Tokyo 2020: Narrow misses

Women’s hockey team

From a bottom-place finish at Rio 2016, the Indian women’s team capped a remarkable journey at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing a creditable fourth.

Although the team’s dream of securing their maiden Olympics medal remained unfulfilled as they lost 4-3 to Great Britain in the closely contested bronze medal playoff, the side recorded its best-ever finish at the Games. After three losses on the trot, everyone had written them off. But a moment of brilliance by skipper Rani Rampal that led to a late strike by Navneet Kaur in the game against Ireland set the ball rolling.

Deepak Punia

After an impressive campaign that saw him race to the semifinals, Deepak Punia was only 10 seconds away from a medal, but the 22-year-old debutant ended up conceding a takedown in the 86kg freestyle bronze medal playoff. Wrestling was just a route that Deepak hoped would find him a good job to help sustain family. He was offered the post of a sepoy in the Indian Army back in 2016 but was told to dream big and not settle for little things.

Aditi Ashok

Aditi Ashok captured the imagination of the entire country as sports lovers turned on their TV sets in the wee hours to watch golf. Ranked 200 in the world, the 23-year-old from Bengaluru competed toe-to-toe against the best golfers in the world. But, alas it wasn’t meant to be as after coming agonisingly close, Aditi finished fourth. Aditi started playing golf at the age of five. At the Rio Olympics, where she finished 41st, Aditi was the youngest player. She had her father as caddie in Rio while it was her mother joining her in Tokyo.

FLOP SHOW: Two of India’s biggest hopes — shooter Manu Bhaker and wrestler Vinesh Phogat — missed out on medals.