Tokyo: It was a happy Thursday in Tokyo Olympics for India defeated Argentina in hockey, PV Sindhu entered badminton quarterfinals while Sathish packer a punch in boxing.
A great game
India boxer Satish Kumar progressed into the quarter-finals of the men’s super heavyweight (+95kg) category in the Tokyo Olympics after defeating Ricardo Brown of Jamaica in the Round of 16 here at the Kokugikan Arena.
Satish defeated Ricardo Brown by a split decision of 4-1 on Thursday. Kumar took the first round comprehensively as all judges voted in his favour. Boxing in red, the Indian pugilist continued from where he left off and thrashed Brown with some quality right hook and body shots during the second round.
With knockout as his only option in the third round, Brown was kept at the bay for almost most of the round by the Indian. Satish didn’t take any chances as he bagged the match by some smart defence and marched into the next round. Earlier on Wednesday, Boxer Pooja Rani (75kg) stormed into the quarter-finals of the women’s middleweight (69-75kg) category after defeating Ichrak Chaib of Algeria in the Round of 16 5-0
On target
Atanu Das makes his way into the pre-quarterfinals stage in a thrilling manner through the shoot-off against Korea’s Jinhyek Oh.
Das and Oh had a neck-to-neck contest with three tied sets in the game. First set went to Oh decisively with 26-25 in his favour. The next two sets were identical in final scores and in the archers’ points. Atanu Das scored 9s in both the sets of three arrows each and Jinhyek Oh scored an 8,9 and 10 in both the sets, thereby tieing both sets with 27-27. The set points at that juncture still favoured the Korean as he had a 4-2 advantage over Atanu Das.
Jinhyek flunked in the fourth set losing the most important two points shooting a chaffy 7 and 6 to lose the set to Atanu 22-27. Atanu finding his 10 back in the fourth set looked better in the fifth to score a 10,9 and a 9, with Oh once again shooting similar numbers to that of the Indian, the match witnessed a third tie resulting in a shoot-off finish.
Jinhyek Oh shot a 9 and Atanu Das responded with a perfect-10 to win the contest and progress to the 1/8 elimination round.
India beats Argentina 3-1
The Indian men’s hockey team stormed into the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over defending champions Argentina, scoring two goals in the final two minutes of its penultimate pool match here on Thursday.
After goalless first two quarters, India broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute through Varun Kumar before Vivek Sagar Prasad (58th) and Harmanpreet Singh (59th) struck in the closing minutes of the match to seal the contest.
It was India’s third win in Pool A at the Oi Hockey Stadium.Ā Argentina’s lone goal came from a penalty corner conversion by Schuth Casella in the 48th minute.
By virtue of this win, India have consolidated their position in the second spot of Pool A with three wins and one loss out of four games, behind Australia.
Argentina are struggling at the fifth spot in the six-team pool and need to beat New Zealand in their final preliminary match on Friday to stay in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth.
Ace the pace
Sindhu has qualified for the quarterfinals stage and is two wins away from an assured medal and is three wins away from gold.
PV Sindhu thrashed Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt in two-straight sets 21-15 and 21-13 to win the round of 16 game.
Sindhu has qualified for the quarterfinals stage and is two wins away from an assured medal and is three wins away from gold.
The world number 6 Indian shuttler never gave a room to the Danish shuttler Mia to gain inroads in the game. Mia closed in with Sindhu on 16-15 in set one but Sindhu upped her aggressive play to score five consecutive points to win the set 21-15.
Sindhu’s precise smashes and Mia’s misjudgements on shuttle landings & service errors pretty much sums up how much of a one-sided game this was.
Mia wasn’t lucky enough to get as close to Sindhu’s numbers in the second set like she did in the first set. The margin was maintained at 3/4 points by Sindhu’s virtuoso which was then extended to an unassailable eight-point lead, handing her the set and the game.
Sindhu’s quarterfinals game will be against either Korea’s Kim Ga-eun or Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi. If Sindhu’s fine form continues another medal could beckon India.
Hail KC Ganapathy & Varun Thakkar
Indian sailing crew KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar finished Race 6 in the 7th position and entered the Top 10 in Menās Skiff- 49er at Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
The duo had a big start as they finished in the 5th position, trailing the lead just by 27 seconds. They showed immense progress as they further climbed to the 4th place in Mark 2, 33 seconds behind the leader. Finally, the Tamil Nadu youngsters dropped three spots and finished in 7th position. Nonetheless, they remained within the Top 10.
Meanwhile, Brazilās sailors Marco Grael and Gabriel Borges took the lead in the race, with New Zealandās Peter Burling and Blair Tuke following. Great Britainās Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell finished 3rd taking 27 seconds longer than the lead.
The sailors started the day by finishing at the 16th position in Race 05, taking 2 minutes and 21 seconds longer than the leader, Denmarkās Jonas Warrer and Jakob Jensen.