Who Will Get The Gold for India in Rio Olympics?

By siliconindia | Wednesday, 17 August 2016, 05:36 Hrs

BENGALURU: Since the dawn of Rio Olympics on 5^th August, India is craving for its first medal and Indian athletes have failed to deliver the same. Sadly, several athletes came very close to winning a medal and horrifically, many of them had disappointing exits at early stages. The expectations of fellow Indians is melting off each passing day, but there is a ray of hope still subsisting inside hearts of millions.

With six days left to win a lustrous medal, if India fails to perform, it will be the first time that India returns medal-less since 1992. The main letdown was the underperformance of the shooters who returned without any medals. Abhinav Bindra–gold medalist of 2008 Beijing Olympics in 10 m Air Rifle event– managed the best position among all other shooters–fourth. Another shooter, Jitu Raj, fail to qualify for the final of his fave event–50m air pistol and also failed to deliver on the podium in 10m air pistol.

While hockey was not one of the medal hopes, a semi-final finish was digested easily; Saina Nehwal’s departure from the group stages came as the major shock. India has still a few athletes running the show and thus, the medal hopes are still alive. Kidambi Srikanth will participate in the quarter-final of men’s singles in badminton. He’s contender in this vent is Lin Dan– the two-time defending champion. The medal hopes also rely on the wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt from Haryana along with Narsingh Yadav and Sandeep Tomar, who will be competing in 57kg category, will also be in medal strife. Under the women’s category, India’s three wrestlers, Vinesh Phogat, Babita Kumari and Sakshi Malik will debut their campaign two days from Tuesday. A medal from them will be a lovely surprise amidst this desperation for a prize.

Among the runners, the women’s and men’s 4x100m relay team will participate on the second last day of Olympics. In the men’s 50km walk, there are two athletes who will take part and it would be a great success if they finish in the top 10. India has three participants in the men’s marathon who can make a difference.

Wrestling remains the greatest medal hope for India and badminton women’s singles player PV Sindhu managed to last with the win in the pre-quarters. It’s too soon to predict is she can earn a medal, so let’s hope for the best and cheer up the participants.