Tokyo 2020 - What can we expect from our athletes in terms of medals - Part 1

 

Following up on my earlier post on India's participation at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, this is the first part of what to expect from our athletes 

Let us start with Athletics - Sadly some of them are awfully out of form like Dutee Chand (was consistently beaten by Dhanalakshmi), KT Irfan (who was the first to qualify for Olympics in Athletics). We have an outside chance of making the finals in 4*400 mixed relay, other than that no one else in track events will progress beyond the initial round.  Our best chances are in the field events where Neeraj Chopra should be our best bet of winning the first athletics Olympic medal. I strongly feel that he can finish 3rd. I also feel that M Shreeshankar might make it to the finals in the Long Jump. Anyone else making the finals or walkers finishing in top 10 should be the considered bonus. Medals possible - 1

Badminton - Sindhu and Sai Praneeth both have an easy group stage and should ideally qualify for the knock outs. Post the pandemic both have not been great form and qualified thanks to their earlier points. I feel Sindhu and Sai will find it very difficult to get past quarters where they are likely to face Akane Yamaguchi and Kento Momota. The doubles team of Satwik and Chirag are very unlucky with their draws where they have world # 1 team in their group and will find it difficult to go beyond group stage. Medals possible - 0

Equestrian - Don't think Fouaad Mirza will have any chance to win medals. Medals possible - 0 

Fencing - We should really celebrate the fact that someone from India had taken up Fencing as a sport which has absolutely no patronage in India and qualified for the Olympics. Bhavani Devi is ranked in top 40 and don't think she will win a medal at least in this Olympics. Medals possible - 0 

Golf - Aditi has not been in any good form, Anirban himself feels lucky to have qualified given his form. Don't think Udayan will also cause any flutter. Medals possible - 0

Gymnastics - Pranati qualified through the continent quota. She won the bronze in the Asian championships. It was a surprise that she qualified and she herself was not practicising regularly till her qualification was confirmed. She was working with SAI after that to get regular practice restarted. Don't think she will make the finals. Medals possible - 0      

Judo - Sushila Likmabam also qualified thanks to the continent quota. Don't think we can expect her to go past initial rounds in the 48kg category. Medals possible - 0

Rowing - The army men Arvind and Arjun are aiming to finish in good position. Medals possible - 0

Sailing - Don't expect any medals from this highly technical sport. We should be happy if the athletes finish in good positions. Medals possible - 0

Swimming - There are 21 swimmers in the 200m Butterfly event and I feel Sajan has a good chance of making it to the semis as the top 16 make it to the semi finals. I will be very happy if Srihari also makes it to semis which seem unlikely given the highly competitive field. Same with Maana Patel also she might not go beyond the heats. Medals possible - 0  

Will cover Archery, Shooting, Wrestling, Shooting, Weight lifting, Field Hockey, Table Tennis, Tennis in subsequent parts