5 Indians who had disappointing campaigns at Olympics 2021 

The Indian contingent secured their highest ever Olympic haul of 7 medals at the 2021 Tokyo Games. Several athletes showed up and displayed terrific performances, which helped them finish on the podium.

PV Sindhu, Mirabai Chanu and Bajrang Punia were among those who lived up to their expectations and gave India medals. India's golden boy, Neeraj Chopra, brought home the country's first ever gold medal at the Olympics in athletics.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Lovlina Borgohain hustled their way past some tough competitors to finish on the podium. The men's hockey team also brought home silverware from the Summer Games after a 41-year hiatus.

'Ek India Team India' - Celebrating 100 years of our athletes at the Olympic Games. We are delighted to present the new identity of the Indian Olympic Association and #TeamIndia🇮🇳It signals our arrival on the world stage and we're ready.#EkIndiaTeamIndia pic.twitter.com/O1ClImzRgW

— Team India (@WeAreTeamIndia) August 15, 2020

However, many Indian athletes who were slated to win a medal had disappointing campaigns. In today's article, let's discuss 5 such athletes who had disappointing campaigns at Olympics 2021.

5 Indians who had disappointing campaigns in Tokyo.

# Vinesh Phogat

Vinesh Phogat came into the Olympics, ranked World No.1 in her category. She was in the form of her life, having won 4 out of 4 events this year prior to Tokyo. The whole of India had their bet on Vinesh winning gold. Unfortunately, the Indian wrestler failed to deliver. After comfortably winning the first bout against Sofia Mattson, Vinesh was set to face Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the quarterfinals.

The grappler from Belarus pinned Vinesh, inflicting a surprise defeat on the Indian. Later, Vanesa lost her semi-final bout to China's Qinyu Pang, which ended Vinesh's chance of coming back in the repechage.

# Amit Panghal

Always Amazing with #Santiago_Nieva #StrongerTogether @Olympics pic.twitter.com/FNBRJWZgaz

— Amit Panghal (@Boxerpanghal) July 21, 2021

Amit Panghal was ranked World No. 1 coming into the Olympics. Having won silver at the World Championships and Asian Championships, Panhgal was slated to finish on the podium. He was up against Colombia's Yuberjen Martinez.

The Indian boxer was outclassed by Martinez - a silver medalist from the Rio Olympics. After winning the first round, it looked like Panghal was in cruise control. However, in the next two rounds, Martinez attacked Amit without giving him an opening. The Colombian dominated Panghal and came out with a 4-1 win.

# Manu Bhaker

Manu Bhaker was considered a sure shot medal prospect ahead of the Olympics. The Indian competed in 3 events in Tokyo and the odds were in her favor to add to India's medal tally.

She looked terrific at the women's individual event, but after the pistol malfunction, her campaign was derailed. She needed an 'X' in her last shot, which she failed to deliver. After the disappointment in the individual event, she paired up with Saurabh Chaudhary for the mixed team category.

The duo had been performing brilliantly together and it looked like the coveted medal in shooting would be won by the duo. However, Manu looked off during the competition. She consistently missed the targets as the duo finished 7th in the finals. Even in the 25 M pistol tournament, Manu came out short. Manu's efforts helped her finish 15th in the event.

# Deepika Kumari

We've overcome lockdowns, made several adjustments and continued to our preparations, all in hopes of having the Indian flag fly high at #Tokyo2020.@TheJSWGroup #RuknaNahiHai 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Ql9kGu5O3V

— Deepika Kumari (@ImDeepikaK) July 27, 2021

Yet again, Deepika Kumari secured the World No. 1 status coming into the Olympics. This time, however, the archer had been in great form having done brilliantly well in World Cup events. She finished 9th in her ranking rounds and was set to compete with Pravin Jadhav in the mixed recurve event. However, the Indian duo disappointed and lost 4-0 to South Korea.

Deepika still had the individual events left. She displayed top-notch composure to win the pre-quarters and set up a quarterfinal match against An San. The Korean had just broken the Olympic record prior to her match against Deepika. In the quarterfinals, she defeated Kumari 6-0 to seal her place in the semis.

# Elavenil Valarivan

Another World No.1 who looked short of her best was Elavenil Valrivan. The Indian was touted by many as the favorite to bag a medal in shooting in Tokyo. She failed to live up to the hype and crashed out of the women's 10 M Air Rifle event ranked 16th.

She then teamed up with Divyansh Singh Panward to try and get on the podium for the mixed team event. The pair were unable to pull off anything special as they crashed out in the qualifying rounds.