Olympics 2021: Deepika and Pravin qualify in archery; Elavenil and Apurvi crash out of the women's 10m air rifle event

It's a big day for the Indian contingent, with several exciting events already taking place in Tokyo. There are heavy expectations from some Indian athletes participating in the 2021 Olympics. While more matches are to follow, some events have already taken place. Here are the results and takeaways from how a few of them performed today.

After an average outing yesterday, the archers squad pulled off a comeback win today. Ace Archer Deepika Kumari and her mixed doubles partner Pravin Jadhav secured a quarterfinal berth. They beat Chinese Taipei 5-3 in the pre-quarterfinals.

However, there was an upset alert as well after rifle shooters Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan lost in the opening day of the shooting events.

Indian archery: Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav (mixed team)

The Archery Mixed Team of Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav qualified for the quarterfinals of the Archery Mixed Team Event. The duo bounced back to defeat the Chinese Taipei duo of Lin Chia-En and Tang Chih-Chun in the pre-quarterfinals match.

India made an impressive comeback to defeat the Chinese Taipei 5-3. India were trailing 1-3 in the match but managed to outshine their opponents to secure a comeback win. The Indian team will now face South Korea in the quarterfinals.

Pravin Jadhav in action during the mixed team event

Deepika aiming at a "X" to secure quarterfinal berth

Deepika Kumari charged up after a brilliant win

Archer Deepika Kumari was left a little disappointed by the fact that she did not get to partner up with her husband Atanu Das at the mixed team event. Pravin Jadhav was chosen to partner Deepika after Atanu was snubbed due to his poor performance in the ranking round yesterday.

Deepika did express her dissatisfaction at failing to pair up with Atanu but insisted that her focus is on winning an Olympic medal. She said:

Clearly Deepika is not very happy

"We desperately want to win an Olympic medal. I really wanted to play with Atanu. But now its not happened. But anyway, I have to perform, by hook or by crook. I have to play."

Indian rifle shooters Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil

Valiravan crash out from 10m air rifle event

Indian rifle shooters Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela suffered defeat at the women's 10m air rifle event at the Olympics on Saturday. Elavenil shot 626.5 points in the 60-shot qualification round, while Apurvi scored 621.9 points. The points were not enough to secure them a place in the eight-shooter final.

Elavenil Valarivan final tally

Apurvi Chandela's final outcome

While Elavenil will have another chance to bag a medal in the team event, this performance marks the end of Apurvi Chandela's journey at the Olympics 2021.

Elavenil will have the opportunity to pair up with Divyansh Singh Panwar for the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event to try and win a medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. However, the World No. 1 will have to perform much better than she did today if she wants to finish on the podium.