Day 1, Tokyo Olympics LIVE: Silver for Mirabai; Rani & Co Lose 1-5 vs Dutch
Mirabai Chanu has won India's first weightlifting medal in 21 years.
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Mirabai Chanu's won a silver medal in the women's 49kg weightlifting event.
Saurabh Chaudhary finished seventh in the 10m Air Pistol final after qualifying in the first position.
Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav defeated in the quarterfinal of the mixed team archery event.
Men's hockey team beat New Zealand 3-2, will face Australia next.
Manika Batra and Achinta Sharath Kamal knocked out in opener of mixed doubles event.
Sumit Nagal wins first men's singles tennis match at Olympics for India since Leander Paes in 1996.
Hockey: India defeated by Netherlands
Despite resolute and gritty performance in the first half, the Indian women's team were no match for the world champions Netherlands, who ran riot in the second half, adding 4 more goals to their tally to take the score to 5-1.
Hockey: India vs Netherlands: Q2
Another quarter gone in the contest as India keep Netherlands at bay. The Dutch have been attacking continuously and a big reason why they haven’t gone ahead is the Indian keeper and vice-captain Savita, who has been stunning in goal. The penalty corners too have not yielded much for either side.
Teams still tied at 1-1 but what's clear is the levels of improvement in the Indian side, who were outplayed and how in Rio.
Hockey: India vs Netherlands: Q1
Netherlands’ Felice Albers found herself in plenty of space early on and duly the world champions in the lead. However, with 5 minutes to go in the quarter, India equalised with captain Rani Rampal coming to the forefront for her team. India finished the first quarter with keeper Savita making a brilliant save to keep the teams tied at 1-1. The Dutch were awarded a penalty corner in the dying minutes of the quarter, but failed to convert that thanks to a resolute Indian defence.
Hockey: Indian Women's Team Set to Play Netherlands
It's the last bit of action for Indian athletes today at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Indian women's team will be playing the mighty Dutch. Can they match the Men's team and get off to a winning start in what is the first time they're making consecutive appearances at the Games.
Tokyo will be the team's 3rd appearance at Olympics, the previous two being Moscow 1980 and Rio 2016. Since Rio, the team has won the 2016 Asian Champions Trophy, 2017 Asia Cup, silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games, and made it to the quarter-finals of the 2018 Women’s World Cup for the first time in history.
Boxing: Vikas Krishan Hopes for Good Start
One of the best boxers in India currently, the experienced Vikas Krishan (69kg) will kick start India's boxing campaign against Japan’s Sewonrets Quincy Mensah Okazawa. In the early exchanges, Vikas has picked up a small cut on the left eye against the local favourite. The Japanese boxer has been getting the better of his opponent so far whenever they have met and continued to do so in the first couple of rounds as well.
Vikas, at his 3rd Olympic Games, failed to recover after the break as Okazawa went through his defenses with relative ease, knocking him out in the first round of the Boxing event.
Okazawa was declared the winner by points by a unanimous decision in the round of 32 bout.
Image: Olympics.com
Wishes Pour in for Mirabai
Mirabai Chanu's Silver medal had the whole of the nation celebrating, with the likes of the PM Modi, Sachin Tendulkar and Dipa Karmakar being among the first to wish her on social media.
What's Next?
The Indian women's hockey team will open their campaign against Netherlands (5.15pm IST) and the Boxers will also be in action beginning with Vikas Krishan at 3.30pm IST.
The experienced Vikas Krishan (69kg) will kick start India's boxing campaign against Japan’s Sewonrets Quincy Mensah Okazawa.
Table Tennis: Thrilling Debut for Sutirtha Mukherjee
In what was an absolute thriller of a game in the women’s singles, India’s Sutirtha Mukherjee came from behind to clinch a win in the first round against Swedish Linda Bergstroem. The Indian who is playing her first Olympic Games won 5-11, 11-9, 11-13, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-5. Remember, she had seen off Manika Batra in the qualifiers on her way to Tokyo. Sutirtha was down 1-3 after 4 sets before winning the next three in a hurry.
Badminton: Chirag & Rankireddy Cause Upset; Praneeth Loses
Indian men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy defeated the higher-ranked Chinese Taipei pair of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin 21-16, 16-21, 27-25 in their first Group A match. However, India's hope in men's singles, B Sai Praneeth suffered a shock loss against Misha Zilberman of Israel in his first Group D match.
Praneeth, the No. 13 seed, lost 17-21, 15-21 to world No 47 Zilberman.
Manika Wins Singles Opener
Following the disappointment in the mixed doubles draw earlier on Saturday, Manika Batra has won her women's singles opener in straight sets.
Manika beat Great Britain's Tin-Tin Ho 4-0 and will next face Ukraine's 20th seed Margaryta Pesotska tomorrow.
Tennis: Sumit Marches Into Second Round
He was the last of the Indians to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics but Sumit Nagal is not to be ignored, the tennis star has won his opening match against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan becoming the first Indian men's singles player to record a win at the Olympics since Leander Paes' medal-winning run in 1996.
Sumit won his match 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4 at the Ariake Tennis Court.
The 34-year-old Istomin, ranked 197th in the world was no match to his 23-year-old Indian opponent who is ranked 37 places above him. Istomin committed 32 forced errors to Nagal's 17. The Indian also won 10 out of 10 net points while his opponent won just five out of nine.
Saurabh Finishes Seventh
A stunning show in the qualification round but 19-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary has finished in the seventh position of the 10m Air Pistol final.
The world number two shot 586 in the qualification round but was the second shooter to be eliminated from among the eight finalists on Saturday afternoon.
He started the final with a 10.1 but after five shots, he was placed last with a score of 47.4. After the next five shots, he moved to seventh and was only 0.3 points behind sixth-placed Christian Reitz of Germany. Tied at 107.0 after the first elimination shot, Chaudhary managed to stay on with 117.2 points, even as South Korea's Korea's Kim Mose was the first to get eliminated (115.8 points). Before the next shot, China's Zhang Bowen had a 0.3 point deficit, but walking into the deciding shot Saurabh registered a poor 9.6 to Zhang's 10.2 and became the second marksman in the finals to get eliminated.
Mirabai's Wins Silver in Women's Weightlifting Event
Mirabai Chanu opened India's account at Tokyo 2020 Olympics by winning a silver medal in the women's 49kg weightlifting event. The only Indian weightlifter at the Tokyo Olympics, Chanu is the current world number three in the 49 kg category and had broken the 'clean and jerk' world record earlier this year in April.
In the snatch round, the Indian recorded a lift of 87 kgs in her second try. She went for 89kg in her third but was unsuccessful. In the clean and jerk round, she recorded a lift of 115 kgs in her second try. She tried for 117 kgs in her third try but was unsuccessful.
China's Zhihui Hou won the gold medal with a lift of 94kg in snatch and 116 in the clean and jerk round, both Olympic records.
In 2016 Rio Olympics, Chanu had failed in all three 'clean & jerk' rounds and had finished as DNF.
Badminton: The Indian team of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy beat Chinese Taipei's Yang Lee and Chi-Lin Wang 21-16, 16-21, 27-25 in their men's doubles group stage match.
Deepika, Pravin Knocked Out
Women's world number one Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav have lost their mixed team quarter-final to the top seeded pair from the Republic of Korea. The final scoreline read 6-2.
Deepika had won the gold in the Archery World Cup in June when she was paired with Atanu Das. However, based on the result of the individual ranking round on Friday, India elected to pair her with Pravin.
Saurabh Qualifies in Top Spot
After topping the qualification round of the 10m Air Pistol, India's 19-year-old shooting star Saurabh Chaudhary has been eliminated from the Men's 10m Air Pistol Final. He was the second person to be eliminated and finished in seventh place.
Earlier in the day, Saurabh had qualified for the 10m Air Pistol final by finishing first in the qualification round on Saturday. Chaudhary had finished with a total score of 586/600 (28x) points after six rounds. Currently ranked 2 in the world, Chaudhary averaged 9.767 in the six rounds, with scores of 95, 98, 98, 100, 98, 97. He also fired a streak of 23 straight 10s.
Meanwhile, world no.3 Abhishek Verma failed to make the cut as he finished 17th with a final score of 575. Verma registered scores of 94, 96, 98, 97, 98, 92 in the six rounds. The top eight athletes qualify for the final.
Shooting: Last Series for Chaudhary. Starts with 6 10s. Finishes with 97. Moves to 2nd place. China's Bowen Zhang takes top position.
Verma finishes Series 4 with 97.
Shooting: Saurabh Chaudhary finishes Series 5 with a 98. Misses out on 10s in last two shots. 23 straight 10s for Chaudhary. Currently at the top of the table.
Verma finishes Series 3 with an impressive 98.
Shooting: 100/100. PERFECT 10s. Saurabh Chaudhary on a roll! Starts Series 5 with another 10.
A perfect start to Series 3 by Verma. 4 10s.
Shooting: Another 98 for Chaudhary in Series 3 with 8 10s and 2 9s. Currently placed third. Starts Series 4 with 3 10s. Verma finishes Series 2 with a 96.
By the way, the shooting qualification rounds are not broadcast.
Shooting: A 98 for Chaudhary in Series 2 comprising 8 10s and 2 9s. Currently placed seventh with four more rounds to go. Verma scores 94 in Series 1.
Shooting: Saurabh Chaudhary, one of India's best medal bets, scores 95 in Series 1. Scores 50/50 in first five shots. Abhishek Verman still in his first series.
UPDATE: The 10m air pistol men’s qualification with Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma, and Tennis men's singles event with Sumit Nagal is currently underway.
Rowing: The Indian pair of Arvind Singh and Arjun Lal Jat qualify for the repechage round after finishing fifth in the men's lightweight double sculls heat. The Indian pair finished with a timing of 6:40.33.
The top two teams - Ireland and Czech Republic - advanced to the semifinals. The rest of the four teams - Poland, Ukraine, India, Urguay, all moved to the repechage round, which will give them a second chance to qualify for quarter-finals, semi-finals or finals.
Table Tennis: The Chinese Taipei's pair of Yun Ju Lin and Ching Cheng rout India's Manika Batra and Achanta Sharath Kamal 4-0 in the Round of 16 mixed doubles event. The match is over in just 27 minutes, with the Indian team losing in straight games: 11-8, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4. The last game took just 4 minutes to complete.
Tokyo: India's Kamal Achanta, left, and Manika Batra compete during table tennis mixed doubles round of 16 match against Taiwan's Lin Yun-Ju and Cheng I-ching at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 24, 2021, in Tokyo.
(Photo: PTI)
Table Tennis: Not looking good for India. The Chinese Taipei pair wins the third game 11-5. It's now or never for the Indian team.
Table Tennis: India's Manika Batra and Achanta Sharath Kamal lose their first two games (11-8, 11-6) to the Chinese Taipei's pair of Yun Ju Lin and Ching Cheng in the round of 16 mixed doubles event.
Archery mixed-team update: India to face Republic of Korea in the quarterfinals at 11'04 am. The Koreans just beat Bangladesh 6-0.
Judo: India's Shushila Devi loses to Hungary's Eva Csernoviczki in the round of 32 of the women's 48 kg Judo category.
Tokyo: Sushila Devi Likmabam of India, right, and Eva Csernoviczki of Hungary compete during their women's -48kg round of 32 judo match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 24, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.
(Photo: PTI)
Men's Hockey Team Start Tokyo 2020 Campaign With 3-2 Win Over New Zealand
Men's Hockey: Final Score 3-2. Rupinder Pal Singh opened the account for India. Harmanpreet Singh followed it up with two goals through PCs. However, it was PR Sreejesh who saved the day for India with those two spectacular saves. What a goalkeeper! India controlled the tempo but need to finish the game better. They face a major obstacle in Australia tomorrow. Nevertheless, a winning start!
Hero of the Day: PR Sreejesh
Image: The Quint
Men's Hockey: Anxious moments. PC for New Zealand. They fail to convert. SREEJESH IT IS. Indians rush to NZs half with the ball. And the hooter goes off.
INDIA WIN 3-2. A perfect start to their campaign. However, a difficult match lies ahead as they face Australia tomorrow.
Men's Hockey: Just over a minute left. And we have another referral. Right time to have a debate with friends: Is technology a boon or bane?
Referral rejected and the match resumes.
Men's Hockey: Final few minutes left in the game. A PC for New Zealand followed by a video referral by Manpreet to overturn the follow up PC. That was one long review. And another PC for New Zealand but Sreejesh saves the day for India.
China Win The First Gold Medal Of The 2020 Tokyo Olympics
BREAKING: China's Yang Qian has won the first gold medal of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the women's 10m air rifle event.
Men's Hockey: Start of Q4.
Meanwhile, Australia thrashed hosts Japan 5-3 to start their campaign in style!
And with that, another video referral for India. But this time it wasn't upheld. The match continues. 3-2 with India in lead.
Men's Hockey: Stephen Jenness scores New Zealand's second goal to make it 3-2 in the 43rd minute.
End of Q3. We are nearing the end of this game with just Q4 left. Has been one exciting match. A rollercoaster!
Men's Hockey: Another video referral for India. And once again, it is upheld. Meaning, another PC. However, this time Harmanpreet Singh, the 25-year-old from Amristar, Punjab, fails it convert it.
India still leading 3-1.
Meanwhile, it's still 5-3 in favour of Australia against Japan.
Men's Hockey: GOALLLL! INDIA MAKE IT 3-1. Second goal for Harmanpreet Singh.
Men's Hockey: Q3 begins. The Indian team looks confident.
Video referral for India. Upheld. It's another PC for India.
Men's Hockey: India leads 2-1 at half-time thanks to Harmanpreet Singh's goal in the 26th minute.
Meanwhile, Australia ahead in their game against hosts Japan 5-3.
Men's Hockey: Video Referral by India. Upheld. PC. AND GOALLLLL! 2-1. INDIA SCORE TO TAKE THE LEAD.
It's Harmanpreet Singh who score for India this time.
Eyeing the prize: Deepika Kumari
Busy Day Ahead: Watch out for Indians in Judo, Table Tennis and Tennis. All coming up in the next hour.
Men's Hockey: Start of Q2.
Meanwhile, Japan and Australia are going at it. 3-3. Keeping a close eye on that one.
Men's Hockey: End of the first quarter. 1-1. Kane Russell scored for New Zealand in the 6th minute through a penalty corner. Rupinder Pal Singh equalised for India, also through a penalty corner. All to play for!
Men's Hockey: Sreejesh's the man! Pulls of a blinder. However, a video referral has been taken. Phew! He saved it. It's still 1-1.
Men's Hockey: GOALLLLL! INDIA SCORE! Rupinder Pal Singh makes it 1-1 for India through a PC.
Men's Hockey: NZ convert a penalty to make it 1-0 through Kane Russell in the 6th minute. Take the lead in the first quarter.
Hockey: Meanwhile, the Indian men's team is taking on New Zealand in their first match. Can they end the 41-year-old wait?
Shooting: Norway’s Jeanette Hegg Duestad creates a new women’s 10m air rifle Qualifying Olympic Record with a score of 632.9.
Shooting: Not so great news. Elavenil Valarivan finishes 16th with a score of 626.5 while Apurvi Chandela finishes 36th with a score of 621.9. Means no Indian women in the final of the women's 10m air rifle event. The first medal event for India ends up in dissapointment.
Tough Day at the Office
Image: The Quint
Archery, mixed team: India will now play in the quarterfinals at 11:04am IST later in the day.
Tokyo Olympics: Archers Pravin Jadhav & Deepika Kumari Enter Mixed Team Quarters
Archery, mixed team: It's Set 4 and all to play for! 9-10, 8-9, 10-8, 10-9. INDIA WIN 37-36!
WHAT A SHOW! A come from behind win to make it to the quaterfinals!
One Step Closer
Image: The Quint
Archery, mixed team: AMAZING SHOW FROM THE TWO INDIANS! 10-10-10-10. IT'S 40/40. Win Set 3 40-35. Are 3-3 on set points.
Archery, mixed team: Chine Taipei win Set 1 36-35. Narrowly beat India. Two 8s from Pravin Jadhav hurt India.
Archery, mixed team: Meanwhile, the mixed team round of 16 in Archery is underway which is the first mixed team event in the history of the Olympics. It's India's Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav against Chinese Taipei's China-En Lin and Chih-Chun Tang.
Women’s 10m air rifle qualification: Norway's Jeanette Hegg Duestad (632.9), Korea's Heemon Park (631.7) and USA's Mary Carolynn Tucker (631.4) take the top three positions.
Women’s 10m air rifle qualification: Elavenil Valarivan registers 103.5 in Series 5 with scores of 10.5, 10.5, 10.4, 9.7, 10.5, 10.2, 10.6, 10.3, 10.2, 10.6.
Ella can still qualify but that 9.7 might her.
OUCH! Apurvi Chandela resgisters three shots below 10 in a row - 9.9, 9.6, 9.8. Finishes Series 5 with a total of 102.2: 10.2, 9.9, 9.6, 10.5, 10.6, 10.1, 10.5, 9.8, 10.4.
Women’s 10m air rifle qualification: Elavenil Valarivan is currently placed 15th out of a total of 50 shooters. Not looking great for Apurvi Chandela who is currently placed 30th.
Women’s 10m air rifle qualification: Elavenil Valarivan registers an overall score of 104. 2 in Series 4: 10.5, 10.1, 10.7, 10.1, 10.3, 10.6, 10.5, 10.5, 10.2, 10.7.
Just like her colleague, Apurvi Chandela manages a same score of 104.2 in Series 4: 10.2, 10.4, 10.6, 10.2, 10.5, 10.2, 10.7, 10.4, 10.7, 10.3
Women’s 10m air rifle qualification: Elavenil Valarivan improves her score with a 106.0 in Series 3 with scores of 10.3, 10.8, 10.6, 10.4, 10.4, 10.8, 10.8, 10.4, 10.6, 10.9.
Apurvi Chandela manages 104.9 in Series 3 with scores of 10.7, 10.8, 10.3, 10.3, 10.3, 10.3, 10.3, 10.5, 10.9, 10.5.
Five consecutive scores of 10.3 for Chandela. Talk about consistency!
Women’s 10m air rifle qualification: Elavenil Valarivan posts an overall score of 104.0 in series 2 with scores of 10.2, 10.4, 10.5, 10.7, 10.1, 10.8, 10.1, 10.4, 10.3, 10.5.
Apurvi Chandela manages a score of 102.5 in the 2nd series with scores of 10.8, 10.2, 10.1, 9.5, 10.5, 10.3, 10.5, 10.2, 10.5, 9.9.
Women’s 10m air rifle qualification: Apurvi Chandela scores 104.5 in the first series with scores of 10.5, 10.9, 10.5, 10, 10.6, 10.1, 10.8, 10.0, 10.6, 10.5.
Elavenil Valarivan registers a total of 104.3 with scores of 10.7, 10.3, 10.7, 10.2, 10.6, 10.2, 10.7, 10.4, 10.2, 10.3
Day 1
Good morning and welcome to the live coverage of India's campaign at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. After a glittering but subdued opening ceremony on Friday, we are all set for an action packed Saturday.
We start the day with Women's 10m air rifle qualification where Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan will be in action.
Mirabai Starts at 6:20am
Mirabai Chanu, India's lone weightlifter in Tokyo and is currently the world number three. She will start as a medal contender in the women's 49 kg, having set a new world record in clean & jerk by lifting 119kg in the Asian Weightlifting Championship at Tashkent in April 2021.
Chinese weightlifter Jiang Huihua is the favourite in this category but Mirabai had topped her performance in April.
Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav in Mixed Pairs Archery Event
Following the ranking round on Friday, India has elected to field Pravin Jadhav in the mixed pairing with world number one Deepika Kumari and the two will compete in their first elimination round match against the Chinese Taipei pair of Lin Chia-en and Tang Chih-Chun.
Deepika was to team up with her husband Atanu Das for this event and the two had had a successful outing in Paris earlier this month when they won the mixed team title in the World Cup Stage 3. However, with Das struggling to put up a good score in the men's ranking round on Friday, Jadhav turned out to be the best Indian archer and thus got a chance to pair up with Deepika.
4 Shooters in 2 Medal Events
If everything goes as per the script, India's first medal should come from the women's 10m air rifle event. Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan will be going into the 10m air rifle qualification round high on confidence as they have had good performances in the last couple of years. The final starts at 7:15am.
The experienced Apurvi and the young world No. 1 Elavenil will be up against an extremely tough field, as they look to make it to the top eight finals field from among 49 shooters in the qualification round. The qualifiers start at 5am. Apurvi has had scores of 633 in competitions while Elavenil has shot 632.7 out of a possible 654 in the qualification round and if they replicate scores, they should be in the final.
One of India's biggest medal hopes is 19-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary who is currently the world number 2 in the 10m air pistol event. He will start his campaign along with the world number 3 Abhishek Verma. The qualifying round starts at 9:30am.
India Fighting For 4 Medals on Day 1
A glittering opening ceremony on Friday evening in Tokyo kicked-off the Games but the big event gets underway today as sportspersons start their medal campaigns across disciplines.
The Indian contingent will see representation in four medal events with weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, the archery mixed team pair of Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav and also shooters Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan, and Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma starting their campaigns.
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