India at 2024 Paris Olympics Road to Paris 2024

[tirtha22 123]

In Tennis, both Men's singles and Men's doubles will face home team in round 1

 

🇮🇳BOPANNA/BALAJI vs 🇫🇷REBOUL/ROGER-VASSELIN

 

 SUMIT NAGAL vs  CORENTIN MOUTET

[tirtha22 123]

Women's Archery Draws

 

Ankita Bhagat vs Wioleta Miszor (Poland)

 

Deepika Kumari vs Reena Parnat (Estonia)

 

Bhajan Kaur vs Nurafifaf Syfa Kamal ( Indonesia)

[Prakash 28]

Table tennis

 

Women Team , they will face Romania in round of 16 , USA/ GER next and Japan in Semifinal 

 

Sharath Kamal avoiding Chinese paddler till SF ,

 

Sreeja / Manika to face Chinese in R16 if win opening 2 matches

 

Harmeet to start from R132

 

Men single

 

Sharath kamal (24)

R64 - Kodak (SLO)
R32 - Togami (JPN) (10)
R16 - Jang (KoR) (8)
QF - Calderano (BRA) (4)

 

Harmeet 

 

R132 - Abo (JOR) 
R64 - Lebrun (FRA) (3)

Men team 

R16 - China (1)

 

Women Single

 

Sreeja(16)

R64 - Kallberg (SWE)
R32 - Zheng (SGP) (32)
R16 - Sun Yingsha (CHN) (1)

 

Manika (18)

R64 - Hursey(GB)
R32 - Pavade (FRA) (12)
R16 - Hirano (JPN) (8)
QF - Chen Meng (CHN) (2)

 

Women team(11)

 

R16  - Romania (4)
QF - GER (5) 
SF - JPN (2)
Final - China(1)

Edited Thursday at 11:31 AM by Prakash

[tirtha22 123]

 

Abinav Bindra with the Olympic flame

[Indian Sports fan 5]

You can catch all the live updates from Paris 2024 here: https://thesportsgram.in/2024/07/20/india-at-paris-2024-live-updates/

[nitinsanker 200]

My last two parts of the log preview blog 

 

*India at the Paris Olympics 2024- the preview  by Nitin Sanker part 3 of 4*

 

Lets see , we had a medal count of 4.5 halfway through our posts ( after 4 sports  ) , so let us take the next few sports in alphabetical order

 

*Field Hockey *

 

Ah the great Indian sport , the quick passing , the classic dribble and lightning fast marauder but alas the situation is not so bright

First The women’s team did not make it , missing out narrowly in the qualifiers ( in fact the size of the Indian  Olympic team in Paris being smaller than the Tokyo squad was primarily due to this omission )

 

The mens team is currently ranked 7^th,  in the world in 2020 we were ranked 4^th , so there has been some decline in our position.

The draw is out – 12 teams divided into two groups of 6 and the top 4 in each group go into the quarters. Indias group consists of Australia , Belgium , Argentina , India , Ireland and  New Zealand. If our team  finishes in 2^nd or 3 rd place in our group we will face probably Germany or England in the quarters against whom we have a  40-60 chance in my opinion . If we win that we can hope for a medal but a bit tough as of now 

 

*Golf*

 

Honestly having Golf here in the list of top 11 sports is only because of Aditi Ashoks 4^th place finish in Tokyo. She will be in Paris again .  But For Aditi a Very , very long shot ( she is ranked 39^th in the world ) but praying for a good performance from her and hopefully  she should is be in a leading pack of golfers , making India interested in golf again.

The other three golfers in Indian squad , are Diksha Dagar  and the two men – subhanker and Gaganjeet  and we hope they play their best but they are not likely to be close to a medal in my opinion.

 

*shooting*

 

Who can forget the dashing rajyavardhan with the Indian flag thown over his broad shoulders going to receive his silver or abhinav bindra lost in this private reality looking dazed as he realized he won the gold in 2008

 

Shooting  is one of the bigger sports at the Olympics giving medals in 15 events ( 5 shotgun , 5 Rifle , 5 Pistol ) . India has the biggest squad after china in this sport (with a maximum two possible quotas in 15 event  -30 in total ) India will be having a record representation of 27. We have been one of the dominant countries in shooting for quite a few years with astonishingly low results in the last two Olympics – a mind freezing zero . The biggest question sports Indian fans are asking is can Shooting redeem its pledge and show us the glory again. Let us look at shooting dividing it into the three types

 

*Shotgun* - of the three categories this is easily our weakest. We have 7 participants in the 5 shotgun events, but we have not had a single world cup medal in shotgun in  2024 or any world championship medals in the last two cycles. In the Asian games in 2022 we had a two   medals in  5 events - Mens skeet and trap individual. I would say the best chance may be anantdeep naruka in skeet or one of the two skeet Individual women shooters Razia and Maheshwari but still shotgun  will be a long shot for a medal
 

*Pistol* – we have the max possible shooters in pistol - 10 in 5 events . In the Asian games we   won 4 medals in the 5 pistol events and in the world championships we have one gold in mixed pairs in the last edition. So we have good prospects – *Manu bhaker ( 10 and 25 m ) , Esha ( 25 m ) sarabjot ( 10m )  and the mixed pairs*. I feel a medal is likely across the 5 pistol events

 

Rifle – This has been our forte in the last couple of years with 3 medals in the last 2 world championships,  5 medals in the Asian games in 5 events . we have decent chances in all the 5 events , *10m rifle men and women ( ela , ramita,  Arjun and sandeep ) , 50 m three positions men and women ( especially aishwary and Sift ) and in mixed pairs* . So hopefully 1-2 medals in 5 rifle events

 

 

In part 4 I  will cover the  remaining sports ( weightlifting , wrestling and TT ) and have my famous *eat my hat prediction* ( which over 5 multievents has not failed , my conservative nature  and love for my hat keeps me from failing ). We will look at the likely medals which I normally overestimate.  Olympic starts – Just a week now …. *Go India*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*India at the Paris Olympics 2024- the preview  by Nitin Sanker part 4 of 4*

 

Lets see , we had a medal count of 6looking at 8 sports , so let us take the last 3  sports in alphabetical order

 

*Table tennis*

 

India have done well to qualify two full teams in TT for the Paris Olympics ( which means we field a teams in both men’s  and women’s  and 2 individuals in both mens and womens )  . This is historic as we  have never fielded any TT team before at the Olympics . 

 

Coming to our prospects lets start with the men, As the draw is out – The mens team are surely getting knocked out in the round of 16 as they face the mighty Chinese there , In mens singles sharath kamal at 42 years still the highest seeded male ( 24^th)  would probably go into the round of 32 but then he faces a tough Japanese and probably that is the highest we can hope for from the other two men paddlers as well ( harmeet and manav)

 

The women team have a better draw ( having been seeded 11 ) , they face the 4^th seed romanian team in the round of 16 ( a team they came close to beating in the qualifiers ) , so there  a ray of hope for  them to move into the quarters. If the reach the quarters they play Germany most likely ( seeded 5^th ) where again they may have some chances.  The women also have been having an Indian summer showing unprecedented flashes of brilliances occasionally beating even the Chinese women paddlers, so this team match-ups may go all the way.. Coming to the individual. Both    Sreeja akula ( seeded 16 ) and Manika ( seeded 18 ) in the individual can reach the round of 16. Sreeja then faces the top seeded Chinese ( sun ) , manika is likely to face Hirano the 8^th seeded Japanese. I feel these matches may be a bridge too far.

 

*weightlifting* -

 

In weightlifting we have just one qualifier , but what a jewel we have. The brilliant Power packed  Mirabhai Chanu is there in the 49 Kg weight category.  In this category Hui of china is way ahead of the rest ( capable of doing 217-220 kgs). But after that Mirabhai has the best PB ( 205kgs ) . Jordan( US ) ,  surodhana( Thailand) are her closest competition but both have PBs of just around 200 ( at 49 kgs )  , so if Mira is close to her best she should medal easily. The main issue here  is that Mira has been sporting injuries ( including the horrific one at the Asian games ) and we do not know the level of her fitness. If fully fit  a medal looks likely

 

*wrestling*

 

Last but not least we have the sport of wrestling , of the 6 member squad , 3 have won world championship medals ( vinesh , antim and Anshu ) , two u23 world championship gold medals ( reethika and aman ) . Give the draw Antims is seeded 4^th , her chances seem good. Vinesh in her third Olympics would be very hungry to get the one medal her cupboard  lacks , barring Susaki she has beaten the rest so is a definite medal contender.

 

Aman has a tough draw with arsen and rei in his half so would need to produce something special to medal. Anshu has been suffering from some injury worries so may find it difficult. Reethika is a huge talent , have been impressed with her recent bouts so can produce a bit of an expected result and medal. Nisha the last of the group is probably unlikely to medal

 

But a medal is likely across the events

 

*Final predictions* – So with that we will end our journey with the total at 8 medals ,

 

Likely medal tally hence can be 6-11 medals in all.

 

Having watched Indian Olympic sports over the years this summary has been soul satisfying. I have over the last 6 olympics see India    rise slowly but steadily, From a time when a medal , any medal was unexpected , to  see that this Indian Olympic squad has at least 20 odd world championship medallists  and another 10 or so world junior or U23 world championship gold medallists, A team with  strong sports credentials  capable of besting the best 

 

Also  satisfying is that India has a  broad base of 11 sports where we can get at least an Olympic diploma ( top 8 finish ) in Paris This gives Indian olympic sports  great potential to rise further  . 

 

 

But who will medal for India and be feted with open arms accolades and awards , who will return heartbroken defeated by the turn of the game , who will be beaten down by injuries or  a better opponent only time will tell. 

 

But you ask me what of your eat my hat promise – which has not yet been broken through five multi-sport extravaganzas, What challenge will you throw down or will you preserve it in safe and conservative constraints
 
My Eat my hat prediction - at least 5 medals overall , and of those who are looking forward to the edifying spectacle of nitin eating his hat let me add an extra twist – also I will eat my hat if India does not get a shootijng medal this Olympics, Yes I see some of my well wishers  groan , shooting is the most ephemeral of sports you will say , You will implore  Nitin  the last two Olympics we have crashed and burned,  why risk that most alluring of headgear on such a difficult challenge but my heart is set and the gauntlet laid down , 

So with the glory of the games starting , I am sure we will be left with some immortal moments which will be etched in our minds eye forever. Do join and cheer our athletes, they have worked , struggled and toiled for this short moment in the sun , with the worlds eyes turned towards Paris.  

Guys the Olympics is free live streaming on Jio cinema  please do not miss this glorious time  . Go Indiaaaaaa, go  the 112 bravehearts, go heart and  mind in glorious unison   , go for glory, let the paris games begin

[tirtha22 123]

@nitinsankerI only read the table tennis preview from your end. And I must say it is not a comprehensive one.

 

You mentioned about beating Chinese opponents in the recent past. But the point here is that this is the first time that the Indian contingent is without their powerhouse West Bengal. And beating those Chinese opponents have huge contributions from them be it Sutirtha or Ayhika

 

Coming to match against Romania, Manika Batra has beaten their top ranked player thrice in their last 4 encounters. Even India's next 2 ranked players like Sreeja Akula and others are better ranked than Romanian counterparts.

 

One important aspect is the controversial choice of Manika Batra's doubles partner selection , the girl from Karnataka - Kamath

 

The team will be bolstered by the presence of their former and lucky Italian coach

 

The team will want to give a fitting tribute to the old horse and flag bearer Achanta Sharath Kamal. The team would like to play for him.

 

Why can't the boys take a cue from the girls to play bravely against China? Imagine what will be the team morale if they conquer China in the 1st round.

 

Last but not the least , Harmeet Desai is in the form of his life. We can expect the unexpected from him even if he is the only few to be playing the preliminary round.

 

[Roamingrover86 712]

3 hours ago, tirtha22 said:

Manika Batra's doubles partner selection ,

I don’t think Massimo will play Manika in doubles , he tried Kamath with both Manika & Sreeja in Lagos & Tunis.  Sreeja & Kamath did very well together& even won a contender title. 
 

I think Manika will play the extra singles match while Sreeja & Archana will start with the doubles. 
 

3 hours ago, tirtha22 said:

Harmeet Desai is in the form of his life. We can expect the unexpected from him

Harmeet has been struggling lately & in the last few months leading upto olympics his form has been terrible such that he has fallen behind  Sathiyan & Manav in ranking. 

[tirtha22 123]

 

Indian flagbearers ready for the opening ceremony 

[Siddhartha Talukdar 195]

21 minutes ago, tirtha22 said:

 

Indian flagbearers ready for the opening ceremony 

The kurta pyjama and sari design is terrible. Did Tasva involve their worst designer here