The Firsts, Near Misses And Debacle: India End Paris Olympics Campaign With 6 Medals

India's Paris Olympics campaign concluded as Reetika Hooda fell short in the wrestling quarterfinals, and golfers Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar finished out of medal contention. A total of 117 Indian athletes participated across 16 sports at the Paris Games: archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, wrestling, table tennis, and tennis. India clinched six medals at the Paris Olympics, one silver and five bronze. Although hopes were high for a historic performance, the country fell just short of surpassing its previous best at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when they secured seven medals (1 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze.) and ranked 48th.

Athletics led the way for India with a robust 29-member squad, while the country also fielded its largest-ever contingent of 21 shooters in the shooting events.

Beyond the pursuit of medals, Indian athletes made history by setting new records at the Games along with some near misses on medals after finishing fourth in six events.

The major achievements:

Pistol shooter Manu Bhaker became the first Indian woman to win a shooting medal at the Olympics. Moreover, she became the first Indian athlete in the post-Independence era to win multiple medals in a single edition of the Games.

Norman Pritchard, with silver in the men's 200m and men's 200m hurdles at Paris 1900, was the first athlete to win two medals at one Olympics for India.

Manu stormed into the final of the women's 10m air pistol, becoming the first Indian woman since Athens 2004 to qualify for the Olympic finals in shooting. The following day, she won the bronze in the same and created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting