Another day passed by in the 2016 Rio Olympics without any medals for India, but there was some cheer courtesy the badminton contingent with Saina Nehwal and rest of the Singles contingent winning their matches and the Indian men’s hockey team entering the quarterfinals of the competition for the first time in 36 years.
Here’s how the action unfolded:
Archery
After putting in a good performance in the Round of 32 match, the Indian Women's archers failed to lift their game in the Round of 16 match. Bombayla Devi lost to Alejandra Valencia 6-2 while Deepika Kumari, who shot so magnificently in the Round of 32 match lost 6-0 to Tan Ya-ting of Chinese Taipei.
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That now leaves just Atanu Das, who will compete later on Friday in his Round of 16 match.
Boxing
When the draw for the Men’s Bantamweight category was announced, many felt Shiva Thapa had got a rough deal, having had to face up against the reigning Olympic champion Robeisy Ramirez. The match turned out to be a tough one for the boxer and he bowed out in the opening round,losing 3-0 to the Cuban.
Badminton
A mixed opening day for the shuttlers at Rio, as the both the doubles pairs- Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa lost their opening group matches to the number one and two seeds in straight games while the Singles contingent of PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won their matches in straight games and will play their respective second group matches on Sunday.
Golf
The opening day of the gold event saw SSP Chaurasia and Anirban Lahiri finish 27th and 50th respectively with a score of 71 and 74 respectively. The second round of events is on Friday.
Hockey
After beating Argentina on Tuesday, the Indian men’s hockey team faced off against Netherlands on Thursday, knowing fully that a win will all but seal a first quarterfinal berth at the Summer Games in 36 years.
The Men in Blue put in a very commendable performance, but couldn’t cross the line,losing 2-1 to the Dutch, despite having a chance to equalise through 5 back-to-back penalty corners in the dying moments of the match.
However, later in the night, two heavyweights- Germany and Australia- were involved in a pulsating 4-4 draw which meant that with just one match left, both Ireland and Canada cannot overtake India, who are third right now and compete in the quarterfinals since the Moscow Olympics in 1980.
The Women’s team,however, bowed out in the Group stages, couldn’t make the cut, losing to Great Britain 3-0
Tennis
The Indian Mixed Doubles duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna moved into the quarterfinals of the competition, after beating the Australian duo of Samantha Stosur and John Peers in straight sets 7-5 6-4.
