Indian boxers Manoj Kumar and Vikas Krishnan made their presence felt in their respective categories and Shiva Thapa will open his campaign against Cuba’s R Ramirez on Thursday.
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As if the failure in the Olympic disciplines was not enough, Sports Minister Vijay Goel and Indian officials added to the shame with the Rio Olympic organisers threatening to cancel his accreditation accusing them of “aggressive and rude” behaviour.
Ninth seed Sindhu, a two-time World Championship bronze medal victor, too had a good day in office as she spanked World No. 64 Laura Sarosi of Hungary 21-8 21-9 in a Group M women’s singles match that lasted for 27 minutes.
The World No. 10 took just 27 minutes to wrap up the match against the No. 64.
2012 Games bronze medallist Saina overcame local favourite Lohaynny Vicente 21-17, 21-17 amidst the din of home crowd that rooted for the Brazilian on every point in the Group G match.
In the first set, the 21-year-old Indian initially took a strong lead of 8-1. At 17-17 level, the Indian took four points on the trot and clinched the first game 21-17 in a well-battled 20 minutes.
K Srikanth, in men’s singles, BS Reddy and Manu Attri (men’s doubles) and Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa (women’s doubles) would also be seen on the court.
At the Olympic Hockey Centre in Deodoro Park, India’s progression to the men’s hockey quarter-finals were put on hold for another day, following a 1-2 defeat to the world No 2 Netherlands. Deepika Kumari was beaten 0-6 by Chinese Taipeir’s Ya-Ting Tan and Bombayla Devi 2-6 by Mexico’s Alejandra Valencia.
Rogier Hofman’s 32nd minute goal was cancelled out by Indian drag-flicker Raghunath in the 38th minute. A victory would only guarantee their place in the pre-quarterfinals.
The first round was won by the Cuban boxer 10-9, after some heavy hitting, in an unanimous decision by all the three judges.
Making her debut at the Olympics, Sindhu outclassed her opponent 21-8 21-9 to win the match. And Robeisy completed the rout, easily winning the third round too, with a 30-26 margin. Meanwhile, golfers Anirban Lahiri and SSP Chawrasia will tee off in the men’s individual round one.
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The Indian women’s hockey team will take on the U.S. in the later half of the day.
