1 month to Paris Olympics 2024: Who are India's top 10 medal contenders?

The Paris Olympics 2024 will get underway from June 26.

India first took part in the Olympic Games in 1900, where Norman Pritchard won two silver medals. Since then, with every subsequent edition, the interest and medal expectations have only grown exponentially.

More than 100 athletes are set to represent India at the Paris Olympics 2024. Trap shooter Bhowneesh Mendiratta won the country’s first quota at the 2024 Games, while Judoka Tulika Maan is the latest athlete to book her spot at Paris 2024.

With 30 days left for the Summer Games in France, we take a look at India’s 10 best medal contenders at the quadrennial event.

India top medal contenders at Paris Olympics 2024

#10 Sift Kaur Samra

While many have tried to break India’s duck in shooting at the Olympics, Sift Kaur Samra could very well bag the country’s first medal at the Games. She has shown incredible form at the highest stages in the recent past, most notably at the 2023 Asian Games where she beat China’s world champion on home soil to clinch gold in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event.

Sift, who gave up a career in medicine to pursue sports, showed her prowess when she topped the four-stage Olympic selection trials to qualify for the Paris Olympics 2024. She won three of the four women’s 50m rifle 3 positions events, which only strengthened expectations from her in the French capital.

#9 Lovlina Borgohain

Lovlina Borgohain has stayed focused on the task at hand by putting her head down and training tirelessly. She took part in the national camp, competed at an event in Thailand, and was also a part of the Indian team’s foreign training programs.

The 26-year-old has qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024 in the women’s 75kg weight category, in which she is the world champion. She is well-placed to improve on her bronze-medal-winning performance at the Tokyo Olympics.

#8 Nikhat Zareen

Nikhat Zareen secured the quota for the Paris Olympics 2024 at the Asian Games last year, where she won the bronze medal. Over the years, she has made her mark at almost every stage globally, including the World Championships (2022 and 2023), the Commonwealth Games (2022), and the Asian Games (2023).

This year, she won the silver medal at the Strandja Memorial in February and has taken part in several training camps abroad, most notably in Turkey where she trained alongside world champion Buse Naz Cakiroglu, who is incidentally one of the Indian’s main rivals in Zareen’s 50kg category in Paris.

ALSO READ: Nikhat Zareen on managing expectations for Paris Olympics, sparring with rival and why being nervous is key

#7 Manu Bhaker

Such is the confidence in Manu Bhaker’s abilities that she is set to be the only Indian athlete who will be participating in more than one individual event (women’s 10m air pistol and the women’s 25m pistol) at the Paris Olympics 2024.

While Bhaker has failed to make her mark in the big events, she has shown consistency and maturity in recent months. At the first Olympic Selection Trials, she proved her mettle to emerge as an Olympic medal hopeful.

#6 Lakshya Sen

Despite his young age, Lakshya Sen has already tasted success at the biggest events, with a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal at the World Championships. He qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024 by finishing 13th in the Race to Paris rankings, earning 64021 points.

The 22-year-old has shown great form in all major competitions since moving to the senior circuit at the Tokyo Olympics. While he couldn’t make his mark at the Games in Japan, he could very well rewrite the script in Paris, which will only further strengthen his position as one of the country’s best shuttlers.

ALSO READ: A look at Lakshya Sen’s qualification for Paris Olympics 2024

#5 Men’s hockey team

The Indian men’s hockey team has been revitalized under Craig Fulton’s leadership. This was evident at the Asian Games last year, where they held the upper hand through the final against Japan and clinched the gold medal, and with it a place in the Paris Olympics 2024.

After breaking a 41-year-long medal drought in the Summer Games by winning the bronze medal in Tokyo, the team is well placed to better that performance in the French capital.

#4 Mirabai Chanu

Despite being the only Indian weightlifter to secure a quota for the Paris Olympics 2024, expectations are high for Mirabai Chanu. Having won the silver medal in Tokyo, she is well-placed to go one step better in France.

Since her disappointing debut at the Rio Olympics in 2016, the 29-year-old has done well at several events across the world. She is the first Indian weightlifter in 22 years to become a world champion, won the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and bagged the gold medal at the 2020 Asian Championships with a world record lift.

ALSO READ: A look at Mirabai Chanu’s qualification for Paris Olympics 2024

#3 PV Sindhu

PV Sindhu is a two-time medallist at the Olympics and is one of the most decorated athletes the country has ever produced. That said, she has been in a slump recently, especially since recuperating from a knee injury she picked up in October of last year.

The 28-year-old has competed in several events this year and failed to make her mark in any of them. In fact, her last title win came in the 2022 Singapore Open. Despite that, she has the experience and guile to end her disappointing form with a medal in Paris.

ALSO READ: A look at PV Sindhu’s qualification for Paris Olympics 2024

#2 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have established themselves as one of the strongest doubles pairs on the men’s circuit in recent years. They have even been ranked the World No. #1 in the men’s doubles, most recently after their Thailand Open victory earlier this year.

Chirag and Satwik, the first Indian men’s doubles pair to be ranked World No. #1, have won a slew of tournaments in recent years, including gold medals at the 2022 Asian Games and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

ALSO READ: A look at Satwik-Chirag’s qualification for Paris Olympics 2024

#1 Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra took the country by storm when he clinched the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. The defending champion has shown that he will enter this year’s Games in good form, having done well at the Doha Diamond League, the Federation Cup, and the Paavo Nurmi Games.

Such has been the strength of the Haryana native’s performances that it is almost a foregone conclusion that he will win a second Olympic medal, with only the spot on the podium left for debate.

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