Tokyo Olympics 2021: Indian Athletes who have booked their tickets for the mega event and who all still fighting for the qualifications

Bengal Mirror, Special Correspondent : The new countdown to the Tokyo Olympics has begun, with the International Olympic Committee officially confirming the dates of the grand event which will now take place from 23rd July to 8th August 2021.

The Tokyo Olympics was originally scheduled for 24 July to 9 August 2020, before being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The suspension of the event led to disappointment among sports fans around the globe, but now situations are getting better with major tournaments taking place.

The Indian contingent is ready as they are under preparation and with less than 5 months in hand, many have to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Following players have booked tickets for the mega event in different disciplines.

Hockey

The Indian women’s hockey team and Indian men’s team have qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. The teams have started preparing for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics with the national camp resuming at the Sports Authority of India centre in Bengaluru. The camp will decide the final squads that will fly to Tokyo.

Shooting

Shooters are probably the brightest prospects for Tokyo as they have won 21 golds in four World Cups in 2019. The results have reflected in the qualifications as India has won a record 15 quota places in shooting for Tokyo 2020.

Badminton

Badminton has been the most successful discipline as India has won a medal in badminton at each of the last two Olympics. All eyes would be on Rio 2016 silver medallist PV Sindhu but she is yet to qualify for the Tokyo 2020.

The spots for the Olympics will be allocated on the basis of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings on April 29, 2021.

Boxing

Nine Indian boxers have qualified so far for the Tokyo Olympics which equal the previous best qualification cycle (2012). There could be more boxers as there is another qualification event yet to be held. The boxers who have qualified are, London 2012 bronze medallist Mary Kom, Simranjit Kaur in women’s 60kg category, Ashish Kumar in men’s 75kg category and six more.

Wrestling

Four Indian wrestlers have qualified so far for the Olympics which are Ravi Dahiya in men’s 57kg freestyle category, Bajrang Punia in men’s 65kg freestyle category, Deepak Punia in men’s 74kg freestyle category, and Vinesh Phogat in women’s 53kg freestyle category.

Sakshi Malik, the bronze-medal winner from Rio along with two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and 2015 World medallist Narsingh Yadav is still to qualify for Tokyo Olympics 2021.

Track and field

2018 Asian Games gold medallist Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh in men’s javelin throw have qualified with KT Irfan in men’s 20 km race walking, Bhawna Jat in women’s 20 km race walking, Avinash Sable in men’s 3000m steeplechase, and 4x400m mixed relay team. Indian race walkers Sandeep Kumar, Rahul, and Priyanka Goswami have also qualified for the mega event.

To the surprise, Hima Das, Dutee Chand, Tejinder Pal Singh Toor, and many others are still fighting for the qualification as the deadline for Olympic qualification is June 29, 2021.