The sixth day of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 saw India register their best-ever showing, with the likes of PV Sindhu, Atanu Das, Manu Bhaker and the India men’s hockey team putting on a fine show.
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The first five days of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 saw India put up their best performance on the day. The boxers, shooters, hockey, and archery athletes all put up their best performance as India won in grand style. Although these wins were not in medal rounds, they had ensured that India’s sagging spirit would be held high. Day 6 of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 would be forever remembered as the day when India had a glorious field day.
With most of the events done, here is a look back at all the glorious moments for India in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 on day 6.
The day began brilliantly with PV Sindhu starting off in dominant fashion. PV Sindhu defeated Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt 21-15, 21-13 in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 round of 16 women’s singles Badminton match. The sixth seed Indian dominated the match against the 13th seed as she finished it in just 41 minutes. Blinchfedt took a quick two-point lead as the Indian took a little bit of time to get going. But once the Rio Olympics silver medalist settled in, she took a 6-3 lead and then extended it to 10-5 with her brilliant anticipation.
The Indian maintained the lead throughout the match as she gained momentum and didn’t let the Dane close the gap.
Meanwhile, Blinchfedlt targeted Sindhu’s left side to take some points. But the Indian earned five-game points at 20-15 and then quickly closed to win Game 1 at 21-15.
In the second game, the 2019 world champion quickly raced to a 5-0 lead. Although the Dane took a couple of points to stretch the Indian but Sindhu was up for the challenge as she led 11-6. Sindhu extended the five-point lead as she maintained the momentum. Blinchfeldt was playing the catching-up game as Sindhu was dominating the rallies.
The 26-year-old earned nine-game points and then was quick to close the game and book her place in the quarter-finals.
There has been immense disappointment with the shooting contingent, with Saurabh Chaudhary, Manu Bhaker, Elevanil Valarivan, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Anjum Moudgil all underwhelming. Chaudhary, in particular, suffered the biggest heartbreak in both the 10m individual and mixed air pistol events. Skeet shooters Angad Bajwa and Mairaj Ahmed were also disappointed. But, in the 25m pistol rapid and precision event, Manu Bhaker has had the chance for redemption. In the qualifying rounds of the precision event, Manu Bhaker has finished fifth. Rahi Sarnobet, on the other hand, is in 18th and less likely to get a medal. But, the third time might be lucky for Manu as she aims to put in a great performance in the rapid session and get into the medal rounds.
Indian men’s hockey team beat Argentina 3-1 in their fourth Pool A match to seal a spot in the quarter-finals of Tokyo Olympics 2020. After a goalless first half, Varun Kumar opened the scoring towards the end of the third quarter from a penalty corner. However, Argentina immediately equalized through Casella Schuth. But the Indians showed great determination to get back the lead through Vivek Prasad, it was a field goal. And then Harmanpreet Singh extended the lead and sealed the three points for India. After the 1-7 drubbing by Australia, India hockey is on the right track after they secured the quarterfinal spot. But, tougher tests await them in the knock-out stages.
Indian archer Atanu Das pulled off an upset in the men’s individual Round of 32 event at the Tokyo Olympics, beating South Korea’s Oh Jin-Hyek. Das, who wasn’t in the best of form coming into the men’s individual event, showed nerves of steel. He came back from down 2-4 to edge out the Korean great by shooting a perfect 10 in the one-arrow shootoff.
Oh had won the individual gold medal in London 2012 and was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the ongoing Tokyo Games. He was also part of the bronze-wining team at the 2012 Olympics. Das saw off a tough challenge from Chinese Taipei’s Deng Yu-Cheng earlier in the day.
Both players won two sets each following some intense shooting to be tied 4-4. In the decider, they were going neck-and-neck till 19-all. But the archer from Chinese Taipei crumbled under pressure, misfiring a 7 as Das held his nerve to seal a 6-4 win after drilling in a nine.
Indian boxer Satish Kumar is through to the quarterfinals of the men’s super-heavyweight boxing event at the Tokyo Olympics. Kumar beat Ricardo Brown of Jamaica on Thursday to book his spot in the final eight. Satish won the first round by unanimous decision, with his counter-punching working well against the Jamaican. Brown’s errant punching didn’t help; the big man clearly packs a punch but wasn’t accurate enough for his liking. As a result, Brown came out swinging even harder in the second round. He did land a few good body blows and even managed to bust open Kumar.
However, the round was awarded to Kumar but this time in a split decision. The Indian landed a few meaty blows of his own when the time came and managed to see out the round. Brown again came out hard in Round 3, but Kumar was content to sit back and counter punch. Given he was leading the match, it was a strategy that made sense.
He ended up taking the third round too, although his win came via split decision. Still, that will matter little to the Indian, who is through to the quarters after a clinical display.
With the likes of Pooja Rani, Lovlina Borgohain, Simranjit Kaur and Mary Kom still in the fray, Indian boxing is in good shape. All of them need at least one more win to secure a medal in the Olympics. If that happens, then India can equal their tally of six medals which is the best-ever in the Olympics.
