India competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. A contingent of 57 athletes in 12 sports represented India, and had a support staff of 42 officials.
For the first time since 1928, the men's national field hockey team failed to qualify for the Summer Olympics. A two-year ban imposed by the International Weightlifting Federation on Indian weightlifters after the 2006 Commonwealth Games doping scandal originally resulted in only one Olympic weightlifter, Monika Devi, from India being scheduled to compete, but she withdrew from the competition after failing the drug test. On 9 August 2008, IWF declared that she was clean, but the event she was supposed to participate in, had already closed.
On 11 August 2008, Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the men's 10 m air rifle. It was a huge achievement for India at the Olympic games shooting event. In doing so, he won the first ever individual gold medal for India, and the first medal in any event for India at the Beijing Games. The previous highest individual achievements for India were two silver medals won by Norman Pritchard, an Englishman born in India, at the 1900 Paris Olympics and one silver medal won by the 2008 flagbearer Rajyavardhan Rathore at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Sushil Kumar won the second ever wrestling medal for India, the first being the bronze earned by Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Vijender Singh won a bronze medal in the middleweight boxing category, having lost in the semifinals. This was India's first-ever Olympic medal in boxing.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics saw the best ever performance by an Indian contingent, in terms of the number of medals (this record was later surpassed in 2012). They won three medals in all (one gold and two bronze medals), surpassing the two silvers by Norman Pritchard in 1900 Paris Olympics and the gold and bronze medals won by the Indian field hockey team and Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav respectively, at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
Medalists
Medals Name Sport Event Date Abhinav Bindra Shooting Men's 10 m air rifle Sushil Kumar Wrestling Men's freestyle 66 kg Vijender Singh Boxing Middleweight 75 kg
Competitors SportMenWomenTotalEventArchery 1 3 4 3Athletics 3 13 16 9Badminton 1 1 2 2Boxing 5 0 5 5Judo 0 2 2 2Rowing 3 0 3 2Sailing 1 0 1 1Shooting 7 2 9 9Swimming 4 0 4 7Table tennis 1 1 2 2Tennis 2 2 4 3Wrestling 3 0 3 3 Total 31 25 56 48
Archery
AthleteEventRanking roundRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / ScoreSeedOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankMangal ChampiaMen's individual6782 (63) W 112–98 (31)L 108–109Did not advanceDola BanerjeeWomen's individual63331 (34)L 108 (8)–108 (10)Did not advanceBombayala Devi63722 (43)L 101–103Did not advancePranitha Vardhineni62737 (28)W 106–100 (5)L 99–106Did not advanceDola BanerjeeBombayala DeviPranitha VardhineniWomen's team18976colspan=2 (3)L 206–211Did not advance
Athletics
Men Track & road events AthleteEventFinalResultRankSurendra Singh10000 m28:13.9726
Field events AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionVikas GowdaDiscus throw60.6922Did not advanceRenjith MaheswaryTriple jump15.7735Did not advance
Women Track & road events AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinalResultRankResultRankResultRankMandeep Kaur400 m52.886Did not advancePreeja Sreedharan10000 mcolspan=4 32:34.6425Women's 10,000 m final results Sathi GeethaMandeep KaurManjeet KaurSini JoseChitra Soman4 × 400 m relay3:28.837colspan=2 Did not advance
Field events AthleteEventQualificationFinalDistancePositionDistancePositionAnju Bobby GeorgeLong jump—Did not advanceHarwant KaurDiscus throw56.4230Did not advanceKrishna Poonia58.2324Did not advance
Combined events – Heptathlon AthleteEvent 200 m 800 mFinalRankPramila AiyappaResult13.971.7411.6624.926.1141.272:23.46577127*Points983903639894883692777Shobha JavurResult13.621.6513.0724.625.8643.502:27.50574929*Points1033795732922807735725Susmita Singha RoyResult14.111.7111.2724.345.9839.792:21.14570532*Points963867613948843663808 * The athlete who finished in second place, Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine, tested positive for a banned substance. Both the A and the B tests were positive, therefore Blonska was stripped of her silver medal, and all Indian heptathletes moved up a position.
Badminton
AthleteEventRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalSemifinalFinal / OppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankAnup SridharMen's singlesW 21–16, 21–14L 13–21, 17–21Did not advanceSaina NehwalWomen's singlesW 21–9, 21–8W 21–18, 21–10W 21–19, 11–21, 21–11L 28–26, 14–21, 15–21Did not advance
Boxing
AthleteEventRound of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankJitender KumarFlyweightW W 13–6L 11–15Did not advanceAkhil KumarBantamweightW 12–5W 9+–9L 3–10Did not advanceAnthresh Lalit LakraFeatherweightL 5–9Did not advanceVijender SinghMiddleweightW 13–2W 13–3W 9–4L 5–8Did not advanceDinesh KumarLight heavyweightL 3–23Did not advance
Judo
AthleteEventRound of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsRepechage 1Repechage 2Repechage 3Final / OppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankKhumujam Tombi DeviWomen's −48 kgL 0000–1011Did not advanceDivya TewarWomen's −78 kgL 0000–1000Did not advanceL 0000–1010Did not advance
Rowing
Men AthleteEventHeatsRepechageQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTime RankTime RankBajranglal TakharSingle sculls7:39.913 QFcolspan=2 7:19.01 5 SC/D7:23.004 FD7:09.7321Devender Kumar KhandwalManjeet SinghLightweight double sculls6:37.13 5 R7:02.06 5 SC/Dcolspan=2 6:40.343 FC6:44.4818 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
Sailing
Open AthleteEventRaceNet pointsFinal rank12345678910M*Nachhatar Singh JohalFinn424232411241824CANCANEL12823 M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race; CAN = Race cancelled;
Shooting
Men AthleteEventQualificationFinalPointsRankPointsRankAbhinav Bindra10 m air rifle5964700.5Samaresh Jung10 m air pistol57042Did not advance50 m pistol54042Did not advanceGagan Narang10 m air rifle5959Did not advance50 m rifle prone58935Did not advance50 m rifle 3 positions116713Did not advanceSanjeev Rajput50 m rifle prone59126Did not advance50 m rifle 3 positions116226Did not advanceRajyavardhan Singh RathoreDouble trap13115Did not advanceManavjit Singh SandhuTrap11612Did not advanceMansher Singh1178Did not advance
Women AthleteEventQualificationFinalPointsRankPointsRankAnjali Bhagwat10 m air rifle39329Did not advance50 m rifle 3 positions57132Did not advanceAvneet Kaur Sidhu10 m air rifle38939Did not advance50 m rifle 3 positions55242Did not advance
Swimming
Men AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinalTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankVirdhawal Khade50 m freestyle22.7340Did not advance100 m freestyle50.0742Did not advance200 m freestyle1:51.8648Did not advanceRehan Poncha200 m butterfly2:01.8940Did not advanceAnkur Poseria100 m butterfly54.7457Did not advanceSandeep Sejwal100 m breaststroke1:02.1938Did not advance200 m breaststroke2:15.2436Did not advance
Table tennis
AthleteEventPreliminary roundRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / OppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankSharath KamalMen's singlesW 4–2L 1–4Did not advanceNeha AggarwalWomen's singlesL 1–4Did not advance
Tennis
AthleteEventRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / OppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreOppositionScoreRankMahesh Bhupathi Leander PaesMen's doublesW 6–3, 6–3W 6–4, 6–2L 2–6, 4–6Did not advanceSania MirzaWomen's singlesL 1–6, 1–2rDid not advanceSania Mirza Sunitha RaoWomen's doublesW L 4–6, 4–6Did not advance
Wrestling
Men's freestyle AthleteEventQualificationRound of 16QuarterfinalSemifinalRepechage 1Repechage 2Final / OppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankYogeshwar Dutt−60 kgW 3–1 L 1–3 Did not advance9Sushil Kumar−66 kgL 1–3 Did not advanceW 3–1 W 3–1 W 3–1 Rajiv Tomar−120 kgL 0–3 Did not advance17
See also India at the Olympics Sports of India
References
External links Indian contingent to the 2008 Beijing Olympics (PDF)