On Day 5 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan, the Indian delegation had a good day, with the female athletes once again leading the way. India did not win any medals, but it did have three major victories thanks to PV Sindhu, Deepika Kumari, and Pooja Rani.
The Indian women’s hockey team, however, began July 28 on a disappointing note, as they lost for the third time in a row, 1-4, against Great Britain. Sjoerd Marijine, India’s coach, called it the ‘worst match of the ongoing Olympics,’ and chastised his team for failing to improve their performance.
“This was the worst match we’d ever had. We always strive to play for a six (out of ten) for each individual, but I don’t believe everyone did today. Bad decisions, bad choices, and I’m upset, to say the least “After the match, Marijine stated.
India had previously lost 1-5 against world number one the Netherlands before losing 0-2 to Germany. To qualify for the knockout stage, the Indians needed at least a point from this game, but they will now have to win their remaining two matches against Ireland and South Africa.
Sindhu began her day with a straightforward victory over Cheung Ngan Yi to keep India’s badminton flag flying at Tokyo 2020, now that she is the sport’s lone representative.
In her last Group J encounter, Sindhu defeated lower-ranked Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong with a clinical performance. Sindhu defeated Chueng 21-9, 21-16 at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Tokyo in just over 30 minutes.
Sindhu finished first in the three-woman Group J, scoring four points from two matches. She has yet to lose a game at the Tokyo Olympics, and let’s hope that trend continues for the rest of the competition.
In the women’s middleweight 75kg round of 16, boxer Pooja Rani utilised all of her experience to outclass her inexperienced Algerian opponent Ichrak Chaib.
Pooja, the reigning Asian champion and the first Indian athlete to qualify for the Olympics, defeated her 20-year-old opponent by a unanimous 5-0 verdict, putting herself and India one step closer to a medal.
If she makes it into the quarterfinals, the 30-year-old will have earned her first Olympic gold.
With two major wins over Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez of the United States and Bhutan’s Karma, archer Deepika Kumari finally lived up to expectations, reaching the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s Individual event.
Deepika beat Karma 6-0 in the round of 64 before beating American youngster Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez 6-4 in a tough match.
Shuttler B Sai Praneeth’s first Olympics ended in defeat, when he lost against Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands in Group D. Caljouw defeated the 13th seed Praneeth 14-21, 14-21 to end the Games without a win in Tokyo.
Praneeth, who won bronze at the 2019 World Championships and is presently ranked 15th, was already out of the competition after losing his first game to Israel’s Misha Zilberman 21-17 21-15 in just 41 minutes.
