The 28th edition of the modern Olympic Games that is set to commence on the 5 August 2016 in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro and will witness the largest Indian contingent ever to compete for glory. It’s a combination of the relentless efforts put in by our talented athletes and some visionary programs undertaken by various foundations that sees the strength of our Olympic-bound outfit leaping to as high as 98, just eight years after the count had sunk to 56 in Beijing 2008.
With India taking steady strides towards a maiden double-digit medal tally at the Olympics, their belief has been reinforced by the improved faring over the past two editions –successive single-medal outcomes in 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens gave way to three podium finishes at Beijing 2008 and six in London 2012. Leading the brigade out into the middle at Rio’s Maracana Stadium on the opening day of the 2016 Games will be flag-bearer Abhinav Bindra.
Here’s a look at every Indian sportsperson to have qualified for Rio Olympics 2016:
#1 Archery
Four Indian archers have booked their respective spots in the Rio Olympics 2016.
Atanu Das – The top-ranked Indian Atanu Das will compete in Rio after getting selected ahead of Mangal Singh Champia, a holder of 4 Archery World Cup Team Golds.
Deepika Kumari – Currently ranked No. 5 in the world, this former World No. 1 is right up there amongst the biggest Indian names likely to fetch a medal, given her participation in both the Individual and the team events. Rio will be Deepika’s second Olympics after a disappointing London 2012.
Laxmirani Majhi – She is part of the trio that won a silver medal at the Archery World Championships which was held in Copenhagen in August, and she will compete in Rio as part of the same trio.
Bombayla Devi – The final member of the medal-winning trio, she will join Kumari and Majhi in Rio.
#2 Athletics
With 10 men and 9 women to participate in Rio, India’s Athletics squad is the largest unit of individual Olympians this time.
Men
Inderjeet Singh [Shot Put] – He qualified for the Olympics after winning the gold in Shotput at the Federation Cup in Mangalore.
Vikas Gowda [Discus Throw] – He has qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics after the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) lowered the entry standards for athletes in order to have more of them participate in the track and field events during the games.
Men’s 20km walk will feature three Indians:
Gurmeet Singh – was first to qualify after winning Asian 20km Race Walk Championships.
Baljinder Singh – will be looking to improve on his 1:25.39 timing of London 2012.
Irfan Kolothum Thodi – The army-man had clocked an impressive 1:20.21 at London 2012, finishing just a minute and 35 seconds behind the winner Ding Chen of China.
Sandeep Kumar – He will participate in the men’s 50km walk.
Manish Singh Rawat– He will also participate in the men’s 50km walk.
Nitender Singh Rawat [Marathon] – Rawat booked a spot for Rio 2016 at the Mumbai Marathon earlier this year.
Thonakal Gopi [Marathon] – Like Nitender, Gopi T also qualified for Rio 2016 at the Mumbai Marathon.
Kheta Ram [Marathon] – He was the third marathoner to book a Rio 2016 spot at the Mumbai Marathon.
Muhammad Anas – He will be competing in the men’s 400m race.
Ankit Sharma- Ankit made the cut in the Long Jump event.
Renjith Maheswary [Triple-jump]- Booked Olympics berth with thehelp of a naional record breaking performance during the 4th Indian Grand Prix, in Bangalore.
Dharambir Singh [200m race]-He is is first Indian to qualify for the Olympics in the 200m race category in 36 years.
Jinson Johnson [800m race]-He made a cut to the Olympics clocking 1:45:98 during the Indian Grand Prix
Men's Team [4*400m]- Participants: Kunhu Muhammad, Muhammad Anas, Ayyasamy Dharun and Arokia Rajiv
Women
Seema Antil [Discus Throw] – She won the gold medal at the Young Thrower’s Classic in Calfornia last month after convincing 62.62m throw that exceeded the Olympic qualification mark of 61m by a fair margin.
Manpreet Kaur – India found a second contender for a medal in the shot-put event in the form of Manpreet Kaur who qualified for the Games, after winning gold at the National Open Athletics Championships in Kolkata last September.
Lalita Babar – She made the cut courtesy a gold in the 3000m steeplechase event at the Asian Athletics Championships in June.
Tintu Luka – Tintu Luka qualified for the Rio Olympics in the women’s 800m event by virtue of a 2:00.95-minute finish at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing that broke the cutoff mark of 2:01.00 by 5/100th of a second.
Kavita Raut – She won the women’s marathon event at the 12th South Asian Games this February, thereby booking her berth for the 2016 Rio Olympics after recording a time of 2:30:38 which was well within the Rio qualification mark of 2:42:00.
Sudha Singh – She won the silver medal at the 3000m steeplechase event at the Federation Cup in New Delhi in April 2016 to secure a berth at the Rio 2016 Olympics. She will also feature in the marathon team, joining Babar and Jaisha
OP Jaisha – She will feature in the marathon team.
Khushbir Kaur – India will have a sizeable contingent in the walk event with Khushbir Kaur featuring in the women’s 20km walk.
Sapna Punia – will join Khushbir in the 20km walk for India.
Dutee Chand – She will be the first sprinter after PT Usha to participate in the women’s 100m race.
Srabani Nanda- She made it through in the Women’s 200m event.
Nirmala Sheoran [400m category]- She qualified for the Olympics in the 400m category with a timing of timing of 51.48 seconds at the 56th National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship in Hyderabad.
Women’s Team [4*400m]- Participants: Ashwini Aakunji,Anu Raghavan, M.R.Poovamma and Anilda Thomas.
#3 Badminton
Saina Nehwal – After finishing in the eighth position in the BWF Rankings, London 2012 bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal confirmed her place for Rio 2016, which now will be the third Olympics of her career.
PV Sindhu – Joining the 2012 London Olympics bronze medalist will be PV Sindhu, who finished in 10th place at the end of the qualification period and will now head to Rio to compete in her maiden Olympics.
Kidambi Srikanth – Joining Sindhu in making his Olympics debut will be Kidambi Srikanth, who in the absence of the experienced Parupalli Kashyap will carry the Indian hopes in the men’s singles category. The 22-year-old finished as World No.12 on the final day of qualification.
Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy – Two other players who will be making their debut appearance at the Olympics will be Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy, who will lead the Indian Men’s doubles charge at the event.
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa – The experienced pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will also travel to Rio and will, along with Saina, be India’s biggest hopes for a medal. They will be hoping to get some valuable points in the upcoming competitions in order to rise up the rankings and thereby get an easier draw at the Games.
#4 Boxing
Shiva Thapa [Bantamweight – 56kg] – Four years back, Shiva Thapa became the youngest Indian boxer to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. As the first Indian boxer to have booked his Rio berth, today, he is among the country’s best medal prospects headed for the 2016 Olympics in August.
Manoj Kumar – The 29-year-old Haryanvi pugilist made the cut after defeating Tajikistan’s Rakhimov Shavkatdzhon in the 64kg category at AIBA’s final qualifying tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Vikas Krishan – The Bhiwani-boxer, too, sealed his Olympic 2016 place in the 75kg category from the last leg of qualifiers held in Baku, when he downed Dongyun Lee of South Korea with a resounding 3-0 result.
#5 Hockey
Hockey India have rid themselves of the unwelcome ‘minnows’ tag over the preceding few years, and with the latest silver medal at the prestigious FIH Champions Trophy 2016, they are now a formidable force that can give any national side a run for their money in the international arena.
The men’s team holds some unassailable Olympic records that have stood the test of time, and when they hit rock-bottom by missing out on a Beijing 2008 berth, a rebuilding process was initiated which has culminated in today’s status. Ranked 7th by the FIH, coach Roelant Oltmans’ confident side will chase a coveted podium finish in Rio, led by charismatic skipper PR Sreejesh.
Full Squad: PR Sreejesh (GK), Rupinder Pal Singh, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, VR Raghunath, SK Uthappa, Devinder Walmiki, Manpreet Singh Chinglansana Singh, Sardar Singh, SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Nikkin Thimmaiah and Ramandeep Singh.
For the Indian eves, it’s a different scenario altogether. India’s women’s hockey team booked a place in the Olympics for only the 2nd time in history, and it’s happened after a long wait of 36 years since they made the cut in Moscow 1980. With Neil Hawgood at the helm today, we are eager to see a fine show by the spirited women’s team led by Sushila Chanu at Rio.
Full Squad: Savita Punia (GK) , Sunita Lakra, Sushila Chanu (C) , Deep Grace Ekka, Namita Toppo, Deepika Thakur, Monika, Navjot Kaur, Renuka Yadav, Anuradha Devi Thokchom, Nikki Pradhan, Poonam Rani, Vandana Kataria, Rani Rampal, Preeti Dubey, Lilima Minz.
#6 Gymnastics
18 April 2016 will go down history as the day India found its first ever female representative to compete in Gymnastics in the 22-year-old Dipa Karmakar.
The Tripura-born gymnast booked her spot for Rio 2016 after accumulating a total of 52.698 points in the three events combined at the final qualifying event which was held in the host nation earlier this year.
In a career as long as just under a decade, Dipa has scaled unprecedented heights and stacked numerous records for Indian sports and will certainly be a dark horse for a medal finish at Rio 2016, come August.
#7 Judo
24-year-old Avtar Singh bagged the continental quota in the 90kg category of the event by virtue of his consistent praiseworthy performances that fetched 182 valuable points and put him ahead in contention for the coveted Olympic seat with a world ranking of 79. Like Garima Chaudhary in London 2012, Avtar will be the Indian judoka to feature in the Rio Games.
#8 Rowing
24-year-old Armyman Dattu Bhokanal won silver in the finals of the men’s single sculls at the 2016 FISA Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta at Chung-ju in South Korea to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio.
In 2015, Bhokanal had won silver at the Asian Rowing Championship in China in 2015. Bhokanal’s spot at the qualifying event had happened as a result of a back injury that ruled out another top Indian rower Swarn Singh.
Having overcome the first hurdle, Bhokanal is now hopeful of winning an eagerly awaited medal for the country in Rio.
#9 Shooting
A total of 12 shooters have made the cut to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janerio. Here’s the team that will travel to Rio:
Jitu Rai – Having been ranked World No. 1 in 2014, he won gold at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in the 50m Air Pistol event and has sealed a spot in that same event for the Olympics.
Apurvi Chandela – The 23-year-old won 10m Air Rifle silver at the ISSF World Cup final in Munich last year, and made the cut courtesy her bronze medal win at the World Cup in Changwon in early 2015.
Gagan Narang – The first Indian medallist at London 2012 in the 10m Air Rifle event, Olympic bronze holder Gagan Narang booked a berth at the 2016 Summer Games by winning the bronze at the Fort Benning World Cup last May.
Abhinav Bindra – The 2008 Olympic gold medalist booked a quota place courtesy his 6th place finish in the 10m Air Rifle final at the Munich World Cup in May 2015.
Gurpreet Singh – He earned a quota in the 10m Air Pistol category, a day after missing the berth in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol category.
Prakash Nanjappa – He booked a spot in the Olympics as well as the final World Cup of the year at Gabala in the 50m pistol event.
Chain Singh – He booked a spot in the Olympics as well at the final World Cup of the year at Gabala in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.
Mairaj Ahmed Khan – He sealed a spot for Rio 2016 at the Lonato Shotgun Championships.
Heena Sidhu – The 26-year-old booked a quota in the 10m Air Pistol event at the Asian Shooting qualifier in New Delhi.
Kynan Chenai – Chenai became India's 1st trap shooter to book a quota for Rio 2016, at the Asian Shooting qualifier in New Delhi.
Ayonika Paul – Joining Chandela in the women's 10m Air Rifle will be Ayonika Paul, who also booked a quota at the Asian qualifiers in New Delhi.
Manavjit Singh Sandhu – The trap shooter was picked ahead of Sanjeev Rajput in the Men’s trap event to lend more experience to the team.
#10 Table Tennis
Achanta Sharath Kamal- The paddler booked a Rio 2016 berth at the Asian Olympic qualification event in Hong Kong in April.
Manika Batra- The Indian progressed through to Rio 2016 in the same competition as Sharath Kamal and will take part in her maiden Olympics in August.
Soumyajit Ghosh- He was India’s youngest participant at the London Olympics and will now head to Rio to take part in his second Games. He too qualified in the same event as Kamal and Batra.
Mouma Das – Joining Batra in the Women’s Singles will be Mouma Das, who also qualified for her second Olympics in Hong Kong.
#11 Tennis
After a long drawn debacle involving the eligible players, their preferences and the country’s best interests, All India Tennis Association's selection committee finally announced the respective doubles teams for each discipline earlier this month. The duos named are as below:
Rohan Bopanna – Bopanna secured a direct entry into Rio 2016 by virtue of his top-ten ATP ranking and will participate in both the Men’s Doubles & Mixed Doubles events.
Leander Paes – Appearing at the Olympics for a record 7th time this year, 1996 Atlanta bronze winner Leander will partner Rohan Bopanna in Men’s Doubles.
Sania Mirza – The World No. 1 player in Women’s Doubles today, Sania will be joined by Prarthana Thombare in her favourite discipline and Rohan Bopanna in Mixed Doubles at Rio.
Prarthana Thombare – 22-year-old Prarthana has a 131-77 career record in Women’s Doubles, the event she’ll partner Sania Mirza in at Rio under the Indian flag.
#12 Weightlifting
Since India had earned two quota Olympic berths by virtue of their overall performance at the Senior Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan earlier this year, it was up to the governing bodies to pick the most befitting candidates – each in men’s and women’s weightlifting. At the end of the selection trials conducted by Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) in Patiala this month, India finally had its two best candidates for the weightlifting competition in Rio 2016.
Sivalingam Sathish Kumar – Men’s 77kg – Sathish holds a Commonwealth gold medal from Glasgow 2014 and will look to embellish his medal cabinet with one from the Olympics this year.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu – Women’s 48kg – The Manipur-girl smashed the previous Indian best lift of 190 kg by scoring a commendable 192, which is now the standing national record, in the qualifying event this month.
#13 Wrestling
Narsingh Pancham Yadav – Narsingh Yadav booked a quota at the World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas last year in the 74kg category.
Yogeshwar Dutt – Dutt became the second Indian wrestler to book a quota for Rio in the 65kg Free Style category at the Asian Olympic qualifier in Astana in Kazakhstan.
Hardeep Singh – Hardeep became the third grappler to book a quota at the same event in the 98kg Greco-Roman category at the Asian Olympic qualifier in Astana in Kazakhstan.
Sandeep Tomar – Sandeep booked a quota for Rio 2016 last month at the World qualifying event in Ulaanbaatar in the 57kg category.
Ravinder Khatri- Qualified for Rio after his opponent Zhanabek KenZheev was found guilty of testing positive in the 85kg category.
Vinesh Phogat – In the final qualification event, Vinesh Phogat booked the quota in the 48kg category in the final qualifying event in Istanbul.
Sakshi Malik – Joining Phogat for Rio will be Sakshi Malik, who booked her quota on the second last day in the 58kg category in the last qualifying event in Istanbul.
Babita Kumari- She got the quota after her opponent Sumiya Erdenechimeg was found guilty of testing positive in the 53kg category.
#14 GOLF
Anirban Lahiri- He is winner of seven Interntional tournaments, he currently the no.1 golfer in Asia (World Ranking : 62)
SSP Chawrasia- The reigning Indian Open Champion, he is currently placed 207 in the word rankings.
Aditi Ashok-Amateur turned pro eighteen-year-old girl from Bengaluru bacame the 58th women to qualify for the Olympics.
#15 Swimming
Sajan Prakash [200m butterfly]- Became the first Indian to complete the event under two minutes in Hong-Kong earlier this month.
Shivani Katariya [200m freestyle]- The eighteen-year old girl from Haryana will be the first Indian woman to participate in swimming since the Athens Olympics.
