Tokyo Olympics: Indians in the fray on Day 16

India suffered a few heartbreaks on Day 15 of the Tokyo Olympics. It began with the Indian women’s hockey team missing out on an Olympic bronze medal narrowly by losing 3-4 to Great Britain. Despite the loss, they earned plenty of respect with a momentous fourth-place finish.

The second heartbreak came in the form of Bajrang Punia, who lost his men’s freestyle 65kg bout to Azerbaijan’s Haji Aliev. The 27-year-old wrestler, who was aiming to reach the gold medal match, lost the match 5-12 in a lop-sided affair. He will now be playing for the bronze medal on Saturday. 

Wrestler Seema Bisla’s dream of winning a medal crashed with Tunisian Sarra Hamdi’s loss to Azerbaijan’s Mariya Stadnik in the women’s freestyle 50 kg event. 

Golfer Aditi Ashok, however, remains in medal contention after she was placed second after round 2 on Friday. The 23-year-old is currently four shots behind the top-ranked Nelly Korda of the USA. 

Meanwhile, the Indian men’s 4x400m relay team broke their Asian record, however, failed to qualify for the finals. The quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Tom Noah Nirmal, Rajiv Arokia and Amoj Jacob landed the fourth spot with a timing of 3:00.25sec in the second heat.

Day 16 will see Indian golfers Diksha Dagar and Aditi Ashok in action. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will also be in focus as India eye its first athletics medal in the Olympics and end a 100-year wait. Neeraj topped the qualification round with a stunning first-round throw of 86.59m. 

India has so far won 5 medals in Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Here is a complete schedule:

Golf – Women’s Individual Stroke Play Round 4 – Aditi Ashok, Diksha Dagar – 3.00 am

Athletics – Men’s Javelin Throw Final – Neeraj Chopra – 4.30 pm

Wrestling – MFS 65kg Bronze/Final – Bajrang Punia – 3.15 pm onwards