A historic day for the Indian contingent on Thursday at the Tokyo Olympics. An action-packed Thursday, started with the Indian men’s hockey team defeating Germany and claiming the bronze medal. Ravi Kumar Dahiya bagged the silver medal in wrestling. Aditi Ashok impressed again on Day 2, maintained second place. India’s medal tally at the Tokyo 2020 went up to 5. And we are now just one short of the best-ever medal haul of 6 from London 2012.
Hockey
Indian men’s hockey team scripted history as they defeated Germany 5-4 in the third-place match to clinch the Bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Indian team also won their first hockey medal at the Olympics after a 41-year-old drought with the last medal (a gold) coming at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Simranjeet Singh (2), Rupinder Pal Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, and Hardik Singh were the goalscorers for India.
“I don’t know what to say right now, it was fantastic. The effort, the game, we were 3-1 down. I think we deserve this medal. We have worked so hard, the last 15 months were difficult for us also. We were in Bangalore and some of us got COVID also. I would like to dedicate this medal to doctors and frontline health workers who have saved so many lives in India,” said Indian men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh (To PTI)
Wrestling
India’s star wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya scripted history at the Tokyo Olympics by winning a silver medal for India. The reigning Asian Champion, Ravi Kumar Dahiya lost the Gold Medal bout in the finals of the Men’s 57 kg Wrestling event. The world champion Zavur Uguev of the Russian Olympic Committee defeated Ravi with a margin of 7-4.
Ravi Kumar becomes the second Indian wrestler in the history of the Olympics to clinch a silver medal. He is the first male athlete to secure a medal for India at the Tokyo Olympics.
Deepak Punia
India’s Deepak Punia lost to Myles Amine of San Marino in the bronze medal match of 86kg category of men’s freestyle wrestling. Deepak had the lead till the last 10 seconds, but Amine pulled a sensational move in the dying second to go up 3-2. Before this bout, he beat Nigeria’s Ekerekeme Agiomor, by technical superiority in the first round. And then defeated China’s Zushen Lin in the quarterfinal by a margin of 6-3.
Vinesh Poghat
A huge upset for India as Vinesh Poghat lost to Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the 53kg quarterfinals on Thursday. She missed out on the repechage round after Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya lost her semi-final bout to China’s Qianyu Pang. Before this bout, Vinesh defeated Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson 7-1 in the first round.
Anshu Malik
Anshu Malik’s Tokyo campaign came to an end. She lost to Valeria Koblova of the Russian Olympic Committee in the repechage bout of the 57kg category.
Golf
Indian golfer Aditi Ashok has raised hopes for an Olympic medal after carding a flawless five-under 66 in the second round of the women’s competition on Thursday. She rolled in five birdies, which included three in her last four holes. Aditi is currently tied on second with the Danish duo of Nanna Koerstz Madsen (64) and Emily Kristine Pedersen (63) – sharing second place on 9-under.
“The last three holes, I had a couple of shots that were just a good number for me. And I hadn’t really had any short approaches all day, maybe just a couple. This whole week there’s going to be so many girls making birdies. Especially because the weather’s warm and the conditions are favorable,” she said.
“I think whatever holes I get to play, whether it’s 54 or 72, I’m not really going to sit on anything. I’m just going to try and be as aggressive and make more birdies,” she added
20 km Racewalk
In the men’s 20km racewalk final, Sandeep Kumar finished highest for India at 23rd, while Rahul Rohilla and KT Irfan ended at 47th and 51st.
