Indian fans and athletes endured another tough day at the Olympics as the stars in the fray on Monday disappointed, irrespective of the sport and discipline. Here are the results in a nutshell:
Indian women’s hockey team lose second Pool A game
Indian’s women’s hockey team put up a valiant show against one of the top women’s hockey teams Germany and went toe-to-toe against them but fell short and lost 2-0. Captain Nike Lorenz and Anne Katarina Schroder scored for the Germans to give their team the win.
After the loss, India are currently on the last spot in the Pool A due to goal difference. India had a golden chance to equalise at 1-1 when India got a penalty stroke but Gurjit Kaur’s attempt was a weak one and then Vandana unfortunately hit the crossbar.
Sharath Kamal lone standing Indian paddler; Manika Batra & Sutirtha out
Indian table tennis player A Sharath Kamal overcame a sluggish start to beat Portugal’s Tiago Polonia in the second round to set up a clash with defending champion Ma Long in the Olympics, here on Monday. The 39-year-old Sharath struggled in the first game but pulled himself up just in time to win 2-11 11-8 11-5 9-11 11-6 11-9 in the 49-minute second-round contest.
On the other hand, Manika Batra, who had a surprise win over Ukaranian world. no 32 in second round, bowed out in the third round. She was handed 4-0 defeat by Austrian Sofia Palcanova. Other women singles player in fray, Sutirtha Mukherjee was also knocked out was her Portugal opponent F Yu 4-0.
Satwiksairaj-Chirag bow down to world no.1 pair; Still in contention for quarters
The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a straight game loss to world number one Marcus Gideon Fernaldi and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in their second Group A match at the Olympics on Monday. The world number 10 Indian duo could never get into any kind of rhythm and lost 13-21 12-21 in 32 minutes against the top seeded team. It was their ninth defeat to the Indonesian pair in as many meetings.
Men’s archery team fails to impress
Indian archers faltered at crucial moments against the mighty Koreans to make a quarterfinal exit from the men’s team event at the Tokyo Olympics, here on Monday. After beating Kazakhstan 6-2, the Indian trio of Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai lost in straight sets against the top seeds at the Yumenoshima Park. The Korean team of Kim Je Deok, Oh Jin Hyek and Kim Woojin won the gold eventually.
Fencer Bhavani Devi wins debut match; loses to world no.3 later
Bhavani Devi’s Olympic debut ended with a second-round defeat in the women’s individual sabre event but the Indian trailblazing fencer bowed out of the Tokyo Games with much promise, here on Monday. The 27-year-old Bhavani, the first fencer from the country to qualify for Olympics, began her campaign with a confident 15-3 win against Tunisia’s Nadia Ben Azizi but bumped into world number three and Rio Olympic semifinalist Manon Brunet in the next round, which she lost 7-15.
Indian challenge in tennis ends
Sumit Nagal was blown away by world number two Daniil Medvedev’s thunderous strokes and serves in the men’s singles second round as India’s tennis challenge all but ended at the Tokyo Games, here on Monday. The Russian did not even need his ‘A’ game as he cruised to a 6-2 6-1 win in just 66 minutes against 160th ranked Nagal at court 1 of the Ariake Tennis Centre.
Another bad day for Indian shooting
India’s Angad Vir Singh Bajwa finished 18th while his senior compatriot Mairaj Ahmad Khan ended 25th in the men’s skeet event of the Tokyo Olympics here on Monday. The 25-year-old Angad shot 120 across five series and Mairaj could manage only 117 at the Asaka Range.
Another pugilist bites the dust
Indian boxer Ashish Chaudhary (75kg) paid for an underwhelming start as his maiden Olympic appearance ended with an opening-round loss to China’s Erbieke Touheta here on Monday. The 27-year-old former Asian silver-medallist went down 0-5 in the bout, which could have been way closer had he turned it up a little bit earlier.
Swimmer Sajan Prakash finishes 24th
Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash failed to qualify for the men’s 200m butterfly semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics after finishing fourth in Heat 2 here on Monday. Prakash, who clocked a personal best of 1:56:38 in Italy last month to breach the A mark for Olympic qualification, could only manage 1:57.22 to finish 24th among 38 swimmers. The top-16 progressed to the semifinals.
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