India News Bulletin Desk

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London 2012 Olympics stadium
London 2012 Olympics stadium

India ranked 55th at the 2012 Olympics medal table out of a total of 79 ranks. Indian athletes won six medals – two silver and four bronze – making it India’s best performance at an Olympic event. Here are the Indian Olympic winners (and losers) and their pictures.

29-year-old Sushil Kumar won India’s sixth and final medal at London 2012 Olympic Games. He bagged a silver medal in the wrestling freestyle 66kg category. He lost to Japan’s Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu.

Sushil Kumar Solanki wins silver in wrestling (66kg)
Sushil Kumar Solanki wins silver in wrestling (66kg)
Image: Wikimedia Commons (Bill william compton)

Sushil Kumar Solanki: Sushil Kumar was India’s London 2012 Olympic pin-up boy. The nation expected wrestler Sushil Kumar to bring home Olympic medals and chose him to lead the Indian contingent. He was also selected as India’s flag-bearer at London 2012 opening ceremony over other favourites including Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra and tennis ace Leander Paes.

The Olympic qualifier, Sushil Kumar has won several gold medals in the past. He is the gold medalist for the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in 2005 and 2007 and the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi.

He also became the first Indian to win a gold medal at FILA 2010 World Wrestling Championships, in Moscow in 2010.

Born in Delhi, he has been training to become a wrestler since the age of 14. Sushil Kumar currently works as assistant commercial manager at the Indian Railways.

Vijay Kumar wins silver medal in 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event
Vijay Kumar wins silver medal in 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event
Image: YouTube still (CollegeFun)
Vijay Kumar: While India was lagging at the medal table with just one bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Vijay Kumar raised the country’s hopes by winning its first silver medal at Olympics. The 27-year-old from Himachal Pradesh gave India its first silver medal with his performance in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol competition.

The silver medal reinforced Kumar’s athletic success in the international stage. He had won three gold medals and one silver medal in the pistol shooting events at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He has a total of 20 international medals and 75 national medals to his credit.

Following his win at London 2012, the Indian Army has promoted Vijay Kumar to the role of Subedar Major.

Gagan Narang wins bronze in 10m rifle competition
Gagan Narang wins bronze in 10m rifle competition
Image: YouTube still
Gagan Narang: Rifle champion Gagan Narang catapulted India on the 2012 Olympics medal table on the third day of the event by winning a bronze medal.

Narang brought home India’s first medal at the London event by winning a bronze in the narrowly fought 10m air rifle competition. Narang’s score of 701.1 points wasn’t far off from silver medalist Niccolo Campriani’s 701.5 points and gold winner Moldoveanu Alin George’s score of 702.1.

But, Narang failed to qualify for the finals of the men's 50-metre rifle event at the Royal Artillery Barracks at London 2012.

He has won a total of eight gold medals at the Commonwealth Games including four golds at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The 29-year-old from Haryana has been honoured with a Padma Shree Award in 2010 for his achievements in the field of Indian sports.

Mary Kom takes bronze medal in boxing competition
Mary Kom takes bronze medal in boxing competition
Image: YouTube (espnstar)
Mary Kom: The Indian athlete who put Manipur state of India on the global map, Mary Kom walked away with a bronze medal in the women’s boxing championship event at London 2012 Olympics.

Kom has been a World Boxing Champion for five years in succession. She is the only woman to have won a medal in six AIBA championships.

The 29-year-old boxer belongs to the Kom tribal community and lives in Manipuri capital Imphal city.  

Kom has nurtured a passion in athletics right from an early age. She won a silver medal in the 48kg weight category boxing championship in her international debut (first AIBA Women's World Boxing Championship in the US).

Saina Nehwal bags bronze in Women's badminton singles
Saina Nehwal bags bronze in Women's badminton singles
Image: Wikimedia Commons (KunwarAmar)
Saina Nehwal: 22-year-old Saina Nehwal was India’s only hope for medal in the tennis match at London 2012 Olympic Games after high-profile players including Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi crashed out in their respective competitions. And Nehwal didn’t disappoint.

She won a bronze medal in the badminton competition. Nehwal, seeded fourth, has become India’s first badminton player to win a medal at the Olympic Games.

She was also the first Indian badminton player to qualify to the semifinals. But she lost to world number one Wang Yihan on Friday, August 3.  Nehwal has several, gold, silver and bronze medal to her credit.

Nehwal was born in Haryana to a Jat family but moved to the southern city of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh since an early age and resides there.

Yogeshwar Dutt bagged bronze medal in wrestling (60kg)
Yogeshwar Dutt bagged bronze medal in wrestling (60kg)
Image: YouTube still (TotalLivesUS)
Yogeshwar Dutt: India’s third athlete from Haryana to win a medal at London 2012 Olympic Games was wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt. He defeated North Korea’s Ri Jong-Myong and secured a place in the podium by winning a bronze medal in the Men's freestyle 60 kg competition.

Honouring 29-year-old Dutt’s performance at the Olympics, the Haryana government awarded him with a cash prize of 1-crore rupees and a land allocation in Gurgaon worth 25 crores. He also received a 50-lakh cash prize from the Rajasthan government and a 4x4 vehicle from a bank.

UPDATE: MONDAY SEPTEMBER 03, 2012 10.30pm BST

24-year old Indian athlete Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda (HN Girisha) has won a silver medal in the high jump event at London 2012 Paralympics.

 

While there was good news in the wrestling, boxing and rifle events, India’s performance in hockey was one of its poorest shows at Olympics.

Eight time Olympic gold medalist, the Indian hockey team finished at the bottom with a 12th rank in the 12-nation hockey competition at London 2012.

The team had qualified for the 2012 Olympics after a gap of eight years and looked out of form at the event.

Another disappointing performance came from London 2012 medal hopeful Abhinav Bindra. In contrast to his gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Bindra suffered a shocking exit in the preliminary round after scoring a rank of 16 out of 47 contestants.

Bindra was India’s first individual athlete to win a gold medal at Olympics. But since his performance in 2008, he has won just one international medal -- silver at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

There was disappointment in badminton competition including men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles with medal hopefuls Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi exiting early on in the competition.

What was your biggest highlight at London 2012 Olympic Games? Let us know by writing to us at .

 Here's a quick look at the London 2012 Olympics medal table featuring top five and India's medal tally.

London2012 Medals Table

Top 5 countries + India
(updated 12-Aug-12)
Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States 46 29 29 104
China 38 27 23 88
Great Britain 29 17 19 65
Russian Federation 24 26 32 82
South Korea 13 8 7 28
India 0 2 4 6