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Day 2 preview: After a successful opening day that saw Mirabai Chanu open the nation’s account on the very first day of the Games and Sumit Nagal end a 15-year wait, Indian athletes will hope to add more medals to their tally on the second day of the mega event that finally got underway after getting postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the key Indian names in action on Sunday is PV Sindhu, who lost to Carolina Marin in the 2016 women’s singles final to win silver — one of the two medals India won in that event. Sindhu, who has since won World Championships gold among her many achievements, will be up against Israel’s Ksenia Polikarpova. Also in action for the first time in Tokyo 2020 will be 2012 London bronze medallist MC Mary Kom, who will be up against Dominican Republic’s Miguelina Hernandez Garcia. Additionally, the ten-time Olympic medallists India, who will be hoping to end their four-decade wait for an 11th medal, will be up against Australia in their second men’s Pool A game. They had collected their first points on Saturday with a narrow 3-2 win over New Zealand. In table tennis, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will be in action for the first time in his debut Games when he takes on Hong Kong’s Siu Hang Lam. Manika Batra, who got off to a winning start on Saturday, faces Ukraine’s Margaryta Pesotska. Earlier on the opening day, weightlifting hero Chanu Saikhom Mirabai said her silver medal at Tokyo 2020 had been five years in the making since she missed out on an Olympic medal in Rio. Mirabai, 26, finished second behind gold medallist Hou Zhihui of China in the 49kg women’s wrestling on day one of the Olympic weightlifting competition. Mirabai, the 2017 world champion at 48kg, had failed to finish in the 2016 Olympics after recording no clean lifts in three clean and jerk attempts. But she came back strong to aggregate 202kg in Tokyo and become a national hero at becoming India’s first weightlifting silver medallist, after Karanam Malleswari’s bronze in the women’s 69kg at Sydney 2000. India, the second-most populous country in the world with 1.3 billion people, won just two medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But pundits and IOA president Narinder Batra have predicted the country’s medal count in Tokyo could reach double digits.
Tokyo Olympics 2020 Day 2 Highlights: India men's hockey team defeated by Australia; Manish Kaushik eliminated
Follow live updates on the events of the second day of competitions in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on our live blog
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That brings us to the end of our coverage on Day 2 of the Olympics. A disappointing day for India overall. Barring few good performances in Table Tennis, badminton and boxing, where Manika Batra, PV Sindhu and Mary Kom registered wins, Indians were outclasses everywhere.
In Shooting, another bad day as Manu Bhaker ran out of luck in 10m air pistol and others were just below average in their qualifications.
Other big jolts were Sathiyan Gnanasekaran failing to win his first round clash in TT and Indian hockey team getting a 7-1 drubbing in hands of Australians.
Good news in badminton as PV Sindhu too eased into the second round.
In Tennis, Sania/Raina pair was beaten in the opening round.
Gymnast Pranati Nayak failed to make the cut in qualifications.
Rowers however Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s lightweight double sculls repechage at the Tokyo Olympics.
Tomorrow, our blog will be up again by 5 am IST. See you tomorrow. Good bye for now.
Swimming
Srihari Natraj fails to qualify for semis in men’s 100m backstroke as he finishes 27th among the 41 swimmers in heats. He finished with timing of 54.31 seconds, and is behind by 2.16 seconds from the leader ROC’s Kiliment Kolesnikov.
Swimming: Srihari Natraj clocks 54.14 in Heat 3 of the men’s 100m backstroke. Germany’s Marek Ulrich finishes first among the eight swimmers in the heat, Natraj 0.57 seconds behind him. Top 16 swimmers will progress to the semis.
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 1 – 7 AUS | Q4
And that’s that for this match, Australia were dominant from start to finish, and they more than deserve to win by this scoreline. India, on the other hand, will be feeling dejected right now, but there is a lot they can learn from this defeat. It’s not all over for them, not at the moment at least.
Sathiyan shows his disappointment in not going over the line in first match in his debut Olympics
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 1 – 7 AUS | Q4
Excellent work from Tim Brand to score. The Australian rounds a charging PR Sreejesh, and from a quite difficult angle, manages to send a canon of a shot into the gaping net.
Swimming
Update on India’s Maana Patel: She finishes 39th out of the 43 swimmers in women’s 100m backstroke, fails to qualify for the semi-finals. She had finished with timing of 1:05.20, 7.32 seconds behind the leader Australia’s Kaylee McKeown.
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 1 – 6 AUS | Q3
Blake Govers is bowled over by Birendra Lakra, and Australia have another penalty corner. It’s blocked by Manpreet, another PC now. And Australia score again, a shot from Govers goes through despite an attempted Sreejesh save.
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 1 – 5 AUS | Q3
Alright then, penalty corner for India after a lengthy bit of deliberation. It’s a smart idea, but Mandeep is unable to deflect it into the net. Australia are then awarded a penalty stroke. Govers steps forward and scores.
Up next in Swimming: India’s Srihari Natraj will take part in Men’s 100m backstroke at 4.30 pm IST.
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 1 – 4 AUS | Q3
India get the breakthrough, and it’s thanks to Dilpreet, who bamboozled the Australia keeper by diverting a shot with a lovely little touch in the opposite direction to which the keeper was heading.
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 0 – 4 AUS | Q3
Alright, what have India got in their tanks now? Can they fight back and get a couple of quick goals? They have an early PC! Ah, an untimely slip from Rupinderpal Singh, nothing comes off it. Another PC to India now. It’s blocked well.
Swimming:
India’s Maana Patel finishes second in Heat 1 of the women’s 100m backstroke in 1:05.20. Katai finishes first (1:02.73)while Kimberly is third (1:10.24). Best sixteen out of all Heats wil go to semis.
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 0 – 4 AUS | Q2
And another. This one comes courtesy of Joshua Beltz. Half time couldn’t come soon enough for India at this point.
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 0 – 3 AUS | Q2
When it rains, it pours. Flynn Ogilvie scores with a thunderous shot into the bottom corner after a pass from Blake Govers..
Swimming:
In Women’s 100m backstroke, India’s Maana Patel is taking part in Heat 1. She is up against Zimbabwe’s Donata Katai and Grenada’s Ince Kimberly.
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 0 – 2 AUS | Q2
Another penalty corner, and another goal for Australia. It was an exquisite dragflick from Jeremy Hayward, it was hit low and hard, and swerved away from Sreejesh to rattle the backboard.
Boxing
Manish Kaushik loses his opening bout. He goes down to Luke McCormack of Great Britain by 4-1. The Brit domiates the third round, impressing all five judges in the last, decisive round, hence Manish’s campaign comes to an end.
Boxing: Both boxers do well in the second round. Manish Kaushik levels it with three judges impressed with him this time. The third round is winner-takes-all. A very tight competition.
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 0 – 1 AUS | Q1
Penalty corner for India with 49 seconds remaining in the quarter! It’s struck firmly by Rupinderpal, but it’s kept out brilliantly on the line! Great work from the Australian keeper.
Boxing: Kaushik, in red, delivers the first punch, cautious start by the British and Kaushik delivers another punch on the face. Lot of support from Indian coaches at the ring side. Defence has been good from the Brit making it difficult for Kaushik to reach him. Many of Kaushik’s punches did not land. The Indian could impress only 2 out of the 5 judges. First round for the Brit.
Hockey – Men’s Pool A
IND 0 – 1 AUS | Q1
It’s been absolutely end to end stuff in the early minutes of this pool A match, and both sides have had a couple of good opportunities to score. India’s best chance came from a penalty corner, but they were unable to convert. Australia get the breakthrough from their first PC, despite Sreejesh’s best attempts to save.
Jon Rahm withdraws from Games after testing positive for COVID-19
World number one Jon Rahm withdrew from the Olympics on Sunday after testing positive for COVID-19 for the second time in two months, the Spanish Olympic Committee confirmed.
Rahm, who stormed to victory at the US Open in June, returned a positive sample after undergoing mandatory testing following his recent participation in the British Open.
Click here to read more of the report.
Ageless wonder!
Sailing: Men’s One Person Dinghy — Laser — Race 1
India’s Vishnu Saravanan finishes 14th in Race 1. He made a poor start, was in 29th place at one point but recovered well towards the end. The second race will take place in a while.
In total, there will be 10 races and top performers will go to the medal race.
Shooting: Men’s Skeet Qualification
India’s Angad Vir Singh Bajwa is in 11th place with a score of 73/75 and Mairaj Ahmad Khan is placed 25th with a score of 71/75 after three rounds of qualification on Day 1.
Two more rounds of qualification will take place tomorrow. Top 6 will qualify for the final.
Boxing: Women’s Fly (48-51 Kg)
Mary Kom wins!
She made full use of her experience, beating Garcia’s punches excellently and then landing a few of her own to secure 4-1 win.
The Indian boxer is now through to round of 16.
Boxing: Women’s Fly (48-51 Kg)
Mary Kom is trying to manage the bout now. In the second round, she stayed a bit away from Garcia. The opponent has been on the front foot trying to land punches but Mary Kom’s defensive game has been pretty good. Again, three judges give 10 points to Mary Kom.
Boxing: Women’s Fly (48-51 Kg)
Mary Kom who is fighting in red has been a bit defensive in the first round against Garcia who is in blue but the clash has not been short of fireworks. Mary Kom is making full use of her experience. After the first round, three out of five judges gave 10 points to Mary Kom.
Magnificent Manika!
Boxing: Women’s Fly (48-51 Kg)
Time for the big bout! India’s Mary Kom will be taking on Miguelina Hernandez Garcia of the Dominican Republic in the round of 32 clash.
Table Tennis: Women’s Singles Round 2
The stats from Manika vs Pesotska match.
Table Tennis: Women’s Singles Round 2
Manika beats Pesotska 4-11, 4-11, 11-7, 12-10, -11, 11-5, 11-7 to reach the third round!
The Indian wins the deciding game 7 11-7. She first raced to a 5-2 lead, then made it 9-3 before losing two points. Then added one more to her tally to earn five match points. Pesotska saved two match points but eventually succumbed.
Table Tennis: Women’s Singles Round 2
Game 7: Manika currently leads 5-2 against Pesotska.
Table Tennis: Women’s Singles Round 2
Manika vs Pesotska is going to Game 7. The Indian wins the fifth game 11-5 after being 2-5 down at one stage. Manika started the match with big smashes but soon revised her game plan after it proved to be inefficient. Her plan since then has been to engage her opponents in long rallies and force her to make an error. The strategy has been working fine so far.
Table Tennis: Women’s Singles Round 2
Pesotska wins the fourth game 11-8. This match has been a seesaw battle. The Ukrainian now leads 3-2 and could clinch the match with a win in the sixth game.
Table Tennis: Women’s Singles Round 2
It’s getting tensed! Manika wins the fourth game 12-10 to level the match 2-2. The Indian took an early 6-3 lead but Pesotska fought back to make it 6-6 and from there on both players kept earning back-to-back points before Manika made the difference at the end.
Table Tennis: Women’s Singles Round 2
Manika bounces back to win the third game 11-7. She now trails 1-2 in the match. Manika may not have a coach by her side but she is not short of confidence and motivation. Terrific defensive game.
Table Tennis: Women’s Singles Round 2
Pesotska is proving to be too strong for Manika as the Ukrainian clinches the second game 11-4 to take a 2-0 lead in the best of 7 Games. Pesotska has been quite attacking and Manika’s defence is failing her.