Top 5 contenders to win their first Olympic medal for India

It is that time again when the Latin motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” engulfs athletes the world over. While various venues across London are receiving a final coat of paint or a last loose-tile check, 81 athletes from India are suited up for what could well prove to be the nation’s most prolific show at the Summer Olympics. With a never-before haul of 3 medals in Beijing, India is expected to at least double her tally. Since, a lot of them land in London as among the best in the business in their respective disciplines, expectations have skyrocketed. Here, we look at the top 5 contenders to win their first Olympic medal for India at London 2012.

Discus throw: Vikas Gowda

Currently world’s No.1 discus thrower; he grew up in Maryland, USA and first gained prominence when he won silver at the 2005 Asian Championships in Incheon. He finished at 6^th place in both the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in 2006, which meant he was inching towards becoming a genuine medal contender. Disaster struck at Beijing 2008 as he finished 22^nd with a 60.69m throw, far below his personal best. But 2010 proved to be his best year yet, as he won bronze at the Guangzhou Asian Games and silver at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Gowda backed it up with his second Asian Championship medal at Kobe last year. In April this year, he smashed his own national record of 64.96m by achieving a 66.28m on his way to clinching gold at Norman, Oklahoma. India has reasons to pin hopes on this Mysore-born 28-year-old.

Badminton: Saina Nehwal

A brown belt in karate, this 22-year-old Indian shuttler is already considered amongst the greatest ever female athletes of the country. With 21 titles under her belt, including 5 BWF Super Series titles, Saina is one of the most feared names in the badminton circuit. Ranked 5^th in the world, she has already beaten world No.2 Wang Shixian and No.3 Li Xuerui to clinch the Swiss Open and Indonesia Open respectively this year. A Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, an Arjuna and a Padma Shri awardee, Saina will be very eager to put the quarterfinal upset of Beijing behind her as she aims to win India’s first badminton medal at the Olympics, preferably gold.

Boxing: MC Mary Kom

With Women’s Boxing finally making its debut in the Summer Olympics, India would feel it is better late than never. For, their sole representative at London will be 5-time World Champion MC Mary Kom. Although most of her success has come in the light flyweight, she had to switch to the comparatively challenging flyweight category as her usual weight category was not included in the London Olympics. Like Saina, this additional superintendent of Manipur police and mother of twins has won the Arjuna, Padma Shri and Khel Ratna. Seeded 7^th in the 2012 World Championships at Qinhuangdao, China, ‘Magnificent Mary’ reached the quarters and was just a win shy of booking her London berth. But, 2^nd seed Nicola Adams of got the better of her. However, fate smiled upon the defending champion as Adams’ win in the semifinal ensured India had a female boxer at London 2012. It might be safe to say that the Manipuri pugilist will make the most of it.

Archery: Men’s and women’s recurve teams

Recently ranked No.1 in the world and led by Commonwealth Games gold medalist Rahul Banerjee, the Indian men’s recurve team will be a force to reckon with at London. At his first international appearance in the Youth World Championship in 2004, an 18-year-old Banerjee won silver in the team event, which is the first ever world level medal for Indian archery. Since then, the team has won 5 golds 2 silvers and a bronze in World Cups. A cousin of Bhaichung Bhutia, Tarundeep Rai became the first Indian to win an individual men’s silver medal in archery at the 2010 Asian Games. Both these Arjuna awardees together with Jayanta Talukdar will aim to make their opponents quiver on their quest to win India’s first medal in archery at the Olympics.

In 2009, Deepika Kumari won gold at the 11^th World Archery Youth Championships at Ogden, USA, at the age of 15 and has not looked back since. She won golds at the 2010 Commonwealth Games recurve in both the individual and the team events. A month later, she claimed bronze with the women’s team at the Asian Games in Guangzhou. This May, the youngster from Ranchi won her first World Cup individual recurve gold when she beat Lee Sung Jin by 6 set points at Anatalya, Turkey. This helped her reach the summit of the world Women’s Recurve Archery rankings. Along with Bombayla Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro, Deepika is well poised to win more than one medal with the Women’s Recurve Team at Lord’s cricket ground in London.

Shooting: Gagan Narang and Ronjan Sodhi

The world record holder in the 10m Air Rifle with an astonishing score of 703.5, Gagan Narang will lead India’s shooting contigent at the London Olympics, despite the presence of defending World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra in the squad. Narang won 4 golds at each of the last 2 Commonwealth Games, including a perfect 600/600 score in the 10m Air Rifle in New Delhi. Backed up with 2 Asian Games silvers, he finished 9^th at Beijing after a count back to the qualification scores found him short. He is the first Indian to win World Cup golds in all 3 Olympic Rifle events. The greatest asset of this Arjuna awardee is his nerves of steel and amazing alacrity that makes him a clear favorite to bring home at least a medal.

A member of the Royal family of Sodhinagar in Ferozepur, Ronjan Sodhi is the most feared name in Men’s Doubletrap shooting in the present day. He became the only Indian shooter to win successive World Cup titles when he won at UAE in 2011. Sodhi won silvers in the doubletrap singles and pairs events at the 2010 CW Games. He went one better to clinch individual gold at the Asian Games, besides a team bronze. Despite some ordinary performances this year, Sodhi looks leaner and fitter and appears quietly confident as far as the shooting contingent’s chances are concerned. He plans to treat the Olympics as any other tournament, and if that tournament is like the World Cups in Turkey and UAE, we wont be complaining.