Tokyo Olympics 2021 Day 8 Highlights: Heartbreak for PV Sindhu, good news for Indian women’s hockey

Qatar win their first EVER Olympic gold medal! #QAT

Fares Elbakh wins a historic gold in the men’s 96kg final!@iwfnet | #StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020 | #Weightlifting pic.twitter.com/338PhQ4AgC

— Olympics (@Olympics) July 31, 2021

The Ireland women's hockey team have bowed out of the Olympics following a 2-0 defeat against Great Britain. As a result, Indian women's hockey team makes the quarterfinals. First QF appearance since the 1980 Moscow Games.

In equestrian, individual eventing dressage round, India's Fouaad Mirza riding Seigneur Medicott has been placed ninth with 28.00 points among u 63 riders. On Sunday, the Indian will feature in the cross country round. Apart from dressage and cross country rounds, Fouaad will feature in show jumping round too also on the final day.  The Bengalurean, a double silver medallist at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games in team and individual events, is the first Indian to make the Olympics grade in the past 20 years.

Elaine Thompson-Herah?? has won #gold in #Athletics - Woman's 100m at #Tokyo2020

She has set a new #Olympics Record of 10.61! #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Olympics

— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) July 31, 2021

Indian women hockey team are more or less ensured that they stay in the competition by defeating South Africa 4-3 and with Great Britain leading Ireland 2-0, India is all set to enter for quarterfinals.

In golf, India's Anirban Lahiri is tied at 28th spot with a score of 6-under 207 at the end of penultimate and  third round on Saturday.
Anirban was placed 20th in the opening round on Thursday while he was placed 24th at the end of second round on Saturday. Meanwhile, his compatriot Udayan Mane is tied at 55th spot with a total of 2-over 273 and was languishing at 56 and 57 places in the first two rounds in the event which is competed by 58 other golfers.

Ganapathy and Thakkar pair languish at bottom after penultimate round! Indian sailing pair of KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar continued to languish at 17th overall after the penultimate race in the men's skiff 49er event at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. Ganapathy and Thakkar finished 16th, ninth and 14th in the three races on Saturday to remain unchanged at 17th spot out of 19 competitors with 154 net points.

Great Britain women playing Ireland women in hockey. If GBR win or draw, then Indian women's team will go through to Olympics knockout phase for first time in history.  If Ireland win, India won't make it to the quarterfinals

Japan’s clinical finishing in the shootout, after the game was deadlocked 0-0 at extra time, sealed them a spot in the semifinals. The hosts converted all four of the shots while New Zealand fluffed their shots twice, Liberto Cacace and Clayton Lewis being the culprits. This was after New Zealand had repelled Japan’s unrelenting waves of attack in normal time. The Kiwis’ goalkeeper Michael Woud was exemplary, denying the hosts half a dozen times

Scoring three goals in extra time, much like their victory over Croatia in the Euros, Spain advanced to the last four of the Olympics. The turning point came in the eighth minute of the extra time, when Spain were awarded a penalty, which Mikel Oyarzabal swept home. Thereafter, Ivory Coast stormed Spain’s backline, which not only held resolutely but orchestrated quick counterattacks, which resulted in two goals in the last four minutes, both essayed by Rafa Mir, who completed a hat-trick after he was introduced in the 92nd minute. 

He’s done Australia proud. The man, the myth, the mullet! @Rohan_Browning taking first place in his 100m qualifier. pic.twitter.com/BsiqgelHaA

— Brianna Parkins (@parkinsbrea) July 31, 2021

BROWNING! The flying mullet

Take a bow Rohan Browning-

OMG . #rohanbrowning wins heat of 100m pic.twitter.com/SlVdu9Oknq

— Ian Mannix?? (@sedvitae) July 31, 2021

Long jumper Sreeshankar Murali managed only 7.43m in his final attempt after 7.69 and 7.51 in the first two attempts. Direct qualification mark: 8.15m. The 22-year-old's Olympic Games campaign has come to an end. 

Tai Tzu-Ying defeats PV Sindhu in straight sets, advances into finals. Tai Tzu Ying is too much for PV Sindhu. An artist at work. Sindhu loses the match by 21-18 & 21-12 

Code cracked??

9? years after her Olympic debut, Tai Tzu Ying will finally contest a ? gold medal match. ??#RaiseARacket ? #Tokyo2020 #Olympics2020

? @badmintonphoto pic.twitter.com/7N3b45jKzK

— BWF (@bwfmedia) July 31, 2021

The points continue to flow Tai's way. It's 18-10 right now. She misses a shot, 18-11. Any chance for a Sindhu comeback?

The shuttle falls outside the court and wrong call from Sindhu. This game is slipping away from her. Sindhu 8 - 16 Tai Tzu-Ying

Tai Tzu-Ying is causing all sorts of problems for Sindhu with her variations in the serve. She is full of confidence and energy, Sindhu's body language is a bit down here. Sindhu 7 - 13 Tai Tzu-Ying

Sindhu goes long. That is her bane now, playing with the drift. Going for too much at the net, trying to find a sharp angle, Sindhu floats it wide. Tai with the advantage at the mid-game interval! Sindhu 7 - 11 Tai Tzu-Ying

Tai is keeping Sindhu from going ahead with the points. Sindhu is yet to unleash her power smashes to full effect and Tai is using the strategy of keeping the Indian busy in covering the court with excellent variety. 3-3

PV Sindhu gave her full effort but she loses the opening game 18-21! Sindhu, who has so far not lost a game in Tokyo 2020, is down one game. She needs to bounce back. Sindhu needs to her strategy in game 2. Faster strokes and downward strokes are the need of the hour.

Two straight points for Tai Tzu and it's all level again at 16-16

Sindhu 14-14 Tai ! This is getting really close. Sindhu was in the lead by one point but TTY brings her deception into play and then smashes one straight into the body of Sindhu who cant do much about it. 

Halfway stage of the first game. Sindhu has been good with her movements and her reach is beginning to be a problem for Tai. Tai has been forced to experiment in order to take points. Sindhu leads 11-8 at halfway mark in Game 1. However, Tai is back after the break with 3 straight points! WOW! So scores are level again! 11-11

She is using her reach to trouble Tai and gets the better of her. One thing Sindhu needs to be aware about is not engaging Tai in longer rallies, as she did against Akane Yamaguchi at times, on Friday. Sindhu 8-4 TTY
 

After going 2-0 down, Sindhu wins her first point and gets another, she's back in it with 2 points! The next one is long and Sindhu wins again. She leads, 3-2 |  That was an error from TTY. 

Indian boxer Pooja Rani loses to Li Qian of China 0-5 in women's middleweight (69-75kg) quarter-finals.

#Boxing #PoojaRani #Olympics

Pooja Rani goes down to Rio medallist Li Qian of China in 75 kg women's boxing round of 8 by 5-0 margin.

Live: https://t.co/oAHaOHqH3a pic.twitter.com/RIaqM8EXr9

— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) July 31, 2021

PV Sindhu wins the toss and chooses her side! She will also serve first! And we are underway. Sindhu needs to be wary of Tai’s variety of strokes from the back of the court.

Tai Tzu-Ying leads 13-5. Sindhu beat her at the Rio Olympics in 2016, World Tour Finals in 2018 and World Championships in 2019. However,  the last time they met was in the 2020 BWF World Tour Finals, where Sindhu lost 21-19, 12-21, 17-21 in the group fixture.

#Tokyo2020 #Olympics #TeamIndia

LIVE| PV Sindhu ?? faces second seed Tai Tzu-Ying in #Badminton Women’s Singles Semifinal ?

Follow ? : https://t.co/5VOzgzMBEZ pic.twitter.com/uIlfaCCHCC

— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) July 31, 2021

Novak Djokovic may have the good habit of winning Grand Slams - almost at will. His anger on court is definitely the bad habit.

The incident is well remembered and documented, of him accidentally hitting a line-umpire in the throat when he angrily hit a ball towards the backboard, without looking, after losing a point. He subsequently defaulted. That was the first time he had lost a match in five meetings against Pablo Carreno Busta.

It was unlucky, perhaps, that in an empty stadium closed to fans he managed to hit somebody He wasn't as 'unlucky' on Saturday, in the empty Ariake Tennis Park Centre Court. Playing Carreno Busta in the singles bronze medal playoff, he lost a point on the Spaniard's serve in the third set and flug his racquet into the stands. 

No, this was nothing like the endearing countless times he's handed a racquet to a young fan (like he did after winning Wimbledon recently). This was a full-blooded heave. He didn't hit anybody this time.  A little while later he demolished a racquet on the net-post. There was no default this time, just a warning. Not even a point penalty as Carreno Busta argued.

Djokovic just tossed his racquet into the stand. No warning. pic.twitter.com/TMCv29dCnQ

— ‎‎‎‎‎ . (@Ashish__TV) July 31, 2021

The Spain-Ivory Coast quarterfinal seemed meandering into extra time, and it did tumble into 120 minutes, but after dramatic last five minutes. Ivory Coast thought they had sewn up the game when they scored a minute into stoppage through veteran Max Gradel’s left-footed drive, only for just-substituted Rafa Mir, to equalise from a sloppy clearance two minutes later. 

The bronze medal, for somebody of Novak Djokovic's stature, would be cheap consolation. He came to the Tokyo Olympics as the player to beat, the overwhelming favourite, and with great expectations to become the first ever man to win a Golden Slam - he just needed to win the Olympics and the US Open.

But in the semi-final, a stage he reached for the fourth time in the Olympics but has never gone beyond, he failed once again. He was reportedly 'inconsolable' after losing in three sets to Alexander Zverev.

There would no gold medal for him - something that his biggest rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have won in some capacity (Federer won it in men's doubles with Stan Wawrinka in 2008).

But an Olympic medal is still an Olympic medal. And he fought back to to level proceedings against Pablo Carreno Busta by winning the second set. But eventually he lost the bronze-medal playoff too, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3.
This was Djokovic's first back-to-back defeat since November 2019 when he lost to Dominic Thiem and Federer at the ATP Tour Finals.

There was stil a chance for the 20-time Grand Slam champion to pick a bronze medal in the mixed doubles playoff against Australians Ashleigh Barty and John Peers, but he decided he had had enough of the Olympic hearbreak and withdrew.

Save a thought for Djokovic's partner Nina Stojanovic. The World No 92 would have been hoping for an Olympic medal - the biggest accolade in her trophy cabinet. She had the best partner she could ever hope for, it's just Djokovic didn't get what he wanted. She goes home empty handed, like the Serbian tennis contingent.

Group J Match 1-: def. Israe's Ksenia Polikarpov 21-7,21-10

Group J Match 2: def. Cheung Ngan Yi 21-9,21-16

Round of 16: def. Mia Blichfeldt 21-15, 21-13

Quarterfinals: def. Akane Yamaguchi 21-13, 22-20

Group P match 1: beat Sabrina Jaquet 21-7,21-13

Group P match 2: beat Nguyen Thuy Linh 21-16,21-11

Group P match 3: beat Qi Xuefei 21-10,21-1

Round of 16: got a Bye

Quarterfinals: beat Ratchanok Intanon 14-21, 21-18,21-18

Badminton returns to days of London Games, with the Chinese charge on podiums. An all-China semifinal between He Bingjiao and Chen Yufei also means no Chinese coaches will sit for either player. It is considered unfair for national coaches to advise one player against another. Can breed ill-will. It's also China's way to tell its shuttlers to think for themselves and figure out plans on their own. Chinese take great pride in medal rounds where it's both players from their team. Badminton remains a centralised sport that way, unlike tennis (where on court coaching ain't allowed anyway) where something like this won't play out. Don't be surprised if this match is played on a sedate gear, as China aim for both gold and bronze tomorrow. Chen Yufei leads He Bingjiao 21-16.

PV Sindhu Vs Tai Tzu-Ying will take place at Court 1 of the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Tokyo. The last time they met was in the 2020 BWF World Tour Finals, where Sindhu lost 21-19, 12-21, 17-21 in the group fixture.

The uniforms, especially for a team event, are expected to match. That's what was thought would happen when the American men's Epee team walked to compete in the team fencing event on Friday. Instead, Jake Hoyle, Curtis McDowald and Yeisser Ramirez work pink masks and Alen Hadzic wore a black one. The oddity was measured, not accidentaly. The pink masks were to protest against Hadzic being on the team, given that after he qualified for the Olympics, three women came forward and accused him of sexual assault between 2013 and 2015. Hadzic successfully appealed against being suspended by the US federation, which would have resulted in him missing Tokyo 2020. But the allegations still stand, and his teammates have marked their protest as well.
The black mask Hadzic wore also had some meaning - it was to deny all allegations.

#TeamUSA men’s epee team wore pink masks for their opening match at the Olympics as a show of support for sexual assault victims. Alen Hadzic— their teammate accused of rape and sexual assault— is on the left. Kudos to the team for taking a stand. #BelieveWomen pic.twitter.com/yRI4azelKN

— Ibtihaj Muhammad (@IbtihajMuhammad) July 30, 2021

Spain's Pablo Carreño Busta bags the men's tennis singles bronze medal after beating top-ranked Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. The 20-time Grand Slam winner will have another shot at a medal when he takes to the court for the mixed doubles bronze medal match later today. He will partner Nina Stojanovic for Serbia and will face Australian pair John Peers and Ashleigh Barty.

#Tokyo2020 #Olympics

No singles medal for Djoker! Spain's Pablo Carreño Busta bags the men's #tennis singles bronze medal after beating 20-time major winner Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. 

LIVE: https://t.co/5VOzgzMBEZ pic.twitter.com/TzH2ihbknA

— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) July 31, 2021

In around an hour, PV Sindhu will be the next Indian athlete in action as she will take on Tai Tzu-Ying in the women's badminton singles semi-final from 3:20 PM. Afterwards, Pooja Rani will be in action from 3:36 PM in women's boxing 75kg quarter-final.

In the men's skiff 49er standard, KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar end on the 14th spot in race 12. In the last two races, they were 9th and 16th. India's challenge finishes on Saturday as the sailors finish in the 17th position in the overall rankings.

Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare is out of the Tokyo Olympics after being served a provisional doping ban before her 100m semi-final.

The Athletics Integrity Unit announced that Okagbare had “tested positive for human growth hormone” in an out-of-competition on July 19th. Okagbare, a  silver medalist in the long jump in Beijing, finished first in the 100m heat on Friday.

"As a child, there were many who didn’t want her to play hockey. But Vandana Katariya’s father ensured she continued by taking on the entire neighbourhood that was against girls pursuing sports. Three months ago, she didn’t attend his funeral. Instead, she continued to train. And on Saturday, she became the first Indian woman to score a hat-trick at the Olympics." | READ MORE |

Mete Gazoz?? is the first archer to win #gold at #Tokyo2020 that is not from the Republic of Korea.

It is also Turkey's first #Archery medal at the #Olympics #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/XvA3arekHl

— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) July 31, 2021

"PV Sindhu had answers to every single poser thrown at her by Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, even a 54-shot rally that went the other way. She showed outstanding proficiency in both her defense and dominating rallies, to march into the semi-final of the Tokyo Olympics at Musashino Forest Plaza on Friday with a 21-13, 22-20 quelling of the world number five," writes Shivani Naik. | READ |

In the men's skiff 49er standard, KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar end on the 9th spot in race 11. India are in 17th position overall.

As sailing and golf action continues, the next athlete in line is PV Sindhu, who will take on Tai Tzu-Ying in the women's badminton singles semi-final from 3:20 PM. Afterwards, Pooja Rani will be in action from 3:36 PM in women's boxing 75kg quarter-final.

Gymnastics legend Simone Biles is unlikely to return to action at the Tokyo Olympics following her withdrawal from two more events, the Sunday's individual finals in the vault and the uneven bars. 

"After further consultation with medical staff, Simone Biles has decided to withdraw from the event finals for vault and the uneven bars. She will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether to compete in the finals for floor exercise and balance beam," USA Gymnastics said in a statement.

Chinese Taipei's men's singles player, Chou Tien Chen, might have lost the quarterfinals in three sets to Chen Long. But he carved a training path of his own - almost unheard for the top players (he was as high as World No 2) in Asia. Chou has no coach and told Olympics.com he prefers working with his personal physiotherapist Viktoria Kao, who also sat for his match. Viktoria had told AFP in 2019 that she helps maintain Chou's 'health and character' plus working as a 'motivational assistant.' But perhaps the coolest input from her has been Chou adding belly dancing alongwith Pilates to his CrossFit workouts. 'There are a lot of movements similar to badminton. I think there's a lot of body control and a lot of footwork are the same,' he told Olympics.com.

Viktoria meanwhile is always a quip away to help him deal with disappointments. 'I will pour cold water on him and tell him it's just one victory, it's over and you need to calm down. When there are setbacks I will tell him it's okay - embrace your dreams and persist - to try to lift him up emotionally,' she told the Olympics website.

Diksha Dagar, who has qualified for the Olympics following a last-minute withdrawal, left for Tokyo on Saturday, hoping to make the opportunity count. India's golf challenge at the ongoing Olympics got a boost with Diksha being given a late entry into the women's golf competition, beginning August 4. "Representing my country in Asian Games and Olympics is a dream for me. I want to win a medal for my country, will keep working on that,' Diksha told PTI before departing for the Japanese capital.

Sorry INDIA??, I couldn’t bring glory in this Olympics. But the support we get from @Media_SAI @indian_archery TOPS, @OGQ_India Is fantastic till now. We should keep moving forward, else nothing to say. Jai hind?? pic.twitter.com/Kqqm03nt8r

— TheAtanuDas (@ArcherAtanu) July 31, 2021

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In the Men's Skiff 49er standard, India's KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar finish in the 16th position in Race 10. They are now 18th overall.

Vandana Katariya scored 3 of India's 4 goals in their match against South Africa to become the first Indian woman to register a hat-trick at the Olympics

Vandana Katariya scores first-ever hat-trick by an Indian woman in #Olympics history, keeps India's hopes alive in #hockey #Tokyo2020 LIVE: https://t.co/fnqQYda3Un pic.twitter.com/e7Y9svm8Mw

— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) July 31, 2021

In shooting, Anjum Moudgil and Tejaswini Sawant failed to qualify for the final of 50m rifle 3 positions event. In qualifications, Anjum finished 15th with an aggregate score of 1167 points while Tejaswini finished 33rd with 1154 points.

Hello from Tokyo! #Tokyo2020 #TeamIndia?? pic.twitter.com/AkUnZrd4G7

— Bajrang Punia ?? (@BajrangPunia) July 31, 2021

Vandana Katariya comes to India's rescue with a hat-trick, defeating South Africa 4-2 in Group A match. This is the second win and now India have 6 points. This comes as a huge result for Indian women hockey. The last time India won a match was in 1980 Moscow Games and we already have two this time.  Good end to the group-stage campaign after defeats to last Olympics' top finishers. 

India's qualification is now in the hands of Great Britian, who need to either win or draw against Ireland later today in order for India to qualify to quarterfinals. If Ireland draw, it will come down to goal-difference. It'll be an agonising wait, the next few hour. Their match starts at 5.15pm.

A win to remember, a day to cherish! ?

Some glimpses from our game against South Africa. ?#INDvRSA #HaiTayyar #IndiaKaGame #TeamIndia #Tokyo2020 #TokyoTogether #StrongerTogether #HockeyInvites #WeAreTeamIndia #Hockey pic.twitter.com/OQwwrtPk7Z

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 31, 2021

India take the lead for the fourth time in the game and Vandana has a hat-trick. That's the first hat-trick by an Indian woman in the three Olympics they have competed. India desperately need to hold on to this lead till the end of the match now.

Anjum Moudgil has a fine Prone Round in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women's Qualification. She finishes with 395 in Prone after a 390 in Kneeling.

Anjum Moudgil prone: 98 100 98 99. She is at 8th spot (785 pts) after both the rounds.
Tejaswini Sawant, prone: 99 98 99 98. She is at the 28th spot (778 pts).

Anjum has a decent chance to make it to the Finals of 50m 3 position W. All she needs a strong Standing 40 shots.. I think 388 is an achievable and practical score to make it. #shooting #teamindia

— Joydeep Karmakar OLY (@Joydeep709) July 31, 2021

South Africa make a comeback thrice as the match stands level with one quarter to go. Exciting 15 minutes of play await, very crucial for team India. Frustration has already started creeping in with Monica getting a green card. India need to hold their nerves to make it to the quarterfinals