In what could be termed as a disastrous day for Team India at Tokyo Olympics 2020, most participants from different sports failed to qualify for the final of their events, while some crashed out of the games. There were only a few bright sparks for the Indian contingent in an otherwise gloomy day. PV Sindhu made a winning start in her women’s singles match, while MC Mary Kom advanced to the round of 16 in boxing. Manika Batra too kept her hopes alive for a medal with a surprise win in the second-round match.
Here are the results from today:
PV Sindhu makes dominating start
Reigning world champion PV Sindhu opened her Olympic campaign with an easy straight-game win over Israel’s Ksenia Polikarpova in the women’s singles group J match here on Sunday. The 26-year-old Indian, seeded sixth, beat the 58th ranked Polikarpova 21-7 21-10 in a lop-sided opening match. She will next play Hong Kong’s world number 34 Cheung Ngan Yi.
Manu Bhaker suffers equipment malfunction; Other shooters disappoint
India’s Manu Bhaker suffered an unfortunate equipment malfunction during the qualifying round of the Women’s 10m Air Pistol event earlier on Sunday, making her lose crucial time, but despite that fought back gallantly to miss the final by two points. Apart from her every other Indian shooter disappointed on Sunday. Yashaswini Deswal also fought hard in the same event, but she too dropped four crucial points in the last five shots including an 8 for the 59th shot, to finish a point as well as a spot behind Manu.
In the men’s 10m air rifle, Deepak Kumar and Divyansh Singh Panwar also could not do much, finishing 26th and 32nd overall. Deepak shot a score of 624.7 while Divyansh was further back with 622.8. Both had a weak first series of 10-shots where they scored 102.9 and 102.7 respectively and never recovered.
Bajwa Still in Chance for qualification in Men’s skeet
Angad Vir Singh Bajwa missed two targets out of 75, to be placed 11thon count back in Men’s Skeet and with a top-six finals spot well in sight at the end of day three of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Shooting competition. Whereas, Mairaj Ahmad Khan shot 71 to be in placed 25thout of the 30 shooters in fray. Also this would be the only shooting event of Indian interest on Monday.
Rowers in semis
Indian rowers Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh qualified for the semifinals of the men’s lightweight double sculls repechage at the Tokyo Olympics here on Sunday. The Indian duo clocked 6:51.36 to finish in the third place at the Sea Forest Waterway. The semifinals will be on July 27.
Manika Batra advances; Sathiyan crashes out
India’s table tennis star Manika Batra on Sunday upset world number 32 Margaryta Pesotska to reach the women’s singles third round at the Tokyo Olympics here. The world number 62 from India made a remarkable comeback against her Ukrainian opponent after losing the first two games to prevail 4-11, 4-11, 11-7, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7 in a second-round match that lasted 57 minutes.
G Sathiyan suffered an upset defeat at the hands of lower-ranked Siu Hang Lam to make an early exit from the men’s singles competition at the Tokyo Games on Sunday. Ranked 38 and seeded 26th, Sathiyan had a commanding 3-1 lead but lost four games in a row to lose 3-4 to the 95th ranked Hong Kong player.
Sania Mirza/Ankita Raina out from women’s doubles
Sania Mirza and debutant Ankita Raina were knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics despite dominating a large part of their women’s doubles opener against Ukrainian twin sisters Nadiia and Liudmyla Kichenok, here on Sunday. Sania and Raina were running away with the contest after bageling their opponents but in a dramatic turnround, the Kichenok sisters came back from the dead to pull off a 0-6 7-6(0) 10-8 win at court 11 of Ariake Tennis Centre.
Decent showing by Indian sailors
Nethra Kumanan was placed 27th after two races while Vishnu Saravanan was at 14th after his first race as the Indian sailors opened their campaign in the Tokyo Olympics here on Sunday. Kumanan finished 33rd in the first race of the women’s laser radial before recovering a bit by taking the 16th spot in the second for an overall 27th place with 49 net points. Saravanan then finished 14th in the men’s laser event but the second race was postponed due to bad weather conditions at the Enoshima Yacht Harbour.
Knockout punch to Kaushik; Mary Kom Advances
Manish Kaushik’s (63kg) Olympics debut ended in disappointment following a hard-fought opening-round loss in Tokyo on Sunday. Manish, a Commonwealth Games silver-medallist and a world championship bronze-winner, went down 1-4 to Britain’s Luke McCormack in an edge-of-the-seat clash at Tokyo Games.
But six-time world champion MC Mary Kom (51kg) powered into the Olympics’ pre-quarterfinals after a superb tactical victory over Dominican Republic’s Miguelina Hernandez Garcia earlier in the day. The 38-year-old Mary Kom, who is a 2012 Olympic bronze-medallist, prevailed 4-1 against a rival who is 15 years her junior and a Pan American Games bronze-medallist.
Srihari Nataraj & Maana Patel Ousted in heats
Indian swimmer Maana Patel could not qualify for the semifinals of the women’s 100m backstroke event as she finished second in her heat at the Tokyo Games on Sunday. Maana finished with a time of 1.05.20 behind Zimbabwe’s Donata Katai, who clocked 1:02.73. She finished 39th overall.
On the other hand, Nataraj finished fifth in his heat with a time of 54.32 and also did not qualify for the semis.
India no match to Australia prowess in hockey
The Indian men’s hockey team was thrashed 1-7 by world no.1 Australia in its second Pool A match of the Tokyo Olympics here on Sunday. Australia looked dominant from the onset and scored through Daniel Beale (10th minute), Joshua Beltz (26th), Andrew Flynn Ogilvie (23rd), Jeremy Hayward (21st), Blake Govers (40th, 42nd) and Tim Brand (51st) to post their second consecutive win at the Games. India’s lone goal came from the sticks of Dilpreet Singh in the 34th minute. India had earlier defeated New Zealand 3-2 in their opening fixture on Saturday. The Manpreet Singh-led side will next play Spain on Tuesday.
Pranati Nayak not up to the mark
India’s lone gymnast at Tokyo Olympics, Pranati Nayak failed to qualify for the all-round finals of Artistic Gymnastics competition here on Sunday. The 26-year-old from West Bengal recorded a total score of 42.565 over the four categories — floor exercise, vault, uneven bars and balance beam — at the Ariake Gymnastic centre. She ended 29th overall.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here