This article presents the 5 Indian superstars from Rio Olympics 2016. This Olympics has not been as good as Indians would have liked to but there are still many positives to take away.
Most importantly on one hand stars of last Olympics including Vijender Singh, Sushil Kumar and Mary Kom was not there this year some new faces come up as winners. Some of them qualified for the first time in their respective sports like golf, gymnastic and rowing.
They have not just qualified but have done quite well. Let’s look at who made it to TheSportsRush’s top 5 Indian Superstars in Rio Olympics 2016.
5) Aditi Ashok
Aditi Ashok is India’s brightest future prospect in Golf. She is just 18 years old and has shown a lot of promises in her performances. She won national junior championships in 2014, 2013 and 2012.
Also she is the only Indian golfer to have participated in Asian Youth Games, Asian Games and Youth Olympics Games. In Rio she finished at 41st position in women golf event after slotted 58th among all qualified participants in that event.
She has ranked 439th on the official world rankings but she played with tremendous focus and commitment.
She was among top 10 in first two days before losing momentum. India, certainly, can hope for better results from her in future. A great choice for one of the Indian superstars from Rio Olympics.
4) Abhinav Bindra
India’s only sportsperson with an Olympics gold medal in an individual event, Abhinav Bindra, came fourth in Rio Olympics 2016. There were huge expectations from him to get a medal for the country but he just missed the Olympics bronze medal by a whisker in the men’s 10m Air Rifle.
After so much criticism to India’s performance at Rio, he questioned on Twitter his country’s commitment to winning.
He tweeted, “Each medal costs the UK 5.5 million pounds, that’s the sort of investment needed.
Let’s not expect much until we put systems in place at home.” After all this, Abhinav Bindra has decided to take retirement which is the toughest decision for any sportsperson.
Abhinav is just 33. He has his whole life in front of him. Obviously no one can question his decision but still it is a matter of debate. Was it a right time to call it off?
3) Dipa Karmakar
Dipa Karmakar has won billions of hearts without winning a medal. Social media got flooded in her praise.
This kind of reaction from media and public should have come earlier when she qualified for Olympics as she is India’s first female gymnast to qualify for Olympics after 52 years.
This achievement in itself is not less than a medal. She has opened gates for a lot of aspiring gymnasts. Dipa became the first Indian female gymnast to secure a medal, when she won a bronze at the 2104 Commonwealth Games, held at Glasgow, followed up with another bronze at the Asian Championships in Hiroshima.
As per her coach she still has 5-6 years of career left as she is 23 now. So we can hope for lots of medals in coming major events and most importantly Tokyo 2020. A great choice for one of the Indian superstars from Rio Olympics.
2) Sakshi Malik
The whole country was painfully waiting for the first medal when all the other super stars failed to do so.
Then all of a sudden a super girl snatched the victory from the jaws of defeat winning India’s first medal in Rio Olympics 2016. She was trailing 0-5 with just over 1 minute remaining in the match and then she turned the game upside down and won it 8-5.
She is only the fourth woman athlete from India to win a medal in Olympics. She wanted to become a sportsperson to travel in an aeroplane. But she did not know what she was capable of.
All eyes will be on here from now onwards in every game she plays. She needs to prepare well to win Gold medal for India in Tokyo, 2020. A great choice for one of the Indian superstars from Rio Olympics.
1) P V Sindhu
kissing her medal in Hyderabad on August 13, 2013. (Photo::: IANS)
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, Born on July 5, 1995 to PV Ramana and P Vijaya, both former international volleyball players. His father PV Ramana is an Arjuna Awardee and was part of the Indian team which won the bronze in 1986 Asian Games.
After Saina Nehwal’s exit from Rio in initial phases all eyes were on Sindhu to get us a medal and she didn’t disappoint. She has become daughter of every father, sister of every brother and also the most trending person on social media in India.
She won silver after losing to World No 1 Carolina Marin 21-19, 12-21, 21-15 in the mind boggling match. Even Pizza Hut gave free pizzas to people named Sindhu to celebrate her win.
She has now become the best-ever female performer in India’s Olympic history and she will carry the confidence from here to next level.
