By the time you read this content, the Indian contingent would have waved the tricolour at the National Stadium in Tokyo as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has officially kicked off with the electrifying opening ceremony in the Japanese capital and the world's biggest sporting event will be taking place in several venues of Tokyo till August 8 amid the spread of Covid-19 pandemic across and beyond the Olympic village. 

The opening ceremony would be lasting for four hours and for the first time in the history of the Olympics, the opening ceremony had missed out the audience as it was only attended by a minimal number of people including foreign dignitaries and special guests. While Greece, which hosted the first-ever Olympics season, began the march as per the tradition, the European country was followed by the rest of the nations. 

Hundreds of Indian athletes will be participating in the Olympics and boxing great Mary Kom and men's hockey captain Manpreet Singh have led the Indian contingent in the opening ceremony as flag bearers. As India has sent about 127 athletes to the Tokyo Olympics with significant participation of women, let's take a look at top Indian women athletes who you should watch out for in the Tokyo Olympics. 

PV Sindhu - Badminton: 

Being the World number 7 badminton player, promising Sindhu makes her second appearance at Olympics after the Rio Olympics 2016. In the past few years, Sindhu has been excelling in Badminton and has become one of the youngest sporting icons of India who has never disappointed her country. She became the first Indian to win World Championships gold after defeating Japan's Nozomi in 2019. In 2018, she became the first Indian shuttler to win silver and reach the finals of the badminton event at the Asian Games. 

Not to forget, Sindhu has won a Silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Being a Padma Bhushan laureate, Sindhu was named BBC Indian Sportsman of the year in 2020 and was featured in Forbes Magazine as one of the world's highest-paid female athletes. In a virtual interaction earlier last month, Sindhu said, "In Tokyo, I just want to go out there and give my hundred per cent. There will be expectations but I have to focus on my game." 

Mary Kom - Boxing: 

A Boxing great indeed. Magnificient Mary will be participating in women's 51 kg boxing. Kom is one of the inspiring faces from Northeast India and she has become one of the ace athletes of India in Tokyo and she is a prominent figure across and beyond the borders for championing boxing and in her life. She was the only woman athlete in the Indian contingent for the 2012 London Olympics and she had won a Bronze medal. 

In the 2021 Olympics, Kom has the company of three other Indian women boxers. Born to farmers in Manipur, Mary Kom's life was full of battles and challenges. She had faced poverty and distresses and now she has risen to lead the Indian contingent at the world's biggest sporting event. 

Bhavani Devi - Fencing:

This 27-year-old Chennai-born athlete is one of the must-watch Indian women athletes in the Tokyo Olympics. In a remarkable milestone, Bhavani Devi is the first Indian ever to take part in the fencing sports at the Olympic games. She started her fencing training with bamboo sticks in 2033 and she is also the first Indian to win silver at the 2014 Asian Championship in the under 23 category. 

She had drawn attention from the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and she had received Rs 3 lakh to support her training in the United States. The ticket to contest in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics had come to her when she was facing more challenges and her mother was hospitalized due to the Covid-19 pandemic when she was at the Budapest World Cup. She had secured the berth in the Olympics, for the first time, through the Adjusted Official Ranking (AOR) method. 

Elavenil Valarivan - Air Rifle: 

Like Bhavani Devi, Valarivan is another pride of Tamil Nadu and India and the 21-year-old promising athlete will be participating in women's 10m air rifle. Born in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, Elavenil had represented India at the 2018 ISSF Junior World Cup and won a gold medal. She got a Silver medal in Air Rifle in world university games in 2019 and she went on to win Gold at World Junior World Cup in 2019. 

She had finished fourth in the finals at the ISSF World Cup in Munich with a score of 208.3. She had clinched her first individual gold medal in the senior category with a score of 250.5 at the 10m air rifle Asian Air Gun Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. She also had won two junior World Cup gold and silver at the juniors' 2018 World Championships. She was conferred with Ficci India Sports Award in 2020 and Elavenil was one of the Indian athletes with whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi had an interaction, days ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. 

Deepika Kumari - Archery: 

Deepika Kumari was ranked World No 1 in archery last month after winning a hat-trick of gold medals at the World Cup in Paris. 27-year-old Kumari is a native of Ranchi is one of the Wonder Women in the Indian contingent in the Tokyo Olympics and through her milestones, Kumari had become the face of Archery in India and became an inspiring icon of India by successfully breaking the hardships and obstacles. 

Her commitment towards archery had taken Deepika Kumari to the International stage and Deepika had won the gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. For her achievements, India has honoured her with the Arjuna Award and Padma Shri Award that she had received in 2012 and 2016 respectively. 

Vinesh Phogat - Wrestling: 

Phogat is a living example of a wrestling clan in India. She comes from a successful family of wrestlers with her cousins Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari were international wrestlers. 26-year-old, a native of Haryana, Vinesh Phogat has become the first Indian woman wrestler to win Gold in both the Commonwealth and Asian Games. She also had become the first Indian athlete to be nominated for Laureus World Sports Awards. 

She has won Gold Medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships that were held in Almaty, Kazakhstan earlier this April. Her father Mahavir Singh Phogat was an amateur wrestler, senior Olympic coach, and politician. The Hindi movie 'Dangal' is closely based on his life. Vinesh Phogat was bestowed with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, which is the highest sporting honour in India, in 2020 and she also had received Arjuna Award in 2016. She was nominated for the Padma Shri award in 2018 by the Sports Authority of India. 

Subha Venkataraman, Revathi Veeramani, and Dhanalaskhmi Sekhar - Mixed 4x400m relay: 

These three women are natives of Tamil Nadu and they will be part of a five-member mixed relay team and other two players are Sarthak Bhambri and Alex Antony. The trio is participating in the Olympics for the first time and they are getting ready for their memorable journey from Tamil Nadu to Tokyo. All three were from different backgrounds but they share similarities in sportsmanship and their pains. The upcoming historical journey won't be harder for the trio than what they had experienced while chasing their dream. After facing the obstacles with audacity and perseverance, the remarkable moment has come for the trio as they will proudly be representing India at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. 

Dhanalakshmi, Revathy, and Subha are among the five athletes from Tamil Nadu who will be representing India at the Olympics in the relay. The other two athletes are Arokia Rajiv and Nagananthan Pandi (Men 4x400 relay). The other two athletes are Arokia Rajiv and Naganathan Pandi. It must be noted that 127 athletes in the Indian contingent will be competing in 18 sports at the Tokyo Olympics and the current season will become the first-ever gender-balanced game of India at the Olympics. In a significant precedent, India has a mix of 56 women and 71 men representing the country.