Rio de Janeiro: Day 7, which was one of the busiest day as far as India’s participation in Rio Olympics is concerned, India had a mixed bag as amid dismal performance by our athletes on the track and field and unimpressive show by our shooters, India got some relief in the form of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna who made it to the semi-finals of the mixed doubles tennis event while boxer Vikas Krishan entered the quarter-finals in men's middleweight (75 kg) category.
Meanwhile the men's hockey team, who are already into the quarterfinals, played out a 2-2 draw against Canada.
Sania and Bopanna brought some cheers to the Indian camp as they defeated Great Britain's Andy Murray and Heather Watson in straight sets. The fourth seeded Indian pair dominated, winning the quarter-final match 6-4, 6-4 in just 67 minutes. A win more will ensure them the silver medal, while if they lose their semifinal match, they will have to fight it out for the bronze medal.
Boxer Vikas Krishan entered the quarterfinal in men's middleweight (75 kg) category after beating Turkey's Onder Sipal. Vikas won all his three rounds.
However, there were disappointing news from other sports, including archery, shooting and the athletics field. Archer Atanu Das failed to capitilise on his chances in the men’s individual recurve pre-quarterfinal and bow out of contention, losing World No.8 Lee Seung-Yun 4-6. With his loss, India’s campaign in archery ended as Laishram Bombayla Devi, Deepika Kumari and Laxmirani Majhi had already bowed out of contention after losing in both the women’s team and individual events.
Meanwhile, the results from the India's track and field events had nothing to cheer about as sprinter Dutee Chand and Muhammed Anas Yahiya, and long jumper Ankit Sharma failed to go past their heats/qualifying match. Dutee and Anas finished seventh and sixth in their respective heats (50th and 31st overall). Sharma committed consecutive fouls in his first two attempts before recording a jump of 7.67 m, which placed him at 24th spot.
India’s skeet shooter Mairaj Ahmad Khan too finished at 10th place. The 40-year-old ended up missing two shots in the final set to fall down from third to 10th place. He registered a total score of 72 (24, 25, 23) from three sets. Mairaj, whose qualification in the semi-finals seems to be tough at the moment, will now have to score at least 49 on the second to survive in the medal contention.
In Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol qualification, India’s Gurpreet Singh also ended the day at 10th position with total points of 289. Gurpreet will now eye for the final spot when they resume their respective events on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, discus thrower Vikas Gowda, failed to impress as he threw the best throw of 58.99m to finish 28th overall out of 34 competitors. Meanwhile, shot putter Manpreet Kaur too fell far behind at the qualification stage while Jinson Johnson could not qulaify for the semifinals.
Later in the day, Manish Singh Rawat finished 13th while his two other compatriots Gurmeet Singh and Krishnan Ganapathi were disqualified early in the men’s 20km race walk road event.
In badminton, the men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost to China's Chai Biao and Hong Wei in the second match of Group D 13-21 15-21 in a 35-minute battle.
Earlier, the pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were eliminated from women's doubles event after losing their second successive group A clashto the Dutch team of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek 16-21 21-16 17-21 in a 48-minute clash.
Gagan Narang and Chain Singh too failed to qualify for the men’s 50m rifle prone final on Friday.
