India at Tokyo Olympics, Day 6 News Round-up: Sindhu, Men’s Hockey Team in Quarters; Mary Kom Exits and More

The day saw MC Mary bow out of the Tokyo Olympics which was possibly her swansong Games. The sixth day of the Games, July 29 (Thursday), began with PV Sindhu and the men’s hockey team sealing their quarterfinal spots. 

Here is the report of the Indians who featured at the Tokyo Olympics on Day 6.

Mary Kom Bows Out

Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom's (51kg) pursuit of a second Olympic medal ended in the pre-quarterfinals. She went down to 2016 edition's bronze-medallist Ingrit Valencia of Colombia in a fiercely-fought showdown.

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The Indian trailed 4-1 in the opening round with four of the five judges scoring it 10-9 in favour of Valencia.

In the next two rounds, Mary Kom got three of the five judges to rule in her favour but the overall scoreline was still in favour of Valencia.

Mary clinched  the third round too but once again, it was 3-2 and not 4-1 which is what she needed to swing the final score in her favour.

The 38-year-old, who is a multiple-time Asian champion and a bronze-winner from the 2012 London olympics, lost 2-3 to the Colombian, giving it her all in what would now be her final Olympic bout.

Sindhu Storms into Quarters

Reigning world champion PV Sindhu entered the women's singles quarterfinals after beating Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt in straight games. 

The 26-year-old, who won a silver in the 2016 Rio Olympics, notched up a 21-15, 21-13 win over 13th seed Blichfeldt in a 41-minute match.

Sindhu will next face the winner of the match between Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and Korea's Kim Gaeun.

On Wednesday, Sindhu had defeated world No. 34 Hong Kong's NY Cheung 21-9 21-16 to top Group J.

India Seal Quarters Berth

The men's hockey team stormed into the quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory over defending champions Argentina, scoring two goals in the final two minutes of its penultimate pool match.

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After goalless first two quarters, India broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute through Varun Kumar before Vivek Sagar Prasad (58th) and Harmanpreet Singh (59th) struck in the closing minutes of the match to seal the contest. Argentina's lone goal came from a penalty corner conversion by Schuth Casella in the 48th minute.

It was India's third win in Pool A at the Oi Hockey Stadium and have consolidated their position in second spot with three wins and one loss out of four games, behind Australia.

Argentina are struggling in the fifth spot in the six-team pool and need to beat New Zealand in their final preliminary match on Friday to stay in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth.

The top-four make the last-eight stage from each group. India will play hosts Japan in their final pool match on Friday.

Bhaker 5th, Sarnobat 25th

Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat were placed 5th and 25th respectively in the women's 25m pistol qualification (precision event).

In a field of 44 shooters, Bhaker scored 292 after 30 shots on target in the precision round while Sarnobat aggregated 287 in the qualifications at the Asaka Shooting Range.

The second stage of the qualification -- the rapid round -- will take place on Friday. The top 8 shooters in the qualification will enter the final.

Serbia's Zorana Arunovic led the pack with 296 points, followed by Greece's Anna Korakaki, who has 294.

Satish Wins Opening Bout

Boxer Satish Kumar (91kg) eased into the quarterfinals, defeating Jamaica's Ricardo Brown in his opening bout.

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In the battle of two debutants, Satish prevailed 4-1, a comfortable win for him despite the split verdict. The 32-year-old two-time Asian Championships bronze-winner was helped by Brown's poor footwork throughout the bout. Satish, however, ended up with a cut on his forehead.

Next up for Satish is Uzebkistan's Bakhodir Jalolov, the reigning world and Asian champion. Jalolov out-punched Azerbaijan's Mahammad Abdullayev 5-0 in his last-16 bout.

Das Shocks Jin Hyek

Archer Atanu Das hit the bull's eye in the one-arrow shoot-off to knock two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin Hyek of Korea. The Indian stormed into the pre-quarterfinals with the victory.

It was the greatest win in the career of the 29-year-old Das. Das showed amazing resilience as he bounced back from being 2-4 down to edge out the Korean great.

Jin Hyek had won the individual gold medal in London 2012 and was a member of the gold medal winning team at the ongoing Tokyo Games. He was also part of the bronze-winning team at the 2012 Olympics.

Rowers Finish 11th

Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh ended their campaign in 11th position in the men's lightweight double sculls event, the best ever result for the country at the Olympics.

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The Indian pair clocked 6:29.66 to finish fifth in Final B, which was not a medal round, and ended at 11th overall at the Sea Forest Waterway.

Ireland, Germany and Italy won the gold, silver and bronze respectively after the Final A race later in the day.

Prakash Fails to Make Semis Cut

Swimmer Sajan Prakash finished second in his heat but that was not enough to advance to the semifinals of the men's 100m butterfly event as India's campaign at the Games.

Prakash finished second in the second-slowest heat with a time of 53.45s. The cut was placed at 51.74s.

The 27-year-old from Kerala, finished 46th among 55 swimmers. The top-16 progressed to the semifinals.

All three Indian swimmers -- Prakash, Srihari Nataraj, and Maana Patel -- head home after a disappointing show, failing to even match their personal best times in their main events.

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