A visibly exhausted Andy Murray took the court withHeather Watson against the fourth-seeded Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna in the quarterfinals of the Mixed Doubles event at the Rio Olympics.
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India has only one tennis medal in its entire Olympic history that came through Leander Paes, who won a singles bronze at 1996 Atlanta Games.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna suffered an agonising semifinal defeat on Saturday.
Australia’s Olympic tennis campaign is over after the first-round elimination of Samantha Stosur and John Peers in the mixed doubles. It’s the first time in our tennis that we have another chance to take a shot at a medal.
Sania served out the set in the eighth with Bopanna finding a cross court backhand victor, bisecting the two Americans.
The duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna were expected to do well at the Rio Olympics and especially from Sania Mirza. However, in the crucial fifth game, a backhand down-the-line victor from Hradecka on break-point on Bopanna’s serve saw the Czechs draw level.
Mirza and Bopanna were one of the few medal hopes remaining for India in the tournament after most of the big names faltered at Rio. Bopanna served out the first set without fuss, hitting two aces. “This medal is for the country”. Sometimes, you put your best foot and still lose.
Athletes Manpreet Kaur and Jinson Johnson also added to the disappointment after failing in their respective disciplines as shooter Chain Singh finished a disappointing 36th to negate his chances for 50 metre Rifle Prone finals.
S. Mirza and R. Bopanna will face off against Czech Republic’s L. Hradecká and R. Štěpánek for the bronze medal. However, he bungled the advantage by shooting his poorest in the sixth and final series, which yielded him his lowest score of 102.4. The World No.1 in women’s doubles said that it will take a lot of time for her to get over the loss. They lost the match 17-21 15-21.
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In golf, SSP Chawrasia brought home a second successive even-par 71 to lie tied 30th while Anirban Lahiri carded a disappointing two-over 73 to be placed tied 51st after the second round of the four-round stroke play competition.
