Tokyo Games 2020: Women Keep Indias’ Medal Dream Alive

As we enter the second week of the Tokyo Games, some disappointing knockouts, our players still manage to keep the medal chances alive for India. Of all the contenders, women continue to lead India's campaign at Tokyo 2020.

After entering the semi-finals, Lovlina Borgohain assures a medal. Out of the boxing contingent, Borgohain seems to be the only relief.

Boxing legend MC Mary Kom had to bow out of the games after she lost to Colombia’s Ingrit Valencia for 3-2. Pooja Rani too came up short against Qian Li of China, losing 0-5 in the women's middleweight (75kg) quarterfinal. In yet another disappointing turn, Indian boxer Simranjit Kaur too lost her women’s lightweight round of 16 bout to Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee by a unanimous verdict and failed to qualify for the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, in a striking feat, Kamalpreet Kaur who debuted this season in discus throw managed to get a berth in the finals. She threw an impressive 63.97 to qualify for the women's discus final. Her’s was the second best throw overall in the qualification round. However, her fellow competitor and Indian veteran Seema Punia failed to make it to the finals. Punia’s best was finished with 60.57.

After three consecutive losses, the Indian Hockey women’s team came back with two subsequent wins. They defeated Ireland (1-0) and South Africa (4-3). In fact, Vandana Katariya scored three out of the four goals against South Africa. With this, she became the first Indian woman hockey player to score a hat-trick at the Games. The team has also managed to enter the quarterfinals.

India's biggest hope in badminton, PV Sindhu went down fighting against world no. 1 and second seed Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei in the women's singles semi-final. The star player will now be competing for a bronze medal.

In archery, star player Deepika Kumari too failed to make a mark in the quarterfinals.

The shooting contingent was a disappointment in itself putting forth a largely average show with a medal-less performance until now by a record contingent of total 15 shooters.

Even though athletics began, no one seems to have had an impressive start. Sprinter Dutee Chand could only finish 7th and 45th overall in 100m Heats, thus failing to qualify. The mixed 4x400m relay team including V Revathi, and Subha Venkatesan couldn't be fast enough to qualify further.

But this isn’t the end. There are many more sporting events lined up including wrestling and other athletic events. Hopefully, our players can bring more medals home.

(Edited by Sanhati Banerjee)

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