in the final) and won the Silver Medal in 2011 ISSF World Cup held at Beijing, China, thus earning an Olympic Quota for India. Ronjan Sodhi won the Gold medal at the 2011 ISSF World Cup held at UAE last year. Sodhi is the most promising shooter for winning the Gold medal for India.
4.SANJEEV RAJPUT (50m rifle 3 position men) – Commonwealth Games bronze winner Sanjeev Rajput became the third Indian marksman to book a berth for London Olympics after winning the gold medal at the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men Final at shooting World Cup in Changwon, Korea in april 2011.
5.HARIOM SINGH (50m rifle prone event) – Rookie shooter Hariom Singh had bagged the country’s second quota place and the first ever in the 50m rifle prone event for the London Olympics when he finished sixth at the 50th World Shooting Championship in Munich last year.
6. VIJAY KUMAR (25-metre rapid fire pistol event) – Vijay Kumar was at his firing best at the crunch as he clinched the silver medal and the Olympic quota place in the 25-metre rapid fire pistol event in the shooting World Cup in Fort Benning, US, last year.
7. RAHI SARNOBAT (25m pistol air event) – Indian shooter Rahi Sarnobat booked a berth for the 2012 London Olympics by winning a bronze in the 25m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning, in the US.
8.ANNU RAJ SINGH (10m air pistol event) – Annu Raj Singh became the fifth Indian shooter and the first girl shooter to book a berth in next year’s London Olympics after clinching the 10m Air Pistol silver medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, USA.
9.SHAGUN CHAUDHARY (women’s trap event) – The young girl from Jaipur qualified for the Olympics in the trap event in World Shotgun Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia, as she finished 4th out of 70 shooters. Shagun had got through a nerve-wracking shoot-off to make the final after a career-best 72 out of 75. By this qualification she became the 9th Indian shooter to book a place for the London Olympics.
Indian shooters have another chance to make it to the games by securing their place during the Asian Championships which will be starting from 11th Jan in Qatar.
These were the 26 players who have qualified for the London Olympics last year, but many of you might be thinking about the big players like Saina Nehwal, Marykom, Mahesh Bhupati, etc., so I would like to tell you how the Olympic Qualification work in these events.
In BADMINTON The Olympic qualification period will be between 2 May 2011 and 29 April 2012, and the Badminton World Federation rankings list, published on 3 May 2012, will be used to allocate spots. Nations can enter a total of three players. 3 quota places if 3 players are ranked 4 or above, 2 if 2 players are ranked 16 or above and otherwise one quota place till the quota contigent of 38 is filled up.
For each male player who qualifies in more than one discipline, an additional quota place in Men’s Single becomes free. If no player from one continent could qualify, the best ranked player from this continent gets a quota place.
In women’s BOXING there is only one tournament through which the boxers can enter the Olympics and that is the World Championship which will be held in May 2012 in China. The top eight boxers from different countries in each of the three weights earn Olympic places.
In TENNIS the singles events will be made up of 64 singles players, with a maximum of 4 players per National Olympic Committee (NOC). 48 athletes come from direct qualifications, based on the ITF World Computer Rankings. 2 athletes come from Tripartite Commission Invitation places. 14 athletes come from final qualification places determined by the ITF for the men’s and women’s singles events.
Also in HOCKEY, men’s and women’s teams will fight in the Olympic Qualifying tournament which will be held in New Delhi in February. The last time, the men’s hockey team were unable to qualify for this Olympics but if this year they want to make the cut, they have to really work very hard.
Edited by Rishabh Bablani.
