Carrying the hopes of billions of Indians, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), has sent one of the largest ever contingents of around 120 members to participate in the worlds biggest sports carnival, the Summer Olympics in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, beginning from August 4 and coming to a close on August 21. From the hockey pitch to the badminton and tennis courts, from wrestling to archery and shooting, there are real medal prospects among India’s men and women’s teams. Besides the 12 member squad for shooting, medals may also have been predestined for our tennis, archery, badminton, boxing and hockey teams. All eyes will also be on the wrestling mat at Rio, where Yogeshwar Dutt will try his mettle to improve on the metal of his last silver.
Abhinav Bindra will lead the squad bearing the Tricolor at the opening ceremony. Apropos the most encouraging aspect of India’s participation at Rio is the number of women participants – 43%, accounting for 52 members of the 120 member squad. Given the unprecedented largeness of the group, it is not surprising that most of the members are first timers. A mere 35 athletes from the squad have represented India at the Olympics earlier, which puts first timers at 70.34% of the contingent. Among the first timers, it will be the maiden appearance for 23-year-old Gita Karmakar, woman gymnast from India who created history a few days ago. In table tennis, India will see four paddlers taking part for the first time, and it will be only the second time in the history of the Games that the Indian women’s hockey team will be seen in action at the Olympics. Lalita Babar, Dutee Chand, Anirban Lahiri, Kidambi Srikanth, Jitu Rai would also give their debut appearance in various other categories of the games. Dutee Chand, in an interview recently said, “Abhi to bas shuruat hai, medal lane ki koshish karungi.” On one hand where a number of players would be representing the nation for the first time, there are experienced players like Abhinav Bindra and Yogeshwar Dutt, who would be representing India for the last time in the Olympics. We of NRI Achievers wish the Indian squad all the very best for their performance at the World sports feast, the Rio Olympics.
Here is the list of all participants:
Sports Men Women Total Events
Total 67 54 121 66
Sports- Archery, Events- 3
Men- 1 | Event |
Atanu Das | Men’s individual |
Women- 3 | Event |
Bombayla Devi | Women’s individual & Women’s team |
Deepika Kumari | Women’s individual & Women’s team |
Laxmirani Majhi | Women’s individual & Women’s team |
Sports- Athletics, Events- 21
Men- 20 | Event |
Dharambir Singh | 200 m |
Jinson Johnson | 800 m |
Muhammad Anas | 400 m & 4 × 400 m relay |
Ayyasamy Dharun | 4 × 400 m relay |
Mohan Kumar | 4 × 400 m relay |
Sumit Kumar | 4 × 400 m relay |
Mohammed Kunhi | 4 × 400 m relay |
Arokia Rajiv | 4 × 400 m relay |
Thonakal Gopi | Marathon |
Kheta Ram | Marathon |
Nitender Singh Rawat | Marathon |
Baljinder Singh | 20 km walk |
Gurmeet Singh | 20 km walk |
Irfan Kolothum Thodi | 20 km walk |
Sandeep Kumar | 50 km walk |
Manish Singh | 50 km walk |
Renjith Maheshwary | Triple jump |
Ankit Sharma | Long jump |
Inderjeet Singh | Shot put |
Vikas Gowda | Discus throw |
Women- 17 | Event |
Dutee Chand | 100 m |
Srabani Nanda | 200 m |
Tintu Luka | 800 m |
Nirmala Sheoran | 400 m & 4 × 400 m relay |
Lalita Babar | 3000 m steeplechase |
Ashwini Akkunji | 4 × 400 m relay |
Debashree Majumdar | 4 × 400 m relay |
Jisna Mathews | 4 × 400 m relay |
M. R. Poovamma | 4 × 400 m relay |
Anilda Thomas | 4 × 400 m relay |
O. P. Jaisha | Marathon |
Kavita Raut | Marathon |
Sudha Singh | Marathon & 4 × 400 m relay |
Khushbir Kaur | 20 km walk |
Sapna Punia | 20 km walk |
Manpreet Kaur | Shot put |
Seema Antil | Discus throw |
Sports- Badminton, Events-4
Men-3 | Event |
Srikanth Kidambi | Singles |
Manu Attri | Doubles |
B. Sumeeth Reddy | Doubles |
Women-4 | Event |
Saina Nehwal | Singles |
Pusarla Sindhu | Doubles |
Jwala Gutta | Doubles |
Ashwini Ponnappa | Doubles |
Sports- Boxing, Events-3
Men-3 | Event |
Shiva Thapa | Bantamweight |
Manoj Kumar | Light welterweight |
Vikas Krishan Yadav | Middleweight |
Sports- Field hockey, Events-2
Men-16 | Event |
Surender Kumar | Men’s tournament |
Danish Mujtaba | Men’s tournament |
V. R. Raghunath | Men’s tournament |
Akashdeep Singh | Men’s tournament |
Chinglensana Singh | Men’s tournament |
Harmanpreet Singh | Men’s tournament |
Kothajit Singh | Men’s tournament |
Manpreet Singh | Men’s tournament |
Ramandeep Singh | Men’s tournament |
Rupinder Pal Singh | Men’s tournament |
Sardara Singh | Men’s tournament |
P. R. Sreejesh (C & GK) | Men’s tournament |
S. V. Sunil | Men’s tournament |
Nikkin Thimmaiah | Men’s tournament |
S. K. Uthappa | Men’s tournament |
Devinder Walmiki | Men’s tournament |
Women-16 | Event |
Savita Punia (GK) | Women’s tournament |
Deep Grace Ekka | Women’s tournament |
Deepika Thakur | Women’s tournament |
Namita Toppo | Women’s tournament |
Sunita Lakra | Women’s tournament |
Sushila Chanu (C) | Women’s tournament |
Lilima Minz | Women’s tournament |
Renuka Yadav | Women’s tournament |
Nikki Pradhan | Women’s tournament |
Monika Malik | Women’s tournament |
Navjot Kaur | Women’s tournament |
Anuradha Devi | Women’s tournament |
Poonam Rani | Women’s tournament |
Vandana Katariya | Women’s tournament |
Preeti Dubey | Women’s tournament |
Rani Rampal | Women’s tournament |
avita Punia (GK) | Women’s tournament |
Sports- Golf, Events-2
Men-2 | Event |
Shiv Chawrasia | Golf |
Anirban Lahiri | Golf |
Women-1 | Event |
Aditi Ashok | Golf |
Sports- Gymnastics, Events-1
Women-1 | Event |
Dipa Karmakar | Artistic |
Sports- Judo, Events-1
Men-1 | Event |
Avtar Singh | Men’s −90 kg |
Sports- Rowing, Events-1
Men-1 | Event |
Dattu Baban Bhokanal | Men’s single sculls |
Sports- Shooting, Events-11
Men-9 | Event |
Abhinav Bindra | 10 m air rifle |
Gagan Narang | 10 m air rifle, 50 m rifle prone & 50 m rifle 3 positions |
Kynan Chenai | Trap |
Mairaj Ahmad Khan | Skeet |
Prakash Nanjappa | 50 m pistol |
Jitu Rai | 10 m air pistol, 50 m pistol |
Chain Singh | 50 m rifle prone, 50 m rifle 3 positions |
Gurpreet Singh | 10 m air pistol, 25 m rapid fire pistol |
Manavjit Singh Sandhu | Trap |
Women-3 | Event |
Apurvi Chandela | 10 m air rifle |
Ayonika Paul | 10 m air rifle |
Heena Sidhu | 10 m air pistol & 25 m pistol |
Sports- Swimming, Events-2
Men-1 | Event |
Sajan Prakash | 200 m butterfly |
Women-1 | Event |
Shivani Kataria | 200 m freestyle |
Sports- Table tennis, Events-2
Men-2 | Event |
Sharath Kamal Achanta | Men’s singles |
Soumyajit Ghosh | Men’s singles |
Women-2 | Event |
Manika Batra | Women’s singles |
Mouma Das | Women’s singles |
Sports- Tennis, Events-3
Men-2 | Event |
Rohan Bopanna | Men’s doubles |
Leander Paes | Men’s doubles |
Women-2 | Event |
Sania Mirza | Women’s doubles |
Prarthana Thombare | Women’s doubles |
Mixed doubles | Event |
Sania Mirza & Rohan Bopanna | Mixed Double |
Sports- Weightlifting, Events-2
Men-1 | Event |
Sathish Sivalingam | Men’s −77 kg |
Women-1 | Event |
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu | Women’s −48 kg |
Sports- Wrestling, Events-8
Men-5 | Event |
Sandeep Tomar -57 kg | Men’s freestyle |
Yogeshwar Dutt-65 kg | Men’s freestyle |
Narsingh Pancham Yadav-74 kg | Men’s freestyle |
Ravinder Khatri −85 kg | Men’s Greco |
Hardeep Singh −98 kg | Men’s Greco |
Women-3 | Event |
Vinesh Phogat−48 kg | Women’s freestyle |
Babita Kumari−53 kg | Women’s freestyle |
Sakshi Malik−58 kg | Women’s freestyle |