A recap of how Indian athletes fared at Rio

Badminton

Despite injured Saina Nehwal failing to make the knockouts, badminton offered India its best moments at Rio. While Sindhu was exceptional throughout, Srikanth, too, put in a sterling performance. 

women’s singles 

PV Sindhu

Silver

Saina Nehwal 

Lost in her second match 

men’s singles 

K Srikanth 

Lost to Lin Dan in quarters 

Wrestling 

Wrestling proved to be a mixed bag. While Sakshi Malik gave India its first medal in Rio, the failure of Yogeshwar Dutt, injury to Vinesh Phogat and the ban on Narsingh Yadav came as a huge letdown.

men’s freestyle

Yogeshwar Dutt 65kg

Lost in 1st round

Sandeep Tomar 57kg

Lost in Round of 16

men’s Greco-Roman

Ravinder Khatri 85kg

Lost in Round or 16

Hardeep Singh 98kg

Lost in Round of 16

women’s freestyle

Vinesh Phogat 48kg

Forfeited quarters after injury

Babita Kumari 53kg

Lost in Round of 16

Sakshi Malik 58kg

Bronze

Boxing 

Chances of a medal in boxing were very slim. And when Shiva Thapa went out, the medal hopes took a huge hit. Vikas Krishan did make it to the quarters but he couldn’t go beyond.

Shiva Thapa 56kg

Lost in first round

Manoj Kumar 64 kg

Lost in pre-quarters

Vikas Krishan Yadav 75kg

Lost in the quarterfinals

Shooting

Shooting turned out to be the biggest letdown. The country was expecting at least a couple of medals from the 12-member contingent. Unfortunately, the shooters came back empty-handed — the first time since the 2004 Games. Abhinav Bindra, with a fourth-place finish, was the only one with a creditable performance. 

men

Abhinav Bindra 

10m air rifle: 4th in finals

Gagan Narang

10mair rifle: 23rd

50m rifle prone: 13th

50m rifle 3 positions: 33rd

Chain Singh

50m rifle prone: 36th

50m rifle 3 positions: 23rd

Jitu Rai

10mair pistol: 8th in Finals

50m pistol: 12th in qualifiers 

Gurpreet Singh

10m air pistol: 20

25 rapid fire: 7th

Prakash Nanjappa

50m pistol: 25th

Mairaj Ahmad Khan

Skeet: 10th in qualifiers

Manavjeet Singh Sandhu

Trap: 16th

Kynan Chenai

Trap: 19th

Women

Apurvi Chandela

10m air rifle: 34th in qualifiers

Ayonika Paul

10m air rifle: 47th

Heena Sidhu

10m air pistol: 14

25m pistol: 20th

Tennis 

There wasn’t much hope from the squabbling tennis contingent, except in the mixed doubles event for which Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna had paired up. After the doubles pairs lost their respective opening matches, the mixed pair raised medal hopes before losing in the semis and then in the bronze-medal match.

Mixed doubles

Sania Mirza & Rohan Bopanna

Lost in bronze medal playoff

Women’s doubles

Sania Mirza & Prarthana Thombare

Lost in first round

Men’s doubles

Rohan Bopanna & Leander Paes

Lost in first round

Archery 

India had a lot of expectations from the archers. In the World Cups and World Championships ahead of the Olympics, the archers had performed admirably. At Rio, however, the archers failed to give their best. Atanu Das, in the men’s individual category, looked good but couldn’t get a medal. 

Women’s team

Lost in quarterfinals

Women’s individual

Deepika Kumari

Lost in pre-quarterfinals

Bombayla Devi

Lost in pre-quarterfinals

Laxmirani Majhi

Lost in first round

men’s individual

Atanu Das

Lost in pre-quarterfinals

Hockey

The Indian men’s team played well overall, except in their last match against Canada in the pool stage. They drew the match they should have won, and, as a result, faced strong Belgium in the quarters. The women’s team looked out of its depth. 

Men’s team 

Lost in quarters to Belgium

Women’s  team 

Failed to make it to the knockouts 

Golf

Teenaged Aditi Ashok kept India in the medal hunt for the first two days before faltering in the last two rounds. Anirban Lahiri and SPS Chawrasia were disappointing throughout. 

men 

SPS Chawrasia and Anirban Lahiri finished tied 50 and 57th, respectively 

women 

Aditi Ashok 

Finished tied 41st 

Weightlifting 

women

Mirabai Chanu 48kg: 11th

men 

S Sivalingam 77kg 

Lost in the elimination round 

Judo

Avtar Singh 90kg  

Lost in the opening bout 

Rowing 

Singles sculls

Dattu Bhokanal: 15th

Gymnastics

Dipa Karmakar’s fourth-place finish was worth its weight in gold. She did exceedingly well and missed the bronze by a whisker.

Athletics

Lalita Babar was the only bright spot in the otherwiase gloomy performance by the track and field athletes. She finished a creditable 10th in the 3000m steeplechase. The biggest disappointment was Vikas Gowda, who failed to qualify for the final.

men

400m Mohammad Anas: 31st

Long Jump  Ankit Sharma: Failed to make the finals 

Triple jump Renjith Maheshwary

Failed to qualify for finals 

Discus Throw Vikas Gowda: 28th 

Marathon

Thonakal Gopi and Kheta Ram finished 25 and 26, respectively. NS Rawat finished 84th 

20km walk

Manish Singh finished 13th, Gurmeet and Ganapati did not qualify

50km walk

Sandeep Kumar finished 35th

women

100m Dutee Chand: 50th 

200m Srabani Nanda: 55th 

400m Nirmala Sheoran: 44th

800m Tintu Luka: 29th

3000m Steeplechase 

Lalita Babar finished 10th, Sudha 30th

Marathon

OP Jaisha finished 89th, Kavita Raut 120th

20km walk

Khushbir Kaur finished 54th, Sapna Punia couldn’t finish 

Discus throw Seema Punia: 20th 

shot put Manpreet Kaur: 23rd