Tokyo: The Indians literally reserved their best for the last.
Shortly after Bajrang Punia had ensured a bronze medal in wrestling on the penultimate day of the Tokyo Olympics, Neeraj Chopra put the icing on the cake with an epochal gold in men’s javelin.
India jumped over 30 places from 64th to 31st on the medals’ table with that stellar show.
That helped India finish with a record seven medals in a single Games. The previous best was six medals (without a gold) in the 2012 London Olympics.
Two more could easily have been added to the tally had the women’s hockey team and female golfer Aditi Ashok not missed out on bronze medals – both by a whisker.
India, who had sent its biggest contingent to an Olympic Games this time, have come a long way since barely managing a medal each in 1996 Athens Games, 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Games. Three medals at Beijing 2008, including Bindra’s historic gold, was followed by six at London 2012, then just two at Rio de Janeiro 2016. And now this all-time high!
INDIA’S TOKYO OLYMPIC MEDALS
Gold (1) – Neeraj Chopra (athletics)
Silver (2) – Mirabai Chanu (women’s weightlifting), Ravi Dahiya (men’s wrestling)
Bronze (4) – PV Sindhu (women’s badminton), Lovlina Borgohain (women’s boxing), Bajrang Punia (men’s wrestling) Men’s hockey team
