India failed to bag any medal on Friday (Day 14) of the ongoing Tokyo Olympics 2020, however, the Indian women's hockey team made every Indian proud and teary-eyed by putting up a brave fight against Great Britain in a hard-fought bronze play-off.
The Rani Rampal-led side, however, did manage to record its best ever finish at the Olympics. The team had already created history and surpassed all expectations by entering the semifinals of for the first time. But the maiden Olympic medal remained out of bounds as world no.4 Great Britain, who were gold-winners in the 2016 Rio Games, came out on top in the pulsating encounter.
India scored three goals in a span of five minutes through Gurjit Kaur (25th, 26th minutes) and Vandana Katariya (29th) to stun Great Britain. But the Britishers found the net four times through Elena Rayer (16th), Sarah Robertson (24th), skipper Hollie Pearne-Webb (35th) and Grace Baldson (48th) to emerge winners.
Meanwhile, wrestler Bajrang Punia suffered a huge setback as he lost to Aliyev Haji of Azerbaijan, going down 12-5 on points in the semifinals of the 65kg freestyle wrestling and will now fight for the bronze medal on Saturday.
Punia, who had survived a scare in the pre-quarterfinals against Akmataliev Ernazar of Kyrgyzstan and outplayed Ghiasi Cheka Morteza of Iran in the semifinals, went behind 1-4 on points in the first period and then came under repeated attacks from the Azerbaijani in the second to lose by a big margin.
Punia did fight back in the second period by claiming four points but Aliyev, the bronze medallist in 57kg in Rio de Janeiro and a three-time world champion in 61kg, proved too strong with late attacks.
Punia will now face the winner of the repechage round bout between Senegal's Adama Diatta and Kazakhstan's Daulet Niyazbekov in the bronze medal match on Saturday.
Golf: Aditi Ashok stays on course for historic medal
Aditi Ashok continued with her great form as she moved to the second spot after the third round in women's golf competition, remaining on course for a maiden medal at the Olympic Games.
The 23-year-old ground out a 3-under 68 in the third round of the women's golf competition at Kasumigaseki Country Club to be in sole second place on 12-under 201. She was three shots behind leader and world No. 1, Nelly Korda of the United States.
Aditi, who started the day tied for the second spot with three others, was able to pull two clear of a group of four players, Japan's Mone Inami, Emily Kristine Pedersen of Denmark, Australian Hannah Green and New Zealander Lydio Ko, who all share third place on 203 with 18 holes remaining on Saturday.
Saturday's final round will begin an hour earlier than on Friday so that the players get out on the course and get back before the potential bad weather strikes, the International Golf Federation (IGF) said in a release on Friday.
Priyanka Goswami and Bhawna Jat disappoint in women's 20 km race walk
Priyanka Goswami and Bhawna Jat put on disappointing shows in the women's 20 km race walk here at Sapporo Odori Park on Friday as they failed to secure a top-15 finish at the Tokyo Olympics.
Priyanka finished in 17th position out of 58 participants with a time of 1:32:36 while Bhawna Jat came 32nd with the timing of 1:37:38.
Antonella Palmisano of Italy held her own in a strong field which included world record holder Jiayu Yang of China to claim victory. Yang had been near the front with Palmisano but dropped back. Antonella clocked 1:29:12, ahead of Sandra Arenas (COL) and LIU Hong (CHN) in silver and bronze.
Indian men's relay team finishes 4th in Heat 2, misses qualifying for finals
Indian men's 4x400m relay team finished fourth in Heat 2 registering a time of 3.00.25 in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
The Indian team comprising Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, Naganathan Pandi, Nirmal Tom Noah, and Anas Muhamad Yahiya broke the Asian record but failed to qualify for the finals.
The Indian side finished ninth overall out of 16 teams as they missed out on qualifying for the final by a whisker.
Gurpreet Singh fails to finish gruelling 50km race walk due to cramps
India's only representative in the gruelling 50km race walk event at the Tokyo Olympics, Gurpreet Singh, limped off around the 35km mark due to cramps on Friday.
Gurpreet, who started the race from 14th position in a field of 59 athletes, could not come to terms with the energy-sapping heat and humidity despite the race starting early morning on Friday. The temperatures soared around 30 degrees C and humidity touched 70 per cent as Gurpreet, an army man, started losing ground.
At the eight-km mark, Gurpreet was 37th, just 0.37 seconds behind the race leader but dropped to 44th around the 10km milestone.
Gurpreet was 48th with a timing of 2:01:54 at the halfway mark, but after another 10km the oppressive conditions took a toll on the Indian and he suffered cramps.
He completed 35km in 2:55:19 before pulling out.
Seema Bisla loses 50kg opener to Hamdi
Debutant Indian wrestler Seema Bisla could not find a way to get out of the defensive trap of Tunisia's Sarra Hamdi and lost her 50kg opening round 1-3.
The 27-year-old could not make her moves as Hamdi applied the body lock to great effect, never allowing Seema to initiate a strong attack.
There hardly any moves in the bout with Hamdi getting two of her three points on push out and one on Seema's passivity.
Seema got on board when she too pushed her rival out after being put on activity clock for a second time.
She now needs the Tunisian to make the final for return to competition through the repechage route.
(With inputs from agencies)
