India at Tokyo Olympics: Day 6 Highlights – PV Sindhu qualifies for round of 16, women’s hockey team’s quest for maiden win continues

India at Tokyo Olympics: Day 6 Highlights – PV Sindhu qualifies for round of 16, women’s hockey team’s quest for maiden win continues

India’s Tokyo 2020 campaign on day 6 started with the women’s hockey team’s match against Great Britain. The Rani Rampal-led side had already lost their previous two group stage matches against the Netherlands and Germany.

However, the result yet again went against the Indian team as the opponents clinched the game 4-1. Hannah Martin (2, 19), Lily Owsley (41), Grace Balsdon (57) netted the ball for Great Britain while Sharmila (23) was India’s lone goal-scorer.

The disappointments continued in men’s individual archery events as well, where Tarundeep Rai was the first one to be eliminated during his round of 32 match. After beating Ukrainian archer Oleksil Hunbin 6-4, Rai lost 5-6 to Itay Shanny in the following knockout match.

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India’s other archer, Pravin Jadhav also fought hard today only to reach the 1/16 elimination round stage. After registering a clinical win against Galsan Bazarzhapov (ROC), Jadhav could not cross the wall of world number one Brady Ellison from The United States of America.

Female athletes continue their impressive show

PV Sindhu, Deepika Kumari and Pooja Rani
(L-R) PV Sindhu, Deepika Kumari and Pooja Rani

India’s one of the greatest medal prospects PV Sindhu from badminton crushed 21-9, 21-16 Cheung Ngan Yi from Hong Kong in her second Group J clash. This marked her second win at Tokyo 2020 as she had earlier beat Ksenia Polikarpova (Israel) and hence, she’s through for the round of 16 match. The world champion will now lock horns with Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt for qualifying for the pre-quarter-final match.

After disappointment in men’s archery matches, world number one Deepika Kumari brought a sigh of relief to the Indian fans. The Jharkhand archer beat Bhutan’s Karma and USA’s Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez in the round of 64 and round of 32 matches respectively.

As the day came to an end, pugilist Pooja Rani registered her maiden win at Tokyo 2020. She beat Algerian boxer Ichrak Chaib in the women’s middleweight (69-75 kg) event. The 30-year-old is now just a win away from securing a medal as she now faces China’s Li Qian in the quarter-final bout later this week.

End of road for Sai Praneeth, rowers Arjun and Arvind

Sai Praneeth and rowers Arjun Lal Jat, Arvind Singh
Sai Praneeth and rowers Arjun Lal Jat, Arvind Singh

India’s sole participant in the men’s singles category of badminton, B. Sai Praneeth bowed out from Tokyo 2020 after he lost his second consecutive group stage match. The Hyderabad shuttler went down against Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands. He had earlier lost against Israeli badminton player Misha Zilberman and as a result, his journey came to an end at this year’s Olympics edition.

The rowing duo of Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh also missed out on booking a berth in the lightweight double sculls final. They clocked 6:24.41 to finish last in the six-team semi-final 2 at the Sea Forest Waterway.

At last, the sailing pair of Ganapathy Kelapanda and Varun Thakkar competing in the 49er opening series races are currently lagging at the 18th spot. They could only manage to stand at the 18th, 17th and 19th spots during the three races that took place today.

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