The biggest achievement that the nation saw on the day was the men's hockey team winning the bronze medal after a 41-year wait.
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It was an incredible day for India at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday. While there were a few heartbreaks, the positives certainly outweigh the negatives. The biggest achievement that the nation saw on the day was the men’s hockey team winning the bronze medal. It is the first time in 41 years that a hockey team from India has won an Olympic medal. Wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya also achieved a unique milestone as he won the silver medal. Vinesh Phogat and Deepak Punia, however, failed to bag medals. There was a good surprise in golf, however, as Aditi Ashok put up an absolutely brilliant performance.
Indian golfer Aditi Ashok displayed an absolutely brilliant performance on the day. She is currently tied in second place after round 2 of the women’s individual stroke play event. While there are still three more rounds to go, Aditi can be within a shout of winning a medal if she continues to perform consistently. She is four shots behind leader Nelly Korda of the US who is in first place. Diksha Dagar was also a participant in the event but she has not impressed so far. She currently sits in 53rd place.
History was made in Tokyo as the Indian men’s hockey side won the bronze medal after beating Germany in a thrilling encounter. The scoreline at the end of the match was 5-4 in India’s favour. Simranjeet Singh scored a brace in the match while Rupinder Pal Singh, Hardik Singh and Harmanpreet Singh scored one goal each. Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was magnificent as he saved a last-minute German attempt to give India the bronze.
Wrestler Anshu Malik was in action against the ROC’s Valeria Koblova in the repechage of women’s 57kg freestyle event. Unfortunately, the Indian wrestler lost the bout 5-1 and was eliminated from the competition. Hopes were pinned on Vinesh Phogat. She beat Swedish wrestler Sofia Mattsson by a 7-1 margin to qualify for the quarters of the women’s 53kg freestyle event. However, the wrestler lost to Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus in the quarter-final by a scoreline of 3-9. It was a rather disappointing result for the Indian. Kaladzinskaya later suffered a defeat, ruling out a potential comeback via repechage.
Wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya had the most important individual match on the day, as he faced the ROC’s Zavur Uguev in the gold medal match of the men’s freestyle 57kg event. Dahiya lost the match 4-7 but gave a good fight to the Russian athlete. He has also confirmed the silver medal for India in the contest. Deepak Punia was also one of the wrestlers who could have won a medal. Unfortunately, he was beaten by San Marino wrestler Myles Nazem Amine for the bronze medal in the men’s freestyle 86kg event.
The Indian athletes did not cut a particularly good image in the men’s 20km race walk final. KT Irfan, Rahul Rohilla, and Sandeep Kumar were the participants of the event. Irfan could only manage to finish in 51st place, which is just one place ahead of last. Rohilla did a bit better as he finished in 47th, while Kumar had a decent 23rd-place finish.
