New Delhi: Golfer Anirban Lahiri will kick start day eight of the Tokyo Olympics for India but all eyes will be on star shuttler PV Sindhu, who will play an all-important semi-finals match on Saturday.
Sindhu on Friday stormed into the semi-finals of the women’s singles event after defeating Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in two straight sets. Star boxer Amit Panghal will make his Olympics debut when he competes in the round of 16 in the men’s 52kg category.
Discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur ranks second in qualification, advances to final
India discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur qualified for the finals after finishing second in the women’s discus throw qualification event here at Olympic Stadium on Saturday. Kamalpreet was only the second thrower who achieved the automatic qualification of 64.00m after USA’s Valarie Allman as the latter threw 66.42m in her first attempt.
Meanwhile, Kamalpreet’s compatriot and veteran athlete Seema Punia failed to qualify for the finals.
Playing in her maiden Olympics, Kamalpreet threw her first attempt at 60.29 and improved massively by 63.97 on her second. But it was her third attempt that secured her automatic qualification in the 15 players’ field in Group B.
Top-seed Amit Panghal suffers shock loss against Yuberjen Martinez
Top-seed Indian boxer Amit Panghal crashed out of the ongoing Tokyo Olympics after losing to Colombia’s Yuberjen Martinez in men’s Flyweight (48-52kg) here at Kokugikan Arena on Saturday.
Martinez overpowered Panghal in the last two rounds of the bout to clinch the match by a split decision of 4-1 to progress into the quarterfinals.
This was Amit’s first-round match at the Games. Panghal started the match on the front foot as he gave some serious body blows to Colombian and kept tagging him from a safe distance. Judges ruled first round 4-1 in the favour of the Indian.
Archer Atanu Das crashes out after losing to Takaharu Furukawa
India’s ace archer Atanu Das bowed out of men’s individual event after losing to Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa in the 1/8 Eliminations Round at Yumenoshima Park on Saturday.
Furukawa defeated 29-year-old Das by 6-4 in the decider to cruise into the quarterfinals of the men’s individual event.
Furukawa started the match with three consistent 9s while Das replied with 9-8-8 and handed two points to London 2012 silver medallist.
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Day eight of the Tokyo 2020, will also see former World Champion Tejaswini Sawant’s Olympic debut, with the seasoned shooter accompanying yet another Olympic debutant Anjum Moudgil, in the Women’s 50M Rifle 3 Positions (3P) qualification round.
Anjum had officially debuted during the Mixed Team Rifle competition. It’s a 38-strong field in the Women’s 3P with some of the best exponents of the most grueling of Rifle/Pistol events in the fray.
Sailors KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar will also be in action. Boxer Pooja Rani will compete in her quart-finals match. Sreeshankar Murali will compete in India’s last event of the day when he takes the field for the long jump qualification round.
(With Agency inputs)
