Tokyo Olympics 2020 Day 4: Paddler Sharath Kamal lost to defending champion Ma Long and shuttlers Satwiksairaj/Chirag were eliminated from their group by a narrow margin despite winning on Tuesday.Tokyo Olympics 2020 Day 4 Highlights: Team India had a heartbreaking day in Badminton and Shooting on Tuesday. The day started on a bright note as Indian shooters Manu Bhaker, Saurabh Chaudhary topped their mixed team air pistol qualification Stage 1 but they finished 7th in Stage 2 to miss medal events. The day then continued to worsen for Indian shooting as Divyansh/Elavenil and Anjum/Deepak also failed to make it to rifle final.
In a morale-boosting news for hockey fans, the men in blue gave a superb performance on Tuesday as they beat Spain 3-0. Meanwhile, boxer Lovlina Borgohain advanced to quarterfinals and is a step away from winning a medal. She will face Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinal on Friday (July 30).
Even though shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won on Tuesday, they finished third in Group A, failing to make it to quarters. The 39-year-old Achanta Sharath Kamal ended India’s table tennis campaign, going down in the third round to reigning champion Ma Long. Sailor Vishnu Saravanan improved his overnight rank of 25 to 22.
Argentina and Spain stand on the field for the playing of their national anthems before a women's field hockey match at the 2020 Summer Olympics (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
India's Shooting contingent's show might have disheartened in the early hours of Tuesday, but there's a whole new set of elite athletes set to be in action again tomorrow. Archers Deepika Kumari and the men's trio of Atanu, Pravin and Tarundeep are in their Singles Knockout matches tomorrow early in the morning. PV Sindhu also in action in the morning session.
India's Tennis campaign has come to a premature end at this Olympics. Nagal and Mirza needed a few pull-outs for them to be able to compete in the mixed doubles, but that was not to be. Ankita and Sania have already been knocked out, while Nagal gave a great display of himself yet again, before losing to World Number 2 Daniil Medvedev.
Meanwhile, those set to enter the fray in the later half of the Tokyo Games, such as the athletics contingent or the wrestling contingent, are now beginning to get into their grooves training in Japan.
Meanwhile, on the immediate horizon, here are the big events lined up for tomorrow:
After that Biles disaster for the USA, it is Russia (ROC) who win gold. And it is Biles who is the first person to walk across and congratulate the Russian Olympic Committee on their gold medal
Here's a look at Indian participation tomorrow. It will be a much less top-heavy day tomorrow than today was, with action spread across the day. PV Sindhu resumes her campaign, she will be playing a Round-Robin match tomorrow. In terms of medal prospects, we have the Archery individual rounds. Will 2021 finally be redemption year for Deepika Kumari? Could Atanu or Pravin have a special day? Then there is the Rowing semifinal featuring Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh, as they look to broach uncharted territory. We shall end with another Indian boxer, Pooja Rani, taking the ring for the first time in her R16 match. If she wins, like Lovlina today, she will also be within just 1 more win of a medal.
Here's what Simone Biles posted on her Instagram yesterday: "I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times. I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn’t affect me but damn sometimes it’s hard hahaha."
"She shoots better than that in her training," Ramkishan Bhaker, Manu Bhaker's father, was quoted as saying by the Olympics website.
"I don't know what could be the reason (for her below-par performance), maybe it can be the effect of the first day, which she has not forgotten. Or might be the case that she might be overthinking that 'today I have to win a medal for sure... I think if you start thinking about medals, then you forget the target as far as I understand it," her father says.
Meanwhile, here's how Lovlina strode her way into the Last 8.
An official USA Gymnastics statement: “Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions.”
As per NBC broadcast, A Team USA coach said that Simone Biles' exit from the gymnastics team event "is not injury related." Coach said it is a "mental issue she is having."
Gymnastics great Simone Biles has been withdrawn from the USA team for the women's team finals. Her coach told reporters at the venue that she has been pulled out due to a 'mental issue'.
The 24-year-old was supposed to lead the USA team in the final, but following an error on the vault and an apparent knee jarring while landing, Biles left the stadium. She was closely followed by the team's medical staff.
Some more visuals of how Imphal is greeting its hero as Mirabai Chanu brings home a silver.
Simone Biles has pulled out of the gymnastics team competition. We don't know why yet, but it is speculated it is an injury.
"We are being told that Simone Biles has now pulled out of the entire Team Finals. We don't know why. We aren't going to speculate, but that is crushing news." says a NBC live coverage report.
Imphal is buzzing today as an Olympic silver medallist returns home.
READ | Mirabai wins silver at Tokyo Olympics: Why Manipur is churning out world-class weightlifters
They won in straight games earlier today but still went out of the Olympics earlier today. They've been blazing their trail in the men's doubles circuit over the last couple of years, and they are just 20 and 24 years old. There's a reason why Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy are one of the most exciting things to have happened in Indian sports in recent years, this rally one of them:
An Australian swimming coach whose wild victory celebrations at the Tokyo Olympics went viral online has apologised for tearing off his mask in defiance of strict coronavirus rules. Coach Dean Boxall flipped out after his swimmer Ariarne Titmus clinched gold in the 400m freestyle ahead of fierce American rival Katie Ledecky on Monday.
The exuberant coach who stole the show yesterday, tells Australian media: "I need to apologise, actually, because I tore my mask off and it ripped. I just lost it in the moment... It just came out. It built up in the trials, it was coming through and then when I saw the race unfolding I couldn't keep it in... I think I went outside of my body.'
After the heartbreak, come the initial reactions. India's shooting contingent would already be feeling the heat of not meeting expectations of fans, and now NRAI chief Raninder Singh has added to the sense of dread with some tough statements.
On the Manu Bhaker-Jaspal Rana issue, this is what the NRAI chief had to say: "It’s for reasons best known to him and the athlete concerned, they are unable to work together, well, this is not China we live in. I cannot dictate. They have to be willing to work with each other...I got Manu’s family together with Jaspal but they did not get on. It’s not just Jaspal, the other side also was not willing to work with him because of various instances that they both cited. The girl said something, the family said something, Jaspal in his defence said something.
"Here's our report from Ground Zero: ‘Coaching needs overhaul, Jaspal Rana was negative factor’, says shooting federation chief
Vishnu finishes Laser Race 6 at 12 spot. Race 7 and 8 are scheduled to take place tomorrow for him. This moves him to 22nd in the overall standings, had been 25th at the end of day yesterday. 4 races remaining. Only Top 10 qualify for Medal race. Meanwhile, Nethra Kumanan has finished 38th in race 6 of the women's laser-radial. With 4 races left, the task is significantly more uphill for Nethra. Could Vishnu have a chance though? His next race is scheduled for tomorrow.
Taiwan's Kuo Hsing-Chun won the gold medal in the women's 59kg weightlifting event at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, breaking Olympic records in all three categories. Kuo, who holds the world record with a total lift of 247kg, lifted 236kg to win gold on Tuesday, an Olympic record. Her lifts in the snatch -- 103kg -- and clean and jerk -- 133kg -- were also new Olympic marks.
Satwik and Chirag suffered an unlucky exit earlier today, going out of the Olympics on the basis of number of games won after all three of Chine Taipei and Indonesia finished with the same number of match wins. India lost in 2 games to the World Number 1 Indonesian pair. The badminton draw was indeed a very unlucky one for Indians. They were placed in the Group of Death.
Turkmenistan would be celebrating today:
A quick recap of Indians on the day so far: The Indian men's hockey team defeated Spain to get their campaign back on track. Lovlina Borgohain progressed to the quarters. The shooting contingent, meanwhile, had a heartbreaking day, with none of the teams making it into the medal matches. The sailing pair of Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy are currently in action on the open waters, we shall keep you posted about their results.
Back home, Olympian Judoka Shushila Devi received a warm welcome after arriving at Delhi Airport a little earlier.
With Sharath Kamal's defeat at the hands of Ma Long (though he did manage to take the second game against the Chinese living legend), India's TT campaign at Tokyo 2020 has come to an end.
It was a commendable performance, with two Indian women managing to cross the first round - something that has never happened before. Achanta Sharath Kamal, at 39, proved he still has what it takes - with a warrior's headgear still firmly in place - even though Sathiyan, of whom there had been immense expectations, could not deliver on Olympics debut. It has been an impressive campaign for the Indians at TT in Tokyo, but the Chinese wall is still proving to be impenetrable. Onwards to Paris. With a Sharath Kamal, in his 40s, still leading the charge!
Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy have finished Race 1 at 18th spot. Race 2 and 3 will follow soon. They are the only Indians left in competition in today's schedule, though tomorrow morning holds some big promises as well.
There's a big Rowing event from an Indian perspective, for instance, tomorrow.
Lovlina Borgohain, hailing from Assam -- in fact called 'Assam's daughter' by several local politicians in the run-up to the Olympics -- is a first-timer at the Olympics.
Lovlina's story started in Golaghat when one day her father brought back something covered in a paper wrapper, which had Muhammad Ali's report written on it. The rest...as they say...could soon be history.
She started training earnestly in 2012, under coach Padum Boro, after she impressed in the boxing trials held at her high school Barpathar Girls High School. Her big break came in 2018, when she was selected to the women’s boxing team for the Commonwealth Games. This call-up came after she won bronze medal at the 2018 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.
READ | Debutant Lovlina Borgohain makes QFs of Olympic boxing
READ | From Baro Mukhia to Tokyo, Lovlina Borgohain’s long journey
The brightest news of the day so far for Team India has been from the boxing ring, where Lovlina Borgohain has given a whiff of glory. Her quarterfinal is scheduled for Friday (July 30). If she wins that match, she assures herself of at least a bronze medal.
Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy in the 49-er skiff men's team. After two marks, the Indians are at the 19th position, which is the last one.
And in some other news, the spirit of the Olympics continues to burn bright:
Long had made it clear in pre-Olympic interviews that any game dropped in Tokyo would feel like he let down his country. And a player of Long’s stature has the talent to back up that confidence. It was always going to be a hard task for Sharath to take on a player with many tags – The Dictator, The Dragon, The Captain, The Greatest Of All Time, and his name translates to ‘horse dragon – and even more accolades.
Sharath’s rhythm was broken as Long took the game. And then he started to turn the screws in what became a 4-1 (11-7, 8-11, 13-11, 11-4, 11-4) win for the World No.3. (Read Full Report)
Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei prevailed over Angela Carini of Italy and will face Lovlina for a semifinal place.
Nethra Kumanan finishes 38th in race 6 of the women's laser-radial while Vishnu Saravanan finishes 22nd in race 5 (25th overall) of the men's radial .
Lovlina Borgohain registers her first win at her first Olympics, books pre-quarters spot after defeating Germany's Nadine Apetz 3-2 by split decision in 69kg category. Using her long arms, lovlina keeps her opponent at distance and swiftly launches sniping punches. The Assamese boxer is just one win away from an Olympic medal
Lovlina goes straight for attack in the second round. But Nadine tries to meet the challenge. Once again, the judges are split, and once again its in favour of the Indian. 3-2.
Lovlina goes straight for the attack. She starts steadily, launches her attack as she lands jabs. Round 1 goes to a split decision from the judges - 2 to Germany and 3 to India
India's Lovlina Borgohain in blue is up against Germany's Nadine Apetz in Women’s 69kg Round of 16 bout. The two boxers have faced each other many times before and were both bronze medallists in World Cup 2018.
Marketa Vondrousova, the World No 42, pulls off an upset 6-1, 6-4 win over four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka. The Japanese player, a former World No 1, had lit the Olympic Cauldron at the opening ceremony and was a favourite to win her home Games. Instead it's the Czech player who goes through to the women's singles quarterfinal.
Satwik-Chirag win 21-17, 21-19 against Ben Lane - Sean Vendy. Finish with 2 wins from 3 matches. But the straight sets loss to Indonesian World No 1 Marcus-Kevin has hurt the World No 10 Indians.
The monster upsets, like what Taiwanese managed, are needed at Olympics if you fancy a medal finish.
In what has been a bad day for the Indian shooters, both teams are out of the finals post poor show in the qualification.
Indian team of Divyansh Panwar and Elavenil Valarivan finish 12th with a combined score of 626.5 while the second Indian team of Deepak Kumar and Anjum Moudgil finish 18th with a combined score of 623.8 in the 10m air rifle mixed team first qualification.
Divyansh Panwar and Elavenil Valarivan shoot a second series combined score of 208.1 to be placed on the 15th spot after the second series in the qualification first stage.
Meanwhile, Deepak Kumar and Anjum Moudgill shoot a second series combined score of 210.3 and are placed on the 19th spot
Divyansh Panwar and Elavenil Valarivan shoot a first series combined score of 208.6 to be placed on the 13th spot after the first series in the qualification first stage in the 10m air rifle mixed team event
Divyansh/Elavenil and Anjum/Deepak are now in action in the 10m mixed rifle event.
Indian sailor Nethra Kumanan finishes Laser Radial Race 5 at 32nd position. Race 6 to follow soon. Meanwhile, sailor Vishnu Saravanan finishes Laser Race 4 at 23rd position.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy - Chirag Shetty face an exit, after the Chinese Taipei pair Yang Lee - Chi-Lin Wang defeated the top seeds Marcus Gideon - Kevin Sukamuljo Sanjay in their group game.
While Indians are one set up, a win against Lane-Vendy might not suffice. The win/loss game score has the Indonesians at 3, Taipese at 2 and Indians third at 1.
It's all over even before their match started in the Group of Death.
Achanta Sharath Kamal loses 4-1 to Ma Long in the third round of men's singles table tennis, ending the Indian campaign in the discipline at the Olympics.
There wasn't much chance either, as the 39-year-old came up against a player with many nicknames - The Dictator, The Dragon, The Captain, The Greatest of All Time, and his name translates to 'horse dragon' - and even more accolades. The Chinese stalwart is the defending Olympic Champion, a three time singles World Championship gold medallist, two-time World Cup winner, and a World No 1 for 64 months (34 of them in a row).
This one has gone in Ma Long's favour. Too tough for Sharath to make a comeback after going 0-6 down. The defending champion wins the fourth game 11-4.
Sadly, Chirag Shetty-Satwik crash out of Quarterfinal race even before playing the last match. Lee/Wang win. And that means Satwik-Chirag won't advance due to game difference.
This becomes their last performance of the Olympics this time. And Vendy/Lane take a slender 11-10 lead against Satwik/Chirag going into the mid-game break
Sharath Kamal loses a hard-fought 3rd game 11-13. It's 2-1 to the Chinese, but Sharath Kamal is putting up a great fight against the second seed. Some superb shots from Sharath leaves Ma Long surprised as the third game was locked at 10-10 before the Chinese opponent asked for a timeout.
According to commentator Adam Bobrow, Ma Long claimed before the Olympics that if he drops a game in any table tennis event, it'll feel like he's let down China. Achanta Sharath Kamal forces that 'let down' feeling, taking the second game to level proceedings 1-1 against the defending Olympic champion.
Sharath Kamal takes the 2nd game 11-8. Brilliant from Sharath to take a game from Ma,who is the greatest of all time. It isn't easy but the Indian paddler is fighting hard.
Sharath Kamal impressive, but he loses the first game 11-7. Sharath Kamal is making Ma “The Dragon” Long earn every point but the Rio Gold medalist takes the 1st game.
And the much-awaited match has begun. The Indian takes the first point of the first set against the defending champion and second seed Ma Long of China!
Vishnu Saravanan begins Laser Race 4. He begins the day ranked 25th.
Achanta Sharath Kamal is keeping the Indian flag flying in the Tokyo Olympic Games after his compatriots Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee left the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, the table tennis venue, on Monday. Sharath, the top Indian paddler beat an in-form Tiago Apolonia from Portugal 2-11, 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9 to enter the third round of the men’s singles event.
In the third round on Tuesday morning, the nine-time national champion will be up against the defending champion and second-seed Ma Long, 32, of China. The rivals have met four times so far in the past 12 years – from 2007 to 2019. Ma Long holds a 4-0 record against Sharath: In 2007 Volkswagen Open in Chiba, Japan; in 2011PronTour Swedish Open; 2012 Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament, Hong Kong and 2019 ITTF Asian Cup, Yokohama in Japan.
It's a must-win match for the Indian badminton pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy as they face the lowest ranked team of the group. The top two teams from Group A progress to quarterfinals.
India's Nethra Kumanan is in action now as she takes part Race 5 of Women’s Laser Radial. She is ranked 28th overall after the first four races on Monday.
What would you like to tell your mum and your sister? Just after new Olympic record, where she stormed from behind in the last turn to win gold in 100m backstroke, Australia's Kaylee McKeown replies, “F*** yeah!..oops"
Covid-19 testing statistics from July 1 to 25 July under the authority of Tokyo 2020:
239,418 screening tests
52 confirmed positives
0.02% positivity rate
37,579 airport tests for Games participants
30 confirmed positives
0.08% positivity rate
India return to winning ways, beat Spain comfortably after 7-1 loss to Australia. The 3-0 comfortable win for the men in blue is indeed morale-boosting and takes them a step closer to the quarterfinals.
India next face reigning champions Argentina
Indian team have asked for a Video Referral. The referral has been denied and India lose their review. Spain take their eighth penalty corner but nothing goes past the Indian wall called Sreejesh.
The iconic din-making inflated clappers, a staple of Asian sporting arenas, are missing, without the crowds. But Asia’s most cutting rivalry – between hosts Japan and China – is as alive as ever. True to their cultures, sporting contests between the two powerhouses in racquet sports, badminton and table tennis, do not need boisterous full houses. The prospect of matching pure sporting wits is exhilarating enough at the Musashino Forest Arena and the Metropolitan, venues for the two sports.
Surprisingly, Round 1 of this racquet tango went to Japan. (Read More)
Simranjit was tripped up as he screamed into the box, India get awarded a penalty. Rupinder Pal Singh converts the penalty corner to give India 3-0 lead in Pool A match. Sreejesh saves well in the counter-attack.