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 usa 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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Stosur and Davis Cup doubles specialist Peers fell to Indian fourth seeds Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna 7-5 6-4 at the Olympic tennis centre.
After dominating the first set, Sania and Bopanna lost 6-2 2-6 3-10 to the Americans and will now fight for the bronze medal. The two were up against United States of America, a pair that comprised of experienced Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna in action at the Rio Olympics.
Earlier, the Indians had suffered first round defeats in both men’s and women’s doubles in Rio Olympics.
Sania broke down in front of the media after loss and raised doubts if she would be playing at the next Olympics in Tokyo.
Watson did not look like a player who won the Wimbledon mixed double title this year, struggling badly with her serve and ground strokes in the opening set.
Shooters Gagan Narang and Gurpreet Singh and shot putter Vikas Gowda also added to India’s woes.
Dipa’s superb show in a sport that is not popular in the country lit up the gloomy day which started with the the exit of London Games bronze medal victor Saina to further dampen the spirits of the contingent on the ninth day of competitions.
Bhokanal, who set his Olympic best in the quarter-final with a 6:59.89 minutes, took 1:44.88 minute to cover his first 500 metres before completing the 1000m mark in 3:37.00 minutes.
“There’s not a lot I can say to you guys at the moment”.
Chain Singh finished a disappointing 36th to negate his chances for 50 metre Rifle Prone finals.
The next five games went by the serve but then Sania was broken in the 11th game. 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.
India’s run in archery, though medal-less, has been praised while shooting had been a disappointment.
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Ulitina, 24, effected a shock win against the World No.5 and 2012 London Games bronze medallist Saina. However, he bungled the advantage by shooting his poorest in the sixth and final series, which yielded him his lowest score of 102.4. Top four finishers from Pool A and Pool B qualify for the quarterfinals. India was a far better team than the British adversaries.
