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

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Indian athletes have appeared in every edition of the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

since 1920, although they made their official debut at the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900, link=no), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 1 ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. 117 Indian athletes participated in Rio 2016, 63 men and 54 women, across 15 sports at the Games. It was one of the nation's largest ever delegations sent to the Olympics, due to the historic comeback of the women's field hockey squad after 36 years and the proliferation of track and field athletes making the cut. Among the sporting events represented by its athletes, India made its Olympic debut in golf (new to the 2016 Games) and women's artistic gymnastics. The Indian roster featured three Olympic medalists from London, including badminton star

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 ...

, freestyle wrestler and four-time Olympian

Yogeshwar Dutt Yogeshwar Dutt (born 2 November 1982) is an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the 60 kg category. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013. He won gold medals at ...

, and rifle shooter

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 ...

. Tennis ace and 1996 bronze medalist

Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men' ...

topped the roster lineup by competing at his record seventh Olympics, while air rifle marksman Abhinav Bindra, who became the nation's first and only individual gold medalist in history (2008), led the Indian delegation as the flag bearer in the opening ceremony at his fifth consecutive Games. Other notable Indian athletes also included tennis player

Sania Mirza Sania Mirza (; born 15 November 1986) is an Indian professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she has won six major titles – three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles. From 2003 until her retirement from singles in ...

in the women's doubles, artistic gymnast and Commonwealth Games bronze medalist

Dipa Karmakar Dipa Karmakar (born 9 August 1993) is an Indian Gymnast from Tripura State. She is the first gymnast of India who competed in the Olympics. In her debut 2016 Summer Olympics, in the final she reached till 4th position. At the Rio Olympics, sh ...

, and multiple-time world medalist Jitu Rai in men's pistol shooting. India left Rio de Janeiro with two medals. These medals were won only by female athletes for the first time in history, a silver to badminton player P. V. Sindhu in the women's singles, who became India's youngest individual Olympic medallist and the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver, as well as a bronze to freestyle wrestler

Sakshi Malik Sakshi Malik (born 3 September 1992) is an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the 58 kg category, becoming the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics. She is a part of t ...

in the women's 58 kg, who became the first female wrestler from India to win an Olympic medal. Several Indian athletes came close to increasing the medal haul, finishing in fourth place, including tennis tandem Mirza and

Rohan Bopanna Rohan Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player. His tennis singles, singles career-high ranking was world No. 213 in 2007 and his career-high ranking in doubles was world No. 3 on 22 July 2013. He has been a member ...

in the

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known as ...

; Bindra, who narrowly missed out the podium by a half-point in the men's 10 m air rifle before retiring from the sport; and Karmakar, who surprised the global audience with her high-risk Produnova routine in the women's vault. For the first time, the Indian shooters failed to earn a single medal since

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, and the boxers since

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Medalists

Competitors

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Indian Contingent for Rio Olympics

The following is the list of number of competitors participating in the Games. Note that reserves in fencing, field hockey, football, and handball are not counted as athletes:

Archery

Three Indian women's archers & One Indian men's archer qualified after having secured top eight finishes in the women's team recurve event & men's individual event at the

2015 World Archery Championships The 2015 World Archery Championships was the 48th edition of the event. It was held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 26 July to 2 August 2015 and was organised by World Archery Federation (formerly known as FITA). Qualification and elimination rounds ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Athletics

Indian athletes have been able to achieve qualifying standard in the following athletic events (up to maximum of 3 athletes in each event) Indian shot putter Inderjeet Singh and 200 metres sprinter Dharambir Singh were suspended from participating in the Olympics after having failed both of the administered doping tests. ;Track & road events ;Men * Reserves in the relay team. ;Women * Reserves in the relay team. ;Field events

Badminton

Seven badminton players from India qualified for the Olympics for each of the following events based on their BWF World Rankings as of 5 May 2016: ;Men ;Women

Boxing

India has entered three boxers to compete in each of the following classes into the Olympic boxing tournament. London 2012 Olympian

Shiva Thapa Shiva Thapa (born 8 December 1993) is an Indian boxer. He is employed with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. He is supported by Olympic Gold Quest and Anglian Medal Hunt Company, Shiva Thapa participated in the 2012 London Olympics,

had claimed his Olympic spot with a semifinal victory at the 2016 Asia & Oceania Qualification Tournament in Qian'an,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, while

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 ...

and

Vikas Krishan Yadav Vikas Krishan Yadav (born 10 February 1992) is an Indian boxer from Bhiwani district in Haryana, the hub of some of India's best boxers. He won a gold medal in the 2010 Asian Games in the Lightweight category and a gold medal in 75 kg we ...

secured additional places on the Indian roster with their quarterfinal triumphs at the 2016 AIBA World Qualifying Tournament in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, Azerbaijan.

Field hockey

;Summary

Men's tournament

India men's field hockey team qualified for the Olympics by receiving a berth and earning the gold medal from the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

. ;Team roster ;Group play ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ;Quarterfinal

Women's tournament

India women's field hockey team qualified for the Olympics by having achieved a top five finish at the 2014–15 Women's FIH Hockey World League Semifinals, signifying its historic Olympic comeback after 36 years. ;Team roster ;Group play ---- ---- ---- ----

Golf

India has entered three golfers into the Olympic.

Anirban Lahiri Anirban Lahiri (born 29 June 1987) is an Indian professional golfer. He has played on the Asian Tour, European Tour, PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Lahiri is recipient of the 2014 Arjuna Award. He is also recipient of "Sera Bangali" award (in 2015), g ...

(Rank 62),

Shiv Chawrasia Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia (born 15 May 1978), commonly known as S.S.P. Chawrasia, is an Indian professional golfer. Since 2008 he has won six Asian Tour events, four of which were co-sanctioned by the European Tour. He has had particular suc ...

(Rank 207), and

Aditi Ashok Aditi Ashok (born 29 March 1998) is an Indian professional golfer from Bangalore. She plays on the Ladies European Tour and LPGA Tour. She made her Olympic Games debut at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics i ...

(Rank 444) qualified directly among top 60 players for their respective individual events based on IGF World Rankings as of 11 July 2016.

Gymnastics

Artistic

India has qualified one artistic gymnast into the Olympic competition for the first time since

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

became the first Indian female ever to book an Olympic spot in the apparatus (vault, balance beam, uneven bars and floor exercise) events and all-around event at the Olympic Test Event in

. ;Women

Judo

India has qualified one judoka for men's middleweight category (90 kg) for the olympic. Avtar Singh earned a continental quota from the Asian region, as the highest-ranked Indian judoka outside of direct qualifying position in the IJF World Ranking List of 30 May 2016.

Rowing

India has qualified one boat in the men's single sculls for the Olympics at the 2016 Asia & Oceania Continental Qualification Regatta in

Chungju Chungju (충주시) is a city in North Chungcheong province, South Korea. Uamsan is a mountain located within the outskirts of the city. The city is famous for the annual martial arts festival held in October. Also of note, former UN Secretary-G ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. 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; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage

Shooting

Indian shooters have achieved quota places for the following events by virtue of their best finish at the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and 2015 ISSF World Championships, the 2015 ISSF World Cup series and Asian Championships, as long as they obtained a minimum qualifying score (MQS) by 31 March 2016. On 19 March 2016, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had announced the squad of eleven Indian shooters for the Games, featuring four-time Olympian and Beijing 2008 air rifle champion Abhinav Bindra, London 2012 bronze medalist

, and multiple-time Worlds medalist Jitu Rai. Aiming to appear at his fourth Olympics,

Manavjit Singh Sandhu Manavjit Singh Sandhu (born 3 November 1976) is an Indian sport shooter who specializes in trap shooting. He is a Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardee in 2006 and Arjuna Awardee in 1998. He is a 4 time Olympian, having represented India at the Ath ...

became the twelfth Indian to join the team, as the NRAI decided to exchange a spot in the 50 m rifle 3 positions (won by

Sanjeev Rajput Master Chief Petty Officer Sanjeev Rajput (5 January 1981) is an Arjuna Awardee Indian sport shooter from Yamuna Nagar, Haryana. He was a retired Junior Commissioned Officer in Indian Navy. Early life Rajput was born on 5 January 1981 to Krisha ...

) with the men's trap. ;Men ;Women Qualification Legend: Q = Qualify for the next round; q = Qualify for the bronze medal (shotgun)

Swimming

India has received a Universality invitation from

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 ...

to send two swimmers (one male and one female) to the Olympics.

Table tennis

India has entered four athletes into the table tennis competition at the Games. 2012 Olympian

Soumyajit Ghosh Soumyajit Ghosh (born 10 May 1993) is an Indian table tennis player from Siliguri, West Bengal. He was the youngest Indian player to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, 2012 Olympics. He also became the youngest national champion at t ...

and

Manika Batra Manika Batra (born 15 June 1995) is an Indian table tennis player. As of November 2020, she is the top-ranked female table tennis player in India and ranked 44th in the world as of November 22. She was awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna i ...

secured the Olympic spot each in the men's and women's singles as the highest-ranked player coming from the South Asia zone, while

Sharath Kamal Achanta Sharath Kamal (born 12 July 1982) is an Indian professional table tennis player. He is the first Indian table tennis player ever to become ten times Senior National Champion hence breaking the record of eight-time National Champion Kam ...

and 2004 Olympian

Mouma Das Mouma Das (born 24 February 1984) is an Indian table tennis player. Born and brought up in Kolkata, West Bengal, she has represented India in international events since the early 2000s. Das has won multiple medals at the Commonwealth Games inc ...

scored a second-stage draw victory each to take the remaining spots on the Indian team at the Asian Qualification Tournament in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Tennis

India has entered four tennis players into the Olympic tournament.

(world no. 1) and

(world no. 10) teamed up with their partners

Prarthana Thombare Prarthana Gulabrao Thombare (born 18 June 1994) is an Indian tennis player. A doubles specialist, she is the former Indian number one in women's doubles, and an Olympian. Thombare has won three singles and 25 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. ...

and six-time Olympian

, respectively, in the men's and women's doubles by virtue of their top-10 ATP and WTA Ranking as of 6 June 2016.

Weightlifting

India has qualified one male and one female weightlifter for the Rio Olympics by virtue of a top seven national finish (for men) & top six (for women), respectively, at the 2016 Asian Championships.

Wrestling

India has qualified eight wrestlers for each of the following weight category into the Olympic. One Olympic spot in the men's freestyle 74 kg was earned at the 2015 World Championships, while two more Olympic places were awarded to Indian wrestlers, who progressed to the top two finals at the 2016 Asian Qualification Tournament. Three further wrestlers had claimed the remaining Olympic slots in separate World Qualification Tournaments; one of them in men's freestyle 57 kg at the

initial In a written or published work, an initial capital, also referred to as a drop capital or simply an initial cap, initial, initcapital, initcap or init or a drop cap or drop, is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that ...

meet in

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

, and two more each in women's freestyle 48 & 58 kg at the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

meet in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. On 11 May 2016,

United World Wrestling United World Wrestling (UWW) is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling; its duties include overseeing wrestling at the Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrestling, including ...

awarded two additional Olympic licenses to India in men's Greco-Roman 85 kg and women's freestyle 53 kg, after doping violations were discovered among the seven qualified wrestlers Freestyle wrestler Narsingh Pancham Yadav, who had qualified for the men's 74 kg event, failed both the A and B sample doping tests on 25 June and 5 July. He was provisionally replaced by Parveen Rana, but was later reinstated on 3 August when the

National Anti-Doping Agency The National Anti-Doping Agency of India is India's national organisation responsible for promoting, coordinating, and monitoring the doping control program in sports in all its forms. As listed on its official web portal, the agency deals wit ...

of India gave him a clean record on grounds that he had been a victim of sabotage. However the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

appealed against this decision to drop the doping charges, following which Yadav was suspended for four years and disqualified from the Olympics by the Court of Arbitration on 18 August. ;Men's freestyle ;Men's Greco-Roman ;Women's freestyle

References

External links

* {{Country at games navbox, India, Olympics

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

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Nations at the 2016 Summer Olympics