With only 20 days left for the Rio Summer Olympics, Indian fans will again be hoping of new heroes to emerge and bring home the prestigious Olympics medal. Four years ago, India sent their then largest contingent to London and the fans were not disappointed as India managed its best ever haul of six medals, including two silver and four bronze. The gold medal was elusive to Indians last time but hopes are pretty high off the 121-member Indian contingent who will represent India in 2016 Games.
India's biggest medal hopes would be from shooting, hockey, badminton, wrestling, tennis and archery.
In archery, the hopes of a podium finish are strongly on Deepika Kumari. The 22-year-old is immensely talented and is currently the World No.1. Deepika Kumari was seeded eighth in London, but lost in the round of 64 to Amy Oliver of Great Britain in the women’s recurve section. She will look to put the memories of London behind and bring India glory at the Grand Stage.
The resurgence of the Indian hockey team comes at a crucial time. The men's team didn't do well last time and lost all their games and finished last. Thy would surely like to make amends and the young Indian team looks ready for the Olympics challenge. The women's team qualified for the Olympics after 36 years and would have to do something special and extraordinary to have a chance of a podium finish.
Saina Nehwal and the pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa are serious medal contenders for Women's singles and doubles respectively, this time at Rio. There are high expectations of the young prodigy PV Sindhu to do well at her first Olympics.
With no Sushil Kumar this time, the hopes of a medal from wrestling will be on the shoulders of Narsingh Yadav and Yogeshwar Dutt. Babita Kumari also poses as a strong contender for a podium finish in the women's freestyle wrestling.
Sania Mirza, Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna are leading the charge for India in tennis. The 37 athletes who have qualified this time is a huge boost for India, as it has never been very famous for medals in athletics barring P.T. Usha of course. Dipa Karmakar, deserves a notable mention, who becomes the first woman gymnast to represent India at an Olympics event. She could surprise a few at Rio as Karmakar has logged the highest score on a Produnova in the world -- 15.300, which is 7.000 for difficulty, and an 8.300 for execution, making her the rarest of rare phenomenon.
The shooting team of India has experienced campaigners like Gagan Narang and Abhinav Bindra, and Indians can hope a better showing from the latter this time round.
All in all, Rio is an exciting prospect for all Indians and they would be hoping for medals from different sources too with the usual contenders and help India secure a better ranking than the 55th it managed in London. A better performance from London is on the cards and a blend of youth and experience is the strength of this contingent. Rio Olympics could just be the stepping stone for India and inspire a whole generation of Indians who aspire to represent India at the Grand Stage of Olympics.
