As India prepares to take the global stage at the Paris Olympics, the spotlight shines bright on the country’s top athletes. With a remarkable 16 sports disciplines represented, the Indian Express embarks on an in-depth exploration of the investments made by the sports ministry to nurture and support these talented athletes.
Total amount: Rs 41.81 crore
It would be interesting to see whether the Harmanpreet Singh-led team will finish on the podium in Paris. The Indian team had ended a 41-year long drought at Tokyo after they won bronze. Building on their historic bronze medal in Tokyo, The India hockey coach Craug Fulton believes that the squad is hungry for more. But will they be able ride the wave of confidence and skill to reach new heights and bring home glory?
Neeraj Chopra
Athletics
Training base: SAI NSNIS Patiala/Europe
Total Amount: Rs 5.72 crore
The reigning and Olympic and World Champion is a strong contender for a repeat medal. Neeraj Chopra has been in rich vein of form since his Tokyo Olympic glory. He has won a gold medal in the 2022 Asian Games, became the champions at Diamond League final in 2022 and a runner-up in 2023.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty
India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will finally be able to find out what their group will look like at the Paris Olympics as Badminton World Federation confirmed on Sunday men’s doubles group stage draw, which was postponed from Friday, will now take place on Monday 15 July 2024 at 1.30 pm IST. (Express Photo)
Badminton men’s doubles
Training base: Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy, Hyderabad, Telangana
Total amount: Rs 5.62 crore
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are one of India’s biggest medal hopes at the Paris Olympics.
PV Sindhu
Badminton
Training base: Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, Bengaluru
Total Amount: Rs 3.13 crore
PV Sindhu, who has won a silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze at Tokyo 2020 is aiming for the only color she hasn’t won yet at the Games.
S Mirabai Chanu
Weightlifting
Training Base: SAI NSNIS Patiala
Total Amount: Rs 2.74 crore
Mirabai Chanu’s path to Paris is far from ideal. She has competed in just three competitions and has suffered a spate of injuries in the past 18 months. The Tokyo silver medallist is on the mend from myriad injuries. Mirabai’s silver at Tokyo 2020 was only the second Olympic medal by an Indian weightlifter after Karnam Malleswari. She also became only the second Indian woman after PV Sindhu to win an Olympic silver medal.
Anish Bhanwala
Shooting
Training base: SAI Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, New Delhi
Total Amount: Rs 2.41 crore
After finishing 22nd at the Hangzhou Asian Games, Anish Bhanwala won a Paris Olympics quota for India in the event with a bronze medal in the Asian Shooting Championships in Changwon.
Manu Bhaker
Shooting
Training base: SAI Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, New Delhi
Total Amount: Rs 1.68 crore
Manu Bhaker went into Tokyo in form and as the World No. 1, but she returned empty-handed.
Sift Kaur Samra
Shooting
Training Base: SAI Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, New Delhi
Total Amount: Rs 1.63 crore
After winning India’s first-ever individual shooting Asiad gold medal in Hangzhou, Sift Kaur Samra will be hoping to ride that momentum straight to the Olympics.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar
Shooting
Training Base: MP Shooting Academy, Bhopal
Total Amount: Rs 1.56 crore
The 23-year-old has won gold in 50m Rifle 3 Position at the 2023 ISSF World Cup in Cairo.
Rohan Bopanna
File photo of India’s Rohan Bopanna at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. (PHOTO: PTI)
Tennis
Training base: Bengaluru, Karnataka
Total Amount: Rs 1.56 crore
Earlier this year Rohan Bopanna became the fourth Indian – after Sania Mirza, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi – to become doubles World No.1. The 44-year-old has kept his place in the top 10 of the rankings, which ensured Indian representation in tennis at the Summer Games which earlier seemed unlikely.
Elavenil Valarivan
Shooting
Training Base: Gun for Glory, Chennai
Total Amount: Rs 1.32 crore
The 24-year-old shooter won a gold medal at the 2023 ISSF World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.
Manika Batra
Table Tennis
Training Base: Private Academy, Mumbai, and AVSC Table Tennis Academy, Hyderabad
Total Amount: Rs 1.30 crore
The 29-year-old from Delhi has found form in the last one year. She has become the first Indian women to be ranled in top 25 at ITTF World Rankings in women’s singles.
Sharath Kamal
Table Tennis
Training Base: SDAT AKG Table Tennis Development Centre, Chennai
Total amount: Rs 1.14 crore
India, against all odds, qualified for the Paris Olympics as a team after reaching the Round of 16 of the World Championships in Busan earlier this year. Sharath has improved his rankings by having a couple of great runs at WTT to qualify for the Olympics.
Dhiraj Bommadevara
Archery
Training Base: SAI Sonepat
Total Amount: Rs 1.07 crore
Dhiraj Bommadevara, the only Indian recurve archer to have secured a quota at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics, was part of a troika that scripted history at the Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai.
Vishnu Saravanan
Sailing
Training Base: Army Yachting Node, Mumbai | Royal Valencia Yacht Club, Europe
Total Amount: Rs 99.33 lakh
It will be the second successive Olympics qualification for the Indian Army subedar who spent some time listening to 2012 silver medallist and two-time world champion 33-year-old Pavlos Kontides of Cyprus at the Adelaide Sailing Club.
Nikhat Zareen
28 years and two World Championships old – Nikhat Zareen is arguably India’s best boxer going into the Paris Olympics. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)
Boxing
Training Base: SAI NSNIS Patiala
Total Amount: Rs 91.71 lakh
Nikhat Zareen has had to make way for MC Mary Kom in the past and has had to wait a while for her turn. Now at 28 she is arguably India’s best boxer going into the Paris Olympics.
Lovlina Borogohain
Boxing
Training Base: SAI NSNIS Patiala
Total Amount: Rs 81.76 lakh
With an Olympic bronze and gold medals at the world and Asian championships, Lovlina Borgohain will be looking to add another feather in her cap.
Vinesh Phogat
On July 3, Vinesh Phogat received her Schengen visa with help from the government after initially posting on X that she wasn’t getting the visa. (File/PTI)
Wrestling
Training Base: Pratap School, Kharkhoda, Haryana
Total Amount: Rs 70.45 lakh
Headed to her third Olympics, Vinesh Phogat is India’s most successful woman wrestler with three World Championship medal.
Antim Panghal
Wrestling
Training Base: SAI STC, Hisar, Haryana
Total Amount: Rs 66.55 lakh
Antim Panghal is a two-time junior world wrestling champion and an Asian Games and senior world championship bronze medallist.
Amit Panghal
Boxing
Training Base: SAI NSNIS Patiala
Total Amount: Rs 65.90 lakh
The last three years have not been easy for the Rohtak boxer. Amiti Panghal may have been the reigning Asian champion as well as the World’s silver medallist going into the previous Olympics but that one loss somehow also saw faith in him diminish.
Nishant Dev
Boxing
Training Base: SAI NSNIS Patiala
Total Amount: Rs 65.86 lakh
Nishant Dev booked his spot for Paris Olympics after beating Moldova’s Vasile Cebotari 5-0 in the men’s 71kg quarterfinals at the World Boxing Qualifiers in Bangkok. The 23-year-old Nishant is a World Championships bronze medallist from the 2023 edition of the event held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Aditi Ashok
Golf
Training Base: Bengaluru
Total Amount: Rs 63.21 lakh
At Tokyo, Aditi Ashok experienced the agony of missing out on a historic podium finish. Ranked 200th in the world, the 26-year-old matched the best golfers in the world shot for shot. But, she eventually fell short after coming agonisingly close and finished fourth.
Aman Sehrawat
Wrestler Aman Sehrawat at New Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)
Wrestling
Training Base: Chhatrasal Stadium, Delhi
Total Amount: Rs 56.50 lakh
20-year-old Aman Sehrawat is India’s only male wrestler at the Paris Olympics.
Deepika Kumari
Archery
Training Base: SAI Sonepat
Total Amount: Rs 39.92 lakh
Reetika Hooda
Wrestling
Training Base: Chhotu Ram Stadium, Rohtak, Haryana
Total Amount: Rs 38.05 lakh
Reetika Hooda is the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify in the heavyweight 76kg division. Reetika is country’s first-ever female U-23 world champion.
Shubhankar Sharma
Golf
Training Base: Chandigarh
Total Amount: Rs 37 lakh
India no. 1 Shubhankar Sharma will be vying for a podium finish at the Paris.
Dhindhi Desinghu
Swimming
Training Base: Bengaluru
Total Amount: Rs 10.87 lakh
At 14, the budding swimmer from Bengaluru will be the youngest athlete in the Indian contingent for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. Desinghu, who is slated to compete in the women’s 200m freestyle event, will become the second youngest Indian Olympian in history when she dips in the pool at the Paris La Defence Arena on July 28.
