This is the second part of the series on what to expect from our athletes at Tokyo 2020 and I am sure first part was a bit disappointing to read as most of the athletes covered had very little chance of winning a medal except Neeraj Chopra.
Let us start with Archery - There has been so much expected from Deepika Kumari since London 2012 and the big stage fright had gotten on to her at both London and Rio. She is much more mature and in pretty good form as seen in the Paris World cup winning 3 Gold medals. I am expecting her to win a medal in the individual event. She also pairs up with her husband Atanu Das in the mixed event and I feel they can definitely win a medal as a pair. The men's team if it goes beyond quarters will be a good result and same with the individual men. Medals possible - 2
Boxing - This is the biggest contingent of boxers participating in Olympics. In contact sports especially where everything is a knockout the luck of the draw plays a huge part.
In boxing the heavier categories are always difficult for us Indians and we perform well in lower weight categories. The heavier categories are typically dominated by Europeans and Cubans and Asia especially CIS nations do well in lower weight categories.
Amit Panghal enters the olympics as the World # 1 and I am pretty sure he will make it to the finals where he might find his nemesis Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan. Amit had a very good fight in Dubai in May against Zoirov even though he lost to him(2-3). I am hoping that he will go one up at Olympics on Zoirov.
Manish Kaushik is an excellent boxer and is currently ranked 18th and making it to quarters should be considered a very good result for Manish.
Vikas Krishnan comes with loads of experience he was one of the favorites to win a medal in Rio. This is his third olympics. Even though he is currently ranked 10th I strongly feel he will win a medal this time, given the good form he was in Dubai in May, where his semi finals was stopped due to bleeding.
Ashish Chaudhary ranked 9th in the world currently. I feel he will make it to quarters and if he has a good day can go beyond that also. Unlikely to happen. The Indian coach feels he can surprise us as there are low expectations on him. Let us see.
Satish Kumar is also ranked 9th and in a small field of 17 boxers couple of good days in the office can land him in the medal rounds but highly unlikely. Especially in his Super Heavy weight category one bad round could be end of the campaign.
This is surely the last olympics for Mary Kom and that should be a huge driver for her. She is currently ranked 7th and given her experience she might land a medal but chances are less. She wasn't in great form in Dubai even though she made it till finals.
Simranjit Kaur is ranked 4th and she is in decent form in the recent tournaments.
Lovlina Borgohain is ranked 5th. Lovlina has couple Bronze medals at World Championships and that experience should help her in big championships. Between Simranjit and Lovlina one of them could surprise us with a medal.
Pooja Rani is ranked 8th and she recently won the Asian Championships in Dubai and is in good form. I feel she will make it to quarters.
Overall in Boxing this will be the first time we win more than 1 medal. Best case scenario is 5 medals and minimum would be 2.
Weightlifting - We have a former World Champion Mirabhai Chanu. The big stage got to her in Rio where she didn't register any legal lifts in Clean and Jerk and she should have won a medal then itself. North Korea has pulled out of the event and given current form amongst those qualified she has been consistently lifting the 2nd best weight and anything less than a silver should be considered a disappointment. Medals expected - 1
Still to cover - Wrestling, Field Hockey, Shooting, Table Tennis and Tennis
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