Rio Olympics Day 3: Abhinav Bindra Misses Bronze, Agonising Defeat in Men’s Hockey
Bindra, in his swan song Olympics, finished 4th in the finals of the men’s 10m air rifle shooting event.
Although the country was busy vilifying the unexpected disappointment that came from prodigal youngster Jitu Rai, he wasn’t the only one to underperform at the Rio Olympics. India’s most experienced shooting duo of Gagan Narang and Abhinav Bindra too could not open the country’s medal tally, portraying how difficult the competition can get.
Bindra, in his swan song Olympics, finished fourth in the finals of the men’s 10m air rifle shooting event as he lost the shoot off for bronze medal against 23-year-old Ukranian S Kulish. The event also saw one of the country’s top shot Gagan Narang crash out in the qualifying rounds.
Bindra, the country’s flagbearer in the opening ceremony, got a total of 163.8 and finished fourth. Earlier, he was ranked seventh in the qualifying round with a score of 625.7. Narang, was eliminated after finishing a lousy 23rd in the qualifying, with a score of 621.7.
While Bindra will bid farewell to his medal aspirations, Narang has another chance in the men’s 50m rifle shooting event.
Trapped in Qualifying
The qualifying round of the men’s trap shooting event also saw India’s Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai knocked out. Sandhu, finished 16th with an aggregate score of 115 and Chenai, finished 19th with a score of 114.
Men’s Hockey Team: Agonising Defeat
India suffered a tragic 1-2 defeat against the current defending champions Germany in their Group B clash of the men’s field hockey tournament at the Rio Olympics. Germany’s Christopher Ruhr scored a goal with three seconds to spare denying India a well deserved draw.
The Indian team dominated for most of the game despite being made to chase the scoreline after Niklas Wellen’s first quarter goal. PR Sreejesh led side responded superbly as Rupinder Pal Singh equalized from a penalty corner. The neck-to-neck game was put to bed in the dying minutes by Ruhr.
The win helps Germany stay on top of Group B, while India dropped to third.
Women’s Hockey Team Loses
The women’s hockey team were outclassed 3-0 by the Great Britain team in the Group B clash of the women’s field hockey tournament. The Bronze medallists from the London Olympics had a slow start to the match but picked up pace from the second quarter to win the match comfortably.
The women’s team now stands at the fourth position in Group B with a solitary point.
Colourless Swimmers
Indian swimmers put up a lacklustre performance in their respective events at the Rio Olympics. Shivani Kataria finished 41st out of a total 44 participants and was eliminated in the qualifying round of the women’s 200m freestyle swimming event. She took 2:09.30 minutes to complete her qualifying attempt. In the men’s 200m butterfly , Sajan Prakash was knocked out in the qualification round as he finished 28th with a timing of 1:59.37 minutes.
Here are more highlights from day 3 at Rio with The Quint’s Mendra Dorjey.
Day 4 Events
5:00 pm: Dattu Baban Bhokanal will look to advance further into the semi-finals after his surprise qualification in the Men’s single sculls event.
5:30 pm: Heena Sandhu will look to overcome Saturday’s setback and will be in action in the women’s 25m air pistol shooting. The men’s individual archery event will kick start with the round of 64. Atanu Das, who finished 5th in the rankings round will be competing against Nepal’s Jitbahadur Muktan.
7:30 pm: The men’s hockey team will have to set aside the disappointment from their game against Germany quickly as they will go out on the pitch again to face Argentina in what now is a crucial Group B game.
2:45 am: (August 10): 24 year old lightweight boxer Vikas Krishnan Yadav will be exchanging punches with United States’ Charles Cornwell in the round of 32 of the men’s middleweight 75kg boxing event.