-By AC Media Bureau
August 3, 2021
Women athletes of India shine in Olympics 2020 and bag medals for a medal-starved country
When it comes to sports, women are often discouraged to pursue them or looked down upon by their male counterparts. India is a country where gender bias is still common and women have to bear the brunt of sexism in all spheres of life.
But the tides of change are sweeping the atmosphere. Not only are Indian women good at sports, but they are bringing glory and pride to the country by comfortably and respectfully outperforming their male compatriots at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
India’s women contingent for the Olympics have succeeded in putting their best foot forward and have displayed excellent sportsmanship in the biggest sports meet in the world.
From Manipuri weightlifter Mirabai Chanu’s silver, to Assamese boxer Lovlina Borgohain’s bronze, which she is confident of turning into a gold, India’s last four Olympic medals — including PV Sindhu’s silver and wrestler Sakshi Malik’s bronze at Rio 2016 have all come from women. After losing her badminton semifinal to Tai Tzu-Ying on Saturday, Sindhu has won a bronze medal in Tokyo against He Bing Jiao of China.
The special highlight of this year’s women contingent is that the team is diversified than ever. It includes mothers, teenagers, married and unmarried women and LGBTQ+ members from bustling cities to quiet hinterlands and nomadic towns.
Women who made their mark this year were not only the ones who bagged medals for the country but even those who portrayed splendid skills and courage at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. One such woman is C.A. Bhavani Devi who is the first Indian woman fencer to qualify for the Olympics. Her highest world ranking is 36.
Displaying outstanding archery was Indian archer Deepika Kumari at the Tokyo Olympics. She won the pre-quarter round and went ahead to compete against South Korea. Even though she lost the round, she still remains the world’s highest-ranked female archer.
Next in the line of achievers comes Kamalpreet Kaur from Punjab. She is the first Indian woman to breach the 65m barrier in discus throw. She gave her best in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and made India proud by finishing sixth.
Mary Kom, India’s pride in boxing, qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. However, she was disqualified in the pre-quarterfinals against Ingrit Valencia. This decision was met with many speculations and her defeat is still a matter of controversy.
Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina have qualified for the women’s doubles in lawn tennis for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Apart from mainstream sports, here is a list of women who have qualified for various sports in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
• Seven Indian women have qualified for Shooting
• Sushila Devi Likmabam has qualified as India’s only participant in Judo
• Pranati Naik is the only second Indian woman to qualify for the Olympics in Gymnastics
• Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar have qualified for the women Golf event in Tokyo Olympics 2020
• Bhawna Jat and Priyanka Goswami have qualified for 20 km race walking
• Annu Rani qualified for Javelin throw
• Dutee Chand has qualified for women’s 100m and 200m sprint
• Seema Bisla, Vinesh Phogat, Anshu Malik and Sonam Malik qualified for Wrestling
• Sutirtha Mukherjee and Manika Batra have qualified for Table Tennis
• Maana Patel has qualified for women’s backstroke
Ending with India’s women’s hockey team, they have won the quarterfinals against Australia and have entered the semi-finals. They rank seventh in the FIH world ranking and are ranked as the best team in Asia.
By going through the aforementioned list of women competing in various sports we are sure that the women of India will contribute heavily to raise the country’s bar on an international level. The future of India and the future of sports for Indian women are bound to change for the good in the coming years. We are sure that someday, Indian women are going to bring the gold home quite literally.