Paris Olympics 2024: Top five India moments ft. Neeraj Chopra, Manu Bhaker

There were a number of historic moments at the Paris Olympics 2024, leaving Indian fans delighted.

India wrapped up their Paris Olympics 2024 campaign with a total of six medals—one silver and five bronze. While some athletes set personal milestones and exceeded expectations, the medal count fell short of the seven medals won at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Despite this, India’s athletes came close to winning in several events, securing six fourth-placed finishes and delivering other near-miss performances. This suggests that there is potential for even better results in the future. With a growing pool of talent, particularly among young athletes who have already shown promise by winning medals, the future of Olympic sports in India looks bright.

There were a number of moments at the showpiece event, which made every Indian fan’s chest swell in pride. While there was history created in case of some events, we got to see some swashbuckling play in others. These moments will be cherished not only by the athletes, but also the fans, for a lifetime.

While there were innumerable moments where we roared in delight, let us have a look at few of them:

5. Lakshya Sen becomes first Indian male shuttler to enter semi-finals

Lakshya Sen faced a challenging draw at the Paris Olympics 2024, but the 22-year-old shuttler from Almora exceeded expectations by advancing to the knockout rounds. He earned a convincing straight games victory over third seed Jonathan Christie in the group, before defeating fellow Indian HS Prannoy in the Round of 16.

In the quarter-finals, Sen overcame a tough opponent in Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. Despite dropping the first game, Sen displayed patience and eventually broke down Chen’s defence to secure his place in the semi-finals, becoming the first Indian male shuttler to do so.

Sen’s journey ended in heartbreak, as he narrowly missed out on a medal. He lost to second seed Viktor Axelsen in the semi-finals and was defeated by Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match, despite holding an advantage in both contests.

However, age is on Sen’s side and the 22-year-old would believe that he has a long way to go. Infact, he has so much potential that even Axelsen has admitted that the Indian would be a gold medal favourite at the Los Angeles Olympics 2028.

4. Aman Sehrawat becomes youngest Indian to clinch individual Olympic medal

India faced several disappointments in wrestling at the Paris Olympics 2024, including Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification. However, Aman Sehrawat stepped up and kept India’s wrestling medal streak alive since 2008, winning a bronze in the men’s freestyle 57kg category.

Aman began his campaign with a dominant win by technical superiority against North Macedonia’s Vladimir Egorov. In the quarter-finals, he faced a tough challenge from reigning world champion Zelimkhan Abakarov of Albania, but Aman fought confidently and secured a stunning victory, also by technical superiority.

Although he lost to top seed and eventual gold medalist Rei Higuchi in the semi-finals, Aman bounced back to defeat Puerto Rico’s Darian Cruz 13-5 in the bronze medal match.

At 21-years-old, Aman became the youngest Indian to win an individual Olympic medal, surpassing the previous record held by PV Sindhu

3. Indian men’s hockey team defeats Great Britain in quarter-finals

The Indian men’s hockey team entered the Paris Olympics 2024 as underdogs and had a slow start. However, they secured a historic 3-2 victory over Australia in their final group match, marking their first win against the Kookaburras at the Olympics in 52 years.

In the quarter-finals, India delivered an even stronger performance against Great Britain. Despite defender Amit Rohidas receiving a controversial red card early in the second quarter, the team remained resilient. They held Great Britain to a 1-1 draw after 60 minutes and then won the shootout 4-2.

India were strong in the semi-final against Germany but struggled to convert key chances, leading to a narrow 2-3 loss. The absence of the suspended Rohidas also impacted their performance.

The team bounced back to defeat Spain 2-1 in the bronze medal match, securing their second consecutive Olympic bronze.

2. Manu Bhaker becomes first Indian (since Independence) to medal twice at same edition of Olympics

Manu Bhaker, who had faced disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics, found redemption at the Paris Olympics 2024. The 22-year-old shooter from Jhajjar, Haryana, became the first Indian female shooter to win an Olympic medal by claiming bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol event. She narrowly missed out on the silver medal by just 0.1 points to South Korea’s Kim Yeji.

In the 10m air pistol mixed team event, Manu and Sarabjot Singh secured third place in the qualifiers and went on to defeat a strong South Korean team 16-10 in the bronze medal match. With these two medals, Bhaker became the first Indian athlete in 124 years to win two medals at the same Olympics.

She also came close to a third medal but finished fourth in the women’s 25m pistol final after losing a shoot-off to Hungary’s Veronica Major.

1. Neeraj Chopra joins elite list of double Olympic medalists

Neeraj Chopra once again showed why he is known as one of the most consistent athletes in the world.

Despite having concerns in his groin, the reigning world champion managed to achieve a whopping distance of 89.45m (less than half a metre from his personal best) in the men’s javelin throw final, thus clinching silver.

This was after he had topped the qualification, throwing 89.34m.

He had his task cut out in the final in a competitive field and the pressure was on him when Arshad Nadeem broke the Olympic record, throwing a mind-boggling distance of 92.97m. Having fouled in his first throw, the 26-year-old from Khandra, Haryana regained his composure during the second throw, eventually clinching silver.

Having become Independent India’s first track and field Olympic medalist and India’s second individual gold medalist at Tokyo, he became just the fourth Indian to win multiple individual Olympic medals with his stellar performance in Paris.

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