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Tokyo 2020: Elations, disappointments

Neeraj Chopra became the second-ever Indian after Abhinav Bindra (Bejing 2008) to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games and the first-ever athlete to do so in the Track and Field events.

Every Olympics carries with it some bags of joy jumbled with some sorrow; Tokyo 2020 is no different. We had in our Olympic coverage last month termed the Tokyo Olympics as one of uncertainties, and this was proved right by the fact that despite the absence of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Djokovic failed to win even a bronze medal at Tokyo.

Golfer Aditi Ashok
Aditi Ashok seemed to be marching well towards a rostrum finish but fizzled out towards the end to finish in fourth place.
Ravi Kumar Dahiya
On the penultimate day, Ravi Dahiya brought more joy by wresting a silver medal in men’s freestyle 57 kg category.

In a century and quarter years of Olympic history, India has a total tally of 10 gold medals, 9 silver medals and 16 bronze medals. These are not impressive figures by any stretch of imagination but what is heartening is that of these numbers, one gold, two silver and four bronze medals have been India’s latest harvest, a remarkable 20% of the total number of medals won till date. In fact, a bag of seven medals in a single Olympics is the biggest-ever bagged by India, improving upon the two silver and four bronze medals bagged at the 2012 London Olympics.

My calculations before the Games that our ladies will bring in more medals than men, went off target like the shots of Manu Bhaker, the arrows of Deepika Kumari or the punches of Mary Kom.

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Gp Capt Achchyut Kumar has been associated with The Teenager Today for more than 50 years as a reader and contributor on varied topics. Having worked in the Indian Air Force and with Forbes & Company Limited, he is now a lawyer in Nainital High Court.

Gp. Capt. Achchyut Kumar

Gp Capt Achchyut Kumar has been associated with The Teenager Today for more than 50 years as a reader and contributor on varied topics. Having worked in the Indian Air Force and with Forbes & Company Limited, he is now a lawyer in Nainital High Court.