Tokyo 2020 - Raise of the bar begins

Medal Tally in London Olympics 2012 = 6 (Gold-0, Silver-2, Bronze-4)

Medal Tally in Rio 2016 Olympics = 2 (Gold-0, Silver-1, Bronze-1)

With the medal count in Rio 2016 reduced to 2 from the earlier 6 medals of London 2012, there was an increased focus and attention from the GOI & Sports Ministry. The Ministry & Sports Authority of India (SAI) had encouraged talent from the grassroots level by conducting Khelo India, TOPS scheme and improving the sports infrastructure across the country. This has not just nurtured the available talent but also helped in identifying the talent. We now have young athletes such as Saurabh Chaudary (19Y), Manu Bhaker (19Y), elavenil valarivan(22Y), Neeraj Chopra (23Y), Aditi Ashok (23Y), Ravi Kumar Dahiya (23Y) etc. who took part in Tokyo 2020 & can potentially take part in 2-3 more Olympics. 

Coming to Tokyo 2020, India entered the Olympics with huge expectations, Gracenote forecasted a tally of 19 medals. Nevertheless, the final tally of 7 medals was the best so far and the talent we nurtured so far can only raise the bar from Olympics to Olympics. 

The summary and highlights of Tokyo 2020, sport wise - 

Athletics

Neeraj Chopra delivered what was expected from him and secured the first-ever medal in Athletics in Olympics for India. With his shoulder injury in 2019, there were apprehensions that he may not be participating in the Olympics, if conducted in 2020. However, as a blessing in disguise, COVID-19 has given enough time for his recovery and he made us of the time to better his record. Post his injury, he bettered his record to 88.07m, thereby signaling that he is not far from assuring a medal to India. Vetter, the beast in Javelin, appeared struggling with the heat in Tokyo and this became an added advantage for Neeraj. Neeraj clinched the elusive Gold medal in the Olympics and created a goosebumps moment with our national anthem being played at the Olympics after a long gap of 4744 days (The last time it was played when Abhinav Bindra won gold in 2008 Beijing Olympics)

Archery
Deepika Kumari, being ranked number 1 in women's individual category, carried expectations of a medal.
Though Women's Individual (Deepika Kumari), Men's Team (Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav & Tarundeep Rai) & Mixed Team (Deepika Kumari & Pravin Jadhav)reached the quarters, they failed to surpass the mighty South Koreans. It is unlucky that we have to face the South Koreans in QF, who are the dominants of the game.

Boxing
Lovlina Borgohain won the Bronze medal. The top seed, Amit Panghal's exit in his very first bout was a huge disappointment for India.

Wrestling
Wrestling ended more or less on the expected lines with 1 Silver & 1 Bronze. Ravi Dahiya, the only athlete who reached the individual final, couldn't convert the opportunity into Gold and settled with a Silver. Bajrang Punia's technique, post the recent right knee injury, appeared a little different and settled for a bronze. Vinesh Poghat, the lady wrestler shouldered with huge expectations, disappointed without a medal.

Shooting
Team India entered the Olympics with heavy expectations in shooting. Considering the rankings and performance of our shooting contingent for the past few years, it would not be surprising had we won 4-5 medals in shooting. The biggest surprise post-Olympics is that we ended up without a medal in shooting. However, the efforts of Saurabh Chaudary & Manu Bhaker need appreciation, though ended up without a medal. Saurabh Chaudary & Mixed Team(Saurabh & Manu Bhaker) in 10m pistol were placed on the top in the qualification round. However, they failed to convert the opportunity into a medal.

Badminton
PV Sindhu added one more colour to her medallist by winning a bronze medal. She became the first badminton player from India to have two Olympics medals to her name. Let's hope she wins the elusive Gold in Paris 2024 and ticks all the colors.

Golf
Aditi Ashok, ranked 200 in Rolex Golf  Women's Rankings, stayed an inch away from creating history by winning a medal in Golf. Nevertheless, her journey in Tokyo 2020 is no less than that of Milkha Singh's in 1960 & PT Usha's in 1984. She has already made an impact by waking up Indians at 4:30 am to watch her play and making familiar with Golf terminology like birdie, bogey, double bogey etc.

Weightlifting
As expected, Mirabai Chanu clinched the Silver medal on the very first day.

Hockey
The hockey men's team regained the lost glory by winning a medal after a long gap of 41 years. The WALL, Shreejesh, played a very crucial role throughout the tournament. In fact, he saved a penalty corner, when scores were 3-4, in the last 6 seconds of the bronze medal match.

The hockey women's team created history by entering into the semifinals for the first time in Olympics. They came back from 0-2 down to 3-2 in the bronze medal match. However, by consuming 2 goals in the last half, they ended up 3-4, without a medal, at 4th place.