BookMarks #86: Three Men In A Boat

Title: Three Men in a Boat 

Author: Jerome K Jerome 

Genre: Fiction, Humour, Travelogue 

Published: 1889 

BookMarks 

It had been a while since I read one of the Classics of English Literature. “Three men in a Boat” became a fantastic choice to revisit the era because of (a) the fantastically named author with the same first and last names, and (b) being mentioned in the writings of Mr. Bond which I read a few months back. 

I had read the book quite some years back and yet it still seemed fresh on re-reading. I guess that’s why these are classics – one can revisit them at intervals! 

It’s a tale of adventure, and quite a bit of it is not even real adventure. It’s the account of three men and a dog undertaking a fortnight long trip on Thames by boat. From planning, to packing, to setting out, then encountering myriad things as they row their boat up the river, and finally abandoning the trip! Every step is full of anecdotes and further anecdotes. Also, it serves as a travelogue with histories of the sights along the way.

Why the book clicks – because of many passages which are still so relatable even though more than a century has passed since its first publication. Passages like 

• "Throw the lumber over, man! Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, enough to eat and enough to wear" - No better explanation of life and wants & needs!
• Also reading about ailments and discovering you have the same - not much different from googling diseases and wondering how you are a medical miracle to be still alive! 
• "Will it be the same in the future? Will the prized treasures of to-day always be the cheap trifles of the day before?" - Our tendency to hold on to things assuming they have value!
• "What the eye does not see, the stomach does not get upset over" - Thats why don't peek into the kitchen of any restaurant!
• "I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me" - the epitome of being busy and lazy!

And a major learning: Pub is shortened form of public house 

Overall, quite fun to revisit that era. 

Previously on BookMarks: Let Me Say it Now 

Road To Tokyo: Episode 21 - The Bearers of a Billion Hopes

With less than a week to go, it seems the Games may finally happen after all. The contingents have started trickling into Tokyo. The Covid screening is on at full swing making global headlines whenever they catch even one case (without ever giving the total numbers tested). 

Now if it’s a sporting extravaganza, then its also time to make predictions. I am no octopus (given how my predictions were way off for Rio). Predicting is an inherently risky business, but this time there is added uncertainty. Many warm-up & test events were either cancelled or poorly attended. Differing travel restrictions and ever-changing quarantine guidelines have further complicated the process. And then there is the chance of athletes testing positive and being barred from the competition at the very last moment. But all this uncertainty just adds to the fun (of making predictions, not the Games itself). 

"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in Life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."  - Baron Pierre de Coubertin

For years, Indian contingents at Olympics fully endorsed this line. However, there has been a marked change with many of them becoming world champions and medallists. Here are my sport-by-sport expectations from the Indian contingent, who bear the expectations of a Billion plus people.

1. Archery: A discipline which has consistently disappointed since the days of Limba Ram. Recent form in the World Cups has been good, but a couple of caveats here – many countries skipped these events. Then the Indian women’s team got Gold at both World Cup stages but lost in the first round of Qualifiers in between! Hopefully this could be a redemption of sorts for Deepika Kumari. India has a good chance for a medal in all the 4 disciplines 
2. Athletics: The Qualification cut-offs were tougher this time around. Most Indian athletes had to break National records just to meet the qualifying standards. And some of them broke them multiple times. However, Neeraj Chopra is the only one who could be considered a strong contender for a Top 3 finish. A special mention of the race-walking disciplines, which has seen a steady rise in direct qualifiers. A Few National Records and Personal Bests are the best hopes for most of the contingent
3. Badminton: Badminton qualification were severely hit by the virus with tournaments getting cancelled everywhere and scuttling the chances of Srikanth & Saina and the doubles teams. PV Sindhu enters the Games as the defending world champion but hasn’t played for quite a while now. Same for Praneeth and the doubles duo of Satwik & Chirag. They can certainly bring in the medals but there is no idea of their or the rivals’ forms. 
4. Boxing:After the low of Rio, the boxing team is getting back on track with 9 quota places. Amit Panghal is the top ranked boxer in his category and then there is Mary Kom who can never be counted out. The likes of Manish Kaushik have a decent chance of getting to the sem-finals as well. 
5. Equestrian: Fouaad Mirza is India’s first qualifier in over 2 decades. Let’s see how he and Seigneur perform at the big stage 
6. Fencing: Bhavani Devi created history by becoming the first Indian to qualify in the Fencing sport. Can she do a Dipa Karmakar now? 
7. Hockey:  It has been 4 decades since our last hockey medal. But Hockey is our National Sport. The Mens team is currently ranked 4th in the World & the Women have qualified again after the disappointment of the last place finish at Rio. We certainly can hope for the elusive medal. 
8. Golf: Anirban Lahiri, Udayan Mane & Aditi Ashok will be representing India at Tokyo. Aditi could spring a surprise with her recent performance in the European LPGA tour. 
9. Gymnastics: After Dipa Karmakar, it is the turn of Pranati Nayak to qualify for the Games. No one had heard of an Indian Gymanst till Dipa nearly vaulted to a medal. Let’s see what Pranati has in store. 
10. Judo: Sushila Devi is India’s sole representative at the Games 
11. Rowing: Arjun Lal & Arvind Singh will be participating in the Lightweight Double Sculls category. India couldn’t participate in the Final Qualifiers due to covid restrictions. 
12. Sailing: Nethra Kumanan is all set to India’s first ever female sailor at the Olympics. Also, these are the first Games in which India will be represented in more than one sailing event 
13. Shooting: India is sending its largest ever shooting contingent. Rio was a disaster for the Indian shooting team. Since then, there has been a big change in the personnel with quite a few young guns coming into the fray. As for the medal hopes, on their day all of them could bring in the medals especially the likes of Saurabh Chaudhary (who is named in Time’s athletes to watch out for) and Manu Bhaker. Or they could bring in no medals – that is how unpredictable the sport of Shooting is!
14. Swimming: For the first time Indian swimmers achieved the A Qualifying mark. Thus, there are 2 entrants in the Mens, Sajan Prakash & Srihari Nataraj, while Maana Patel got the Universality Place for women. Best case scenario will be bettering the National Records 
15. Table Tennis: With the arrival of Manika Batra, Indian table Tennis has seen a rise in popularity. While they haven’t yet broken the East Asian grasp on the medals, they are starting to get there. There is certainly an outside chance for the Mixed Doubles pair of Sharath Kamal & Manika, who also got a Bronze at the 2018 Asiad. 
16. Tennis: India’s best bet would have been the Mixed Doubles but they couldn’t qualify (as yet due to the extremely complex ITF qualifying scenarios). Don’t see either Sumit Nagal or the Doubles pair of Sania & Ankita Raina progressing much further. 
17. Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu should get at least the Silver Medal and bury the demons of Rio for good 
18. Wrestling: India lost one Quota due to Doping. None of their previous medalists qualified for these Games. Yet Wrestling could certainly bring in 2-3 medals with Bajrang Punia, Deepa Punia & Vinesh Phogat starting favourites in their respective categories. 

So overall, this could be India’s best ever Games with a potential double-digit medal count and with some luck in favour could surpass the combined medal count of the last 4 decades! Or we end up with no medals at all. After all these are the strangest Olympics of all times!

And Now let the Games Begin! (Also fingers crossed that the Games proceed with minimal Covid impact) 

Links: 

• Road To Tokyo: Episode 20 
• The Rio Hopes
• Olympic Predictions

BookMarks #85: Let Me Say it Now

Title: Let Me Say It Now 

Author: Rakesh Maria 

Genre: Non-fiction, Memoirs 

Published: 2020 

BookMarks 

“Let Me Say It Now” is the autobiography of Rakesh Maria, the former Commissioner of Police of Mumbai. While featuring his own personal life, it is also a sort of criminal history of Mumbai of the last three decades! Featuring local gangs, international gangs, terrorist attacks, shootouts, serial criminals, diabolical murderers, filmstars, business people, politicians and what not. 

While going through the narrative, got reminded of the adage “Everyone is the hero in their own story”. And why not? Given the high-profile nature of the job that Mr. Maria had. 

Key message - Policing is not easy, especially in a megapolis like Mumbai, and with the resource crunch faced by those in charge. And it’s a job which is filled with brickbats coming from everywhere – politicians, media (& now social media) and even their own internal politics! So it does take a different level of commitment to carry on in the face of all this. 

Recently had read another similar memoir, “Biting the Bullet”. There is stark difference. While Mr. Ajai Raj Sharma’s stories are from rural UP, Mr. Maria’s is from urban Mumbai, making them more in-the-news. But in essence they are same – fighting crimes & criminals. 

Funniest tale from the book – Mr. Maria trying to make his bachelor’s pad presentable to his to-be father-in-law. 

Overall, quite a pacy and interesting read! Less of an autobiography and more of a crime thriller at times.

Previously on Bookmarks: The Vault of Vishnu 

Road To Tokyo: Episode 20

We are almost there. Although the shadow of Covid still looms, the Games seem to be on track, although with lots of restrictions in place. And more could come depending on how the testing & bio-bubbles hold up. Meanwhile, we are at the fag end of the qualifying cycle. Any changes from now will be mostly on account of withdrawals. 

So here is the India contingent update since the last episode. 

New Qualifiers 

• Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu qualified via rankings in the 49 KG category. 
• Tennis: The duo of Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina have qualified for the Doubles category. 
• Athletics: Tejinderpal Singh Toor qualified for Shot Put with a new National Record & Asian Record. Seema Punia made the qualifying cut in the Discus Throw joining Kamalpreet Kaur. Through World Rankings athletes qualified are Dutee Chand (100m & 200m), Annu Rani (Javelin), MP Jabir (400m Hurdles) and Mens 4x400m Relay team. 
• Golf: Aditi Ashok, Anirban Lahiri & Udayan Mane have made the cut for the respective individual sections 
• Swimming: Sajan Prakash & Srihari Natraj became the first ever Indian swimmers to qualify for the Olympics by beating the “A” timing in the 200m Butterfly & 100m Backstroke respectively. Meanwhile Maana Patel got the Universality place in the womes’s 100m Backstroke event. 

Other Updates 

• Wrestling: India lose a quota spot as Sumit Malik (FS, 125 KG) failed a dope test at the Qualifying event where he had earned the Quota. 
• Athletics: Already qualified Kamalpreet Kaur surpassed her National Record once again in the Discus Throw. 
• Archery: Indian women’s team failed to qualify in the final qualification tournament. However at the following World Cup stage days later they won the Gold. Deepika Kumari won the Gold medals in Individual, Team & Mixed events. Lets see if the jinx of the Olympics finally breaks for the Indian archers. 
• Shooting: Not a great haul for India in the final World Cup. Rahi Sarnobat got a Gold while the duo of Saurabh Chaudhary-Manu Bhaker managed only a silver in the mixed event (after a run of 5 Golds). Saurabh also won an individual bronze. 

Squad Announcement 

Hockey (W): GOALKEEPERS: Savita DEFENDERS: Deep Grace Ekka, Nikki Pradhan, Gurjit Kaur, Udita. MIDFIELDERS: Nisha, Neha, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika, Nanjot Kaur, Salima Tete. FORWARDS: Rani, Navneet Kaur, Lalremsiami, Vandana Katariya, Sharmila Devi. 

Hockey (M): GOALKEEPERS: PR Sreejesh, DEFENDERS: Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Birendra Lakra, MIDFIELDERS: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, FORWARDS: Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh 

Indian Contingent 

Total Count – Sports - 18, Events – 70, Entries - 90, Participants – 117 

Links: 

• Road To Tokyo: Episode 19 
• Sumit Malik doping violation:
• India specific protocols: Sportstar

BookMarks #84: The Vault of Vishnu

Title: The Vault of Vishnu 

Author: Ashwin Sanghi 

Genre: Fiction, History 

Published: 2020 

Summary 

An account of a medieval Buddhist’s monk journey from China to India to acquire secret powers. Meanwhile in the modern times, the Chinese are keen on acquiring the same and showing off their powers to the rest of the world. 

BookMarks 

The book is a gripping tale with some surprising and not so surprising twists. Also, I guess this is two stories running in parallel. There is the historic one of Huen Tsang’s journey to India. And then there is the mystery of Chinese super soldiers who had come at Doklam. Meanwhile the Indian establishment with the help of other powers try to get to the bottom of it and uncover a connection going back to the Pallava empire. 

Overall, an interesting narrative merging history with modern intelligence services and myths with biotechnology. Although a word of caution – the author has mixed facts with myths and fiction to create a story. Hopefully it is just taken as that and not anymore. He does give references to actual historical texts but they have to be treated with caution. Especially in today’s times when people believe as per their confirmation bias. 

Previously on BookMarks: The Great Train Journey 

Also by Ashwin Sanghi: #48 – Chanakya’s Chant

Road To Tokyo: Episode 19

We are now less than two months from the Games. And yet the question remains – Will the Games happen at all? Japanese public opinion is increasingly against the Games happening. Similar to the general feeling in India about holding the IPL in the midst of pandemic. And yet, the qualifications and the preparations, while disrupted, continue. 

While the suspense remains, there have been further progress on the field with a few more sportspersons qualifying for the Games. 

New Qualifiers 

• Wrestling: At the final qualifying event, Sumit Malik earned a Quota place in the 125 KG Freestyle category while Seema Bisla earned a Quota place in the 50 KG Women’s category. Thus India have qualified 8 wrestlers for the Games. However, there were no qualifiers in the Greco-Roman category. 
• Rowing: Arjun Lal & Arvind Singh qualified via the Asian Qualification Regatta in the Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls. 
• Gymnastics: Pranati Nayak has qualified for the Games through the Asian Continental Qouta 
• Badminton: The final three qualification events got cancelled. And based on the rankings, PV Sindhu & B Sai Praneeth qualified in the Singles category, while the duo of Chirag Shetty & Satwik Rankireddy qualified in the Doubles. 
• Judo: Sushila Devi has earned a Quota place in the 48 KG Women’s event 

Other Updates 

• Shooting: The squad is now based in Croatia for training till the Games 
• Wrestling: The squad will move to Poland for training and practice events. 
• Boxing: At the Asian Championships, in a depleted field the Indian contingent hauled in 15 medals. This was the first proper event for many since the pandemic began. 

Covid-19 impact 

• Badminton: Malaysian Open & Singapore Open were cancelled thus ending the qualifying journey. 
• Rowing: Due to Covid travel restrictions, India did not enter the Final World Qualification Regatta. 

Indian Contingent 

Total Count – Sports - 14, Events – 57, Entries - 79, Participants – 100 

Links: Road To Tokyo: Episode 18 

BookMarks #83: The Great Train Journey

Title: The Great Train Journey 

Author: Ruskin Bond 

Genre: Fiction, Short Stories, Anthology 

Published: 2018 

BookMarks 

After the heavy duty Paradoxical PM and the prevailing covid news all around, it was time to try to relax. And that’s how once again I found myself in the familiar world of Ruskin Bond’s writings. 

The Great Train Journey is a collection of 14 short stories entwined by the Indian Railways encompassing the trains, tracks, stations, and the journeys. In this short story collection, read a a few new ones and got reacquainted with some old ones. And there were repetitions with the stories themselves. 

I think there are at least three where the key plot is driving the leopard out of the tunnel before the dragon like train moves along. And I found Deoli and Shamli to be identical stations – having a station master’s office, a waiting room, a tea stall and few dogs, where the trains stopped for ten minuted but no one ever got on or off. Of course there is one key difference – the author never gets off at Deoli but in Shamli he does! 

It is this familiarity which I guess keeps bringing me back to the works of Mr. Bond! And as he has quoted in the Introduction, these stories also bring back the times “When life was not so full of care and there was time to stand and stare” 

Previously on BookMarks – The Paradoxical Prime Minister 

Others works by Ruskin Bond on BookMarks 

• #74 A Journey Down the Years – Collection of “Tales” 
• #59 - The Perfect Murder – An anthology compiled by Mr. Bond. 
• #53 - A Gathering of Friends - A collection of short stories.

BookMarks #82: The Paradoxical Prime Minister

Title: The Paradoxical Prime Minister – Narendra Modi and His India 

Author: Shashi Tharoor 

Genre: Non-fiction, Politics, India 

Published: 2018 

BookMarks 

The Paradoxical PM is a critique of the first four year of Mr. Narendra Modi’s term as India’s Prime Minister by Shashi Tharoor, a member of the Opposition and a former Union minister. So while, he has a given a disclaimer upfront, the book has to be read with the background of an upcoming election (2019). 

The author states that “everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts”. But whom does one believe for the facts! After all given the echo chambers that the web has transformed into and the varying degrees of inherent “Confirmation Bias” that everyone has, getting the real facts is an onerous ask! 

Dr. Tharoor covers the various issues raised during the tenure (2104-18) attempting to highlight the paradox between what is said and what has been done. No issue is left untouched – cow, muslims, Bharat Mata Ki Jai, the Constitution, Hindu rashtra, women’s rights, demonetization, health, education, newspapers and media, governance, minimum governance. foreign relations et al. Here Dr. Tharoor has provided a critique of the government policies and in some areas a good summary of what should be India’s vision. 

A couple of lines which I really liked in the book. 

• it is the idea that a nation may endure differences of caste, creed, colour, culture, cuisine, conviction, costume and custom, and still rally around a consensus 
• in a democracy you don’t really need to agree—except on the ground rules of how you will disagree. 

The author has summarized the tenure as “in the end, therefore, he must be judged for himself; since he claims all successes as his own, his transcendent failures must inevitably also be laid at his own door". making the book an apt reading in these Covid times. The combination of arrogance and ineptitude is certainly deadly. 

Of course, there are things unsaid. Like the areas in which the current government couldn’t really do much because of various legacy issues created by the previous regimes. While Dr. Tharoor has highlighted all the failings, the fact that the government still got re-elected in 2019 (with an increased majority) says a lot about the Opposition’s terrible messaging to the voters. The Opposition parties certainly need an image sprucing and better communication. 

Overall, an interesting critique of the Government!

Previously on BookMarks: Think Straight 

Road To Tokyo: Episode 18

The second wave (seems more like a tsunami) of Covid-19 has created havoc in India. Help for oxygen, hospital beds, medicines are all what the social media is talking about. It has also led to more and more restrictions in terms of movement and supplies. And as a collateral damage it has also severely impacted India’s Olympics preparations and qualifiers. Certainly there is more confusion now about the Games than ever before, especially about the participation and travel. 

Meanwhile on the field, these are the major updates for our Indian contingent since Episode 17. 

New Qualifiers 

• Sailing: Through the Mussanah Cup, India has qualified in three events. Nethra Kumanan becomes the first Indian female to qualify for Olympics sailing, after earning the Quota in Women’s Laser Radial. KC Ganapathy & Varun Thakkar have qualified for the Mens 49er race. V Sarvanan qualified for the Mens Laser race. 
• Wrestling: Anshu Malik (Women’s Freestyle 57 KG) & Sonam Malik (Women’s Freestyle 62 KG) have booked their Quota places at the Asian Qualifiers. This is in addition to the four Quota places earned earlier though the World Qualifiers. There is one more World Qualifying event in May to complete the set. India also had a good outing at the Asian Wrestling Championships but given the depleted field these results should not be an indicator of actual form. 

Other Updates 

• Weightlifting: At the Asian Championships, Mirabai Chanu created a new World Record in Clean & Jerk section. 
• Archery: At the World Cup stage in Guatemala, the Indian archers secured 3 of the 5 Gold medals in the Olympics events. However, quite a few of the leading teams were missing in action. 
• Hockey: India had good tour of Argentina and secured 2 wins against the reigning Olympics champions in the Hockey Pro League. But the prevailing Covid situation has led to the postponement of their next European leg. 
• Gymnastics: Pranati Nayak is in contention for the Continental Quota, although it is yet to be confirmed. 

Covid-19 impact 

• Judo: The India contingent had to be withdrawn from the Asia-Oceania Qualifiers due to Covid cases in the team. 
• Athletics: The Indian team could not participate in the World Relay championships due to travel restrictions. 
• Badminton: The Indian Open which was to be qualifying event for the Olympics has been cancelled leaving just the Malaysian Open & Singapore Open as the final two qualifying events. 

Squad Announcement 

Shooting: India have announced a 15 member squad for the Olympics. There have been 2 Quota changes. Chinki Yadav has been replaced by Elavenil Valerian. Manu Bhaker will take the 25m pistol spot instead of Chinki. Meawhile Elavenil, who is ranked No. 1 in the world replaces Anjum Moudgil in the 10m Air Rifle category. Anjum will participate in the 50m 3 Positions instead. India has 2 entries in both mixed 10m Pistol & Rifle events. Here is the full squad. 

10m air rifle (M): Divyansh Singh Panwar, Deepak Kumar. Reserves: Sandeep Singh, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar. 

50m rifle 3-position (M): Sanjeev Rajput, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar. Reserves: Swapnil Kusale, Chain Singh. 

10m air pistol (M): Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma. Reserves: Shahzar Rizvi, Om Prakash Mitharval. 

Skeet (M): Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, Mairaj Ahmad Khan. Reserves: Gurjoat Singh Khangura, Sheeraz Sheikh. 

10m air rifle (W): Apurvi Chandela, Elavenil Valarivan. Reserves: Anjum Moudgil, Shreya Agrawal. 

50m rifle 3-position (W): Anjum Moudgil, Tejaswini Sawant. Reserves: Sunidhi Chauhan, Gaayathri Nithyanandam. 

10m air pistol (W): Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal. Reserves: P Shri Nivetha, Shweta Singh. 

25m sports pistol (W): Rahi Sarnobat, Manu Bhaker. Reserves: Chinki Yadav, Abhidnya Patil. 

10m air rifle (X): Divyansh Singh Panwar, Elavenil Valarivan; Deepak Kumar, Anjum Moudgil. 

10m air pistol (X): Saurabh Chaudhary, Manu Bhaker; Abhishek Verma, Yashaswini Singh Deswal. 

In Other News 

North Korea has pulled out of the Games! What happens to their earned Quotas is still to be decided. And thus improving the medal hopes of some of the Indian contingent. 

Indian Contingent: Sports - 10, Events – 49, Entries - 64, Participants – 90 

Praying for the Covid situation in India to improve fast. Even sports is not able to provide a balm in the current environment.  

Links: 

• Road To Tokyo: Episode 17 
• Shooting Contingent: Sportstar
• North Korea out of the Games: The Guardian 
• North Korea pulling out impact on India: Indian Express 
• Nethra Kumanan: Business Insider 
• India's Top 10 medal prospects: ESPN 
• Pranati Nayak: ESPN 
• Travel impact on Indian sportspersons: ESPN 

Road To Tokyo: Episode 17

We are heading closer to the Olympics with crossed fingers that the Games actually happen. Vaccinations have started rolling out in various parts of the world and some have also prioritized their sportspersons in this regard. On the other hand, many parts are facing a second wave and mutant versions of the virus. The various qualifiers are still being rescheduled due to with lockdowns and travel restrictions of varying degree in different regions. With this backdrop, the Olympic Torch relay has resumed, and the Japanese government has decided to ban foreign spectators. A collateral impact of this ban is the reduction in personal entourages of the athletes as only the accredited support staff can be part of the delegations. 

Well, all this is still a bridge too far. Meanwhile a few more Indian sportspersons have qualified for the Games 

Fencing: Bhavani Devi became the 1st ever Indian to qualify for Olympics Fencing. Will be participating in the Individual Sabre event. 

Athletics: M Sreeshankar qualified for the Men's Long Jump event after creating a new National Record in the Federation Cup. Kamalpreet Kaur qualified for the Women's Discus Throw event with a new National Record in the Federation Cup 

Table Tennis: Sathian Gnansekharan & Achanta Sharat Kamal booked spots in the Men’s Singles from the Asian qualifying event. Suthirtha Mukherjee and Manika Batra qualified for the Women’s singles category. Sharath Kamal & Manika Batra upset the Top seeds to win the sole Mixed Doubles Quota at the Asian Qualifying event. 

In other news 

Boxing: The Final World Qualification events have been cancelled and instead the Quotas will be allocated to the top-ranked boxer yet qualify from each continental region. India had already qualified 9 boxers (an all-time high) through last year’s Asian qualification. However, in the other 4 categories, the quotas have gone to other nations. 

Athletics: New National Records for already qualified athletes Neeraj Chopra (Men's Javelin Throw) & Avinash Sable (3,000m steeplechase). Both of them nicely warming up for the Games.

Shooting: At the New Delhi World Cup, the Indian contingent returned a rich haul. Although the field was depleted but it was good to see the shooters strike a rich vein of form in the run-up to the Olympics. Special mention of the Manu Bhaker-Saurabh Chaudhary duo who have now won Gold at their 5th consecutive World Cup! 

Archery: The team has been announced. Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai & Pravin Jadhav who had earned the Quota will be representing in the Men’s team and Individual Events. Deepika Kumari will be representing in the Women’s individual event. India is yet to qualify for the Women’s Team event. 

Indian Contingent: Sports - 9, Events – 42, Entries - 58, Participants – 84 

Links: 

• Road To Tokyo: Episode 16 
• Who is Bhavani Devi? (Olympics) 
• Overseas Fans Barred from Tokyo Olympics: (Times of India), (ESPN)
• India's Tokyo Squad (World Archery)
• India at the New Delhi Shooting World Cup (ESPN)