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Hockey debacle
The biggest disappointment came in hockey, a sport that has brought glories to the country in the quadrennial extravaganza like no other event. Led by Bharat Chettri and under the guidance of coach Michael Hobbs, India succumbed to one defeat after another, losing all of their matches at the Olympics. They finished 12th – last among the participating teams, which also happened to be their worst ever performance at the event.
Archers miss the mark
On the hallowed turf of the Lord’s, Indian archers were expected to script history. The presence of world No. 1 archer Deepika Kumari among the contingent was the reason enough to harbour hopes of a rich medal haul.
Despite the hype, in a stark contrast, both the men and women’s team disappointed us. The story was repeated in the individual events too as they returned empty handed with the biggest casualty being 18-year-old Deepika. She was stunned by Amy Oliver 2-6 in the opening round. She was the last of the six archers to bow out, and with her ended India’s unsuccessful campaign in archery.
Bindra fails to defend his title
To say a medal was expected from Abhinav Bindra would be an understatement. In fact, he was the favourite to don the yellow metal again in the 10m Air Rifle event after his historic gold medal in Beijing. As luck would have it, Bindra failed to even qualify for the finals. His score of 594 out of 600 wasn’t enough to merit him a final berth and he finished a dismal 16th out of the 47 competitors in the qualifying round.
Boxers knocked out
The Indian boxing team failed to win any medal save for Mary Kom who secured a historic bronze in the women’s category. Several decisions were marred by controversy with the highlight being Vikas Krishan’s bout. Krishan had won his match against Errol Spence of USA; the referee later overturned the decision to announce the latter as the winner. The poster boy of Indian boxing, Vijender Kumar’s run came to an end in the quarterfinal as he too returned home without any medal.
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