Indian Athletes Shine at Paris Olympics 2024: Bronze for Hockey, Silver for Neeraj Chopra, and Wrestling Upsets

At the Paris Olympics 2024, Indian athletes delivered standout performances that brought pride to the nation. Despite the controversy surrounding Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification, the Indian contingent found success across several disciplines.

The Indian men’s hockey team rebounded from a semi-final loss to Germany to win the bronze medal against Spain. In what was legendary goalkeeper PR Sreejesh’s final match, it made the moment even more special. Although Spain took an early lead, India came back to win 2-1, with goals from captain Manpreet Singh and forward Harmanpreet Singh. This victory secured India’s second consecutive Olympic bronze medal in hockey, following their success in Tokyo 2020, and was a fitting send-off for Sreejesh.

Neeraj Chopra, the reigning Olympic champion, secured a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw with a best throw of 89.45 meters. Although he fell short of defending his gold, Chopra’s performance reinforced his status as one of the world’s top javelin throwers, showing his consistency and talent on the international stage.

In wrestling, Aman Sehrawat advanced to the semi-finals in the men’s freestyle 57kg category with dominant victories over Vladimir Egorov and Zelimkhan Abakarov. However, Sehrawat’s campaign ended in the semi-finals with a loss to Japan’s Rei Higuchi. In the women’s freestyle 57kg category, Anshu Malik was defeated 7-2 by Helen Louise Maroulis from the USA.

In athletics, Jyothi Yarraji competed in the women’s 100m hurdles repechage round, finishing fourth with a time of 13.17 seconds and was subsequently eliminated. Her performance indicates the need for further development in this discipline.

In women’s golf, Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar both performed admirably, finishing tied for 14th place with a score of one under par after the second round. Their performances reflect the growing competitiveness of Indian golfers on the international stage, showing their potential to achieve higher rankings.