5 Indian athletes whose strength will be crucial to their medal hopes

Vikas Gowda

Vikas Gowda is one of the most experienced Indian athletes at Rio 2016, and will be looking to make the maximum use of his knowledge and training to convert his good performances into a medal finish.

Having finished 8th at London 2012 in the discus throw after having qualified for the Finals in 5th position, Gowda would be expecting to do better this time around and will be attempting to get into the top 3.

Vikas, who won Gold at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2015, and has won Silver at the 2014 Asian Games, in addition to Gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, is India’s best bet in athletics at the Games.

He suffered a minor shoulder injury in the run-up to Rio, but should be fit to perform in time for his event, scheduled for the 12th of August.

The onus will be on him to show the mental strength necessary to overcome any confidence barrier that exists so that he can forget about his shoulder injury and hurl the discus with the maximum force he can.