Rio de Janeiro, August 11: Setbacks continued to haunt India in their quest to break open the medal chest in the Olympic Games here with shuttler P V Sindhu and Saina being the bright spot in yet another disappointing day on Thursday.
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The women’s duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost in straight games to the World No.1 Japanese combo of Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsumoto 15-21, 10-21 in a Group A match which lasted 36 minutes.
Indian Men’s Hockey team today displayed their new found confidence in their encounter against the Netherlands.
Two-time World Championship bronze medalist Sindhu beat Laura Sarosi of Hungary 21-8 21-9 in a Group M match that lasted for 27 minutes. The No 1 seeds wrapped up the win in just 38 minutes, sending Gutta and Ponnapa into their next match against the Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek on Friday needing to win to remain in contention for the next round.
Deepika went down to Taipei’s Ting Tan Ya 80-87 (27-28, 26-29, 27-30) at the Sambodromo arena while Bombayla lost to Alejandra Valencia of Mexico 102-104 (26-28, 26-23, 27-28, 23-25) at the same venue. Lucas Vila (fourth minute), Pedro Ibarra (29th), Gonzalo Peillat (48th) and Matias Rey (57th) scored for Argentina while Timm Herzbruch (15th), Christopher Wesley (24th), Mats Grambusch (28th) and Mathias Muller (60th) replied for the Germans.
The Indian men’s hockey team have qualified for the quarterfinals for the first time since the Moscow Games in 1980.
However, the Indian challenge in Olympic women’s archery event came to an abrupt end today after Bombayla Devi Laishram and Deepika Kumari lost their respective pre-quarterfinal matches by choking at crucial junctures.
India are now placed third in Pool B with six points behind leaders Netherlands (10) and Germany (9).
Boxing: India’s Shiva Thapa begins his boxing campaign in men’s bantam 56 kg with his round of 32 bout against Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez at 8.00 PM.
With a neck-to-neck competition in the early stages of the first game, the Indian pair started giving away some loose points, losing the first game 15-21 in 19 minutes.
Defeat in the first two rounds effectively ended Shiva’s chances.
31-year-old Manipuri completed her victory in the fourth set with a 28-26 margin.In boxing, Manoj too brought some cheer for the country.
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The first round of golf is in progress where Indian hopes lie on Anirban Lahiri and S.S.P. Chawrasia while tennis stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna will be in action in mixed doubles against Australia’s Sam Stosur and John Peers.
