Six lesser-known sports India excelled at since Tokyo Olympics

The 2021 sporting extravaganza has inspired sportspersons from relatively unknown fields to punch above their weights.

After a successful stint at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, India has started diversifying across various sporting events with few sports of them we have already have excelled at. Fencing in particular has taken giant strides with many starting to follow the sport. Bhavani Devi was the first Indian fencer to qualify for the Olympics. And since the sport has been on a positive curve. Surfing is not a popular sport in India and was only recently included in the Olympics. But it is having good participation across age categories in India.

6. Fencing

There are three categories in fencing (Sabre, Epee, and Foil) and India has started to produce good results in the Sabre section with two Indian men and one woman in the top 100 of the FIE men’s rankings. In the men’s section Karan Singh (68), Kumaresan Gisho Nidhi (91), and in the women’s Bhavani Devi (42).

Abhay Shinde, the 20-year-old, entered the top 150 along with Vishal Thapar retaining his 134th spot. Abhay Shinde in particular had a good 2022 season participating in both the junior and senior sections and from 2023 is set to participate only in the senior tournaments. The 20-year-old, Karan Singh, and Bhavani Devi all come under the TOPS scheme.

Tanishka Khatri from the Foil section too had a good year and won against a top 20 fencer Andre Coquin at the Doha Grand Prix. The 18-year-old will be finishing the year in the 86th position in the senior section. Also, India is set to host the Asian cadet and junior championships in 2023 which will be the first major fencing event to be hosted in India. 

5. Cycling

Esow Alben became the first cyclist from India to participate in the UCI Champions League, in 2022. Only the top 18 cyclists (in endurance and sprint) across the world participate in the event and the Indian was one among them. Esow apart from just participating also reached the finals in the Keirin section.

The Indian cycling contingent did not put in good results at the Commonwealth Games but had a good year overall. Ronaldo Singh broke his own National Record at the Asian Championships held in New Delhi.  Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam went on to break the National Record in the 200m flying time trail category at the UCI World Track Cycling Championships in France. The sad part was that the NR time wasn’t enough for him to qualify for the finals as he finished 31st with only the top 28 cyclist qualifying. 

4. Rugby 

Capgemini one of the top IT companies in India has started to sponsor the Indian Rugby team. Indian team in the junior age categories won three silver medals at respective Asian Championships in 2022 (1. Asia Rugby U20 Sevens, Uzbekistan, 2. Asia Rugby U18 Sevens, Nepal, and 3. Asian Rugby Sevens, Indonesia.)

3. Surfing

Surfing is not a popular sport in India but the country has excelled at in…