Agony and heartbreak: Indian medals missed by a whisker at Paris Olympics 2024

New Delhi: The 205 nations that participated in the Paris Olympics 2024 are done with their respective campaigns with India finishing with a tally of six medals. But… the number could have been a bit higher if some near misses hadn’t cost India in the French capital. India finished with five bronze and only a silver medal, taking the count to six – one shy of their best-ever Olympic performance which came in the previous edition i.e. Tokyo Games 2022.

It all started with shooter Manu Bhaker’s bronze medal win and concluded with Aman Sehrawat clinching a bronze in wrestling. The Indian contingent’s campaign was a mix of unparalleled efforts and near finishes. In as many as seven events, the Indian athletes came close to winning a medal but sadly took a fourth-place finish. It is well known that the Olympics is the biggest sporting spectacle of the globe where international athletes put up a fierce competition and even a little slip up of time and effort can cost a medal.

Here’s a look at the Indian athletes who almost won a medal in Paris

Vinesh Phogat

Probably the most heartbreaking case of all as ace Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat was on the verge of scripting history, being in contention of a maiden wrestling gold medal, both for India and herself. But… on the morning of her women’s freestyle 50kg final bout, she was found 100 grams overweight, which led to her disqualification.

She had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to enter the finals at the Olympics but nearly missed a podium finish.

Arjun Babuta

Indian shooter Arjun Babuta took part in the men’s 10m air rifle final at the Paris 2024 Olympics and came too close to winning a medal in his first-ever Olympic outing. But Croatia’s Milan Maricic edged past him with a score of 209.8 while Babuta finished at 208.4 points as a difference of 1.4 points cost him a podium finish.

Lakshya Sen

The young Indian shuttler was debuting in the Olympics and became the first Indian male shuttler to reach the semifinals of the men’s singles event. But in the match against Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, he was defeated 13-21, 21-16, 21-11. He then took on Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in a bronze medal clash but was again beaten 13-21, 21-16, 21-11, and finished fourth in the event.

Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat

Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat were part of the Indian archery mixed team event where they were defeated by USA’s Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold 6-2 in the bronze-medal shootoff. However, it was India’s best archery performance in Paris as the duo scripted history by becoming the first Indian to reach the semifinals of an archery event at the Olympics.

Manu Bhaker

Shooter Manu Bhaker had opened India’s tally at the Paris Games with a bronze in 10m air pistol event and doubled it up with a successive bronze victory in the mixed team event as well alongside Sarabjot Singh. She became the first athlete from independent India to bag two medals in a single Olympic edition. She took part in the 25m air pistol event too and was on the cusp of making history by becoming the first Indian to bag three medals in a single edition. Sadly, she fell short to Hungarian bronze medallist Veronika Major in the shoot-off.

Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka

It was quite unexpected from the Indian shotgun shooters to make a mark at the Paris Games but the duo of Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka qualified for a bronze medal match in the mixed skeet team event against China’s Yiting Jiang and Lyu Jianlin, who ultimately defeated the Indians 44-43. The duo could have become the first Indian shotgun shooters in 20 years to bring home a medal.

Mirabai Chanu

The silver medallist from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Mirabai Chanu missed a second podium finish at the Paris Games as she lifted 199kg in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event while Surodchana Khambao from Thailand lifted 200kg, pushing Chanu to a fourth-place finish. Chanu had a faltered lift in her final attempt which snatched the bronze away from her.

With this, she became the sixth Indian to have finished fourth at the Paris Olympics 2024, entering the list of nearly missed Indian medals. Had the seven instances brought medals, India could have finished with 13 medals which would have been their best-ever Olympic performance.

Full Coverage of Paris Olympics 2024

Know All About Paris Olympics 2024 Players

 With the Paris Olympics 2024 drawing to its final stages, the Indian contingent finished with six medals but the number could have been a bit more had some near misses not cost India. A look at all those instances where India missed the medal by a whisker.  Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today