Bajrang Punia to P V Sindhu, the ones India's Tokyo hopes are riding on

There are hopes that India may better its tally from 2016, with Olympic analysts Gracenote predicting that the country will accumul­ate a staggering haul of 17 medals

This past Sunday, organisers held a test event at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium in order to assess readiness ahead of the real thing that starts on July 23. The arena was devoid of fans, with only anxious officials looking on. Even as the event passed off without incident, you couldn’t help but question the vanity and ambition behind Japan’s plans to push ahead with the Games despite the prevailing state of emergency in almost all of its major cities.

Perhaps the least prepared for the Games this time is not the host city but the athletes themselves. Lockdowns and travel curbs over