Lucknow: Eight athletes from Uttar Pradesh will represent India in five disciplines — shooting, racewalking, javelin throw, boxing and hockey — at the Tokyo Olympics beginning July 23.
Veteran skeet shooter, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, who is currently training in Italy, will be competing in his second Olympics after becoming the first Indian in his category to qualify for the 2016 Rio Games.
The 45-year-old Mairaj’s major achievements include silver at the 2016 ISSF World Cup at Rio and gold at the Commonwealth Championships in New Delhi in 2010.
Saurabh Chaudhary from Kalina village in Meerut will be representing India in 10m air pistol individual and 10m air pistol mixed team events at the Tokyo Olympics in his maiden appearance.
The 19-year-old has won gold in several top events, such as the ISSF World Cup, World Championships, Youth Olympics and the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
He won bronze in the 10m air pistol event and, pairing with Manu Bhaker, the duo won silver in the ISSF World Cup at Croatia.
Priyanka Goswami is a track athlete who will be representing India in the women’s 20km racewalking at the Olympics.
The 24-year-old qualified for the Olympics by clocking 1:28:45s at the National Racewalking Championships in February, which also happened to be the national record.
Annu Rani, another Olympic contestant, is a track athlete who will represent India in javelin throw.
She has a personal best throw of 63.24m which she threw at the 2021 Federation Cup in Patiala. The Olympic qualification mark is 64m but still she will go through to the Tokyo Olympic based on rankings as she is currently at 19th spot among 32 athletes who are set to take part at the Games in the discipline.
Shivpal Singh, born in 1995, is a track-and-field athlete who will represent India in javelin.
He had won a silver in the 2019 Asian Championships with a personal best of 86.23m. With a throw of 85.47m at the ACNW League Meet in South Africa, he qualified for the Olympics after the qualification mark was set at 85m.
Satish Kumar is an amateur boxer who will be representing India in +91kg category.
Some of his achievements are bronze medal at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games. He became the first Indian boxer to qualify when he defeated Otgonbayer Daivii in the Asian Boxing Olympic qualifiers.
Lalit Kumar Upadhyay will represent India in men’s hockey.
He plays as a forward in the Indian team and made his senior international debut in 2014 and was also part of the 2014 men’s World Cup.
Since then, he has been a regular feature for the Indian team, winning the 2018 Asian Champions Trophy, a silver medal at the 2018 Champions Trophy and bronze at the 2018 Asian Games. For the 27-years-old, this will be his debut Olympics.
Arvind Singh will represent India in men’s lightweight double sculls rowing event.
He will be pairing up with Arjun Lal after the duo qualified for the Olympics finishing second in the final race of the Asia Continental Qualifying in Tokyo.
The two will be the only representation from India at the Olympics in the discipline.
