6 major moments for Indian women at the Tokyo Olympic Games

That no other sporting event unites a country the way the Olympics does is a known fact, but what happens when the sportswomen of India make us proud in ways we perhaps didn’t even see coming? The 2021 Olympics have reinforced the indomitable spirit our women bring to the table. With quiet humility and sheer grit, they have managed to not only win medals, but have also shown us that it is possible to dream. They have proved that no sport must be considered the monopoly of a particular country. Below, we take a look at six major moments from this year's Olympics events that had us all rally behind our sportswomen.

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu: Miracle of the silver hand

For this Indian weightlifter, who has been representing the country in the 48kg category since 2014, winning an Olympic medal was a question of when, not if. At the Tokyo games, when she successfully lifted 48 kgs in the clean lift and jerk section without so much as a flinch, the deal had been sealed in her favour. Viral videos from her hometown in Manipur showed almost over two dozen family and friends around a single television set, masked and excited, cheering and hugging each other when the 26-year-old secured the Silver. It’s said that her brothers already knew her potential when she would pick up firewood as a child seamlessly, and her parents knew their daughter only too well to support her in every way they could. Now, with a lifetime supply of pizzas and all the love of India, Chanu is here to stay.

PV Sindhu: Shuttling to glory

The ace shuttler had already done India proud when she bagged the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. She is the first Indian to become the Badminton World Champion and only the second individual athlete from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games. This year, her defeat in the semis to Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying wasn’t going to dampen her Olympics dreams. In the final chance she had to win the Bronze, she gave it her all. The Bronze match was against China’s He Bing Jiao and according to reports, Sindhu and her coach had prepared for almost two months to play against her. And indeed, what a match–Sindhu hardly gave away points and was barely on the defensive.

Lovlina Borgohain: Heavyweight star

Staying away from her family for almost eight years was the biggest sacrifice for
Borgohain. So when the 23-year-old won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in
the Women's 69kg welterweight event, becoming only the third Indian boxer to win a medal
at the Olympics to do so, it's safe to say the sacrifice paid off. When she defeated Taiwan’s Chen
Nien-chin, she was assured a medal. It’s said that Borgohain took up boxing when she first
held a newspaper cutting of Muhammad Ali. For the 2024 Paris Olympics, she has only one
goal: Gold.

Aditi Ashok: India’s golf star

Aditi Ashok shattered the glass ceiling in more ways than one at the Olympics. The 23-year-old from Bengaluru fell narrowly short of finishing on the podium by a whisker. But that did not stop many Indians, who had no idea of the sport, from Googling the difference between birdies and bogeys. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, she finished 41^st and this time, she finished 4^th—it simply doesn’t get any better than this, as Ashok was barely two shots behind gold medal winner, Nelly Korda of the United States. An entire nation was glued to a game often considered the mainstay of the white man, and an unassuming sportswoman from Bengaluru had managed to do the same.

Kamalpreet Kaur: The far shot

Finishing sixth in the finals in your debut Olympics performance is no small feat. 25-year-old Kamalpreet Kaur, an athlete from Punjab, set a national record in the discus throw category with an attempt of 65.06 m and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. The video of Kamalpreet's "monster throw" that helped her qualify for the final was also a major hit on Twitter, where she gave the spin all her might and pleasantly shocked netizens who shared the video in awe. Kaur is also an aspiring cricketer and hopes to take up the sport professionally one day.

Women’s hockey team: Scripting history

For the Indian women hockey team, defeating the seemingly unbeaten World No 2 Australian team and reaching the semis was perhaps the most unprecedented moment in the Olympics. Previously, Team India's best finish at the Olympics was during their debut in Moscow back in 1980, when it ended up at the fourth position among six teams. The match was perhaps the grittiest in all the hockey games, and for all the right reasons. Every member of the team pushed themselves out of their comfort zone, switching positions, their feet and hands almost working like clockwork. The clincher, of course, was when Gurjit Kaur scored the victory goal from a penalty corner in the 22nd minute of the game.

This time, India scored its best-ever medal tally in the history of the Olympic games. And understandably, conversations around better training facilities for our athletes, fairer compensation, and consistent patronage have picked up steam like never before. From here, the only way is up.

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