In a spirited response India’s hockey teams, both men and women, give a good account of themselves
PRAVASISAMWAD.COM
Stellar performances by Indian athletes, especially Lovelina Borgohain (Boxing) and PV Sindhu (Badminton) on Friday at the Tokyo Olympics, have lit up India’s hopes of more medals and more glory.
Lovelina (23) has now moved into the semi-finals in the welterweight category (69 kg), beating her Chinese-Taipei opponent Nien-Chin Chen 4-1 on Friday.
She is now assured of a bronze medal. But the perky and jubilant Lovelina says she will stop at nothing in her efforts to win a gold, all fired up after her victory.
According to Lovelina: “I had lost to her in previously held four encounters ….. My game is to counter. But today I changed my tactics and was on the attack.”
Once again, she had the advantage of height and reach, being nearly 3 inches taller than her opponent. Her offensive tactics right from the word ‘go’ were an equally important factor.
According to Lovelina: “I had lost to her in the previous four encounters ….. My game is to counter. But today I changed my tactics and was on the attack”.
Lovelina is a diehard fan of the all-time boxing legend Muhammed Ali (US) and regularly watches his videos and tries to adopt some of his techniques, especially his footwork and his long punches.
Earlier on Thursday, Asian Games bronze medallist and India’s first super heavyweight boxer Satish Kumar (32), from Bulandshahr district, Uttar Pradesh (India), moved into the quarter-final round, beating Pan American Games bronze medallist Ricardo Brown of Jamaica 4-1. His next bout will be against top seed and world champion Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan.
BADMINTON: PV Sindhu continued with her winning streak and moved into the semi-finals, beating Akane Yamaguchi 21-13 and 22-20 in 56 minutes.
“This was my best game”, she said after the match. “I’m glad I closed our match in two games”.
She will now meet second seed and long-time rival Tai Tzu Teng in her next match.
HOCKEY: The Indian women’s hockey team beat Ireland on
Friday 1-0 to keep their quarter-final hopes alive. Navneet Kaur scored the solitary goal in the 57 th minute of the game.
In the men’s hockey, India beat defending champions Argentina 3-1 in their Pool A match on Thursday and have secured a berth in the quarter-finals.
ARCHERY: Deepika Kumari is out of the reckoning after some superb showing. Deepika lost to the top seed An San of South Korea 5-0 in the quarter-finals’ individual event on Friday.