Rio de Janeiro, Aug 12: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has said that she and her mixed doubles partner Rohan Bopanna will put their best foot forward to win a medal at the ongoing Rio Olympics. Shooter Mairaj Ahmad Khan produced a creditable performance.
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But before it went out of their hand, the Indians capitalised on an unforced error from their rival to take four straight points and break Stosur’s service and wrap up the first set in 36 minutes.
Sania and Bopanna, who now need just one win to ensure a medal, are expected to face a tough challenge in their next match as they will take on the United States team of Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram for a place in the final. Lalita, who had won bronze medal in the event in the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, two years ago, emulated “Payyoli Express” P T Usha by entering the final. It’s the first time in our tennis that we have another chance to take a shot at a medal.
Prior to these bright spots, India did not have anything to cheer about.
The Indian men’s hockey team also continued their inconsistent performance and were held 2-2 by lower-ranked Canada in their final game in Pool B.
They will meet Group A champions Belgium in the quarterfinals on Sunday. They will continue their participation on Saturday.
Later in the day, Muhammed Anas Yahiya and Ankit Sharma also crashed out of their respective events. India’s main hopes lie in boxing and the individual rounds of badminton now as the athletes are still in contention for medals.
“Both of the teams are going to be in the same situation”.
Earlier in the day, London Games bronze victor Saina staved off a spirited challenge from World No. 73 Brazilian Vicente Lohaynny 21-17 21-17 in a women’s singles match that lasted 39 minutes, while two-time World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu spanked World No. 64 Laura Sarosi of Hungary 21-8 21-9 in 27 minutes.
In a rollercoaster game against the Dutch team of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek, Jwala and Ashwini went down 16-21 21-16 17-21 in a 48-minute clash.
Garcia and Mladenovic joined forces at the beginning of the season with the Oympics in mind but were knocked out in the first round last week in a tense match where they had issues with their clothing as they were not informed by the French Tennis Federation that they had to wear the same coloured clothing. They lost 18-21 13-21 to World No 2 Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
They will finish their Olympics by taking on the Japanese duo of Endo Hiroyuki and Hayakawa Kenichi tomorrow.
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Bopanna felt that the two players served well against the British duo.
