 "R Vaishali makes history at FIDE Grand Swiss as Arjun Erigaisi misses out on Candidates spot")
 "With 25th Grand Slam looking increasingly uncertain, Novak Djokovic could fulfill another dream next year")
Day 5 preview: Day 4 of the Olympics gave India more worries than positives. Indian shooting disappointed again as mixed team pairs in both pistol and rifle misfired, beginning a debate of expectations versus performance. In badminton, men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their last group match but despite the win, they failed to qualify for the next round due to an inferior games won-lost difference. India’s table tennis start Sharath Kamal bid goodbye to another Olympics but not without a fight and boxer Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) advanced to the quarter-finals in her debut Olympic appearance, defeating German veteran Nadine Apetz in a closely-fought last-16 stage bout. Indian men’s hockey team too made a strong comeback after 1-7 drubbing in hands of Australians a couple of days back. Day 5 comes with good number of Indian athletes in action. Expect Indian women’s hockey team to give it their all when they take on Great Britain in the third Pool match at the Games. They have failed to open their account in Tokyo and onus will be on Rani Rampal and Co to win this match. The good thing is that they are constantly improving. After going 1-5 against Netherlands in opening contest, they displayed better hockey against Germany and will hope to play even better in Wednesday’s match. Indian archers will also be in action. Tarundeep Rai will take on Oleksii Hunbin from Ukraine in Men’s Individual 1/32 Elimination Match while Pravin Jadhav will take on ROC’s Galsan Bazarzhapov in the same event. Deepika Kumari will be up against Karma from Bhutan in Women’s Individual 1/32 Elimination Match in the afternoon. In Boxing, Pooja Rani will be making her Olympics debut, as she takes on Ichrak Chaib of Algeria in Women’s 75kg Round of 16 bout. In badminton, PV Sindhu plays NY Cheung of Hong Kong in Women’s Singles Group J Match while B Sai Praneeth will be up against M Caljouw (Netherlands) in Men’s Singles Group D Match. Sai Praneeth is already out of contention from moving forward from his group. There is also a sailing events where KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar are participating in Men’s Skiff 49er Race 2 to 4. Not to forget, Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh will be competing in Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls Semi-final 2 as well. Follow full Olympics coverage here
Tokyo Olympics 2020 Day 5 Highlights: Boxer Pooja Rani wins opening round; Deepika Kumari victorious in Round of 16 clash
Follow live updates of the events on Day 5 of Tokyo Olympics 2020 in our live blog
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So that’s that from day 5 of the Olympics as far as Indian athletes are concerned.
Here’s a quick recap of what we saw
Badminton: PV Sindhu played an easy match, winning in straight games against Hong Kong’s NY Chueng, she will face Mia Blichfeldt in Round of 16.
Sai Praneeth, who was already eliminated, lost in his final match to Netherlands Mark Caljouw. It was a straight games defeat for Praneeth.
Archery: Deepika Kumari has won her Round 16 and has moved to the quarters which will be played tomorrow. Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav bowed out in the Round of 32.
Boxing: Pooja Rani through to the quarterfinal. She won the bout against Ichrak Chaib of Algeria with a unanimous decision (5-0).
Hockey: Indian women’s team lost their third match on the trot, they went down 4-1 against Great Britain.
Rowing: Pair of Arvind Singh and Arjun Jat Lal finished sixth in semi-final B and failed to qualify for finals.
Our blog will be up and running from 5 am IST tomorrow. See you then. Goodbye for now.
The heat is on at Tokyo Olympics
Tennis player Daniil Medvedev has taken exception to a question from a reporter who asked if “Russian athletes are carrying a stigma of cheaters in this Games.”
The second-seeded Russian Olympic Committee player responded that for “the first time in my life, I’m not going to answer a question and you should be embarrassed of yourself.”
Medvedev then nodded to a Tokyo 2020 staff member to say, “I think you should (ban) him from the Olympic Games or the tennis tournament. I don’t want to see him again on my interview.”
– Via AP
Tennis
Novak Djokovic’s Golden Slam bid is alive and well. The top-ranked Serb beat training partner Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals at the Tokyo Games. Djokovic is attempting to become the first man to achieve a Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic gold in the same calendar year. He has already won the Australian and French Opens plus Wimbledon this year. So now he needs the Tokyo Games title and the US Open trophy to complete the unique collection.
-Via AP
Badminton
And that’s that, Sai Praneeth loses his second match in Tokyo in straight games. Mark Caljouw beats him 21-14, 21-14 to move into next round. Praneeth was ousted even before this match had started but he goes without winning a single game in Tokyo Olympics 2020. The Indian shuttler showed some fight, taking 6-0 lead at one stage in Game 2 but from thereon, he failed to continue the good run. It’s the end of his campaign.
Archery
India’s Deepika Kumari beats USA’s Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez 6-4 in 1/16 Eliminations round.
She won the fifth set 26-25.
Set 5:
Deepika Kumari: 9,9,8
Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez: 8,8,9
Archery
Deepika wins 6-4! Takes the decider with some cool shooting under pressure in the deciding set.
Archery
Scores level!
Jennifer takes the set. Decider coming up.
Deepika: 9,6,9 (24)
Jennifer: 9,8,8 (25)
Archery
Set 4:
Deepika Kumari: 9,6,9
Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez: 9,8,8
Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez wins the fourth set 25-24. Both archers have won two sets each.
Badminton
Caljouw now racing away with Game 2 as well and looks like a straight games defeat is on the cards here untill unless Sai can bounce back again. Score is 17-13.
Archery
Set 3:
Deepika Kumari: 10,9,8
Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez: 8,10,7
Deepika Kumari wins the third set 27-25 to take -2 lead.
Archery
Deepika leads 2-1
India: 10, 9, 8 (27)
USA: 8, 10, 7 (25)
Badminton:
At halway stage, Caljouw now leading 11-9 in Game 2. Remember Sai was once leading 6-0 at one stage. Sai looking down at the moment and is getting some pep talk from the coach
Archery
Deepika wins Set 2!
Shoots 8, 10, 10 (28) against US’ 9,7,9 (25)
Archery
Set 2:
Deepika Kumari: 8,10,10
Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez: 9,7,9
Deepika Kumari bounces back with a 28-25 win in the second set.
Archery
India’s Deepika Kumari is up against USA’s Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez
Series 1
Deepika: 7, 9, 9 (25)
Jennifer: 9, 10, 7 (26)
Jennifer takes Set 1
Badminton
Sai Praneeth took 6-0 lead in second game after losing the first but Caljouw making a strong comeback himself and has made it 7-6.
Archery
Set 1:
Deepika Kumari: 7,9,9
Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez: 9,10,7
Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez wins the first set 26-25.
Archery
Time for Deepika Kumari to take on USA’s Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez in the round of 16 match.
Boxing
Pooja Rani advances! She wins with a unanimous decision (5-0). Impressive in attack, solid in defence.
Badminton:
Sai Praneeth making his way back into the match with a 6-0 lead in the second game. His movement much better in this game. Needs to continue this good run.
Boxing: Women’s Middleweight
India’s Pooja Rani beats Ichrak Chaib of Algeria 5-0 to win the round of 16 bout.
Badminton
Doesn’t look like Sai’s day. Caljouw has run away with Game 1 21-14, not letting Sai find his range. The Indian has struggled at the net and from backcourt and his body language reveals the scoreline.
Boxing: Women’s Middleweight
Clean sweep for Pooja Rani in the second round as well.
Boxing: Women’s Middleweight
Pooja Rani takes the first round by unanimous decision.
Badminton
Caljow creeping ahead. The lead swells to 17-12 as he is raining smashes from the midcourt. Too good for Sai.
Badminton
At the mid-game interval in Game 1, Netherlands’ Mark Caljow leads B Sai Praneeth 11-10
Boxing
Stay tuned for women’s middleweight where India’s Pooja Rani faces Alegria’s Ichrak Chaib.
Badminton: Men’s Singles
B Sai Praneeth’s Group D match against Mark Caljouw of Netherlands is underway!
Deepika wins
India’s Deepika Kumari has beaten Bhutan’s Karma in three straights sets with a 6-0 scoreline
Final series
Deepika: 9, 10, 8 (27)
Karma: 6, 8, 10 (24)
Archery
Deepika’s second series: 8,9,9 (26)
Karma’s second series: 7,7,9 (23)
Deepika leads 2 – 0
Archery
Right then, on to women’s singles 1/32 Eliminations where India’s Deepika Kumari faces Karma from Bhutan
Deepika’s first series: 8,9,9 (26)
Karma’s first series: 8,6,9 (23)
After a late start and missed opportunities, Pooja Rani eyes ultimate glory in Japan
Pooja Rani might have started her boxing career late (at age of 18), and she might have taken years to have a shot at the Olympics but a decade of experience and numerous medals certainly count for a lot.
As Pooja gets ready to start her campaign, read Anish Anand’s interview with the boxer here.
Still to come for India…
Archery
2.14 pm: Deepika Kumari takes on Karma of Bhutan in the Women’s 1/32 eliminations. Women’s Individual 1/16 will take place at 2.53 pm.
Badminton
2.30 pm: B Sai Praneeth will face Mark Caljouw of Netherlands in the men’s singles Group D clash.
Boxing
2.33 pm: Pooja Rani takes on Ichrak Chaib of Algeria in the women’s middleweight round of 16 clash.
Archery: Men’s Individuals
Pravin Jadhav loses to Brady Ellison 6-0 in the round of 16 event.
None of the shooters were able to hit a 10 in the third set but Jadhav’s last shot for a 7 proved decisive with Ellison securing a 9 on the last attempt of the match to secure progress to next round.
Brady Ellison set 3: 8,9,9 – score 26
Pravin Jadhav set 3: 8,8,7 – score 23
Archery: Men’s Individuals
Brady Ellison wins the second set and now leads 4-0. Pravin Jadhav started brilliantly with a 10 but a 7, at the end, went against him. He needs to win the next set to stay alive in the event.
Brady Ellison set 2: 8,10,9 – score 27
Pravin Jadhav set 2: 10,9,7 – score 26
Archery: Men’s Individuals
Brady Ellison wins the first set and leads 2-0. Pravin Jadhav made a good comeback with a 10 after shooting 8 on his second attempt but it was not enough.
Brady Ellison set 1: 9,10, 9 – score 28
Pravin Jadhav set 1: 9, 8, 10 – score 27
It’s a best of 5 sets match.
Archery: Men’s Individuals
India’s Pravin Jadhav’s round of 16 match against world No 1 and USA’s Brady Ellison is about to start.
After Pravin Jadhav, we will have shuttler Sai Praneeth in action. All the best!
Archery: Men’s Individuals
India’s Pravin Jadhav will take on USA’s Brady Ellison, bronze medallist from Rio 2016, at 1.22 PM in the round of 16 event.
Simone Biles update: