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{/source}It is indeed a very agonizing fact that India with over a billion population has won only seven individual medals at the Olympics. It is frustrating to know that India has been participating in the Olympics since 1928 and it never went to the Games as a force to reckon. India’s only saving grace in the Games has been their national game hHockey in which they have won 11 medals, including eight gold. But their dominance also faded away since 1980 and India have failed to capture a single medal in the sport that they dominanted for decades and in 2008 Beijing Olympics they even failed to qualify. That was the first time they were missing from the mega event since 1928.

Over the years India had been to the mega event 21 times and have won only 18 medals, bulk of which was won by the hockey team (11 medals). With the London Olympics nearing, Indian Sports News rolls back the years to re-live those glorious moments when individual athletes took the onus upon them to make the country proud while hoping for a better outing at the upcoming London Olympics.

Abhinav Bindra: It is very sad to know that that a country with such a huge population actually took 80 long years since it officially participated in the Olympics in 1928 to win an individual gold medal. But nevertheless India still did and it was none other than the golden boy of Indian shooting Abhinav Bindra. After Bindra came agonizingly close to win his first medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, he made it sure that Beijing does not go in vain. He finished with a total score of 700.5 points in 10-meter air rifle event in 2008 Olympics, which was enough to earn the country its first individual gold medal.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s silver medal winning feat at the 2004 Athens Olympics was the best performance by an individual from India till then and later he was superseded by Bindra. Armyman Rathore won the silver at the men’s double trap event and his feat sure did make him a household name. This was the medal that changed the face of Indian shooting and since then it reached new heights. Indian shooting is now seen as a global force and the shooters have won many competitions globally after that. This time around in London lot is been expected from the shooting team and going by the standards that they have set, they should return home with few medals.

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav: He created history when he became the first individual Olympic medal winner for India. Jadhav, who was better known as Pocket Dynamo, had to go through lot of adversities to participate in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics stood tall and won a bronze medal in the 52 kg freestyle wrestling. At Helsinki, Jadhav had to fight seven bouts in all in the 52 kg freestyle event. In the first five, he met opponents from Europe and the Gulf countries and just walked through them. It did take him some time to counter Shonachi Ishi of Japan in the sixth bout but he still won it.
Unfortunately his next bout was soon after this sapping bout. This was officially not permissible, but since there was no Indian official to lodge an official protest, he had to partake in the bout. He faced off with Manod Bekov of Russia in less than half an hour after he fought Ishi. His tired body gave way and he eventually had to settle for a bronze.

Leander Paes: India, who won its first individual medal in 1952, had to wait for nearly half a century before the tennis ace of India Leander Paes won the second individual medal for India at the Olympics. Paes, who had been the flag bearer for Indian tennis for years now, defeated Fernando Meligeni of Brazil to win the medal. In the semi finals Paes was defeated by the American legend Andre Agassi.

Karnam Malleshwari: Malleshwari is the first Indian women to have ever won an Olympic medal. Prior to her no Indian women has ever done anything at Olympics be it the team event or individual. She achieved the feat in 2000 Sydney Olympics. Sydney was her first international meet after she changed her weight category to 69 kgs and lifted 110kg in the snatch and 130 kg in clean and jerk for a total lift of 240 kg to achieve the path breaking feat.

Vijender Singh: The smart and dashing Vijender Singh is the first and only Indian boxer to have won a medal at the Olympics. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Vijender was able to finish on the after he defeated Carlos Góngora Mercado of Ecuador in the middleweight category. His bronze medal winning feat at the 2008 Summer Games saw him becoming the poster boy of Indian boxing and his win did establish boxing as a main stream sport.

Sushil Kumar: Sushil Kumar, who comes from a humble background, made it big in the 2008 Beijing Olympics after he beat Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan 3:1 in the repechage round to win a medal in wrestling after five decades. His win brought India on the wrestling map of the world and Sushil now is the name which runs synonymous to Indian wrestling.

By Samikshan Dutta Choudhary
Indian Sports News Network