Archer Atanu Das proved a point by knocking out two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin Hyek to join his wife Deepika Kumari in individual pre-quarterfinals. India’s first super heavyweight boxer to compete in the Olympics, Satish Kumar, eased into the quarter-finals of his debut Games, defeating Jamaica’s Ricardo Brown in his opening bout. Ace shuttler PV Sindhu defeated Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt to enter the quarter-finals.
Lovlina Borgohain
Debutant Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) confirmed India’s first boxing medal at the ongoing Olympic Games when she upstaged former world champion Nien-Chin Chen of the Chinese Taipei semifinals. The 23-year-old Assam boxer commanded 4-1 to make the last four. She will square off against current world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, who hammered Anna Lysenko in her quarter-final bout. Indian woman, archer Deepika Kumari, defeated Ksenia Perova of Russia in the Women’s 1/8 Elimination Round to enter the quarter-finals. Deepika will face Korea’s An San in the quarters.
Mary Kom’s Bid
India’s boxing great Mary Kom’s bid to win a second Olympic medal ended in the pre-quarters of the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday. The London Olympics bronze medalist lost to 3rd seed Ingrit Valencia of Colombia via split decision in a closely-contest Round of 16 matches in the Women’s Flyweight category.
Mary Kom demonstrated why she is one of the most admired athletes in the nation when she came up with a reaction that symbolized her elegant reception of the defeat at the Kokugikan Arena. In probably her last Olympic appearance, the mother of four gave it her all, testing the Rio Olympics bronze medalist to the limits.
Mary lost the round of 16 bouts by the barest of margins as it was a 3-2 decision in favor of Colombia’s Ingrit. It was Ingrit’s first win in 3 attempts against the Indian boxer. Unfortunately, Mary did not have the best of starts to the match on Thursday as Ingrit went on the offensive from the word go. The 32-year-old used her experience to push Mary on the back foot early, taking the first round 4-1.
Archer Deepika Kumari
World No. 1 archer Deepika Kumari overcame USA’s Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez on Wednesday in 1/16 Eliminations round in women’s Archery event of Tokyo Olympics 2021 and kept a medal hope alive for India. The India archer beat her competitor from the US 6-4.
Deepika was missed in the first set as she recorded a score of 25 while the opponent from the US scored 26 to get a 2-0 lead. However, Deepika made a comeback in the second set, and hence she made the scoreline level to 2-2. Proceeding from where she left off, the Indian archer controlled the third set, and she went on to take a 4-2 lead in the match.
Deepika could not wrap up the match in Set 4 as Fernandez made a comeback, bringing the scoreline level at 4-4, and the game progressed to the fifth and deciding set. However, in the deciding set, Deepika held her own to win the match 6-4. As a result, she progressed to the 1/8 eliminations round.
Earlier in the day, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav crashed out of men’s archery after losing the 1/16 eliminations round. India’s mixed team of Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav lost their quarter-final clash of the Archery Mixed Team event on Saturday. South Korea’s An San and Kim Je Deok defeated the Indian pair 6-2 in the quarter-finals.
India In Tokyo Olympics 2020
India is playing at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Initially, it was scheduled to occur from 24 July to 9 August 2020. However, the Games had been postponed from 23 July to 8 August 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
