The Paris Olympics are fast approaching with just 40 days to go before the Games. Keeping up with ESPN India's weekly update, here's a closer look at the top 10 Indian medal prospects and their preparations for the showpiece event.
Neeraj Chopra
Neeraj Chopra, the reigning Olympic and world champion, is India's biggest medal hope in Paris. He had participated in two back-to-back events in May (Doha Diamond League and Federation Cup) and was supposed to take part at the Ostrava Golden Spike event on May 28, but ruled himself out after feeling discomfort in his adductor.
Chopra will return to action soon at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, on 18 June. He had participated at the event two years earlier, finishing second after a best throw of 89.30m behind Finland's Oliver Helander (89.83m).
It's Neeraj Chopra's world, and he keeps us all part of it
Vinesh Phogat
Phogat competed at the Budapest Ranking series last week, but couldn't finish in the top. She lost to China's Jiang Zhu 5-0 in the 50kg quarterfinals.
Earlier this month, the Sports Ministry's Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) approved a foreign training camp for Phogat in Madrid, Spain. After the training, she will compete in the Grand Prix, Spain, in July before heading to Boulogne sur-Mer, France, to train for 20 days ahead of the Olympics.
Path to Paris: Vinesh has already won the battle of her life. Now she faces the battle of her career
PV Sindhu
Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu has not been in top form but those familiar with her career know that she saves her best for big tournaments. In her last three tournaments, Sindhu made it to the final of Malaysia Masters but ended as runner-up. She then lost in the first and second round at the at Singapore and Indonesia Open respectively.
Sindhu will next be in action directly at the Paris Olympics and is currently in Saarbrucken, Germany for a month-long training camp before going for the Olympics.
Path to Paris: Forget form, forget everything... it's time for big-game PV Sindhu
Sift Kaur Samra
Sift is one of big medal hopefuls from India's strong shooting contingent. The Asian Games gold medallist made it to the Paris squad in women's 50m rifle 3 positions after dominating the four-stage Olympic selection trials.
She was recently in action at the Munich World Cup where she won the bronze medal, missing silver by only 0.1 point to Han Jiayu of China.
Currently, she is with the shooting team in France for a training camp and will be seen next at the Olympics.
Bronze �� �� ����
Sift Kaur Samra is 3rd in women's 3P at the @issf_official World Cup in Munich. She shot 452.9 in the final, won by world no 1 Seonaid Macintosh (466.7) of ���� Han Jiayu (462.6) of ���� 2nd. pic.twitter.com/cYgdIDQpML
- NRAI (@OfficialNRAI) June 7, 2024
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty
The Indian badminton doubles stars had withdrawn from the Indonesia Open Super 1000, essentially the last big tournament before the Paris Olympics, earlier this month. They were the defending champions and were hoping for a good run to maintain their world no. 1 rank.
As a result of their withdrawal, they are down to number 3 in the world rankings, which means they will not be the top seeds at the Olympics.
Path to Paris: After historic 2023, 'hungry' Sat-Chi embrace pressure, master the mind games
Men's hockey team
The Indian men's hockey team were hoping to end the Pro League season on a high but ended up losing three of their last four matches and have no chance to finish in the top three. Craig Fulton's side have been inconsistent in the run up to the Paris Games, especially while playing away from home.
The team will now start their final camp in Bengaluru and by end of the month, Fulton should name the final squad. Later in July, the team will head to Switzerland to play a few friendlies before reaching Paris for the Games.
Path to Paris: Indian hockey picks control over chaos in bid for Olympic glory
Nikhat Zareen
Multiple-time world champion Nikhat will dream to clinch the one big medal that she hasn't won yet at the upcoming Paris Games. She's been in good form, winning the silver medal at the Strandja Memorial in February and later the gold at the Elorda Cup in May.
Nikhat said she wants to stay injury-free till Paris and the federation will likely arrange a couple of foreign training camps before she heads to the Games.
Path to Paris: Why Nikhat Zareen wants that Olympic medal - and has a good shot at it
Mirabai Chanu
India's weightlifting legend Mirabai is seeking a second straight Olympic medal in Paris. She has her target set, pushing for a total of 200-210kgs, which she thinks will give her the best chance to medal. It's not going to be easy as her body took a beating, especially with a hip injury.
Currently, she's training at the SAI Centre in Patiala.
Mirabai Chanu sets marker for Paris Olympics medal: 205-207kg
Path to Paris: Mirabai Chanu goes back to basics for a shot at second Olympic medal
Aditi Ashok
Aditi is currently in action at the Meijer LPGA Classic in the US. She was solid in the opening round, carding a four under 68 for a tied 11th and then slipped to tied 16th spot in the next round, which is the half-way mark. She will hope for a good showing in the final rounds and finish the tournament ranking in the top ten.
Earlier, Aditi finished tied 26th at the US Women's Open, which was an improvement from her previous string of results. She's yet to record a top-10 finish this season.
Path to Paris: Aditi Ashok has form and experience, can she shake off big-event bogey?
Lovlina Borgohain
Lovlina, competing in the 75kg category, won the silver medal at the Grand Prix event in Czech Republic.
The women's tournament was held in a round robin format with Lovlina beating England's Chantal Reid 3-2 but lost against Cindy Ngamba of the Olympic Refugee team 0-5 and also to China's Li Qian 2-3.
The bout against Qian was an important one. Qian, two-time Olympic medallist with three World Championships medals, had defeated Lovlina in the summit clash of the Asian Games last year. Although the Indian boxer suffered a loss, it was a close fight.
After the tournament, Lovlina will be involved in foreign training camps which will be organised by the federation.
Asian Games: Lovlina loses final but wins Olympics berth and validates her weight switch