Tokyo, July 25: The start of Day Two in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics was filled with disappointment for Indian fans but ace badminton player PV Sindhu gave India something to smile about before paddler Manika Batra and boxer Mary Kom put on top displays to give Indian fans reason to rejoice on Sunday.
India's Manu Bhaker suffered an unfortunate equipment malfunction during the qualifying round of the Women's 10M Air Pistol event earlier on Sunday, making her lose crucial time, but despite that fought back gallantly to miss the final by two points.
Shooter Yashaswini Deswal also fought hard in the same event, but she too dropped four crucial points in the last five shots including an 8 for the 59thshot, to finish a point as well as a spot behind Manu.
Minutes later, the Indian Rower duo of Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh qualified for the repechage semi-final A/B in lightweight Men's Double Sculls to kick start India's proceedings.
Simultaneously, shuttler PV Sindhu started her Tokyo Olympics campaign on a good note as she won her opening Group J match here at the Musashino Forest Plaza Court 2.
However, India was again dealt with blows as artistic gymnast Pranati Nayak failed to qualify for the All-Around Final and women's tennis duo of Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina suffered a very disappointing defeat in the first round showpiece event.
The string of defeats continued as Deepak Kumar and Divyansh Singh Panwar also could not make much headway, finishing 26thand 32nd in qualifying respectively.
In another huge blow, India paddler Sathiyan Gnanasekaran on Sunday bowed out of the men's singles event after dominating the game.
However, paddler Manika Batra came from behind to progress to Round 3 of the women's singles event after defeating Ukraine's Margaryta Pesotska on Sunday.
Batra defeated Margaryta Pesotska 4-3 in Round 2 of the women's singles event on Sunday and as a result, she has progressed to Round 3. The entire match lasted for 57 minutes.
Minutes later, boxer Mary Kom (51kg) stormed into the Round of 16 of women's flyweight (48-51 kg) category event after defeating Miguelina Garcia of the Dominican Republic.
Mary Kom and Manika Batra ensured that Indian fans at least have something to celebrate in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics on Sunday.
Just when the day was about to end, Australia thrashed India 7-1 in Pool A match here at the Oi Hockey Stadium. After a shaky start against Japan on Saturday, Australia proved their true mettle against India as they made a dominating start to their campaign with a lethal attack that only got better as they progressed into the game Also, boxer Manish Kaushik (63kg) bowed out of the tournament, and swimmers Srihari Nataraj, Maana Patel failed to qualify for the semi-finals on Sunday.
