India at 2024 Paris Olympics

[tirtha22 238]

For the first time ever, women from Indian Armed Forces will be taking part at the Olympics with Havildar Jaismine Lamboria and CPO Reetika Hooda set to represent India in the Boxing    & Wrestling    disciplines respectively.

[Fly_like_a_don 1,162]

7 minutes ago, tirtha22 said:

At the 2018 Commonwealth games, Manika Batra won 🥇 using her pimpled rubber bat surface

 

At the Paris Olympics 2024   , her secret weapon is termed as "Bhangra Twiddle" which is quickly switching grips from Backhand to Forehead or vice versa to confuse the opponents.

 

The term twiddling comes from the novel Alice in Wonderland whereas the hand movements during twiddling resembles similar moves from the Punjabi dance form called Bhangra.

She twiddles always right? How is it different 

[tirtha22 238]

9 minutes ago, Fly_like_a_don said:

She twiddles always right? How is it different 

Manika Batra famously fooled Chinese Wang Manyu at the Saudi SMAASH in May, when she twiddled at match point, 11-10 up, after trailing 8-10.

 

After that this particular thing came into limelight.

[tirtha22 238]

 

Bopanna / Balaji in practice session 

[sanjaydas 14]

On 7/19/2024 at 9:52 PM, nitinsanker said:

*India at the Paris Olympics 2024- the preview  by Nitin Sanker part 2 of 4 *

 

Lets see , we had a medal count of 1.5 ( after athletics and archery ) , so let us take the next few sports in alphabetical order

 

*Badminton*

 

Badminton is the only sport other than wrestling where we have consistently medaled in the last 3 Olympics. So we are looking towards Badminton at Paris  with hope in our eyes and dreams in our heart . We have 5 quota Places in Badminton with 2 in Men singles ( lakshya and Prannoy ) , 1 in women singles ( the incomparable PV Sindhu ) , 1 in Men doubles ( Satwik and chirag affectionately called Satchi ) and 1 in Women’s Doubles *Ashwini and Tanisha* , Of these I am not focusing on The WD pair as they are ranked around 21  and really cannot be expected to produce any major results.

 

So lets look at the rest –

 

let’s start with my all-time personal favorite sportsperson – *the truly great PV Sindhu* , She is on the verge of GOATness  - if she medals here in Paris  she would be the first womens player ever to get 3 women’s Singles  medals ( Susi  susanto has 2 , same as PVS ) .  Sindhu  has been injured, not in great form and struggling a bit. Now coming to the current draw she is luckily seeded 10^th, she should reach the round of 16 , but then she faces tough Chinese opponents in the round of 16 and QF so tough but not impossible . I am putting her as having a shot for medal because PVS is still PVS -  a great big tournament player who brings her best to each key tournament. Second her winning percentage in 2024 is 62.5 percentage  ( 63% in 2016 , 62% in 2021  ) so not too bad. This is the lady I will be really rooting for

 

*Lakshya sen* - Unseeded , has been in decent form though and has defeated most of the top players at one time or other . But draw is a bit unkind and placed him in the same group as Jonathan Christie ( seeded 3^rd ) , he has a poor head to head record against Jo-Jo ( 0-3   though all three matches were 3-setters ) , so very difficult but not fully impossible to climb out of the group  into the round of 16 and then move up

 

*Prannoy* - he has been ill with a severe gastro problem and has been in very poor form this year but a classy player , still he is seeded 13^th and hence will most likely  reach the round of 16 but tough after that

 

*Satchi in Mens doubles* -  Here are chances are bright , they have won a world championship medal and have been world number 1 , defeated all the top players. In the olymp[ics they have been seeded number 3 .  They are in the same 4 member group as Alfian and Adriano ( INA )  ( they have a 3-2 head to head record against them ) along with two weak doubles pairs , they should top the group and reach the quarters where I think again they should get through , Semis may be a toss up so a medal and even Gold can happen here.  

 

So let us  say a 1.3 medals chances  from badminton .

 

*Boxing* -  Boxing at least at the world championship level has been the best olympic sport of all for India. We currently in this world championship cycle have 5 world championship medals ( 2 Gold medals in women and 3 bronze medals in mens ), so Boxing should be a good sport for us at Paris.

 

 but there are caveats 1 )  IBA which is the world body conducting the world championships has been blacklisted by the IOC , the championships had  many countries boycotting so the medals do have maximal sheen 2) Our NOC handling this has been having few problems where they changed the methods of selections midway , the high performance director Bernard Dunne was sacked after poor results in mens qualifiers

 

But I feel we have definitely 4 major medal prospects – Nikhat( 50 kg )  and Lovlina ( 75 kg )  in the women and Amit( 51 ) and  Nishant ( 71 ) .

 

In fact even the other two hard hitting feisty preeti ( 54) and lanky Jaismine ( 57 ) do have some chance because boxing has a  low number of quota places, just  two-three  winning bouts and you are in the semis ( all semifinalists in boxing get medals ) . But let us focus on our best bets . all four of whom have won world championship medals

 

*Amit Panghal* – a great name of Indian boxing , has won every medal you can -  Asian Gold , Commonwealth , world championship[ silver . But He had a terrible Tokyo where seeded one he lost in the first round. Amit at 28 is wily and very experienced, he has fought his way into the Indian team after  Deepak bhoria had replaced him. I feel he is very very determined to redeem himself at the Olympics and get the one medal he lacks , on the counter side he has not had a lot of top level matches since he was  dropped from the national side

 

Nishant dev – A world bronze medallist he is a fearless boxer , he was in rehab throughout 2022 but has bounced back with decent results after that. He has lost crucial fights in the quarters at the asian games and the qualifiers so at the highest level slight question marks but  he can  medal . I would say decent chances . Between the two men I am hoping for one medal

 

Nikhat Zareen – The telengana tigress is one of the best women boxers in her category a winner of two world championship golds, she rarely loses , she lost a semi finals  medal match in the Asian Games but in the last couple of years she has just lost twice , I feel strong prospect of a medal and can go for Gold as well.

 

Lovlina Borgohain – has an Olympic medal and 3 world championship medals ( 2 bronzes and a gold ) , so definitely a much storied boxer again at her prime ( 26 years ) , she is bit unfortunate in her seeding , which is 8^th . she is likely to face world number 1 Li Qian in the QFs , she lost to li qian in the Asian games but defeated her in the world championships earlier , so this is a  bit of a toss up

 

But overall I am expecting 2 medals from Boxing factoring in the long shots as well.

Instead of probabilistic figures in decimals, better to suggest like 1-2, 2-4, etc.

 

The content is awesome, like last time.

[sounak 40]

TT draws are out. I think Women's team have a very good draw. They have a realistic chance of reaching the semis. Of course they are low seed but Romania and Germany are beatable I feel.

[sanjaydas 14]

1 minute ago, sounak said:

TT draws are out. I think Women's team have a very good draw. They have a realistic chance of reaching the semis. Of course they are low seed but Romania and Germany are beatable I feel.

Good to know. What about the Men's Draw.

[sanjaydas 14]

Given the amount spent on Sports these days, conversion to medals is equally important.

 

We cannot continue to be the highest spender per medal.

[sounak 40]

2 minutes ago, sanjaydas said:

Good to know. What about the Men's Draw.

They face China in R16 

[tirtha22 238]

24 minutes ago, sanjaydas said:

Good to know. What about the Men's Draw.

If they can overcome their first hurdle , then you can expect a medal.