India at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Last updated
India at the
2008 Summer Olympics
Flag of India.svg
IOC code IND
NOC Indian Olympic Association
Website olympic.ind.in
in Beijing
Competitors67 in 12 sports
Flag bearers Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (opening)
Vijender Singh [1] (closing)
Medals
Ranked 50th
Gold
1
Silver
0
Bronze
2
Total
3
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)

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. [2]

Contents

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 [3] 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. [4]

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 [5] and the gold and bronze medals won by the Indian field hockey team and Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav respectively, at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Medalists

MedalsNameSportEventDate
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Abhinav Bindra Shooting Men's 10 m air rifle August 11
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Sushil Kumar Wrestling Men's freestyle 66 kg August 20
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Vijender Singh Boxing Middleweight 75 kg August 22

Competitors

SportMenWomenTotalEvent
Archery 1343
Athletics 313169
Badminton 1122
Boxing 5055
Judo 0222
Rowing 3032
Sailing 1011
Shooting 7299
Swimming 4047
Table tennis 1122
Tennis 2243
Wrestling 3033
Total31255648

Archery

AthleteEventRanking roundRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / BM
ScoreSeedOpposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Rank
Mangal Champia Men's individual 6782Flag of Iran.svg  Hojjatolah  (IRI) (63)
W 112–98
Flag of Russia.svg  Badenov  (RUS) (31)
L 108–109
Did not advance
Dola Banerjee Women's individual 63331Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Beaudet  (CAN) (34)
L 108 (8)–108 (10)
Did not advance
Bombayala Devi 63722Flag of Poland.svg  Marcinkiewicz  (POL) (43)
L 101–103
Did not advance
Pranitha Vardhineni 62737Flag of Australia.svg  Waller  (AUS) (28)
W 106–100
Flag of North Korea.svg  Kwon U.S.  (PRK) (5)
L 99–106
Did not advance
Dola Banerjee
Bombayala Devi
Pranitha Vardhineni
Women's team 18976ByeFlag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China  (CHN) (3)
L 206–211
Did not advance

Athletics

Key
Men
Track & road events
AthleteEventFinal
ResultRank
Surendra Singh 10000 m 28:13.9726
Field events
AthleteEventQualificationFinal
DistancePositionDistancePosition
Vikas Gowda Discus throw 60.6922Did not advance
Renjith Maheswary Triple jump 15.7735Did not advance
Women
Track & road events
AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinal
ResultRankResultRankResultRank
Mandeep Kaur 400 m 52.886Did not advance
Preeja Sreedharan 10000 m 32:34.6425 [6]
Sathi Geetha
Mandeep Kaur
Manjeet Kaur
Sini Jose
Chitra Soman
4 × 400 m relay 3:28.837Did not advance
Field events
AthleteEventQualificationFinal
DistancePositionDistancePosition
Anju Bobby George Long jump NMDid not advance
Harwant Kaur Discus throw 56.4230Did not advance
Krishna Poonia 58.2324Did not advance
Combined events – Heptathlon
AthleteEvent 100H HJ SP 200 m LJ JT 800 mFinalRank
Pramila Aiyappa Result13.971.7411.6624.926.1141.272:23.46577127*
Points983903639894883692777
Shobha Javur Result13.621.6513.0724.625.8643.502:27.50574929*
Points1033795732922807735725
Susmita Singha Roy Result14.111.7111.2724.345.9839.792:21.14570532*
Points963867613948843663808

* The athlete who finished in second place, Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine, tested positive for a banned substance. [7] 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 / BM
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Rank
Anup Sridhar Men's singles Flag of Portugal.svg  Vasconcelos  (POR)
W 21–16, 21–14
Flag of Japan.svg  Sato  (JPN)
L 13–21, 17–21
Did not advance
Saina Nehwal Women's singles Flag of Russia.svg  Diehl  (RUS)
W 21–9, 21–8
Flag of Ukraine.svg  Griga  (UKR)
W 21–18, 21–10
Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Wang C  (HKG)
W 21–19, 11–21, 21–11
Flag of Indonesia.svg  Yulianti  (INA)
L 28–26, 14–21, 15–21
Did not advance

Boxing

AthleteEventRound of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Jitender Kumar Flyweight Flag of Turkey.svg  Memis  (TUR)
WWO
Flag of Uzbekistan (3-2).svg  Doniyorov  (UZB)
W 13–6
Flag of Russia.svg  Balakshin  (RUS)
L 11–15
Did not advance
Akhil Kumar Bantamweight Flag of France.svg  Hallab  (FRA)
W 12–5
Flag of Russia.svg  Vodopyanov  (RUS)
W 9+–9
Flag of Moldova (3-2).svg  Gojan  (MDA)
L 3–10
Did not advance
Anthresh Lalit Lakra Featherweight Flag of Uzbekistan (3-2).svg  Sultonov  (UZB)
L 5–9
Did not advance
Vijender Singh Middleweight Flag of The Gambia.svg  Jack  (GAM)
W 13–2
Flag of Thailand.svg  Chomphuphuang  (THA)
W 13–3
Flag of Ecuador (1900-2009).svg  Góngora  (ECU)
W 9–4
Flag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Correa  (CUB)
L 5–8
Did not advanceBronze medal icon.svg
Dinesh Kumar Light heavyweight Flag of Algeria.svg  Benchabla  (ALG)
L 3–23
Did not advance

Judo

AthleteEventRound of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsRepechage 1Repechage 2Repechage 3Final / BM
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Khumujam Tombi Devi Women's −48 kg Flag of Portugal.svg  Hormigo  (POR)
L 0000–1011
Did not advance
Divya Tewar Women's −78 kg Flag of Cuba (3-2).svg  Castillo  (CUB)
L 0000–1000
Did not advanceFlag of Kazakhstan (3-2).svg  Abikeyeva  (KAZ)
L 0000–1010
Did not advance

Rowing

Men
AthleteEventHeatsRepechageQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
TimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRankTimeRank
Bajranglal Takhar Single sculls 7:39.913 QF7:19.015 SC/D7:23.004 FD7:09.7321
Devender Kumar Khandwal
Manjeet Singh
Lightweight double sculls 6:37.135 R7:02.065 SC/D6:40.343 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 rank
12345678910M*
Nachhatar Singh Johal Finn 424232411241824CANCANEL12823

M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race; CAN = Race cancelled;

Shooting

Men
AthleteEventQualificationFinal
PointsRankPointsRank
Abhinav Bindra 10 m air rifle 5964700.5Gold medal icon.svg
Samaresh Jung 10 m air pistol 57042Did not advance
50 m pistol 54042Did not advance
Gagan Narang 10 m air rifle 5959Did not advance
50 m rifle prone 58935Did not advance
50 m rifle 3 positions 116713Did not advance
Sanjeev Rajput 50 m rifle prone 59126Did not advance
50 m rifle 3 positions 116226Did not advance
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Double trap 13115Did not advance
Manavjit Singh Sandhu Trap 11612Did not advance
Mansher Singh 1178Did not advance
Women
AthleteEventQualificationFinal
PointsRankPointsRank
Anjali Bhagwat 10 m air rifle 39329Did not advance
50 m rifle 3 positions 57132Did not advance
Avneet Kaur Sidhu 10 m air rifle 38939Did not advance
50 m rifle 3 positions 55242Did not advance

Swimming

Men
AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinal
TimeRankTimeRankTimeRank
Virdhawal Khade 50 m freestyle 22.7340Did not advance
100 m freestyle 50.0742Did not advance
200 m freestyle 1:51.8648Did not advance
Rehan Poncha 200 m butterfly 2:01.8940Did not advance
Ankur Poseria 100 m butterfly 54.7457Did not advance
Sandeep Sejwal 100 m breaststroke 1:02.1938Did not advance
200 m breaststroke 2:15.2436Did not advance

Table tennis

AthleteEventPreliminary roundRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / BM
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Sharath Kamal Men's singles ByeFlag of Spain.svg  Carneros  (ESP)
W 4–2
Flag of Austria.svg  Chen Wx  (AUT)
L 1–4
Did not advance
Neha Aggarwal Women's singles Flag of Australia.svg  Lay  (AUS)
L 1–4
Did not advance

Tennis

AthleteEventRound of 64Round of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / BM
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Rank
Mahesh Bhupathi
Leander Paes
Men's doubles Flag of France.svg  Monfils /
Simon  (FRA)
W 6–3, 6–3
Flag of Brazil.svg  Melo /
 (BRA)
W 6–4, 6–2
Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Federer /
Wawrinka  (SUI)
L 2–6, 4–6
Did not advance
Sania Mirza Women's singles Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Benešová  (CZE)
L 1–6, 1–2r
Did not advance
Sania Mirza
Sunitha Rao
Women's doubles Flag of France.svg  Golovin /
Parmentier  (FRA)
WWO
Flag of Russia.svg  Kuznetsova /
Safina  (RUS)
L 4–6, 4–6
Did not advance

Wrestling

Key:

Men's freestyle
AthleteEventQualificationRound of 16QuarterfinalSemifinalRepechage 1Repechage 2Final / BM
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Yogeshwar Dutt −60 kg ByeFlag of Kazakhstan (3-2).svg  Orazgaliyev  (KAZ)
W 3–1 PP
Flag of Japan.svg  Yumoto  (JPN)
L 1–3 PP
Did not advance9
Sushil Kumar −66 kg ByeFlag of Ukraine.svg  Stadnik  (UKR)
L 1–3 PP
Did not advanceFlag of the United States.svg  Schwab  (USA)
W 3–1 PP
Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Batyrov  (BLR)
W 3–1 PP
Flag of Kazakhstan (3-2).svg  Spiridonov  (KAZ)
W 3–1 PP
Bronze medal icon.svg
Rajiv Tomar −120 kg Flag of the United States.svg  Mocco  (USA)
L 0–3 PO
Did not advance17

See also

References

  1. Indias Flag Bearer for the closing ceremony
  2. "India names 57-member squad for Beijing Olympics". Press Trust Of India . CNN-IBN. Aug 12, 2008. Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
  3. "Indian weightlifters forced to pay". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2025-08-12.
  4. "Indian lifter fails drug test". CBC Sports. August 5, 2008. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
  5. "Olympic Athletes - Biographies, Medals & More".
  6. Women's 10,000 m final results Archived 2008-08-18 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Blonska thrown out of long jump". BBC Sport. 2008-08-21. Retrieved 2008-08-21.