The Tokyo Olympics Day-8 gave India some major heartbreaks. No. 1 seeded Indian Boxer Amit Panghal lost to his Cambodian opponent. PV Sindhu who won the Silver in the Rio Olympics lost to Tai Tzu Ying in straight games. Now, she will contest for the Bronze Medal.
With the end of the Tokyo Olympic Day-8, the Chinese domination on top of the medal tally continued. With 46 medals including 21 golds, China stays at top of the medal tally. It is followed by the host nation Japan which has 30 medals. This includes a total of 17 golds. While the United States of America is stuck with the third position. It has a total of 46 medals of which 17 are gold.
India At Tokyo Olympics Day-8
India’s Day started with a loss in golf. Seema Punia too could not qualify for the final round of the women’s discus throw and finished sixth. Atanu Das playing the pre-quarterfinal against his opponent from japan lost the match by a very close margin. It was 4 all but in the fifth round, the 36-year old Japanese archer won by one point difference. Thus, making an exit for Atanu by 6-4. With this ended the Indian Archery contingents medal hopes.
Good news came later. When Kamalpreet Kaur in the second group of Women’s discus throw event qualified to the finals and became the second Indian woman to do so! Though she took two attempts to qualify, still she has created some hope for the Indians.
The biggest upset of the day came from Boxing where the no. 1 seed Amit Panghal lost his Round of 16 bout to his Cambodian opponent. Amit led by 4-1 in the first round and was good at defending and hitting the target well. However, in the second round, Amit was more passive and the Cambodian won the hearts of all the judges. Thus, getting a unanimous decision in his favor. This turned out to be crucial and Amit lagged behind in the final round as well! Hence, he lost the match and this was a big heartbreak for all the Indian Boxing Fans.
No good results came from 50m rifle 3 position shooting and sailing too. However, the Indian Women’s Hockey Team beat the South African Team and after the loss of the Irish Team against Great Britain, confirmed their seats in the Knockout stages!
The Hockey Match was more than a Nail-Biter and saw history being made!
Vandana Kataria, the no. 16 girl created history by becoming the first Indian woman to score a hat-trick in Olympics. She scored 3 goals out of the 4 goals that India scored against the South Africans today. Interestingly, Vandana’s career is because of her father who fought societal prejudice to let her play! With this game, India entered knockouts where they will play against Australia on 2nd August in the quarter-finals!
Next was Pooja Rani’s bout against the no.2 seed Chinese boxer. She lost the bout by a unanimous decision and lagged behind the Chinese boxer throughout the match!
PV Sindhu vs Tai Tzu Ying
One of the most anticipated matches for Badminton lovers went against India. The stats were against Sindhu, but everyone was confident of Sindhu’s form. PV Sindhu had shown her class and had won all her matches in straight games. The Chinese Tapei girl Tai Tzu Ying owing to the no. of matches she has played against Sindhu went on with body smashes. She caught Sindhu in her trap. Though Sindhu led the match in the initial stages, Tai Tzu Ying forced Sindhu to make some errors and beat Sindhu at the deception game. As a result, Sindhu lost the match in straight games. Now, she will face the Chinese He Bingjiao in the bronze medal match. While Tai Tzu Ying will face Chen Yufei for the Gold Medal match!
Towards the end, the Long Jump contender from India, M. Shreeshankar could not qualify for the finals and ended at no. 13. Thus the Tokyo Olympics Day-8 ended.
Many interesting moments also came through the day. These included some really good boxing bout and an amazing show of archery skills by the Men. More amazing action awaits the audiences on the Tokyo Olympics Day-9!
Stay tuned to Akashbaani for more Olympic Updates!
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