Meet the athletes from Northeast set to shine in Tokyo Olympics

The Northeastern region of India has yielded various athletes over the years who carved a niche for themselves in both national and international platforms. While the veterans have paved the paths for others to follow, the debutants too emit a good deal of zeal and enthusiasm.  As the world gears up for Tokyo Olympics, let's have a look at the athletes from Northeast who will be giving a tough fight to the contenders.

Lovlina Borgohain - Assam

Assam's Lovlina Borgohain is all set to represent the country at the Tokyo Olympics. She secured the spot for Summer Games by defeating Uzbekistan’s Maftunakhon Melieva 5-0 in the Asian Olympic qualifiers women’s welterweight (69 kg category) in the quarterfinals. Beyond the ring, Lovlina also gave a tough fight to the deadly virus after she got infected by COVID-19. However she had to miss thee Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) sanctioned 52-day Europe tour for 16 elite Indian boxers due to her ailment. She is the first woman boxer from the state to qualify for Tokyo Olympics. Also she is the second boxer after Shiva Thapa to represent the country in boxing. In the year 2020, she received the Arjuna Award.

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Mary Kom - Manipur

Manipur's MC Mary Kom needs no introduction. In her more than two decade long career, Mary Kom has added many feathers to her hat and paved the path for a whole generation of boxers to follow. The ace boxer sealed her spot in the 51kg category at the Tokyo Olympics at the Asian Olympic qualifying event in Amman, Jordan last year. Breaking the hearts of her fans, Mary Kom earlier announced that Tokyo Olympics will be her last appearance at the quadrennial showpiece event.

“Tokyo will be my last Olympics. Age matters here. I am 38 now, going on 39. Four (three) more years is a long time. Pretty sure, I won’t be allowed to even if I am willing to carry on till Paris 2024,” she had said during a media interaction.

Sushila Devi Likmabam- Manipur

Sushila will be India's only participant in Judo at Tokyo 2020. The 26-year-old made bagged the spot in in the women's extra-lightweight (48kg) division as the highest-ranked Asian judoka outside the top 18 on the Olympic Game Quota (OGQ) rankings list. She will compete in the women’s extra-lightweight (48kg) division.

She clinched one of the continental quotas ranked 46th on the OGQ rankings with 989 points.

Tarundeep Rai - Sikkim

Sikkim's Tarundeep Rai made his debut way back in 2003 at the Asian Archer Championship, which was held in Yangon, Myanmar. He also became the first Indian to win an individual men's silver medal in archery at the 16th Asian Games on 24 November 2010 in Guangzhou, China.

rose to the limelight after he bagged the Gold Medal at the Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok in 2004. Hailing from the Namchi district, Rai recieved the Arjuna Award in the year 2005 for his achievements in archery. rai along with Atanu and Praveen Jadhav grabbed the quota for the Tokyo olympics.

Mirabai Chanu - Manipur

Manipur's Mirabai Chanu will be India's sole representative in weightlifting at the Tokyo olympics. The former world champion sealed her place in Tokyo by winning a bronze medal in the Asian Championship in Tashkent in April with a world record in clean and jerk. She made it to the game on the basis of her standings on IWF's Absolute Ranking list. The Indian lifter is ranked second in the 49kg category with 4133,6172 points. Recently, the Manipur Cabinet decided to extend a onetime cash incentive of ₹10 lakh to her.

Lalremsiami- Mizoram

The 21-year-old Lairemsiami from Mizoram created history by becoming the first female player from the state to be qualified for the Olympics. With her spot in the game, she also became the olympian from the state after a gap of 25 years.

Lalremsiami lost her father, just a day before India's semifinal match against Chile in FIH Series Finals last year in Hiroshima, Japan. However, she made a very tough decision of staying back with the team that to the victory of the team.

Shanglakpam Nilakanta- Manipur

Shanglakpam Nilakanta Sharma is soon to create history as the 18th Olympian from Manipur. The Hockey player from Manipur has been selected to participate in the Olypmics. He is one of the 5 Mid-Fielders in the 16 member team selected by Hockey India. Born in1995, Nilakanta hails from Kontha Ahallup Makha Leikai in Imphal East District and was trained at Posterior Hockey Academy Manipur. His tryst with began in the year 2003.

Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam - Manipur

Former captain of Indian hockey team, Sushila has added too many feathers to her hat. She fell in love with hockey at the tender age of 11 and since then there was no looking back for her. Soon she got selected for the national camp. She will compete as a team of 13 women hockey players from the Indian Railways.

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