Disappointing opening day for Indians
It wasn’t the best of starts for the Indian contingent at the Rio Games as there was more disappointment than happiness on day one.
While all four Indian contenders were eliminated in table tennis, Leander Paes-Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza-Prarthana Thombare lost in their opening round encounters in the men’s doubles and women’s doubles tennis matches.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu failed to lift a weight in the clean and jerk section, thereby fizzling out of the women’s 48kg weightlifting event.
Jitu Rai went closest to a medal, as he was the only Indian shooter to qualify for the finals. He too, however, put up a disappointing show in the final, as he was knocked out first in the eight-man field, finishing eighth.
The lone bright spots came in men’s single sculls and men’s hockey. Dattu Baban Bhokanal finished 15th to qualify for the quarter-finals in the former event, while the men’s team defeated Ireland 3-2 in the latter.
USA, Brazil advance; Hosszu wins her long-awaited Olympic medal
Women’s World champions USA and hosts Brazil made their progress to the last eight of the football competition with a 1-0 win over France and 5-1 thrashing of Sweden respectively.
Three world records tumbled in the pool but the standout performance was that of Hungarian Katinka Hosszu, who finally won an Olympic medal with a world record in women’s 400m individual medley.
