TOKYO: Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: Neeraj Chopra wins historic Olympic gold in athletics

TOKYO: India has
broken out into celebrations after Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to win
a historic Olympic gold medal in athletics (javelin throw) at the Tokyo 2020
Olympics.

The 2018
Commonwealth Games champion, 23, registered a best throw of 87.58m on Saturday.

“It
feels unbelievable,” said Chopra. “It’s a proud moment for me and my
country.”

He is
only the second Indian to win an individual gold after Abhinav Bindra in the
10m air rifle event at Beijing 2008.

This is
the second ever Olympic gold medal India has won – in 2008, Abhinav Bindra won
India’s first gold in the 10-metre air rifle event.

Prime
Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Chopra on Twitter, saying that history had
been created.

India has
now won seven medals at Tokyo – one gold, two silver and four bronze, its
biggest Olympic haul ever. It won six medals at the 2012 London Olympics.

It has
been a good week for the country at the Olympics – on Saturday, wrestler
Bajrang Punia added to the medal haul by defeating Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov,
8-0 in their bronze medal bout.

On
Wednesday, Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya won an Olympic silver medal after he
lost to Zavur Uguev of the Russian Olympic Committee in the men’s freestyle
57kg final.

The
23-year-old wrestler beat Sanayev Nurislam of Kazakhstan 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.

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.

India’s
ace shuttler PV Sindhu won bronze after beating China’s He Bing Jiao, becoming
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 by beating Australia 1-0. The team went
through to 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. On Friday, they missed out on a bronze medal
when they lost to Great Britain in a nip-and
tuck-battle. Nonetheless, they made history – previously, India’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.

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

The big
misses for India’s Olympic hopes

Wrestling

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 will return from the Tokyo Olympics without a medal after she
missed out on the repechage round – 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.

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 her three events. 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’s medal tally at recent Olympics:

• 2016 Rio Olympics: 1 Silver,
  1 Bronze
• 2012 London Olympics: 2
  Silver, 4 Bronze
• 2008 Beijing Olympics: 1
  Gold, 2 Bronze

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.