India at Tokyo Olympics: Day 9 Highlights – PV Sindhu loses SF match; Amit Panghal, Pooja Rani crash out
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PV Sindhu, Amit Panghal and Pooja Rani
Team India had a blow hot-and-cold day nine at Tokyo 2020 where some of the top medal prospects lost their respective crucial matches. This included the likes of ace shuttler PV Sindhu and world number one boxer Amit Panghal.
Starting from Amit Panghal, he lost his round of 16 match against the Rio Games silver-medallist Yuberjen Martinez. Panghal suffered a shocking 1-4 defeat against the Colombian pugilist to witness an early exit from the Tokyo Summer Olympics. The Jhajjar boxer was India’s one of most prominent medal candidates at the ongoing Games.
Another major disappointment on July 31 came when Pusarla Venkata Sindhu went down against world number badminton player from Chinese Taipei, Tai Tzu-Ying. After gaining a decent lead, Sindhu couldn’t capitalise and faltered to play her second straight Olympic final match. Sindhu suffered an 18-21, 12-21 defeat to settle for a bronze medal match against China’s He Bingjiao.
Women’s 75kg boxing candidate from India, Pooja Rani couldn’t move ahead of her quarter-final bout as she lost against Chinese boxer Li Qian. She looked quite off-colour during her match as suffered a convincing 0-5 defeat. This marked an exit to her spirited performance at the Tokyo Olympiad.
India’s one of the best archers, Atanu Das finished his country’s journey in this sport at the Tokyo Games. The 29-year-old lost his pre-quarterfinal match against Takaharu Furukawa (Japan) to suffer an exit from the tournament. The Indian contingent yet again failed to tick the medal column in archery.
Women’s hockey team plays maiden knockout match in 41 years, Kamalpreet Kaur advances too
Talking about the few positives that took place on day nine, India’s women’s hockey team advanced to the quarter-final match. The Rani Rampal-led side defeated South Africa 4-3 in a clinical affair. Later, Great Britain’s 2-0 victory against Ireland cleared India’s way to the next stage. They will now face the mighty Australians in the quarter-final match on August 2.
India’s dark horse in athletics, Kamalpreet Kaur produced a tremendous performance in her qualification round of the women’s discus throw event. With the best throw of 64m, Kaur comfortably booked a berth in the final round. She was also only the second thrower to breach the 64m mark in the initial stage.
On the other hand, India’s second participant in the event and four-time Olympian Seema Punia couldn’t progress for the next round as her next throw only amounted to 60.57m.
M. Sreeshankar (men’s long jump) and Tejaswini Sawant & Anjum Moudgil (women’s 50m rifle three positions) were some of the athletes competing today who couldn’t bring any glory on July 31.
Lastly, golfers Anirban Lahiri and Udayan Mane, sailors Ganapathy Kelapanda and Varun Thakkar and equestrian Fouaad Mirza also competed today in their respective sports. They will be again seen in action at the ongoing Games.
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Sachin Arora
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