# India at the 2008 Summer Olympics

India competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. India was represented by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). A contingent of 57 athletes in 12 sports represented India, and had a support-staff of 42 officials.
For the first time since 1928, the men's national field hockey team was unable to take part in the Summer Olympics due to its failure to qualify. A two-year ban imposed by the International Weightlifting Federation after the 2006 Commonwealth Games doping scandal 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.
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 and the gold and bronze medals won by the Indian field hockey team and Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav respectively, at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

## Medalists

| Medals | Name | Sport | Event | Date |
| Gold | Abhinav Bindra | Shooting | Men's 10 m air rifle | August 11 |
| Bronze | Sushil Kumar | Wrestling | Men's freestyle 66 kg | August 20 |
| Bronze | Vijender Singh | Boxing | Middleweight 75 kg | August 22 |

## Competitors

| Sport | Men | Women | Total | Event |
| Archery | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Athletics | 3 | 13 | 16 | 9 |
| Badminton | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Boxing | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Judo | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Rowing | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Sailing | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Shooting | 7 | 2 | 9 | 9 |
| Swimming | 4 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| Table tennis | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Tennis | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Wrestling | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Total | 31 | 25 | 56 | 48 |

## Archery

| Athlete | Event | Ranking round | Ranking round | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final / BM | Final / BM |
| Athlete | Event | Score | Seed | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Rank |
| Mangal Champia | Men's individual | 678 | 2 | Hojjatolah (IRI) (63) W 112–98 | Badenov (RUS) (31) L 108–109 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Dola Banerjee | Women's individual | 633 | 31 | Beaudet (CAN) (34) L 108 (8)–108 (10) | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Bombayala Devi | Women's individual | 637 | 22 | Marcinkiewicz (POL) (43) L 101–103 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Pranitha Vardhineni | Women's individual | 627 | 37 | Waller (AUS) (28) W 106–100 | Kwon U.S. (PRK) (5) L 99–106 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Dola Banerjee Bombayala Devi Pranitha Vardhineni | Women's team | 1897 | 6 | — | — | Bye | China (CHN) (3) L 206–211 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |

## Athletics
### Key

* Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
* Q = Qualified for the next round
* q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
* NR = National record
* N/A = Round not applicable for the event
* Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

### Track & road events

| Athlete | Event | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Result | Rank |
| Surendra Singh | 10000 m | 28:13.97 | 26 |

### Field events

| Athlete | Event | Qualification | Qualification | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Distance | Position | Distance | Position |
| Vikas Gowda | Discus throw | 60.69 | 22 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Renjith Maheswary | Triple jump | 15.77 | 35 | Did not advance | Did not advance |

### Track & road events

| Athlete | Event | Heat | Heat | Semifinal | Semifinal | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank |
| Mandeep Kaur | 400 m | 52.88 | 6 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Preeja Sreedharan | 10000 m | — | — | — | — | 32:34.64 | 25 |
| Sathi Geetha Mandeep Kaur Manjeet Kaur Sini Jose Chitra Soman | 4 × 400 m relay | 3:28.83 | 7 | — | — | Did not advance | Did not advance |

### Field events

| Athlete | Event | Qualification | Qualification | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Distance | Position | Distance | Position |
| Anju Bobby George | Long jump | NM | — | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Harwant Kaur | Discus throw | 56.42 | 30 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Krishna Poonia | Discus throw | 58.23 | 24 | Did not advance | Did not advance |

### Combined events – Heptathlon

| Athlete | Event | 100H | HJ | SP | 200 m | LJ | JT | 800 m | Final | Rank |
| Pramila Aiyappa | Result | 13.97 | 1.74 | 11.66 | 24.92 | 6.11 | 41.27 | 2:23.46 | 5771 | 27* |
| Pramila Aiyappa | Points | 983 | 903 | 639 | 894 | 883 | 692 | 777 | 5771 | 27* |
| Shobha Javur | Result | 13.62 | 1.65 | 13.07 | 24.62 | 5.86 | 43.50 | 2:27.50 | 5749 | 29* |
| Shobha Javur | Points | 1033 | 795 | 732 | 922 | 807 | 735 | 725 | 5749 | 29* |
| Susmita Singha Roy | Result | 14.11 | 1.71 | 11.27 | 24.34 | 5.98 | 39.79 | 2:21.14 | 5705 | 32* |
| Susmita Singha Roy | Points | 963 | 867 | 613 | 948 | 843 | 663 | 808 | 5705 | 32* |
* The athlete who finished in second place, Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine, tested positive for a banned substance. 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

| Athlete | Event | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Final / BM | Final / BM |
| Athlete | Event | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Rank |
| Anup Sridhar | Men's singles | Vasconcelos (POR) W 21–16, 21–14 | Sato (JPN) L 13–21, 17–21 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Saina Nehwal | Women's singles | Diehl (RUS) W 21–9, 21–8 | Griga (UKR) W 21–18, 21–10 | Wang C (HKG) W 21–19, 11–21, 21–11 | Yulianti (INA) L 28–26, 14–21, 15–21 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |

## Boxing

| Athlete | Event | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank |
| Jitender Kumar | Flyweight | Memis (TUR) W WO | Doniyorov (UZB) W 13–6 | Balakshin (RUS) L 11–15 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Akhil Kumar | Bantamweight | Hallab (FRA) W 12–5 | Vodopyanov (RUS) W 9$^+$–9 | Gojan (MDA) L 3–10 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Anthresh Lalit Lakra | Featherweight | Sultonov (UZB) L 5–9 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Vijender Singh | Middleweight | Jack (GAM) W 13–2 | Chomphuphuang (THA) W 13–3 | Góngora (ECU) W 9–4 | Correa (CUB) L 5–8 | Did not advance | |
| Dinesh Kumar | Light heavyweight | Benchabla (ALG) L 3–23 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |

## Judo

| Athlete | Event | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Repechage 1 | Repechage 2 | Repechage 3 | Final / BM | Final / BM |
| Athlete | Event | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank |
| Khumujam Tombi Devi | Women's −48 kg | Hormigo (POR) L 0000–1011 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Divya Tewar | Women's −78 kg | Castillo (CUB) L 0000–1000 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Abikeyeva (KAZ) L 0000–1010 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |

## Rowing
### Men

| Athlete | Event | Heats | Heats | Repechage | Repechage | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Bajranglal Takhar | Single sculls | 7:39.91 | 3 QF | — | — | 7:19.01 | 5 SC/D | 7:23.00 | 4 FD | 7:09.73 | 21 |
| Devender Kumar Khandwal Manjeet Singh | Lightweight double sculls | 6:37.13 | 5 R | 7:02.06 | 5 SC/D | — | — | 6:40.34 | 3 FC | 6:44.48 | 18 |
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

| Athlete | Event | Race | Race | Race | Race | Race | Race | Race | Race | Race | Race | Race | Net points | Final rank |
| Athlete | Event | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | M* | Net points | Final rank |
| Nachhatar Singh Johal | Finn | 4 | 24 | 23 | 24 | 11 | 24 | 18 | 24 | CAN | CAN | EL | 128 | 23 |
M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race; CAN = Race cancelled;

## Shooting
### Men

| Athlete | Event | Qualification | Qualification | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Points | Rank | Points | Rank |
| Abhinav Bindra | 10 m air rifle | 596 | 4 | 700.5 | |
| Samaresh Jung | 10 m air pistol | 570 | 42 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Samaresh Jung | 50 m pistol | 540 | 42 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Gagan Narang | 10 m air rifle | 595 | 9 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Gagan Narang | 50 m rifle prone | 589 | 35 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Gagan Narang | 50 m rifle 3 positions | 1167 | 13 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Sanjeev Rajput | 50 m rifle prone | 591 | 26 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Sanjeev Rajput | 50 m rifle 3 positions | 1162 | 26 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore | Double trap | 131 | 15 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Manavjit Singh Sandhu | Trap | 116 | 12 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Mansher Singh | Trap | 117 | 8 | Did not advance | Did not advance |

### Women

| Athlete | Event | Qualification | Qualification | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Points | Rank | Points | Rank |
| Anjali Bhagwat | 10 m air rifle | 393 | 29 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Anjali Bhagwat | 50 m rifle 3 positions | 571 | 32 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Avneet Kaur Sidhu | 10 m air rifle | 389 | 39 | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Avneet Kaur Sidhu | 50 m rifle 3 positions | 552 | 42 | Did not advance | Did not advance |

## Swimming
### Men

| Athlete | Event | Heat | Heat | Semifinal | Semifinal | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Virdhawal Khade | 50 m freestyle | 22.73 | 40 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Virdhawal Khade | 100 m freestyle | 50.07 | 42 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Virdhawal Khade | 200 m freestyle | 1:51.86 | 48 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Rehan Poncha | 200 m butterfly | 2:01.89 | 40 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Ankur Poseria | 100 m butterfly | 54.74 | 57 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Sandeep Sejwal | 100 m breaststroke | 1:02.19 | 38 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Sandeep Sejwal | 200 m breaststroke | 2:15.24 | 36 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |

## Table tennis

| Athlete | Event | Preliminary round | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final / BM | Final / BM |
| Athlete | Event | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank |
| Sharath Kamal | Men's singles | Bye | Carneros (ESP) W 4–2 | Chen Wx (AUT) L 1–4 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Neha Aggarwal | Women's singles | Lay (AUS) L 1–4 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |

## Tennis

| Athlete | Event | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final / BM | Final / BM |
| Athlete | Event | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Rank |
| Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes | Men's doubles | — | Monfils / Simon (FRA) W 6–3, 6–3 | Melo / Sá (BRA) W 6–4, 6–2 | Federer / Wawrinka (SUI) L 2–6, 4–6 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Sania Mirza | Women's singles | Benešová (CZE) L 1–6, 1–2$^r$ | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |
| Sania Mirza Sunitha Rao | Women's doubles | — | Golovin / Parmentier (FRA) W WO | Kuznetsova / Safina (RUS) L 4–6, 4–6 | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance |

## Wrestling

Key:
* VT - Victory by Fall.
* PP - Decision by Points - the loser with technical points.
* PO - Decision by Points - the loser without technical points.

### Men's freestyle

| Athlete | Event | Qualification | Round of 16 | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Repechage 1 | Repechage 2 | Final / BM | Final / BM |
| Athlete | Event | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank |
| Yogeshwar Dutt | −60 kg | Bye | Orazgaliyev (KAZ) W 3–1 $^{PP}$ | Yumoto (JPN) L 1–3 $^{PP}$ | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 9 |
| Sushil Kumar | −66 kg | Bye | Stadnik (UKR) L 1–3 $^{PP}$ | Did not advance | Did not advance | Schwab (USA) W 3–1 $^{PP}$ | Batyrov (BLR) W 3–1 $^{PP}$ | Spiridonov (KAZ) W 3–1 $^{PP}$ | |
| Rajiv Tomar | −120 kg | Mocco (USA) L 0–3 $^{PO}$ | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | Did not advance | 17 |