Paris Olympics 2024: With 100 days left for the Games, here’s how Indian contingent is shaping up

The 2024 Paris Olympics are now officially 100 days away. India enjoyed its best-ever outing at an Olympic Games in Tokyo three years ago and expectations from the Indian contingent is high this time around.

India sent its largest contingent to an Olympic Games with 126 athletes competing in 18 events in Tokyo – returning with seven medals, a gold, two silver and four bronze medals.

April 17 marks 100 days to go for the Paris Olympics to get underway.

So far, a total of 42 Indian athletes have qualified, but that number is expected to increase in the next few weeks with many sports holding their final Olympic qualification events.

Here’s how the Indian contingent is shaping up with 100 days to go:

Archery

A total of 128 recurve archers – 64 men and 64 women – will compete in five events at the Paris Olympics. So far, 72 of the 128 quota places have been won from the 2023 World Championships, Continental Championships and Continental Qualification Tournaments.

Dhiraj Bommadevara is the only Indian to have secured a quota, winning it at the Asian Continental Qualification Tournament last year.

As things stand, India has two more chances to send a full contingent of six archers to Paris: the Final Team Qualification Tournament which will be held in Antalya, Turkey in June, and via the world rankings.

In the men’s event, 12 spots are up for grabs – nine in team and three in individual, while 16 spots are available in the women’s event – 12 in team and four in individual. Both teams need to finish in the top three in Turkey to book their tickets to Paris.

If India do not win any quota in Turkey, they will have one last chance to qualify for the Olympics via world rankings – the top two best ranked teams that have not qualified will be given a quota. As things stand, the men’s team has a good chance with their world No 3 ranking. The Indian women’s team also has a decent chance. They are placed eight in the rankings, but the top five teams have already secured quotas.

Athletics

Thirteen Indian athletes have met the qualification standard in track and field events for the Paris Olympics.

Each National Olympic Committee can only send three athletes per event per gender. In the case of the men’s 20km race walk, seven athletes have met the qualification standard set by World Athletics.

It will be up to the Athletics Federation of India to decide who among the seven will make the cut for Paris.

Apart from race walk, the men’s javelin throw event is expected to see an unprecedented three Indian athletes qualifying for Paris. Defending champion Neeraj Chopra and Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Kumar Jena qualified for the Games after meeting the qualification standard.

DP Manu is also in line to make the cut via world rankings where he is currently ranked 10th in the world.

With the qualification period ending on June 30, many athletes will be gunning to meet the qualification standard for the Olympics.

Asian Games 100m hurdles silver medallist Jyothi Yarraji is just 0.01s off the qualification time of 12.77s. Even if she doesn’t dip below the time, Yarraji could qualify based on her ranking.

The likes of Jeswin Aldrin (long jump), Abdulla Aboobacker (triple jump), Praveen Chitravel (triple jump), Annu Rani (javelin), KM Chanda (800m) and Ankita (5000m) are on course to qualify via their respective World Rankings.

Badminton

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will shoulder India’s hopes of securing a medal in badminton in Paris. Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu has also qualified for her third Olympics but is not a favourite to finish on the podium.

Sindhu has struggled for form since suffering an injury at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and has chopped and changed her coaching team to try and get back to her best.

HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen will spearhead the Indian challenge in the men’s singles event while Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa will compete in the women’s doubles event.

Boxing

A total of 197 boxing quotas have been awarded with four being won by Indian women boxers.

A lot was expected from the Indian boxing contingent but the past few years have been disappointing. Bernard Dunne stepped down as High Performance Director after India failed to secure a single quota at the first World Olympic Qualifiers in Italy.

India have one last chance to add to the four quotas they have won when they take to the ring at the second World Olympic Qualifiers in May.

Equestrian

Anush Aggarwala secured India’s only quota in equestrian after being awarded a quota spot in dressage on the basis of his performances in FEI events in 2023.

The Equestrian Federation of India will hold a trial to decide who will represent India in Paris.

Fencing

CA Bhavani Devi, the only Indian fencer to compete at the Olympics, when she made the cut in Tokyo, needs to win the Asia and Oceania Zonal Tournament to qualify for Paris.

Bhavani Devi, at world No 33, is the highest-ranked fencer at the tournament which will be held in Fujairah, UAE on April 28. Given the level of competition at the tournament, expect Bhavani Devi to punch her ticket for Paris.

Golf

The top 60-ranked men’s and women’s golfers will qualify for the Games with each country allowed to name two golfers per gender.

Aditi Ashok, who came close to finishing on the podium in Tokyo, Dikhsa Dagar, Shubhankar Sharma and Gaganjeet Bhullar are all ranked in the top 60 and are in pole position to make the cut for Paris.

Gymnastics

Dipa Karmakar and Pranati Nayak are ranked fourth and fifth in the vault Olympic Qualification World Cup Ranking List. Only the top two gymnasts get direct entry for the Olympics.

With the Doha World Cup getting underway on April 19, North Korea’s An Chang Ok and Bulgaria’s Valentina Georgieva have mathematically qualified for the Olympics from the World Cup Ranking List.

Karmakar and Nayak’s final opportunity to qualify for the Olympics will be at the Asian Championships which will be held in Tashkent in May to qualify for the Paris Olympics. However, only one quota is up for grabs at the Asian Championships.

Hockey

The Indian men’s hockey team qualified for the Olympics by winning gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games. After ending a four decade wait for an Olympic medal in Tokyo, India will be looking to add another medal to their impressive medal haul in the sport over the years.

Judo

As things stand, Avtar Singh (men’s 100kg) will be India’s sole judoka in Paris having provisionally qualified via continental quota.

Rowing

India hasn’t secured any quotas in rowing so far with two qualification tournaments left. The Asian & Oceania Continental Qualification Regatta will be held in Chungju, South Korea from April 19 to 21 with the Final Qualification Tournament scheduled from May 19 to 21 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Sailing

Vishnu Saravanan secured India’s only Olympic quota in sailing so far at the 2024 ICLA World Championships in January.

Indian sailors have only one opportunity to make the cut for Paris at the Semaine Olympique Francaise from April 18 to 27 in Hyeres, France.

Shooting

India have secured a record 20 quota spots out of a permissible 24. So far, India is the only country apart from hosts France who will have a shooter in each of the 12 disciplines in Paris.

India will look to clinch four additional quotas – one each in men’s and women’s skeet shooting and trap shooting – at the Shotgun Olympic Qualifiers which will be held from April 19 to 29 in Doha, Qatar.

Should they fail to win any quotas in Doha, the Indian shooters could still make the cut for Paris through the World Olympic rankings.

In shooting, the quota belongs to the country and not the individual. The National Rifle Association of India will hold trials to decide who will represent India in Paris.

Table Tennis

India have secured two quotas each in the men’s and women’s singles event with an additional quota in their respective team events.

G Sathiyan and Manika Batra missed the cut for the mixed doubles event through the qualification tournament and will be hoping to qualify via their ranking.

Weightlifting

Mirabai Chanu is the only Indian weightlifter on course to qualify for the Paris Olympics. The Tokyo Olympics silver medallist has only returned from injury and will be looking to move on from her Hangzhou Asian Games disappointment.

At her best, Chanu is in a good position to once again finish on the podium in Paris.

Wrestling

Antim Panghal is the only wrestler to have won a quota spot for India.

Indian wrestlers have two more chances to qualify for the Olympics. Two spots per weight category are up for grabs at the Asian Qualification Tournament which take place from April 19 to 21 in Tashkent.

A further three spots per category will be available at the World Qualification Tournament which will be held from May 9 to 12 in Istanbul, Turkey.

At the Olympics however, only one wrestler per country is allowed to compete in a weight category. Additionally, national federations get to decide which wrestler will utilise the quota won for the country.