Rio de Janeiro: After disappointment from archers Deepika Kumari and Laishram Bombayla Devi, who crashed out of women`s individual event, Indian shuttlers brought some cheers to the Indian contingent as Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Srikanth Kidambi won the respective singles matches to enter the next round in Rio Olympics, here on Thursday.
Saina Nehwal got the better of Brazil's Lohaynny Vicente in straight games 21-17, 21-17, while PV Sindhu opens with a win, defeating Laura Sarosi of Hungary 21-8, 21-9.
However, earlier, the Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had a disappointing start in the women's doubles event, losing 15-21, 10-21 to the World No.1 Japanese pair of Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsumoto in a match which lasted 36 minutes in their Group A opener. The Indians will next be up against the world No.11 Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek in their second group clash on Friday. The men’s doubles team of Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy too lost 18-21, 13-21 to World No.2 Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. Manu and Sumeeth will now face the World No. 5 Chinese pair of Biao Chai and Wei Hong.
In tennis, India’s mixed doubles tennis pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna beat Samantha Stosur and John Peers from Australia 7-5, 6-4 to enter the mixed doubles quarterfinals. Sania and Rohan will now face Great Britain's Andy Murray and Heather Watson in quarters.
In hockey, the Indian men's hockey team went down fighting 1-2 to the Netherlands, while the women's team was outclassed 0-3 by USA. However, the men’s team have reached the quarters.
Boxer Shiva Thapa, too, crashed out of the Rio Olympics 2016 after 3-0 loss to Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez in the bantam weight (56kg) category.
In golf, Anirban Lahiri ended the day at +3 over par, while SSP Chawrasia finished at even par.
