The answer is yes not only in terms of medals but the way Indians are progressing. Many sports which were not known to the people before have now been keenly followed. Many firsts have happened in Tokyo 2020. Let's take a look at them -
1. Table Tennis.
2 out of the 4 players qualified have progressed to the 3rd round. This has never happened before in any Olympics. Manika Batra beat 18th rank Swedish which was a huge upset going by her ranking of 63. Sharath Kamal lost to Ma Long 5 time gold medallist by 4-1. Never in his career, Sarath has won a set against him. Out of the 5 sets played Sharath gave by far his best in his 4th Olympics.
By looking at this TT has started to grow very much going to Paris we can expect even more by qualifying for the knockouts.
2. Fencing.
Bhavani Devi only Indian to have qualified for the Olympics in its 125 years history. Not many in India know what exactly fencing means. She beat all odds and qualified with a ranking of 44. She even went on to win the 1st round. This should have bought confidence to many youngsters to take up this sport. She eventually lost to world no 3 but qualifying itself is a huge achievement.
3.Sailing.
4 Indians had qualified for Tokyo. What was unique is that 1st Indian woman qualified and 3 other men all of whom qualified on merit. Before there was an instance where athletes qualified based on continental quota but this was the 1st time when they qualified on merit. Even though no one could get a medal but this was a great experience. Going forward in Paris we can expect better performances.
4.Golf.
Aditi Ashok has become the poster woman of India now. But not many knew her before the golf event had started in Olympics. This is a fact. Ranked 200 she beat all odds and competed against world no 1 Korda who herself was shocked by Aditi's performance. Although she came 4th this could trigger the sport in India and make people like Diksha Dagar believe in this sport.
Leander Paes ranked 126th won bronze at Olympics which was the biggest upset but now many feel Aditi performance has equalled Leander's performance.
5.Equestrian.
After 20 years an Indian has qualified in the Olympics. Fouaad Mirza but up a good fight qualifying for the finals which no other Indian had done before. He came 23rd out of 25 finalists. The fight he put matters than his position.
6.Track and Field.
Men's 4*400m relay team created an Asian record in the heats with a timing of 3mins 25secs which was previously held by Qatar. Overall Indians qualified 9th where only 8 teams go through to the finals missing out on just 1 spot.
Kamal Preet Kaur finished 6th with a throw of 64m. This was not her PB throw but still finishing 6th in her first Olympics is a huge task. Seema Punia too had finished 6th at London Olympics.
Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in Javelin and became the first and only Asian to win gold in Javelin.
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