Leander Paes ended India's 16-year wait for an Olympic medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 8 years later was on the cusp of a second medal. Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had dominated World Tennis as a doubles pairing and reached the No. 1 ranking in 1999. Both won multiple Grand Slams in the 8 years between Atlanta and Athens and entered the draw as one of the favourites for Gold. The Indian Express though would return without a medal in heartbreaking fashion with Bhupathi and Paes losing a titanic Bronze medal match to Croatia's Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic.

Wion Broadband Olympic Edition: India at Athens Olympics, Glory and Heartbreaks

The Athens Olympics proved to be another step in the rise of Indian shooting. India's shooting team had been reliant on mostly wildcards to compete at the Games but a spectacular showing at the 2002 Commonwealth Games led to 8 shooters winning quota places for Athens. Abhinav Bindra broke the Olympic record in qualifying and finished 7th in Men's Air Rifle. Suma Shirur had equalled the World record in the Women's Air Rifle earlier that year and she too reached the Olympic final in her event.

WION Broadband Olympics Edition: 2004: The Rise of Indian Shooting

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athens olympics-2004

Wion Broadband Olympic Edition: India at Athens Olympics, Glory and Heartbreaks

WION Broadband Olympics Edition: 2004: The Rise of Indian Shooting