India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

competed at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. A total of 83 athletes, 60 men and 23 women, competed in 13 sports. Men's field hockey was the only team-based sport in which India had its representation in these Olympic Games. India also marked its Olympic return in weightlifting, after the

International Weightlifting Federation The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), headquartered in Lausanne, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting. The IWF was founded in 1905, and has 192 Member Federations. The IWF President is Mohammed H ...

imposed a two-year suspension for the nation's athletes in Beijing because of a doping scandal. The Indian team featured several Olympic medalists from Beijing, including rifle shooter and Olympic gold medalist

Abhinav Bindra Abhinav Apjit Bindra is an Indian Olympic gold medallist, retired sport shooter, and businessman.Sushil Kumar Sushil Kumar Solanki (born 26 May 1983) is a former Indian wrestler. He carried the Indian flag at the opening ceremony of 2012 London Olympics. His 2008 Olympic medal was second for India in wrestling, and the first since Khashaba Dadasaheb Ja ...

managed to claim another medal by winning silver in the men's freestyle wrestling. The

Indian Olympic Association The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) or Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) is the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams ...

also appointed him to be the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony. This was India's 2nd most successful Olympics in terms of total medal tally, having won a total of 6 medals (2 silver and 4 bronze), doubling the nation's previous record (3 medals at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

). Two medals each were awarded to the athletes in shooting and wrestling. India also set a historical milestone for the female athletes who won two Olympic medals for the first time. Badminton player and world junior champion

Saina Nehwal Saina Nehwal (; born 17 March 1990) is an Indian professional badminton player. A former world no. 1, she has won 24 international titles, which includes ten Superseries titles. Although she reached the world's 2nd in 2009, it was only in 2015 ...

became the first Indian athlete to win an Olympic bronze medal in the women's singles. Boxer

Mary Kom Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom (born 01 March 1983) is an Indian amateur boxer, politician, and former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. She is the only woman to win the World Amateur Boxing Championship six times, the only female boxer to ha ...

, on the other hand, lost to Great Britain's Nicola Adams in the semi-final match, but settled for the bronze in the first ever women's flyweight event.

Medalists

Competitors

Archery

Six Indian archers qualified for the London Olympics – 3 in women's recurve and 3 in men's recurve. ;Men ;Women

Athletics

Fourteen Indian athletes qualified for the

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard).: ;Men ;Track & road events ;Field events ;Women ;Track & road events ;Field events ;Key *Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only *Q = Qualified for the next round *q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser ''or'', in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target *NR = National record *SB = Seasonal best *N/A = Round not applicable for the event *Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Badminton

5 Indian badminton players qualified for the London Olympics.

Boxing

Eight Indian boxers qualified for the London Olympics. ;Men ;Women

Field hockey

The Indian national Hockey team, on 26 February 2012, had qualified for the

after winning the

qualifying tournament Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

with a score of 8–1. India was placed in Pool B of the men's tournament.

Men's tournament

;Roster ;Group play All times are

British Summer Time During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC±00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and ev ...

, (

UTC+1 UTC+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in: *Central European Time *West Africa Time *Western European Summer Time ** B ...

). ---- ---- ---- ---- ;11th–12th Place This was the worst show ever by India at the Olympics.

Judo

There was only one Indian judoka at the London Olympics.

Rowing

India had qualified the following boats. ;Men Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); FC=Final C (non-medal); FD=Final D (non-medal); FE=Final E (non-medal); FF=Final F (non-medal); SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; Q=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage

Shooting

Eleven Indian shooters qualified for the London Olympics, with seven male and four female competitors. India had earned 11 quotas in shooting events. India has been most successful in this category this year with

Gagan Narang Gagan Narang (born 6 May 1983) is an Indian sport shooter, supported by the Olympic Gold Quest. He won the bronze medal in the Men's 10 m Air Rifle Event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with a final score of 701.1 on 30 July 2012. Early ...

and Vijay Kumar winning bronze and silver medals respectively. ;Men ;Women

Swimming

India had gained a "Universality place" from the

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

. ;Men

Table tennis

India had won 2 quotas in table tennis.

Tennis

India had won 7 quotas in tennis. ;Men ;Women ;Mixed

Weightlifting

India had won 2 quotas in weightlifting.

Wrestling

India had won 5 quotas in the following events. Key: * - Victory by Fall. * - Decision by Points - the loser with technical points. * - Decision by Points - the loser without technical points. ;Men's freestyle ;Women's freestyle

Controversies

Opening ceremony

An unknown woman in civilian attire was seen walking at the head of the Indian Olympic team's march past during the

Parade of Nations The Olympic Games ceremonies of the Ancient Olympic Games were an integral part of these Games; the modern Olympic games have opening, closing, and medal ceremonies. Some of the elements of the modern ceremonies date back to the Ancient Games from ...

. Her presence attracted media attention throughout India and raised questions about security at the Olympic Games. The woman was subsequently identified as Madhura Nagendra (incorrectly referred to by some sources as Madhura Honey), a graduate student from

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

living in

and a dancer in a segment of the opening ceremony co-ordinated by

Danny Boyle Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on films including ''Shallow Grave'', '' Trainspotting'' and its sequel ''T2 Trainspotting'', '' The Beach'', '' 28 Days Later'', '' Su ...

.Anil Kumar (30 July 2012)
Olympic gatecrasher 'over-excited' Madhura, a dancer from Bangalore
''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

''. Retrieved 30 July 2012. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games issued an apology to the Indian contingent over the incident and revoked Nagendra's Olympic security accreditation. On her return to India, Nagendra issued a public apology for her "error of judgement".

Boxing

Boxer

Sumit Sangwan Sumit Sangwan (born 1 January 1993) is an Indian amateur boxer. At the 2012 London Olympics, he participated in the light heavyweight category. Under controversial circumstances, he lost his bout to Yamaguchi Falcão Florentino. He is suppor ...

lost a closely contested bout 14–15 against Yamaguchi Falcao Florentino of Brazil in the light heavyweight category round of 32. The ESPN commentators described the loss as "daylight robbery." India's acting chef-de-mission Brigadier P. K. M. Raja, on the insistence of Sports Minister

Ajay Maken Ajay Maken (born 12 January 1964) is a politician from the Indian National Congress party. He is the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC). He was formerly a minister in ...

, lodged an unsuccessful appeal against the judges' decision believing he had won. A win by Vikas Krishan in the welterweight pre-quarters was overturned after an appeal by the opponent

Errol Spence Errol Spence Jr. (born March 3, 1990) is an American professional boxer. He is currently a unified welterweight world champion, having held the IBF title since May 2017, the WBC title since September 2019, and the WBA (Super) since April 2022. ...

. The Indian was given four penalty points and the score was changed from 11–13 to 15–13 in favour of Errol Spence. The decision was overturned citing the nine holding fouls committed by the Indian boxer in the third round and for spitting out the gumshield intentionally. As the jury's decision was final, no further appeal by the Indians were permitted. India through its Acting Chef de Mission Brigadier PKM Raja approached the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but the appeal was rejected. Boxer

Manoj Kumar Harikrishan Goswami (born 24 July 1937), better known by his screen name Manoj Kumar, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, lyricist and editor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is known for acting and making films with patriotic theme ...

lost his pre quarterfinal light welterweight bout against Great Britain's

Tom Stalker Thomas Lee Stalker (born 30 June 1984) is an English professional boxer who challenged for the Commonwealth lightweight title in 2017. He won multiple international medals while competing for England as an amateur, including gold at the 2010 C ...

in a controversial manner. The boxer was at the wrong end of some of the judging calls and he cried "cheating" openly before leaving the boxing arena.

Badminton

Jwala Gutta Jwala Gutta; family names traditionally precede personal names in Indian name#Telugu, Telugu naming customs (born 7 September 1983) is an Indian badminton player. Beginning in the late 1990s, she represented India at international events in bo ...

and

Ashwini Ponnappa Ashwini Ponnappa Machimanda (born 18 September 1989) is an Indian badminton player who represents the country at the international badminton circuit in both the women's and mixed doubles disciplines. She had a successful partnership with Jwala ...

missed out on a badminton - women's doubles quarterfinal berth by a difference of one point after tying with Japan and Taipei on points. Prior to India's final group game, the Japanese partnership of

Mizuki Fujii is a badminton player from Ashikita, Kumamoto, Japan and plays for the Renesas badminton club. Mizuki Fujii concentrates on doubles badminton. Most of her success has come with women's doubles partner Reika Kakiiwa. Together they reached the fin ...

and

Reika Kakiiwa is a Japanese badminton player from Renesas badminton club. Reika Kakiiwa has gained prominence in the badminton community because of her success in women's doubles. She has reached a career high ranking of third in the world with her partner Mi ...

lost to Chinese Taipei's Cheng Wen Hsing and

Chien Yu Chin Chien Yu-chin (; born 24 October 1982) is a Taiwanese former badminton player. Summer Olympics Chien competed for Chinese Taipei in the 2004 Olympics in the women's doubles with partner Cheng Wen-hsing. They defeated Helen Nichol and Charmain ...

. On behalf of the

Badminton Association of India Badminton Association of India (BAI) is the governing body of badminton in India. BAI is an association registered under the societies act. It was formed in 1934, and has been holding national-level tournaments in India since 1936. BAI has 28 ...

, a protest was lodged saying that the match between Japan and Chinese Taipei was fixed and that Japan had deliberately lost that match in order to have a better draw in the next round. The Indian appeal was turned down by force.

References

External links

Olympics London 2012
{{commons category, India at the 2012 Summer Olympics Nations at the 2012 Summer Olympics

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2012 in Indian sport

Medalists

Competitors

Archery

Athletics

Badminton

Boxing

Field hockey

Men's tournament

Judo

Rowing

Shooting

Swimming

Table tennis

Tennis

Weightlifting

Wrestling

Controversies

Opening ceremony

Boxing

Badminton

See also

References

External links