Shuttler PV Sindhu also won her game and the men's hockey team produced an incredible performance in an action-packed day for India.
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Day 6 at the Olympics was a mixed bag for India. There were some exceptional performances and there were some shock results. No medal was won but certain athletes took a step closer to winning one. One of the best performances of the day was that of archer Atanu Das, who defied all the odds and won an incredibly difficult match against a former gold-medalist. Among the shocks was the exit of veteran boxer MC Mary Kom. The 38-year-old, who was one of the medal hopefuls of India, crashed out in the pre-quarterfinal stage of her event and bowed out of the Games this year. Shuttler PV Sindhu also won her game and the men’s hockey team produced an incredible performance.
The first event of the day for India was the lightweight men’s double sculls final B in rowing. The country has never had a good record in the sport, so to come this far is an incredible feat already. Rowers Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh finished in fifth place in the race. The duo might be disappointed with the outcome but it is important to note that they gave India their best-ever finish in a rowing event at the Olympics.
Next on the cards was golf, featuring Anirban Lahiri and Udayan Mane. It was round 1 of the men’s individual stroke play event. While Lahiri managed to finish within the top 20, it was a day to forget for Mane who finished in the 60th position. Mane remained with a total score of 76 in round 1. Lahiri, on the other hand, had a total of 67 points at the end of the round.
The next event was the precision round of the women’s 25m pistol qualification in shooting. Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat were the two competing in the event. Only the top eight qualify to the final where they can battle it out for a medal. Bhaker displayed an incredible performance as she finished in fifth place with a total score of 292. Sarnobat did not finish in the top eight but she will have another chance during the rapid-fire round of the qualification on Friday. She finished in 25th with a score of 287.
PV Sindhu put up yet another outstanding performance as she marched into the quarter-final of the women’s singles event on Thursday. The Indian shuttler beat Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt comfortably to book her spot in the next stage of the competition. Sindhu is one of the favorites to win a medal for India.
Atanu Das proved his worth as one of India’s top archers at The Games on Thursday. Not only did he beat Yu-Cheng Deng of the Chinese Taipei 6-4 in the 1/32 elimination round, but he also beat an opponent who is ranked far higher than himself. After advancing to the next round in the men’s individual event, Das had to face 2012 gold-medalist Jinhyek Oh of South Korea in the 1/16 elimination round. The Indian archer held his nerve and edged out a 6-5 victory to advance to the next round of the competition.
The men’s hockey team finished their group stage campaign in the Tokyo Olympics with an impressive 3-1 victory over Argentina. The goals were scored by Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, and Vivek Sagar Prasad. Argentina’s scorer was Maico Casella Schuth. The game was scoreless in the first two quarters. India opened the scoring in the third and the rest of the goals were scored in the final quarter.
Vishnu Saravanan participated in the men’s laser races 7 and 8. In the first one, he could only manage to finish in 27th place. In the second race, Saravanan improved his performance and finished four places better in 23rd. KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar participated in the 49ers men’s races 5 and 6. In the first one, the duo finished in 14th place. They did a much better job in the next race as they went up nine places to finish in a very impressive fifth place. Nethra Kumanan was also one of the athletes participating in sailing. She finished in 22nd place in the women’s laser radial race 7. She did a better job in race 8 as she moved up two places and finished in 20th.
Indian boxer Satish Kumar moved one step closer to winning a medal for India after his impressive victory in the men’s +91 kg category. Kumar won his round of 16 bout against Ricardo Brown of Jamaica. He has qualified for the quarter-final and one more win will guarantee him a medal. Veteran boxer MC Mary Kom, however, could not clear her round of 16 test. She was beaten by Columbian boxer Ingrit Valencia. Mary Kom did, however, put up a very good fight. The scoreline at the end of the bout was 2-3.
Swimmer Sajan Prakash displayed an incredible performance as he finished second in the men’s 100m butterfly heats. He was in sixth place by the time he reached the 50m mark, but mounted an outstanding comeback to finish in second. He, however, did not qualify to the semi-final as his overall time was not enough to get him into the top 16.
