NEW DELHI, July 25: The Day 2 at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday was comparatively a disappointing day for India after Mirabai Chanu gave the country its first medal, a silver, in weightlifting on the first day.
The only good news came from Badminton court where P V Sindhu won her first round match against her Israel opponent Ksenia Polikarpov 21-7, 21-10, while paddler Manika Batra advanced to the third round winning her second round match 4-3. Gold expectant MC Mary Kom defeated Miguelina Hernandez in the round of 32 in the 51kg category to advance to the next round. The Indian pair of Arvind Singh and Arjun Jat finished in the 3rd position in the Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls Rowing Repechage and have qualified for Semifinal A/B.
For the rest it was a day of disappointment for India. India was thrashed by a record 7-1 margin in men’s hockey. Paddler G Sathiyan lost against Hong Kong’s Lam Siu Hang in his men’s singles Round 2 after a thrilling contest. Deepak Kumar, Divyansh Singh Panwar failed to qualify for Men’s 10m Air Rifle Final. The pair of Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina were knocked out after losing in the first round of the women’s doubles tennis match.
Disappointment for India started early in the day as both shooters Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini Singh failed to qualify for the women’s 10m air pistol final. Pranati Nayak failed to make the finals of the artistic gymnastics event. In the women’s 100m backstroke event, India’s Maana Patel failed to qualify for the semifinals after finishing 39th while Srihari Nataraj failed to make the semifinals of the men’s 100m backstroke event.
(Manas Dasgupta)
