India at Tokyo 2020, day 4 as it happened: Indian hockey team, Lovlina win on a day of heartbreaks

06.50 pm: A wrap of India’s events to close this blog for the day... one of high drama. (Mostly not in a good sense for sports fans in India)

• 10m air pistol mixed team: Saurabh Chaudhary-Manu Bhaker top stage 1 of qualification but bow out in stage 2, miss out on medal rounds.
• Men’s hockey: Manpreet Singh and Co bounce back from Aussie defeat to overcome Spain 3-0.
• Badminton: Satwik-Chirag finish their campaign with 2 wins in group stage but miss out on quarterfinals due to “Game Difference”
• 10m air rifle mixed team: Both Indian pairs bow out in the first stage of qualification
• Table tennis: Sharath Kamal takes a game from the legendary Ma Long but loses in round three. 
• Women’s boxing: Lovlina Borgohain starts campaign with a split decision win, reaches QF. To face fourth seed from TPE Chen Nien Chin next, with medal assured for the winner. 
• Sailing roundup below: 

It’s been tough for the Indian shooters in Tokyo but the events are not done yet.

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: A women’s team medal for GBR for the first time since 1928! Wow. That was the first time the team event for women was part of the Games! Crazy evening.

Applause and congratulations from Simone Biles to ROC who have won the women’s team gold for the first time since 1992. Spare a thought for Jordan Chiles too. An evening of high drama.

Ashish Magotra: ROC win and the first person to congratulate them is Simone Biles. What a great champion.

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: GOLD FOR ROC! USA’s reign as Olympic champions is over after two gold medals in 2012 and 2016.

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: Applause from Biles and USA team as ROC finish their routines. The gold is here, once the scores are confirmed.

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: Viktoriia Listunova 14.166 and that has all but sealed the gold for Russians.

Heart goes out to Jordan Chiles...

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: Jordan Chiles had been superbly so far after stepping in but her floor routing didn’t go all too well, as he missed a landing. Grace’s 13.500 had reduced the deficit on Russia but Chiles can manage 11.700 because of the penalty. Advantage ROC.

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: USA have reduced the lead from 2.5 at the end of Rotation 2 to 0.8 at the end of Rotation 3. Final Rotations have begun, USA and ROC are on the floor. Meanwhile, some IPL flavour...

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: “ROC holds a slim 0.8 lead over the USA after falls on Beam from Vladislava Urazova and Angelina Melnikova,” tweet FIG. It couldn’t be closer!

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: BILES IS PUMPED FOR CHILES! Superb from the American on the Balance Beam for a 13.433 and Sunisa Lee had a stunning 14.133 before her.

Meanwhile, the commentators just mentioned this on air during the women’s team final. An incredible moment from the Atlanta Games when Kerri Strug pulled off a stunner.

USA statement: “Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions.”

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: Callum Grace with a 13.666. for USA, ROC have two scores below 13. Team USA are fighting back.

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: Through all this there is a final to be won for USA or ROC. And ROC don’t start the Balance Beam well as Urazova loses balance through her routine and falls off for a moment. This is such a surreal final unfolding.

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: Through all this, despite some superb efforts from Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles on Uneven Bars, ROC are still in the lead after 2 rotations.

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: Simone Biles is around with the team, celebrating a superb score from Sunisa Lee in Uneven Bars as USA are trying to catch up with ROC after their first rotation lead.

Simone Biles replaced in US team during Olympic final: AFP alert

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: Looks like Biles has been pulled out of the team event, per some reports. What a disappointing day this has turned into at the Games.

Women’s artistic gymnastics team final: Russian Olympic Committee ahead of USA at the end of first rotation!

Pause, rewind, play: At the 1976 Olympics, Nadia Comaneci gave perfection a new definition

Badminton women’s singles: The other match in PV Sindhu’s group went to three games with Polikarpova taking Cheung Ngan Yi to three games. Sindhu plays tomorrow against the HKG shuttler.

Stepping away from Olympics for a second...

Cricket: Indian player tests positive for COVID-19; second T20I between India, Sri Lanka postponed

Men’s doubles badminton: Plenty of support for Satwik–Chirag today. His peers have had words of encouragement:

Sailing: KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar began their campaign in the Men’s 49er FX. They finished 18th out of 19 crews in race 01. Races 02, 03 have been postponed. That’s officially the end of all Indian events today.

How Sailing works: Race points = The position you finish. (If you finish 1, you get 1 point). There are 10 races first to decide finalists. The points are added for NINE races with lowest score discarded at the end. And the top 10 from that final standing will contest for medals.

Osaka isn’t happy at all: Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka’s dreams of home Olympic gold were crushed by a 6-1, 6-4 defeat to Marketa Vondrousova Tuesday as her return to action came to an abrupt end.

“How disappointed am I? I mean, I’m disappointed in every loss, but I feel like this one sucks more than the others,” said the four-time Grand Slam winner.

Asked what went wrong, she replied: “Everything – if you watch the match then you would probably see. I feel like there’s a lot of things that I counted on that I couldn’t rely on today.”

Table tennis: Timo Boll’s run in the men’s singles competition is over. The 40-year-old German, the 8th seed, went down to Korea’s Jeoung (11th seed) 4-1. Will we see him on this stage again?

Tennis: Tennis world number ones Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty will target Olympic gold in mixed doubles in Tokyo after both were listed in the 16-team draw released today. Djokovic, who is chasing a calendar Golden Slam, is through to the third round in singles and will partner Serbian compatriot Nina Stojanovic in the mixed doubles. Barty, beaten in her opening singles match at the Olympics, will pair up with John Peers.

History made: Triathlete Flora Duffy won the first gold of the day in the women’s event, making Bermuda the smallest territory or nation in terms of population to win a gold medal at a Summer Games.

62,034 live in Bermuda!

“I have achieved my dream of winning a gold medal, but also winning Bermuda’s first gold medal,” she said.

“It’s bigger than me and that’s a really cool moment. That was the longest kilometre of my life (the final one of the run).

“I think I can get used to being called Olympic champion for the rest of my life.”

From Covid to a gold: Britain’s Tom Dean came back from two bouts of Covid to claim Olympic gold in the pool on Tuesday, edging out team-mate Duncan Scott to win the 200m freestyle in Tokyo. Dean said a gold medal seemed “a million miles away” when he was consigned to isolation in January after contracting the virus for the second time in five months. But the 21-year-old swam the race of his life at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre to lead the first British one-two since 1908, which was also the last time the team won gold in the event.

“It’s amazing, a dream come true having a gold around my neck,” said Dean.

“I contracted Covid twice in the last 12 months. It’s unheard of. When I was sitting in my flat in isolation, an Olympic gold seem a million miles off, but here we are.”

Table Tennis: A really high-quality match between Timo Boll and Youngsik Jeoung is now on. The Korean took the first game and the German legend has come back to take the second.

Surfing for gold and finding it: Brazil’s Italo Ferreira claimed Olympic surfing’s first-ever gold medal on Tuesday, beating Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi in the final. Ferreira, who learned to surf standing on the foam box his father sold fish from, snapped his board on the first wave and had to wait in the sea for a replacement. But he recovered to score 15.14 to Igarashi’s 6.60 at Tsurigasaki Beach, around 100km (60 miles) east of Tokyo. Igarashi had shocked world number one Gabriel Medina in the semi-finals, landing a stunning aerial move late in the contest to beat the Brazilian.

Archery: The number one men’s seed has been eliminated early from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Germany’s Florian Unruh beat Korea’s Kim Je Deok in five sets, 7-3, in the second round of eliminations in the archery arena at Yumenoshima Park on Tuesday. Kim is already a double gold medallist at these Games, having won in the mixed team and men’s team events.

In sync with perfection: China stretched their remarkable 100 percent Olympic record in women’s synchronised 10m platform diving thanks to two nerveless teenagers on Tuesday.

China came into the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games hoping for a clean sweep of diving golds, but they were stunned by British duo Tom Daley and Matty Lee on Monday.

Normal service was resumed however as Chen Yuxi, who is just 15, and 17-year-old diving partner Zhang Jiaqi romped to a comfortable gold with 363.78 points at Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

The Chinese have won the women’s synchronised 10m platform gold at every Olympics since its debut at Sydney in 2000. Tuesday’s gold was number six in the event.

How Sailing works: Race points = The position you finish. (If you finish 1, you get 1 point). There are 10 races first to decide finalists. The points are added for NINE races with lowest score discarded at the end. And the top 10 from that final standing will contest for medals.

Sailing: In her 6th race, Nethra Kumanan finished 38th and in his 5th race, Vishnu Saravanan was 22nd. There are no more races left in the day for them. Later, Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy are in action too.

Kaushal Shukla: Lovlina will face Chinese Taipei’s Nien-Chin Chen in the quarter-finals (Ed. note: who just defeated Italy’s Carini in a really close bout that the Italian seemed convinced she had won). Chen beat Lovlina in the 2018 world championship semis on the way to winning the gold medal. A tough bout awaits the Indian against the World No 2 in the welterweight category (fourth seed here). It’s on July 30.

Is anyone in the mood for a recap? Well, here it goes anyway.

• 10m air pistol mixed team: Saurabh Chaudhary-Manu Bhaker top stage 1 of qualification but bow out in stage 2, miss out on medal rounds.
• Men’s hockey: Manpreet Singh and Co bounce back from Aussie defeat to overcome Spain 3-0.
• Badminton: Satwik-Chirag finish their campaign with 2 wins in group stage but miss out on quarterfinals due to “Game Difference”
• 10m air rifle mixed team: Both Indian pairs bow out in the first stage of qualification
• Table tennis: Sharath Kamal takes a game from the legendary Ma Long but loses in round three. 
• Women’s boxing: Lovlina Borgohain starts campaign with a split decision win, reaches QF.

Kaushal Shukla: Big win this for Lovlina Borgohain against Germany’s Nadine Apetz who like the Indian is a two-time World Championship bronze medallist. Lovlina is now just one win away from a medal.

Lovlina Borgohain joins the men’s hockey team in making sure this day is not a total write off for the Indian contingent. Small joys.

Boxing, women’s welterweight, round of 16, IND 3-2 GER: The win goes to Lovlina Borgohain and it is the Indian women who keep the winning record going as the men have lost their bouts.

Ashish Magotra: Borgohain’s jab keeping Apetz at a distance and got in some nice punches. That is enough to give her the second round too against the German.

Boxing, women’s welterweight, round of 16, IND vs GER: It is never easy to understand a round of boxing went but this one is proving especially so. Feels like both the boxers are doing good things and bad things. And the judges think this is 3-2 to India again! The Indian is ahead on three cards, just needs to manage this bout from here.

Ashish Magotra: Apetz with the higher workrate and a jab that was working well. Borgohain finding some rhythm towards the end and that got her the round.

Boxing, women’s welterweight, round of 16, IND vs GER: Slow start by Lovlina, but she grew into the round as time went on. But doesn’t matter what we think, it’s down to the judges.... who have given it 3-2 to the Indian!

Boxing, women’s welterweight, round of 16: Time for the bout between Lovlina Borgohain and Nadine Apetz. First bouts for both of them after a bye.

Sailing: In her 5th race, Nethra Kumanan finished 32nd and in his 4th race, Vishnu Saravanan was 23rd. There are more races left in the day. Later in the day, Varun Thakkar and KC Ganapathy are in action too. We’ll keep you posted about their overall standings at the end.

Upset official: Japan’s second seed Naomi Osaka is out in the third round! Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova beats her 6-1, 6-4. That’s 5 top-10 women’s seeds down, points out Zenia D’Cunha.

Ashish Magotra: The Minions were too good for Chirag and Satwik the other day. But the Indian pair still won two of their three matches including a win against the world no 3. Life can be cruel sometimes. Still, only way around this is to get better.

Aditya Chaturvedi: Satwik/Chirag wrap up a straight-game 21-17, 21-19 win against Vendy/Lane. The Brits did well to fight back and take a lead towards the end of the second game but the Indians regained their composure to close it out.

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: That’s it for India in the mixed team events as both pairs are out in the first qualification stage Elavenil & Divyansh finish 12th, Anjum and Deepak are 18th out of 29 pairs. The top 8 progress.

Badminton, Men’s doubles, Group A IND 21-17, 21-19 GBR: Match sealed by Satwik-Chirag in straight games and muted celebrations at the end. Heart goes out to them.

Badminton, Men’s doubles, Group A IND 21-17, 20-19 GBR: Match point for the Indians!

Badminton, Men’s doubles, Group A IND 21-17, 18-18 GBR: A quick word of appreciation for Satwik-Chirag for going at it in this match despite the heartbreak. In fact both pairs are playing entertaining badminton in a dead rubber.

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: Some shooters yet to finish, but it’s over for India.

Elavenil: 105.0 104.0 104.2

Divyansh: 103.6 104.1 105.6

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: 103.6 104.1 from Divyansh in the first two series did not help India’s case. All but out of top 8 here.

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: 105.0 104.0 104.2 for Ela in her three series for a total of 313.2.

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: Ela is done with her three series, Divyanash has 5 shots to go but the top 8 is out of reach.

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: Divyansh-Ela have moved up to around the 12-13th mark. But this is still not going to be enough. The other pair well below.

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: The two Indian pairs are Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar, Anjum Moudgil and Deepak Kumar. In the early stages, they are 16th and 19th. Need to be top 8. Not looking good.

Badminton, Men’s doubles, Group A IND 21-17, 7-7 GBR: Very tight start to the second game, neither pair getting away. We’ll return to this later (as good as it is to watch the Indian pair play, it is now a dead rubber unfortunately.) let’s turn our attention to the rifle qualifications.

Time for the 10m air rifle mixed team event India is represented by Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar as well as Anjum Moudgil and Deepak Kumar. It has not been a good start here.

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3: Stats from Sharath Kamal vs Ma Long

Badminton, Men’s doubles, Group A IND 21-17 GBR:First Game, Satwik-Chirag! A lovely from all four players at 20-17 and the pressure from the Indians pays off. Both of them covering their area so well.

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3, IND 1-4 CHN: MA LONG WINS! The defending champions progresses but not before a tough test from Sharath. A respectable fist-bump from the two veterans at the end. Ma Long wins 7-11, 11-8, 11-13, 4-11, 4-11.

Badminton, Men’s doubles, Group A IND 18-16 GBR: The Brits are not going away without a fight.

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3, IND 1-3 CHN: A six point lead in this game at 9-3 for Long despite Sharath playing a couple of brilliant points

Badminton, Men’s doubles, Group A IND 17-13 GBR: The Indians have been superb since interval, taking the lead and extending it.

Kaushal Shukla: It seems the momentum has swung back in Ma Long’s favour. Sharath Kamal had his chance in the third game. He now seems up against it again.

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3, IND 1-3 CHN: Ma Long takes it 11-4. These two have played four times, Ma Long has four wins of course but the last three he won without dropping games. This has been solid from Sharath but he needs something massive to change.

Badminton, Men’s doubles, Group A IND 10-11 GBR: Very little to choose between the two pairs in the early exchanges. The biggest lead either of them had was 3 points. We go after the mid-game interval.

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3, IND 1-2 CHN: A big lead for Long in the fourth game. Up 9-2. The champion is taking control.

Badminton, Men’s doubles, Group A IND 9-9 GBR: Satwik-Chirag open up an early 8-6 lead but the Brits fight back to force three points in a row and go up 9-8. A good rally follows and the Indians level things up again.

Ashish Magotra: Long takes the game 13-11 but Sharath has done enough to signal that he is in the game. This is a battle.

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3, IND 1-2 CHN: Game 3, Ma Long! He is pushed all the way by Sharath but closes it out 13-11.

Badminton, Men’s doubles, Group A IND vs GBR: Hope Satwik/Chirag can finish on a high, would still be a great campaign to finish with two wins. Their match has begun.

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3, IND 1-1 CHN: SUPERB GAME 3! Ma Long has two game points at 10-8, Sharath saves them both and it is 10-10.

Badminton, Men’s doubles: Heartbreaking for Satwik-Chirag. This is brutal. Despite beating the world No 3 pair in the first match and only losing in straight games against the best in the world, they are out of quarterfinals even before their final match starts.

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3, IND 1-1 CHN: GAME 2 SHARATH! He converts the first game point with a superb forehand and he is pumped! 11-8 to the Indian.

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3, IND 0-1 CHN: Sharath Kamal is forcing mistakes from Ma Long. Excellent from the Indian who has been so calm out there. He has two game points at 10-8!

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3, IND 0-1 CHN: The second game has been solid for the Indian, winning six straight points but Ma Long steadies and fights back to make it 7-8. Sharath takes a timeout.

Kaushal Shukla: Ma Long is a bit too fast for me to watch on TV. But Sharath Kamal has seven points against him. Great effort

Badminton, Men’s doubles: This is utterly nerverwracking to track without telecast. Lee/Wang have led all the way in the decider so far and have a 11-7 lead at the change of ends. I wonder if the Indians are watching or just waiting for the final result.

Kaushal Shukla: Sharath Kamal did really well there in the first game but Ma Long has just been too good and too fast for the Indian. The Chinese takes the first game 11-7

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3, IND 0-1 CHN: The Chinese legend has the first game in the bag. It was a tight affair though but Ma Long edges ahead in the back-end. Sharath just won 2 points on his serve, that hurt him.

Indian sailors are in action in their respective races too, we’ll provide an update on that in due course.

Kaushal Shukla: Sharath Kamal won the first point of the game before Ma Long sparked into life to take a 5-1 lead. But Sharath Kamal has stormed back to make it 5-5! Brilliant game so far

Table tennis, men’s singles, round 3: India’s Sharath Kamal in men’s singles Round 3 action. He faces a huge ask against China’s Ma Long, the reigning singles champion.

Men’s doubles badminton, Group A: Good news for India is that the top seeds have a 3-0 H2H against the TPE pair. Bad news for India is that Lee/Wang have taken the first game against the top seeds. TPE win means it’s over for IND. It’s 7-6 to Kevin/Marcus in the 2nd game now.

Kaushal Shukla: How to analyse this shooting result? I find it hard to buy the age narrative. Feel it’s a bit disrespectful to the shooters who have dominated most events events at this age. Probably this is just a blip at the worst possible time.

Men’s doubles badminton, Group A scenarios: The top two teams from Group A progress to quarterfinals. Satwik-Chirag face the lowest-ranked team in the group but a tricky opponents in Lane/Vendy (GBR). Short explanation is that the Indians MUST win their match *AND* hope top seed Kevin/Marcus (INA) defeat Wang/Lee (TPE)

• If IND win and TPE lose, Indonesia and India go through
• If IND win and TPE win, Indonesia and Taipei go through because in a three-way tie, the Indians’ game difference won’t be better than the Indonesians or Taipei pair.
• If IND lose and TPE win, Indonesia and Taipei go through
• If IND lose and TPE lose, it’s a three-way tiebreaker again between TPE, GBR and IND. TPE will go through there because H2H doesn’t come into picture. 

— (with inputs from senior journalist Abhijeet Kulkarni)

Men’s doubles badminton, Group A: So are you ready for some scenarios? First things first, here’s how Group A stands:

Men’s hockey, pool A India 3-0 Spain, FULL TIME: One cannot stress on the importance of a clean sheet in this match after a 7-1 defeat for India. Wasn’t just Sreejesh too, it was a collective effort.

Here’s how the table looks like. Australia defeated Argentina 5-2 after going a goal down.

Ashish Magotra: India played like a top team today. Always in control and the lack of drama was a welcome change. They got their tactics spot on, began the match with energy and once they went up 2-0 towards the end of Q1, they simply cut down on the mistakes. Great match. More like this please.

Men’s hockey, pool A India 3-0 Spain, FULL TIME: Great character shown by India after their 1-7 loss to Australia. They came out today, did all the right things — showed energy, kept possession and took their chances, says Ashish Magotra.

Men’s hockey, pool A India 3-0 Spain, Q4 3 mins left: Chances at both ends! For a 3-0 scoreline, when things tend to get cagey, this game is still very open. India have had to defend another PC. Their defenece has been strong today.

Men’s hockey, pool A India 3-0 Spain, Q4 7 mins left: A series of PCs for Spain, miscontrolled by Spain for the first two, Sreejesh with a huge save for the third.

STAT: Rupinder Pal Singh has now scored three goals at Tokyo 2020. India’s PC conversion has been good at the tournament in the first and third matches.

Men’s hockey, pool A India 3-0 Spain, Q4 8 mins left - GOAL INDIAAAA! BOB! Rupinder Pal Singh with a superb drag flick from a PC and India have made this safe now.

Men’s hockey, pool A India 2-0 Spain, Q4 10 mins left: A lovely passing move by Spain, opening up India’s defence down the left but Indian defenders get back in time! This is not over yet, folks.

Men’s hockey, pool A India 2-0 Spain, Q4: India still have the green card in play at the start of the 4th quarter, the one that Sumit got. But just a minute or so. India in Spain’s half at the start of this final quarter.

Men’s hockey, pool A India 2-0 Spain, end of Q3: PC FOR SPAIN! No time left on the clock at the end of Q3 but the referral is good and Spain will take this Penalty Corner. What’s an Indian hockey match without drama!

Men’s hockey, pool A India 2-0 Spain, end of Q3: Spain go on the attack immediately after the game is restored to 11v11. They are dominating possession here and Sreejesh just had a go at his defence for a long ball into the D going undefended. More pressure on the defence in the final seconds of the quarter but they hang on. A green card for Sumit and Spain think they have scored but the hooter goes!! Drama. Spain have asked for a review for PC.

Men’s hockey, pool A India 2-0 Spain, Q3: A yellow card for Spain is not going to help their cause. Down to 10 men for five minutes. India managing game here but might just be worth pushing for a third in the next few minutes.

Ashish Magotra: Very steady stuff by Indian hockey team. Very calming. Just what the country needed after the shooting competition.

Men’s hockey, pool A India 2-0 Spain, Q3 underway.

A note from Zenia D’Cunha:

The 10m pistol mixed team event was one of the best medal chances on track record and topping the first qualification only added to the hope. But Bhaker’s 92, 94 in the second (Chaudhary - 96, 98) shows that somewhere it’s still about nerves. There was a difference of 4 points from top 4 and 7 points from No 1. A top 2 finish would assure a medal. It’s a considerable margin in shooting.

So what went wrong? 

In terms of technical preparation and exposure, there’s not much to excuse as Indian shooters had both. Yes, the pandemic wipeout derailed some momentum but Bhaker-Chaudhary did well in 2021 too. They are only 19 of course, so the Olympics debut pressure could not have been an easy experience. Chaudhary did well in his individual event, topping qualification but stumbled in the final. This time, Bhaker stuttered at the last hurdle. 

Like after Rio, the focus has to be mental strength, can’t simulate Olympics pressure but have to find a way to ensure players don’t get overawed. Still, with such young shooters and a good system, there’s still future hope.

Now for the other events left... rifle mixed team, sports pistol (Manu in action), 50m rifle 3-positions.

Men’s hockey, pool A India 2-0 Spain END OF HALF: India have avoided drama today. They have kept things simple and done what is needed. Very professional performance so far. “India will have to focus but in a game of hockey leads can go away quickly,” says former India captain Viren Rasquinha on Sony broadcast.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 2: Some more reactions before we move on... (or we try to)

Zenia D’Cunha: In terms of technical preparation & exposure, not much excuse; Indian shooters had both. Yes, 2020 wipeout derailed momentum but Bhaker-Chaudhary did well in ‘21 too. Like after Rio (sigh) focus has to be mental strength, can’t simulate Olympics pressure but have to find a way.

Ashish Magotra: In hockey... India have been solid against Spain. While we were all focussed on the shooting, they moved 2-0 ahead in Q1. Nothing spectacular but they are moving with more freedom today (than they did against Australia). You can just see that they are not feeling the pressure as much today.

Zenia D’Cunha: That’s it for India in 10m pistol mixed team, one of the best medal chances on track record After topping Q1 Bhaker - 92, 94 Chaudhary - 96, 98. Difference of 4 points from top 4, 7 from No 1. Still about nerves then, but with such young shooters, there’s still future hope

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 2: Just some thoughts: This hurts. More than anything, not medalling in this particular event should hurt. And it was all set up well too today after a good stage 1. Most of all I am just worried for the kind of reaction toward Saurabh Chaudhary & Manu Bhaker. Won’t quite give the age excuse because we’ve seen at these Games already that age is nothing. But it does mean they have time on their hands. Let’s hope for Indian sport that they come back stronger.

Men’s hockey, India 2-0 Spain end of Q1, GOALLLLL INDIA! India are immediately on the charge after that opening goal and force penalty corners. One eventually results in a penalty stroke and Rupinder makes no mistake

Men’s hockey, India 1-0 Spain in Q1, GOOALLLL INDIA! Some joy from the hockey field. Simranjeet gets the goal to put India ahead towards the end of Q1.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 2: It’s over. Saurabh Chaudhary-Manu Bhaker miss out on medal after disappointing stage 2. A 96-92 in their first series was just too much to recover from. Arguably the biggest miss of the Games for India so far. No medal in 10m air pistol mixed, an event with two really good pairs.

Men’s hockey, India vs Spain: Q1 almost done, a PC for Spain with a little over 3 mins left.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 2: Saurabh finishes with a 98 but it is all but over after their first 10 shots. Manu has shot a 8 in her 18th shot.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 2: Better start to second series from both. Top 4 is the best hope now, still not impossible. But 4 points to make up on Ukraine with 4 shots each left.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 2: Manu Bhaker has shot a 92 and that is going to be incredibly tough to bounce back from. 96 from Saurabh is not great either, given the circumstances. Can they somehow sneak into top 4?

Saurabh Chaudhary, series scores: 96
Manu Bhaker, series scores: 92

Men’s hockey, India vs Spain: PUSHBACK. National anthems done and we are underway. Stay tuned.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 2: yeah, not looking good folks. Looks like top 4 is already pretty much out of the grasps. An 8 from Manu, 4 9s so far from Saurabh....

Tokyo 2020, men’s hockey: Should’ve taken early chances against Australia, says Manpreet Singh

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 2: Four 9s in their first six shots. Pressure already on the Indians! There is not much time to catch up here.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 2: The shooters are set for stage 2! 40 INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT SHOTS coming up for the Indians.

Zenia D’Cunha: To recap, Manu Bhaker & Saurabh Chaudhary through to the second qualification stage while Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Abhishek Verma are out. India, ROC, China, Ukraine, Serbia, Australia, China, Iran form the Top 8. Both Koreans are out. Jongoh having a forgettable Olympics, this sport is not kind to even legends.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: 20 shots by each team member (total 40 shots) to be fired in 20 minutes. Top four go to medal matches. (Top two, in fact, would assure a medal). It is an incredibly tough field now too!

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: Heads up! Team scores from Qualification part 1 are not carried forwards to part 2. All teams start from zero.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: Manu Bhaker-Sauarbh Chaudhary top stage 1 and move to stage 2. The second Indian pair finish 17th, eliminated. Saurabh set the pace, Manu was steady (but she would have to pick up a bit in Stage 2 as shooters start from 0 and top 4 becomes incredibly competitive).

Saurabh Chaudhary, series scores: 98, 100, 98
Manu Bhaker, series scores: 97, 94, 95

Abhishek Verma, series scores: 92, 94, 97
Yashaswini Singh Deswal, series scores: 95, 95, 91

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: All but through to the next stage, the first Indian pair don’t have much to worry about here. A 94 for Manu, but if ever there was a time for a 94 it is when you partner has shot a 100. The second pair is all but eliminated.

Saurabh Chaudhary, series scores: 98, 100
Manu Bhaker, series scores: 97, 94

Abhishek Verma, series scores: 92, 94
Yashaswini Singh Deswal, series scores: 95, 95

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: It’s the nature of the beast a 7 and 8 from Abhishek in his first 15 shots, a 95 from YSD in her first series and the second Indian pair are already going to struggle with making the cut for second stage. Only 8 pairs out of 20 progress to stage 2.

Saurabh Chaudhary, series scores: 98
Manu Bhaker, series scores: 97

Abhishek Verma, series scores: 92
Yashaswini Singh Deswal, series scores: 95

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: Saurabh is setting the pace with the speed as well as accuracy early on! 98 from his first series and has started the second series with 3 10s too. Manu still shooting the first series, but shooting well.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: Great start in the first series for Manu-Saurabh. Abhishek however has shot a 7 in his first series and that is going to be tough to recover from.

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification Stage 1: We are underway folks! (Reminder shooting qualification is not broadcast, so we will have to make do with live scores).

So how does the 10m air pistol mixed team qualification work?

• Teams in pairs. A total of 40 shooters (20 pairs) on the official start list. 
• Two pairs from India. Saurabh Chaudhary, Manu Bhaker & Abhishek Verma, Yashaswini Singh Deswal.
• Stage 1: three series of 10-shots by each team member
• Stage 2: top eight pairs of 1st round to shoot two series of 10-shots by each team member
• Teams 3 vs 4 for Bronze medal match, Teams 1 vs 2 for Gold medal match

05.10 am: Hello all and welcome to our daily coverage of India at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. It’s day four. It is a very top heavy schedule for India on Tuesday, packed with events in the morning. hooters have to recover from their individual events. Men’s hockey team has to bounce back from a damaging 1-7 defeat. Just a couple of narratives to set the tone.

It’s a massive morning. We will leave it at that for now.

India at Tokyo 2020: Day 4 complete schedule

The mixed team shooting events (making their Olympics debut) are upon us and we start off with qualifications. First up, the pistol.

10M Air Pistol Mixed Team

Screenshots in the blog courtesy Tokyo 2020 official website