It was a total anti-climax. Not expected at all. Early in the morning in India, there was shocking news from Tokyo. What transpired in the men’s 52kg pre-quarterfinal bout between India’s prime medal hope Amit Panghal and Colombia’s Martinez Rivas, a silver medallist from the 2016 Rio Olympics, was what worst dreams are made of.
Pakistan's versatile bowling attack did just enough to restrain a rampant Nicholas Pooran and come away with a seven-run victory over the West Indies in the second T20 International of the four-match series at the National Stadium in Guyana on Saturday.
The hockey rivalry between India and Great Britain is steeped in history. On August 12, 1948, almost a year after India gained independence from the British rule, the Balbir Singh Sr led-team blanked the hosts 4-0 at a packed Wembley stadium in London to claim independent India’s maiden Olympic gold. Less than two weeks from the 73rd anniversary of the landmark day, the two teams face off in the quarterfinals at the Oi stadium.
Newly-crowned Olympic singles tennis champion, Belinda Bencic, has dedicated her gold medal to Swiss great Roger Federer, whose pre-match message inspired her to victory in Tokyo.
Australian Emma McKeon swept to her third Tokyo gold and sixth medal overall Sunday when she dipped below the magic 24-second mark to win the women's 50m freestyle title.
Caeleb Dressel claimed his fourth Tokyo gold and earned the title of world's fastest swimmer Sunday with an Olympic-record 21.07 seconds in the 50m freestyle final.
It was a disappointing morning for India as the dreams of an Olympic medal in archery were shattered with Atanu Das losing 4-6 to Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa, a silver winner in the 2012 edition, in a five-set men’s individual pre-quarterfinal clash in Tokyo on Saturday.
The odds were stacked against Kamalpreet Kaur. First, she was deprived of a personal coach to guide her on the biggest stage. Far from closing ranks, a senior colleague then levelled charges of hyperandrogenism. Isolated and dispirited coming into the Olympics, Kamalpreet did what she does best: take it out on the poor discus. And what a fine decision that proved!
Ever since she returned home from Rio de Janeiro with a silver medal, PV Sindhu has been wanting to change it to gold. Five years on, she had an opportunity on Saturday, only to fluff her lines as touch artist Tai Tzu Ying proved a cut above. The world No. 1 Chinese Taipei shuttler outclassed Sindhu 21-18, 21-12 in the women’s singles semifinals on Saturday.
On Saturday at the Oi stadium, Vandana made the country and her late father proud by becoming the first Indian woman hockey player to score a hat-trick at the Olympics. But more importantly, her goals helped India get past a plucky South Africa 4-3 to keep their quarterfinals hopes intact. A few hours later, Great Britain did India a favour by blanking Ireland 2-0 to help the Rani Rampal-led team enter the quarterfinals.
Pistol shooters’ campaign ended in disappointment when Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat failed to enter the women’s 25m sports pistol final on Friday. Rahi, who specializes in the event, shot a poor 286 in the rapid, her strength, to total 573 and finish 32nd overall.
To think, Lovlina took up boxing only in 2012, the year Mary Kom was winning India’s first boxing medal at the Olympics. Today, when a much-travelled legend was unable to figure whether she had won or lost, the apprentice was writing history of her own, borrowing a little from the Manipur icon here, a little bit of Muhammad Ali there and some from Thai martial art Muay Thai.
Boxer Lovlina Borgohain showed immense courage, sound technique and clever strategy to conquer former world champion Chen Nien-chin in the 69kg quarterfinals. The 23-year-old Assam girl went into the bout relaxed, not thinking about previous defeats to her opponent.
On Friday, the 5’9 boxer made the women’s 69kg semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics, assuring herself of at least a bronze. Lovlina, who stopped talking to the media long before the Games, also broke her silence at a virtual press conference.
In this enthralling 69kg quarterfinal encounter, Lovlina showed her technical nous, superb game sense and street smartness to prevail over her much-fancied opponent. It was a 4-1 split verdict in Lovlina’s favour. All three rounds went in her favour. Despite a late surge from her opponent, Lovlina had proved insurmountable.
PV Sindhu is just one win away from creating history. But what every Indian fan wants to know is 'What should their superstar do to beat Tai Tzu Ying'.
Team India’s doctor Karanjeet Singh should have been named in the Olympic-bound contingent in the official capacity but was relegated in the list as an ‘extra official’. He has been cooling his heels in a hotel outside the Athletes Village. The Tokyo 2020 organisers haven’t allowed him ‘venue access’ on his P-TAP (Personal-Training Assist Programme) accreditation.
Locked 5-5 after the regulation five-setter, the 27-year-old Indian held her nerves in the shoot-off to deliver a perfect 10, hitting the bull's eye, to topple the Russian, a team silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
An integral part of strategies is making risky choices. For the second consecutive match, the Indian think-tank, led by chief coach Graham Reid, decided to use the alternate player card and the move paid off.
The motley crowd at the arena cheered for Mary, 38, as she left the hall after losing to Colombia's Ingrit Valencia in the Round-of-16 bout.. Thursday’s last-16 bout became her last at the Olympics as the International Boxing Association (AIBA) doesn’t allow boxers above the age of 40 to compete at the Games.
Exposing India's young batsmen's inability to tackle spin, Sri Lanka conjured up a seven-wicket victory in the deciding third Twenty20 to hand the fancied Asian neighbours a 2-1 series defeat on Thursday.
Deepika Kumari kept India’s hopes for a maiden Olympic medal in archery alive by making the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s individual category in Tokyo on Wednesday. In what could turn into a picture-perfect scenario for India, Deepika’s husband Atanu Das will join her in this podium dream on Thursday, when the Kolkata man opens his individual campaign against Deng YuCheng of Chinese Taipei in the round of 64.
From the moment the announcer at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan arena called out her name and she walked out slamming her gloves against each other, Pooja Rani meant business. She entered the ring sans histrionics and walked away the winner with minimum fuss. In a word, she was dominating in her 75kg pre-quarterfinal bout.
A depleted Indian team, playing with only five batsmen, could not defend a modest target of 133 despite a valiant effort from its players as Sri Lanka kept the three-match series alive with a four-wicket victory in the second T20 International on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the NRAI chief Raninder Singh agreed that Manu Bhaker and pistol coach Jaspal Rana had their differences and blamed Rana for spreading negativity in the Indian camp.
First it was Naomi Osaka, now weeks later a tearful Simone Biles. Two of the biggest names in sport have publicly revealed that they are struggling with their mental health -- and they could be the catalyst for wider change.
Covid continues to stump cricket. Just a few hours before it was scheduled to begin, the second T20 International between India and Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday was postponed by 24 hours after India allrounder Krunal Pandya tested positive for Covid-19.
A 39-year-old Sharath Kamal hasn’t ruled out a return to Olympics in 2024. But even if he doesn’t, the Indian great will remember his Olympics swansong as one of his best-ever performances. It wasn’t enough to stop the legendary Ma Long in the third round at Tokyo, but that takes nothing away from the brilliant fight that the Chennai paddler put up, especially in the first three games.
Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain now needs to win her quarterfinal bout against Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei on July 30 to ensure a medal for herself and country.
Battered and bruised by a 1-7 mauling by Australia on Sunday evening, Manpreet Singh’s men regrouped at the Oi hockey stadium in Tokyo to blank Spain 3-0 and vault to the second spot behind Australia on the points table in Group A. With the top four from the group making the knockouts, the win boosted India’s chances.
Pair of Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker failed to qualify for the medal match in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event after finishing the Qualification stage 2 at the seventh spot here at the Asaka Shooting - 10m Range. Chaudhary and Bhaker shot a total of 380 in Qualification stage 2 and hence they bowed out of the Olympics in the mixed event.
Australia's varied bowling attack once again dominated a suspect West Indies batting line-up on the way to a series-clinching six-wicket victory in the decisive final fixture of the three-match One-Day International series at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Monday.
A day before the competition in Tokyo, Mirabai seemed in fine fettle, lifting good weights during training sessions. Later in the day, however, she developed menstrual cramps, forcing the coaching staff to completely abandon their plans and revisit their weightlifting strategy for the day.
Will the in-form Suryakumar Yadav and Prithvi Shaw, who are set to join the Test team in England, play on Tuesday night? It’s a major question doing the rounds as India look to wrap up the series when they take on Sri Lanka in the second T20 International at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo.
Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday hailed weightlifter Mirabai Chanu for creating history by winning a first day medal at the Tokyo Olympics, an unparalleled feat by an Indian athlete in the history of the games. Chanu, who returned to the country on Monday evening, lifted a total of 202kg in the 49kg category to better Karnam Malleswari's bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics on Saturday.
Bhavani Devi made history when she became the first Indian to qualify for Olympics fencing. She bowed out of the quadrennial showpiece after her Round of 32 loss on Monday, but the Chennai girl has truly been a great ambassador for the sport in India.
Pakistan's energetic pace bowler Hasan Ali wants to become a top all-format all-rounder like his illustrious predecessors Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood.
Manpreet Singh & Co were humiliated by Australia, the best-ranked team in the world. The scoreline was a humbling 7-1 in their Pool A face-off. India, who play Spain on Tuesday, will hope to regroup in time but the scars of this defeat are bound to remain.
It was not an Olympics debut paddler G Sathiyan would want to remember. The 28-year-old went down 3-4 (7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-5, 9-11, 10-12, 6-11) to Hong Kong’s Lam Siu Hang in the second round at the Tokyo Games on Sunday.
For Mary, the first-round win in the 51kg category against Miguelina Hernandez of Dominican Republic was just the beginning of her pursuit for another Olympic medal. Magnificent Mary, as she is addressed as by her numerous fans across the world, had won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.
Was Manika Batra a little out of line or justified in her demand to get oncourt access to personal coach Sanmay Paranjape? Whatever the real reason, a day ago the table-tennis player’s blunt refusal to seek advice from chief national coach Soumyadeep Roy, during her first-round match against Britain’s Tin-Tin Ho, generated some controversy.
Suryakumar Yadav's golden run with the bat was beautifully complemented by the Indian bowling unit led by Bhuvneshar Kumar as the visitors outclassed Sri Lanka by 38 runs in the first T20 International on Sunday.
Weightlifter Malleswari’s bronze at the 2000 Sydney Olympics didn’t get much attention for the sport at the grassroots level. She hopes Chanu’s silver in Tokyo will change the dynamics.