A total of 119 Indians will be a part of the Indian contingent to the Rio Olympics. Its India’s most packed flight ever to Olympics and there are expectations that the athletes will at the least equal the six medals won at London 2012. This is the only month when India unites to see Indians in any other sport outside cricket. Even one medal winning news will set social media ablaze from a country that houses 17% of the world population.The Olympics performance will also be a statement on the current Narendra Modi led BJP government, if they have paid attention, to one traditionally neglected area – sports.
Here’s look at India’s brightest medal prospects and their schedule:
Shooting: Jitu Rai won gold (10m) and silver (50m) events at 2014 World Cup Maribor. Also won the gold in Commonwealth and Asian games and currently ranked world no.2. Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra, Apurvi Chandela and Heena Siddhu are other medal prospects. 39 year old Manavjit Singh Sandhu is a dark horse. India can shoot its way to glory and the National Rifle Association president, Raninder Singh, expects six medals from shooters. While that maybe a tall claim, am all excited to see our shooters. Here’s their schedule:
| SHOOTING (MEN) | EVENT | Date of Event | IST |
| Abhinav Bindra | 10 m air rifle | 8th Aug | 20:30 |
| Kynan Chenai | Skeet | 8th Aug | 23:30 |
| Mairaj Ahmad Khan | Skeet | 13th Aug | 23:30 |
| Prakash Nanjappa | 50 m pistol | 10th Aug | 20:30 |
| Gagan Narang | 10 m air rifle | 8th Aug | 20:30 |
| 50 m rifle pr | 12th Aug | 19:30 | |
| 50 m rifle 3 positions | 14th Aug | 21:30 | |
| Jitu Rai | 10 m air pist | 6th Aug | 0:00 |
| 50 m pistol | 10th Aug | 20:30 | |
| Chain Singh | 50 m rifle pr | 12th Aug | 19:30 |
| 50 m rifle 3 | p14th Aug | 21:30 | |
| Gurpreet Singh | 10 m air pist | 6th Aug | 0:00 |
| 25 m rapid f | 13th Aug | 21:00 | |
| Manavjit S Sandhu | Trap | 8th Aug | 23:30 |
| SHOOTING (WOMEN) | EVENT | Date of Event | IST |
| Apurvi Chandela | 10 m air rifle | 6th Aug | 19:00 |
| Ayonika Paul | |||
| Heena Sidhu | 10 m air pist | 7th Aug | 19:30 |
| 25 m pistol | 9th Aug | 0:00 | |
Weightlifting: After shooting, Wrestling with star men Yogeshwar Dutt (gold medallist in events world over), Narsingh Yadav (relieved to be on the flight!) and Sandeep Tomar is India’s big medal hope. All three have secured medals in Asian and Commonwealth championships in recent years. Here’s the dates to follow them.
| WRESTLING (Men) | EVENT | Date of Event | IST |
| Yogeshwar Dutt (FR) | 65 kg | 21st Aug | 18:00 |
| Narsingh P Yadav (FR) | 74 kg | 19th Aug | 18:00 |
| Sandeep Tomar (FR) | 57 kg | 19th Aug | 18:00 |
| Hardeep – GR | 98 kg | 16th Aug | 19:00 |
| Ravinder Khatri (GR) | 85 kg | 15th Aug | 19:00 |
| Sakshi Malik (FR) | 58 kg | 17th Aug | 18:00 |
| Vinesh (FR) | 48 Kg | 17th Aug | 19:00 |
| Babita Kumari (FR) | 53 kg | 18th Aug | 19:00 |
Tennis: Leander Paes all of 43 years old and in his record 7th Olympics is of massive sentimental and romantic value. I say make him sports minister for the next two decades! Playing sports minister if required – there is no fitter and better fighter example in India. The main medal hope here would be the mixed doubles pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza. Sania can just do nothing wrong and whatever she touches is turning into gold. Lets hope a gold medal beckons an illustrious and path breaking career. The dates to follow are:
| TENNIS | EVENT | Date of Event | IST |
| Rohan Bopanna | MD | 6th Aug onwards | 19:15 |
| MXD | 10th Aug onwards | 19:30 | |
| Leander Paes | MD | 6th Aug onwards | 19:15 |
| (WOMEN) | |||
| Sania Mirza | WD | 6th Aug onwards | 19:15 |
| MXD | 10th Aug onwards | 19:30 | |
| Prarthana Thombare | WD | 6th Aug onwards | 19:15 |
Hockey: By reaching the finals of the recently concluded Champions trophy 2016 and fighting till the very end (they lost in penalty shootout), the hockey team has raised expectations of the nation. The challenge at Rio will be vastly different but one that will be closely followed the most by India. We see light, after decades of darkness. Any medal will be massive tribute to wizard Mohammed Shahid who passed away last month and was an Olympic medal winner for India in 1980 – last time our hockey team climbed an Olympic podium.
| HOCKEY MEN | EVENT | Date of Event | IST |
| Men’s Team | vs Ire | 6th Aug | 19:30 |
| v Ger | 8th Aug | 19:30 | |
| v Arg | 9th Aug | 19:30 | |
| v Neth | 11th Aug | 18:30 | |
| v Can | 12th Aug | 21:00 | |
| Quarters | 14th Aug | 18:30 | |
| Semis | 16th Aug | 20:30 | |
| Finals | 18th Aug | 20:30 |
Badminton: Saina Nehwal with 22 career titles and current ranking of World no.5 is a big medal prospect. Her draw also has opponents whom she beat earlier this year, en route to winning the Australian Open. The dark horse in this discipline would be Kidambi Srikanth.
| BADMINTON (Men) | EVENT | Date of Event | IST |
| Kidambi Srikanth | 11th to 16th Aug | 16:30 | |
| Manu Attri | 11th to 16th Aug | 16:30 | |
| Sumeeth Reddy | 11th to 16th Aug | 16:30 | |
| BADMINTON (Women) | EVENT | Date of Event | IST |
| Saina Nehwal | 11th to 16th Aug | 16:30 | |
| PV Sindhu | 11th to 16th Aug | 16:30 | |
| Jwala Gutta | 11th to 16th Aug | 16:30 | |
| Ashwini Ponappa | 11th to 16th Aug | 16:30 |
Archery: Deepika Kumari, 22 years, won the silver medal in the mixed recurve event with Atanu Das during Archery World Cup 2016. She was gold medal favourite in London but was dumped out in first round. She and Atanu Das need to be followed closely.
| ARCHERY (WOMEN) | EVENT | Date of Event | IST |
| Deepika Kumari | Women’s Recurve Team | Aug-07 | 17:55 |
| Laxmi Rani Majhi | Q-Final | 22:30 | |
| Bombayla Devi | Semi-final | 0:15 | |
| Final | 1:00 | ||
| ARCHERY (MEN) | EVENT | Date of Event | IST |
| Atanu Das | Ind Recurve | Aug 8 – Elims | 17:30 |
| 23:30 | |||
| Aug -9 Elims | 17:30 | ||
| 23:30 | |||
| Aug 10 – Elims | 17:30 | ||
| 23:30 | |||
| Aug-12 | |||
| Q-Final | 23:30 | ||
| Semi-final | 0:30 | ||
| Final | 1:00 |
Boxing: The Indian pugilists have carried the Indian flag for more than a decade, winning events the world over. The wave of success has helped star Vijender Singh to be a pro boxer and at the time of writing has an enviable 7-0 knockout win loss record. At Rio, world number 3 Shiv Thapa is the big medal hope.
| BOXING (Men) | EVENT | Date of Event | IST |
| Shiv Thapa | 56 KG | 10th Aug Bout 1,2,3 | 20:00 |
| Bout 4,5, 6 | 2:00 | ||
| 11th Aug Bout 7,8,9 | 19:30 | ||
| Bout 10,11,12 | 1:30 | ||
| 14th Aug Bout 14- 16 | 20:00 | ||
| Bout 17,18,19,20 | 2:00 | ||
| 16th Aug Quart | 20:00 | ||
| Bout Quart. | 2:00 | ||
| 18th Aug Semi final | 23:00 | ||
| 20th Aug Finals | 22:45 | ||
| Manoj Kumar | 64 kg | 10th Aug Bout 1,2,3 | 20:45 |
| Bout 4,5, 6 | 2:45 | ||
| 11th Aug Bout 7,8,9 | 20:15 | ||
| Bout 10,11,12 | 2:15 | ||
| 14th Aug Bout 13- 16 | 21:15 | ||
| Bout 17,18,19,20 | 3:15 | ||
| 16th Aug Quart | 20:30 | ||
| Bout 23, 24Quart. | 2:00 | ||
| 18th Aug Semi final | 23:00 | ||
| 21st Aug Finals | 23:30 | ||
| Vikas Krishan | 75 kg | 8th Aug Bout 1,2 | 21:00 |
| Bout 3,4 | 3:00 | ||
| 9th Aug Bout 5,67,8 | 20:30 | ||
| Bout 9,10,11,12 | 2:30 | ||
| 12th Aug Bout 13- 15 | 21:30 | ||
| Bout 16,17,18,19,20 | 3:00 | ||
| 15th Aug Bout 21,22 | 20:30 | ||
| Bout 23, 24 | 3:15 | ||
| 18th Aug Semi final | 23:30 | ||
| 20th Aug Finals | 23:30 | ||
Other hopefuls: Anirban Lahiri (golf), Dipa Karmakar (Gymnastics) and Tintu Luka (Athletics) are the others to keep an eye on.
All the best and Jai Hind!
Source: Schedule from http://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-sports/full-schedule-indians-at-rio-olympics/article8929234.ece
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