India’s focus on day eight will be centered around tennis mixed doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna who are to take on the U.S. pair of Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram on Saturday night in the semi finals at the Rio Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
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India lifted its sagging morale as Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna cruised into the semifinals while pugilist Vikas Krishan advanced to the quarters on a day the shooters, archers, shuttlers and track and field athletes suffered reverses at the Rio Olympics.
The subsequent games went with the serve before Bopanna held his serve to win the set and the match. The good thing is we still have a chance to come back and get a shot at the bronze medal.
The Indo-Swiss pair began their partnership in March 2016 and won 3 titles on the trot to become the new world number 1 pair. It’s going to take some time to get over it. “Seedings don’t matter, with two sets and a deciding tie break any body has a chance. I don’t know if I will be playing tennis in four years”, an emotional Sania Mirza said with tears in her eyes.
The duo of Sania and Rohan Bopanna went down fighting in the semi-finals to the USA team of Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram. After becoming the first woman Indian gymnast to make it to the Olympics, the 23 year old has emerged as the country’s first gymnast to reach the final by finishing eighth, giving an excellent exhibition of the “Produnova” vault – also called the vault of death because of its high risk factor. “We have to accept it and move on”, Sania said after the match.
The lead was short-lived as Bopanna was broken a third time.
The fourth seeded Indian duo dominated their British opponents with both Sania and Bopanna coming with some fine work at the net and excellent returns of serve.
Sania served out the set in the eighth with Bopanna finding a cross court backhand victor, bisecting the two Americans.
However, the Indians broke as Stepanek served a double fault, to draw parity. By the second set the American duo were camping on the baseline while receiving serve and that’s a defensive strategy hardly conducive to penetrative doubles. But Williams and Ram made a brilliant comeback in the next set, snatching it away from the Indian pair 2-6.
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Already assured of a place in the quarter-finals, world No.5 India played an attacking game but had to wait for 33 minutes to break the deadlock.
