India@75: 6 of India's biggest Olympic success stories

As India celebrates its 75th Independence day, we take a look at 6 of India's biggest Olympic success stories.

Hockey Gold medals till 1980

Indian men's hockey team may have clinched their first Olympic medal in 41 years at the Tokyo Games, but this were different till 1980. India was a force to reckon with and there was hardly a team that could challenge the heroes then. Calling it a golden age of Indian hockey won't be wrong as India won its first Olympic Gold in 1928, and until 1960, the Indian men's team remained unbeaten at the Games, winning 6 gold medals in a row. India sweat away 2 more Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze medals from there on till the 1980 Olympics.

Leander Paes Bronze in 1996

From there on, It was a long dry spell as India had to wait for 16 years for an Olympic medal. Ace tennis star Leander Paes's Bronze at the Atlanta Games not only ended that poor run but it was also India's first individual Olympic medal in 44 years. What made it sweater was the fact that Paes was knocked out in the first round of the men's singles event in the previous edition.

Abhinav Bindra Gold in 2008

Though Paes couldn't compete for Gold after losing in the semis, shooter Abhinav Bindra made sure he bagged the biggest prize of the prestigious tournament 12 years later in Beijing. By shooting a 10.8 on his last shot in the men's 10m air rifle final, he then became the first individual Indian athlete to win gold at the Olympics. The shooter had missed a near second Olympic medal at the Rio Olympics, which proved to be his last Games.

Sushil Kumar 2 Olympic medals

During the same very Olympics, wrestler Sushil Kumar became a rage in Indian sports. He burst on to the scene with a Bronze at the Beijing Olympics and then backed it up with a Silver medal, 4 years later at the London Games. He had then become the first Indian athlete to win 2 Olympic medals in an individual event.

PV Sindhu 2 Olympic medals

Sushil was the lone Indian in that club for 9 years until PV Sindhu joined him. The Indian shuttler emerged through the shadows of Saina Nehwal and to many people's surprise, went on to clinch a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She proved that wasn't a flash in the pan as Sindhu finished on the podium in Tokyo as well, this time winning bronze. With that she became the first Indian female athlete to achieve that feat in the history of the Games.

Neeraj Chopra Gold

Then came the most iconic moment in Indian Olympic history. Neeraj Chopra lived up to his billing and clinched India its first Gold at the 2020 Olympics in the very last event. His throw of 87.58m in the javelin throw final, not only helped Neeraj to enter the prestigious individual Gold medal club for India where Aabhinav Bindra was left lonely for 13 years but also became the first athlete from India to bag an Olympic Track and Field medal.