Tokyo Olympics: With under 100 days left, will India secure a century of berths at the Games?

While the world is trying to tamp down the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 100-day countdown to the Tokyo Olympics has well and truly begun. As the clock ticks, the world is gearing up to see what this year’s Olympics will bring.

The Indian contingent will eye a historic medal haul when the pandemic-postponed Olympics get underway with the opening ceremony at the Olympic stadium in Tokyo on July 23. Never before in the history of India has it sent a contingent to the Olympics with so many medal prospects.

A sizeable number of competitors have already confirmed their Tokyo berths, with the likes of boxing icon Mary Kom and shooting prodigy Saurabh Chaudhary set to grace the big stage in about 100 days. With the exception of a handful of sports where athletes have qualified before March 2020, most qualifying events will continue through the end of June this year.

Indian boxer Mary Kom heads into Tokyo Olympics as potential medalist.

About 86 Indian athletes have already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, with many more in contention to secure quotas. The country is eyeing its first-ever double-digit medal haul this year. It is anticipated that India will secure a century of berths as the countdown to the Tokyo Olympics continues.

Tokyo Olympics: India earned the maximum quotas in shooting, athletics, boxing, & wrestling

A strong 15-member Indian shooting squad has already made it to Tokyo against the odds. The country's shooters have secured the maximum number of Olympic quotas this year.

A total of 11 Indian track and field quotas have been secured, and most athletes will decide their Olympic berths by June. If things go as planned, this year's Tokyo Games could be the best-ever Olympics in the history of Indian athletics. Neeraj Chopra and KT Irfan are among a new crop of athletes who are re-igniting India's hopes for a podium finish at the Tokyo Olympics.

Neeraj Chopra has raised India's hopes of a podium finish in athletics at Tokyo Olympics.

India has secured an unprecedented tally of nine quotas in boxing at the Asia Oceania Olympic qualifiers held last year.

The past few years have seen India reaching its peak of glory in wrestling. With as many as six Olympic berths, wrestlers look well-equipped to mount a tough challenge in Tokyo.

Shooting

Men’s:

• Divyansh Singh Panwar - 10m Air Rifle
• Deepak Kumar - 10m Air Rifle
• Sanjeev Rajput - 50m Rifle 3 Position
• Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar - 50m Rifle 3 Position
• Saurabh Chaudhary - 10m Air Pistol, Mixed 10m Air Pistol
• Abhishek Verma - 10m Air Pistol
• Angad Veer Singh Bajwa - Men’s Skeet
• Mairaj Ahmad Khan - Men’s Skeet

Women’s:

• Anjum Moudgil, 10m Air Rifle
• Apurvi Chandela, 10m Air Rifle
• Tejaswini Sawant, 50m Rifle 3 Position
• Manu Bhaker, 10m Air Pistol, 25m Pistol, Mixed 10m Air Pistol
• Yashaswini Singh Deswal, 10m Air Pistol
• Rahi Sarnobat, 25m Pistol
• Elavenil Valarivan, 25m Pistol

Athletics

Men’s:

• KT Irfan - 20km race walking
• Sandeep Kumar - 20km race walking
• Rahul - 20km race walking
• Avinash Sable - 3000m Steeplechase
• Neeraj Chopra - Javelin throw
• Shivpal Singh - Javelin throw

Women’s:

• Bhawna Jat - 20km race walking
• Priyanka Goswami - 20km race walking
• 4x400 Mixed Relay Team of Muhammed Anas, Vismaya, Krishna Mathew and Noah Nirmal

Boxing

Men's:

• Vikas Krishan - 69kg
• Ashish Kumar - 75kg
• Satish Kumar - 91kg
• Amit Panghal - 52kg
• Manish Kaushik - 63kg

Women’s:

• Lovlina Borgohain - 69kg
• Pooja Rani - 75kg
• Mary Kom - 51kg
• Simranjit Kaur - 60kg

Wrestling

Men’s:

• Bajrang Punia - Freestyle 65 kg
• Ravi Kumar Dahiya - Freestyle 57 kg
• Deepak Punia - Freestyle 86 kg

Women’s:

• Vinesh Phogat - Freestyle 53 kg
• Anshu Malik - Freestyle 57kg
• Sonam Malik - Freestyle 62kg

Many congratulations to 19 year-old #AnshuMalik who has won a #Tokyo2020 quota in women’s 57 kg after a dominant display to reach the final of the Asian Olympic Qualifiers. She will play for gold later today.#RoadToTokyo pic.twitter.com/uIzK6vzNSH

— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) April 10, 2021

Table tennis & Archery - 4 quotas & 1 team quota, Hockey - 2 team quotas

A slice of good fortune at the Asian qualifiers last month saw Indian table tennis bag four individual quotas and one team quota for the Tokyo Olympics. Looking at India's seamless upward trajectory in the sport, the star paddlers will have a real shot at a podium finish in Tokyo.

Meanwhile, five quotas should represent the Indian archery juggernaut in good stead ahead of the quadrennial event.

Archer Deepika Kumari heads into Tokyo Olympics as potential medalist for India

Deepika Kumari will be one of India's prime medal contenders at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Indian men's and women's hockey teams sealed a berth each for the Tokyo Olympics with their commanding wins at the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers in November 2019.

Table Tennis

• G. Sathiyan
• Sharath Kamal
• Sutirtha Mukherjee
• Manika Batra
• Mixed doubles pair of Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal

Archery

Men's

• Tarundeep Rai - Recurve
• Atanu Das - Recurve
• Pravin Jadhav - Recurve
• The men’s trio of Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das, and Pravin Jadhav

Women's:

• Deepika Kumari - Recurve

Hockey

• Women's national team
• Men's national team

Lesser-known sports where India has earned Olympic berths

In a historic first, India will compete in three sailing events at the Olympics this year. World Cup bronze medalist Nethra Kumanan was the first Indian female sailor to qualify for the quadrennial event.

Tamil Nadu's Bhavani Devi shot to fame after becoming the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics. She sealed an Olympic quota through the Adjusted Official Ranking (AOR) method at the Budapest Sabre World Cup last month.

Double Asian Games medalist Fouaad Mirza became the first Indian to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in equestrian.

Sailing

• Nethra Kumanan
• Vishnu Saravanan
• Pair of KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar

Fencing

• Bhavani Devi

Equestrian

• Fouaad Mirza

In which events is India likely to qualify for Tokyo Olympics?

The 🇮🇳 Taekwondo & Para-Taekwondo 🥋 squad is gearing up to book a #TicketToTokyo beginning 15 April. Watch this space for more updates!#RoadToTokyo #IndianSports pic.twitter.com/dyqKecXlIK

— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) April 7, 2021

Big names yet to qualify

Athletics: Dutee Chand, Hima Das, Muhammed Anas, S. Dhanalakshmi, 4*100m women's relay / 4*400m men's relay

Badminton: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, Sai Praneeth, doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu, Jeremy Lalrinnunga

Tennis: Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Sania Mirza, Divij Sharan