Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: India's big wins, misses and top medal hopes

Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya has won an Olympic silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after he lost to Zavur Uguev of the Russian Olympic Committee in their men's freestyle 57kg final.

The 23-year-old wrestler beat Sanayev Nurislam of Kazakhstan on Wednesday in a dramatic semi-final that saw him overcome a 9-2 lead with two minutes to spare, achieving victory by fall.

In wrestling, if a wrestler touches the opponent's shoulder to the mat, then the victory is considered as a win by fall.

The Tokyo Olympics are now 14 days in and India has two silver and three bronze medals, including Dahiya's.

On Thursday, India ended a 41-year men's hockey medal drought when it beat Germany in a thrilling match to win bronze.

Weightlifting champion Mirabai Chanu won India's first medal in Tokyo, a silver, in the women's 49kg category, putting to rest the disappointment of the Rio Olympics in 2016 where she was knocked out after a freak injury.

On Sunday, India's ace shuttler PV Sindhu won bronze after beating China's He Bing Jiao, and with that she became the first Indian woman to win two individual Olympic medals. She won her first Olympic medal - a silver - at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The women's hockey team created history on Monday by beating Australia 1-0. The team has entered the Olympic semi-finals for the first time in history after the Rani Rampal-led side took the lead in the 22nd minute and defended it fiercely.

But the team were defeated by Argentina in its first-ever Olympic semi-final match. The Indian women's hockey team will now face Great Britain in the bronze medal match.

This is historic - the country's best result was a fourth-place finish at the 1980 Olympics.

Boxer Lovlina Borgohain had assured India of another medal - a bronze after she beat Chen Nien-chin of Chinese Taipei to enter the semi-finals. In boxing, there is no third-place match. Both semi-finalists are awarded bronze medals.

On Wednesday Borgohain won that bronze medal when she lost to Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, 5-0. Her bronze makes her the third Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal.

Here are India's big misses, and remaining medal hopes in Tokyo.

Javelin throw

The Indian javelin contingent is led by Neeraj Chopra who is expected to win a medal. On Thursday, he advanced to the men's final when he threw an impressive 86.65m.

He is the current national record holder with a throw of 88.07m at the Indian Grand Prix in March this year. At the international stage, he has a best of 88.06m at the Asian Games in 2018.

Wrestling

The Indian wrestling squad will begin its Olympic campaign led by Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat.

With three world championships to his name, Punia is the top contender from India in the 65kg men's category at his first Olympics.

Vinesh Phogat's chance at Olympic gold ended on Thursday with a shocking 9-2 defeat to Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus in the women's 53 kg quarter-final.

The 26-year-old Phogat now faces the possibility of a no-medal show at Tokyo if she doesn't make the repechage rounds - a rule that allows athletes who failed to reach qualifications by a small margin to continue to the next round.

In wrestling it allows wrestlers to get a shot at a third-place match, the idea being that a worthy competitor not lose out just because they got a tough early draw.

The big misses for India's Olympic hopes

Shooting

India's 15-member shooting contingent was the favourite to bring back a big haul of medals but that did not go according to the plan. Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary, favourites for a podium finish in the mixed 10m Air Pistol event, crashed out in the second qualification stage in Tokyo.

Bhaker, pegged as a certain medal prospect even before the Games started, failed to reach the finals in any of the three events she participated in. She had a pistol malfunction in the 10m women's Air Pistol event, leading to more pressure as she lost time.

In the men's 10m Air Pistol event Saurabh Chaudhary, world No.2 and Youth Olympic champion, qualified for the final but failed to finish in the top three positions.

India has won a total of 28 medals since 1900 - 11 from hockey, five from wrestling, four from shooting, two each in badminton, boxing and athletics, and one each in tennis and weightlifting.

Boxing

Despite losing out on a second Olympic medal, Mary Kom is a winner for many Indians.

She made a heart-breaking exit from the Olympics after losing to Ingrit Victoria Valencia of Colombia in her flyweight section (51kg) bout.

She initially thought she had won and was shocked to later learn from social media that she had indeed lost the match. Losing on a 3-2 split decision verdict despite winning two of the three rounds left the boxer confused.

She won a bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.

Archery

Deepika Kumari, the world No.1 in the women's recurve category, crashed out of the quarterfinals in Tokyo, losing to Korean An San in straight sets.

This was her third Olympic outing for India, having lost in the quarters in Rio in 2016, and in London in 2012.

Her husband, Atanu Das, also crashed out of the Olympics after losing to home favourite Takaharu Furukawa, an individual silver medallist at the 2012 Olympics, in a pre-quarterfinal clash.