India's women athletes for Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo Olympics will see a good change of trend for India, a country of over a billion people, which has not fared too well at Games in recent times. A big reason for that has been the lack of participation in Olympic sports at the grassroots level.

Only a handful of athletes have been able to train with adequate support and facilities and win medals for India. And when it comes to women's participation and wins, it gets worse.

Only five women have managed to secure Olympic medals for India: Karnam Malleshwari (Sydney 2000), Mary Kom (London 2012), Saina Nehwal (London 2012), PV Sindhu (Rio 2016), Sakshi Malik (Rio 2016).

🇮🇳 On The Rise🔥🔥🔥The Indian Playing Contingent for the #TokyoOlympics has set a new #record, surpassing the 117 who represented India at the Rio @Olympics Come on, let's #Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/Ck2S8lcZhi
— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) July 6, 2021

Expand Tweet

However, over the past few years, more women have started taking up sports in the country. This is evident from the fact that of the 127 athletes headed for the Tokyo Olympics, 55 are women. Though the split between the sexes is still not even, it's a step in the right direction.

In this article, we look at India's women athletes headed to the Tokyo Olympics and where they come from.

Athletics:

Kamalpreet Kaur - Women's Discus Throw - Punjab

Dutee Chand - Women's 100m and 200m - Odisha

Priyanka Goswami - Women's 20km Race Walk - Uttar Pradesh

Bhawna Jat - Women's 20km Race Walk - Rajasthan

Annu Rani - Women's Javelin Throw - Uttar Pradesh

Seema Punia - Women's Discus Throw - Haryana

Revathi Veeramani - 4x400m Mixed Relay - Tamil Nadu

Subha Venkatesan - 4x400m Mixed Relay - Tamil Nadu

Dhanalakshmi Sekar - 4x400m Mixed Relay - Tamil Nadu

Archery:

Deepika Kumari - Women's individual and mixed team - Jharkhand

Shooting:

Apurvi Chandela - 10m Air Rifle Individual - Rajasthan

Elavenil Valarivan - 10m Air Rifle Individual, Mixed Team - Tamil Nadu

Manu Bhaker - 10m Air Pistol Individual, Mixed Team, 25m Pistol Individual - Haryana

Yashaswini Singh Deswal - 10m Air Pistol Individual, Mixed Team - Haryana

Rahi Sarnobat - 25m Pistol Individual - Maharashtra

Anjum Moudgil - 50m Rifle 3 Positions Individual, 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team - Chandigarh

Tejaswini Sawant - 50m Rifle 3 Positions Individual - Maharashtra

Badminton:

PV Sindhu - Women's Singles - Telangana

Also read: Analyzing PV Sindhu's chances of securing a Tokyo Olympic berth

Boxing:

MC Mary Kom - Women's Flyweight - Manipur

Simranjit Kaur - Women's Lightweight - Punjab

Lovlina Borgohain - Women's Welterweight - Assam

Pooja Rani - Women's Middleweight - Haryana

Wrestling:

Vinesh Phogat - Women's 53 kg - Haryana

Anshu Malik - Women's 57 kg - Haryana

Seema Bisla - Women's 50 kg - Haryana

Sonam Malik - Women's 62 kg - Haryana

Table Tennis:

Manika Batra - Women's Singles, Mixed Doubles - New Delhi

Sutirtha Mukherjee - Women's Singles - West Bengal

Also read: Can Manika Batra make India proud at Tokyo Olympics?

Swimming:

Maana Patel - Women's 100m Backstroke - Gujarat

Tennis

Sania Mirza - Women's Doubles - Telangana

Ankita Raina - Women's Doubles - Gujarat

Sailing:

Nethra Kumanan - Women's Laser Radial - Tamil Nadu

Weightlifting

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu - Women's 49 kg - Manipur

Weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu on her last day of training in USA before departing for #Tokyo2020 We wish her the very best as she gets set to participate in her 2nd Olympics with her event on 24th July. #Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/p9HCwaKt1i
— PIB in Tripura (@PIBAgartala) July 15, 2021