With just a few days left for the biggest sporting spectacle of all, expectations of bettering our London mark has been gradually rising. Six medals across four sports and six disciplines were by no means bad for India in the last Olympics.
The Indian contingent for Rio 2016 includes world champions (current and former), world record holders, Olympic medalists and medal hopefuls. There is a possibility of us touching the double-digit mark at the end of the tournament.
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So, here is a quick list of amazing records achieved by 12 athletes since the London Games:
Sandeep Tomar
Wrestling: Continental Ranking - 1 and World Number - 4
The 24-year-old wrestler, who hails from Malakpur village in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh is the reigning Asian Champion in the 57-kg category. He got the better of Ukraine's Andriy Yatsenko, a two-time cadet World Champion to bag a bronze medal in the Mongolia Olympic Qualifiers this April and ensured an Olympic berth for the country in Rio.
Sandeep's feat is hugely noteworthy as he became the fourth wrestler to book a berth for the Rio Games after Yogeshwar Dutt, Narsingh Yadav, and Hardeep Singh. Not long ago, the Indian Navy sailor won a gold medal at the 2016 Asian Championship and would like to carry on his tremendous form to the Summer Games.
Sudha Singh
3000m Steeplechase: Three consecutive silver medals in Asian Athletics Championship
Marathon runner Sudha Singh has been a consistent performer in steeplechase events since 2010 when she clinched a gold medal in Guangzhou, China.
The Mumbai-based Central Railway employee Sudha first grabbed a silver medal in the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships and followed it up with two more in 2011 and 2013.She is also the winner of Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2014 in the Half Marathon category and was the Runner-up at Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in 2014.
She secured an Olympic slot after finishing second in the 3000m steeplechase event at the 2016 Federation Cup in Delhi. A month later, she made a new Indian NR in the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) Diamond League Meet in Shanghai.
Hardeep Singh
Wrestling: First Indian Greco-Roman grappler to win an Olympic berth in the heavyweight category
Hardeep Singh surprised everyone when he secured a Rio Olympics 2016 berth in the Greco-Roman wrestling. This is the first time after 2004 that an Indian Greco-Roman grappler will be participating after the 2004 Athens Games. Before Hardeep, India never had Greco-Roman heavyweight representation in Olympics.
Hardeep, who belongs to Dohla village in Jind, Haryana, earned the quota at the first Asian Olympic qualifying tournament in Astana in March. He crushed Kazakhstan’s Margulan Assembekov 10-2 in a lop-sided semi-final bout to earn the spot.
Seema Punia
Discuss Throw: Defeated 2008 Olympic champion and qualified for Rio Games
Seema Punia got the better of Stephanie Brown Trafton with a 62.62m effort to win the gold medal at the Pat Young Throwers Classic in California.
The 2014 Asian Games champion’s throw was more than a metre ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games qualification mark of 61 metres. Stephanie won the Silver with a throw of 60.50 metres.
Hailing from Sonepat, Haryana, this will be Punia's third Olympics after participating in 2004 and 2012.
Vinesh Phogat
Wrestling: 6 medals in last 7 competitions
Vinesh Phogat is India's brightest medal prospect at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Grown up in Haryana, the cousin of India's first women wrestler Geeta Phogat, announced her arrivalon the world stage by clinching bronze at the Asian Wrestling Championships in 2013.
The reigning Commonwealth Games champion wrestles in the 48-kg category and has put up some world-class performances in recent years.
After being disqualified for being 400 gms overweight in the penultimate Olympic qualifying tournament held in Mongolia, the 21-year-old won a gold medal in the last qualifying tournament to book a place at the Olympics in Istanbul, Turkey.
Lalita Babar
3000m steeplechase: Had the fastest time in the world last year - 9:27.09
The Asian champion Babar clocked 9:34.13 and broke her own personal record, the National record and the Championships record at 2015 Asian Championships in Wuhan, China. In the process, she qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Two months later, she ran an internationally-competitive 9:27:86, making her the first Indian woman to ever qualify for a World Championship final in Beijing. The 26-year old finished eighth in the finals last year.
If she wins a medal, it would be a big underdog story and it would be India's first ever track and field medal.
Narsingh Yadav
Wrestling: Hasn’t finished below 5th position in the last 22 months.
Narsingh Yadav became a household name in India after he was picked ahead of Sushil Kumar in the Summer Games. Both the Wrestling Federation of India and Delhi High Court decided that he is indeed the rightful representative in this Games.
But before all the stormy battles in court, the Mumbai-based grappler etched his name in wrestling history after becoming the first Indian to qualify for the Olympics with a medal win in the World Championships. Narsingh, who participates in the 74 kg category has competed in 9 tournaments since London 2012 and managed a top-5 finish in every tournament.
Also Read: Narsingh Yadav doesn't want a 'fair' trial with Sushil Kumar and his reasoning makes complete sense
The most-talked about wrestler in the entire Indian contingent was unbeaten in the Pro-Wrestling League and that is exactly why he is touted as one of our medal prospects in this Games.
Deepika Kumari
Archery: Current World Record holder in the women's recurve event
The face of Indian archery, Deepika Kumari is India's highest ranked recurve archer. She holds the current World Record after equalling South Korea Ko Boe Bae's score of 686 out of 720 in the 72-ranking arrow round at the Archery World Cup.
The 21-year-old entered the 2012 London Olympics as the top seed but lost in the first round. She will be competing in Rio in the individual event as well as the team event with Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi.
All she needs is some luck and the ability to conquer the big stage demons.
Dutee Chand
100m race: First sprinter after PT Usha to qualify in 36 years
The 20-year-old sprinter from Odisha scripted a fairytale comeback after qualifying for the Rio Summer Games. She ran the 100 meters at an international meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 11.24 seconds, well under the Olympic qualifying standard of 11.32 seconds before bettering that for the silver and a place in Brazil. Before that she clocked 11.33 seconds and broke the 16-year-old national record of 11.38 seconds in the 2016 Federation Cup.
But her journey was not smooth. Days before the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the ace sprinter was found to have 'hyperandrogenism' and was banned from racing. However, Dutee who won a landmark 'gender case' the next year and charted her comeback.
Eyes on Rio, she has a long career to look forward to.
Jitu Rai
Shooting: World No. 1 pistol shooter
Jitu Rai is one of the brightest prospects of this medal. He achieved his career best ranking of number 4 in 50m pistol event in the world in July 2014. The current World No. 1 in the 50m air pistol who rose to the top spot for the second time now holds the No. 7 ranking in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol.
In 2014, he scaled new peaks by winning the gold medal in both Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. Last week, he pipped three-time Olympic champion Jongoh Jin of Korea to claim his sixth World Cup medal and the second this year after winning one in Bangkok.
Yogeshwar Dutt
Wrestling: Five gold medals in five years
Star wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt has continued to put up a dominating show since London winning five gold medals in his last five tournaments. The 2012 Olympics bronze medalist secured a quota place for India at the Asian Olympic Qualification tournament in Asia.
Dutt, who is famous for ankle clutching hold and double leg tackle will be going all out for that elusive gold. Rio 2016 will be Yogeshwar's 4th Olympics. He will participate in the 65 kg freestyle event.
Dipa Karmakar
Gymnastics: First female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics.
Looks like there is nothing an Indian woman can’t do. Dipa Karmakar proved that after becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympics.
The 22-year-old scored an outstanding score of 52.698 points in the Olympics qualifying test event and became the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the event after a gap of 52 long years.
Can she go from a qualifier to a medallist?
