Tokyo: Hockey win and boxer Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) booking her berth in the last 16 were highlights of Day Four for the Indians in the Tokyo Olympics.
There was resilience on display in hockey, a tactical mind sparkled in the boxing ring but the free fall in shooting remained perplexing and worrying as India's Olympic campaign oscillated between some celebration and a lot of dejection on day 4 of the competitions here on Tuesday. At the Asaka shooting range, the Indians largely misfired and with that the hopes of medals in the 10m air pistol and 10m air rifle mixed team events went up in smoke.
The performance so far has resurrected the ghosts of 2016 Rio Games when similar hype and expectations had ended in a deflating medal-less campaign.
But perhaps the shooters can take a leaf out of the men's hockey team's book and find a way out of their current misery.
Hammered 1-7 by Australia on Sunday, the Manpreet Singh-led side claimed a 3-0 triumph over Spain to inch closer to a quarterfinal berth.
In the boxing ring, Assamese debutant Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) displayed what a calm mind can achieve.
Borgohain, the lone Indian boxer in action on the day, prevailed 3-2 over German veteran Nadine Apetz in a closely-fought last-16 stage bout.
Borgohain's rival was 12 years her senior but both the boxers were making their Games debut.
It was a tremendous fightback after a loss that could have easily scarred them for the entire Games.
Any talk of fight by an Indian in these Games would be incomplete without the table tennis veteran A Sharath Kamal. The 39-year-old took a game off the reigning Olympic and World champion Ma Long of China.
It wasn't enough to fetch him a victory as he bowed out in the men's singles third round, but it did show the tremendous athlete that Sharath has been for several years.
