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Tokyo 2020: Great day for Sindhu and Indian hockey
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PV Sindhu cemented her name as one of India’s greatest ever Olympians with a commanding performance today.
In a battle to decide the bronze medal-playoff, Sindhu defeated China’s He Bing Jiao at the Musashino Forest Plaza Court 1.
In the process, she became the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals.
Sindhu beat Bing Jiao 21-13, 21-15 in a match that lasted 52 minutes.
Sindhu had earlier returned with a silver medal at the Rio Olympics 2016.
Interestingly, Bing Jiao had beaten Sindhu nine times in their last 15 matches but had no answer to Sindhu’s relentless aggression.
With this win, Sindhu has scooped India’s third medal at Tokyo.
Weight-lifter Mirabai Chanu has already returned to India after collecting a silver, while boxer Lovlina Borgohain is assured of at least a bronze so far.
Till now, wrestler Sushil Kumar is the only other Indian to win two Olympic medals – a bronze at 2008 in Beijing and a silver at the 2012 London edition.
How Sindhu’s match progressed
Sindhu raced to a 4-0 lead early on but Bing Jiao started engaging her in rallies in order to tire her down and force errors.
Bing Jiao started using her angled returns and flat pushes to claw back to 5-5.
However Sindhu didn’t let up and entered the interval with a cross court smash and down the line hit at 11-8.
The Indian stepped up the pace after the break to gather three more points and looked in total control to pocket the opening game when her opponent went wide.
After change of ends, Sindhu continued her aggressive game, egged on by coach Park Tae-Sang from the sidelines, to lead 4-1 with a cross court return.
Bing Jiao tried to change the momentum but Sindhu kept attacking with half-smashes and slices to retain a three point advantage.
Bing Jiao erased the deficit quickly before a precise smash on the line helped Sindhu wrest back control.
She soon restored the three point advantage with another cross court drop.
Sindhu went on to grab five match points with another of trademark smash and when Bing Jiao hit one wide, Sindhu celebrated with a victory cry.
Earlier, men’s singles player B Sai Praneeth and the men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had failed to qualify for the knockout stage.
Men’s hockey team in last four
The Indian men’s hockey team secured a 3-1 win over Great Britain in the quarter-finals to inch closer to a medal.
With the win at the Oi Hockey Stadium, Manpreet Singh and team. ended Indian hockey’s 41-year-long wait for a semi-final appearance at the Olympics.
India had last made it to the semi-finals at Moscow 1980, where they won gold.
Incidentally, it was also the last of India’s hockey medals at the Summer Games.
Dilpreet Singh (7 minutes), Gurjant Singh (16) and Hardik Singh (57) scored for India.
Samuel Ward (45) netted Great Britain’s only goal of the match.
Other news
Indian boxer Satish Kumar bowed out of the Tokyo Olympics after losing against Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov in the quarter-finals of the men’s super heavyweight (+91kg) category.
Top seed Bakhodir Jalolov dominated the bout in all three rounds as he won by an anonymous 5-0 decision at the Kokugikan arena.
India discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur qualified for the finals after finishing second in the women’s discus throw qualification event at the Olympic Stadium.
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Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry star in RCB women’s comeback win against UP Warriorz in WPL 2024
RCB women overcame UP Warriorz by 23 runs to clinch their third win of the season. The home side outperformed Warriorz in all the facets of the game and emerged victorious. A collective team effort, particularly with the bat, helped RCB women to beat Warriorz for the second time in the season. They now have three wins in their five matches in the WPL 2024.
Alyssa Healy won the toss and opted to field first. Given how things have panned out in the league so far, it needed a great batting performance from RCB to challenge the chasing side. The home side did exactly that. They were full of intent which was lacking in the last few games. Right from the start, S Meghana and Smriti Mandhana smashed the bowlers.
It was the night of the RCB skipper. The Southpaw scored 80(50) in her stay. S Meghana perished after a valuable 28(21). Ellyse Perry batted well and registered her first fifty of the WPL 2024. She was aided well towards the end by Richa Ghosh whose 21(10) propelled RCB to a score of 198 on the board. It was the highest team total in the WPL 2024.
Alyssa Healy’s efforts go in vain
Chasing the daunting total, UP Warriorz were off to a flier. The opening duo of Healy and Kiran Navgire gave a fiery start to the visiting side. When the two were batting in the PP overs, it seemed like the Warriorz could pull off an insane chase. However, Sophie Devine brought RCB back into the game with crucial wickets. At Bengaluru, the home crowd was literally behind the RCB women.
It helped the home side to stay calm and do their job with ease. Sophie Molineux and Asha Sobhana were the pick of the bowlers, who claimed 2/29 each in their spell of four overs. While Healy scored a fifty and Deepti tried her best in the death overs, ten daunting targets could not be chased down. Despite the early hiccups, RCB managed to restrict UP Warriorz to a score of 175 and won by 23 runs.
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WATCH: Ellyse Perry in disbelief as her six breaks car’s window
Ellyse Perry smashed a six in the match against UP Warriorz in the WPL 2024. It was an interesting six as the ball travelled towards the boundary ropes and fell exactly on the window of the car. As a result, the glass of the window was broken. The car is set to be provided as a reward for the player of the tournament.
It was the over of Deepti Sharma towards the last few moments of RCB’s innings. Before Perry struck, the home side was in a great position in the match, thanks to a great start provided by Smriti Mandhana. The star batter scored 80 (50) and shined in front of the home crowd. Her form helped RCB to have a good momentum towards the death overs.
Watch the viral video here –
ELLYSE PERRY HAS BROKE THE GLASS OF THE CAR…!!! 🤯
– The reaction of Perry was priceless!! pic.twitter.com/zaxiQLLN1r
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 4, 2024
Perry, who was struggling till that point, opened up and smashed the bowlers for fun. She went hard against the spinners like Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma who were asked to bowl at the death. The right-handed batter smashed back-to-back sixes in the over of Sharma. One of those travelled towards the mid-wicket region where the car was stationed. The video of her shot has gone viral on X.
RCB teammates laugh, Ellyse Perry in disbelief
As the ball fell on the car and damaged the window, the fans erupted. There was no end to the joy of the fans who started chanting “Perry.. Perry..” and lit the atmosphere of the stadium. However, Perry was in disbelief. As she saw the impact of the ball damaging the car’s window, the Australian batter could not believe her eyes and thought about what she had just done.
On the other hand, the RCB teammates of Perry were in awe of the shot. They looked at the replays and appreciated the shot of Perry. At the same time, players like Sophie Molineux and Sophie Devine had a laugh about the car’s window getting damaged. Ellyse scored a fifty and helped her team score 198 runs with her batting in front of the home crowd.
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Praveen Kumar addresses Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer’s negligence of taking part in Ranji Trophy
Praveen Kumar has given his opinion on the preferences of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer in recent times. The duo did not take part in the Ranji Trophy matches for their respective teams despite being fit. It did not go well with the Indian Cricket Board which landed the duo without a ventral contract which was announced a few days back.
Praveen Kumar has reacted to the issue recently. The former India pacer claimed that he has been of an opinion on the issue for a long time. Praveen felt that one should definitely earn money but not at the cost of neglecting to play for domestic and national teams. The right-arm pacer felt that players today are having a certain mentality which is not good.
The former pacer claimed that the players have a mindset that they can rest for a month before taking part in the IPL, thereby bypassing playing for their national team or the domestic teams. Praveen felt that the players could not resist letting go of money which they could earn by taking part in the IPL and other T20 leagues (For foreign players).
‘Ye mentally hota hai, ki mai itne paise kaise chodun’ – Praveen Kumar
“This thing is now firmly in the mind of players. Mai ek mahine pehle rest kar lunga, fir IPL khel lunga. Ye mentally hota hai, ki mai itne paise kaise chodun,” said Praveen in the interview. He claimed that youngsters these days are spoilt and are behind money. The former RCB pacer felt that it is not fair on the part of the young players to neglect the country over the IPL.
Kumar felt that a player needs to maintain a balance between playing for the IPL team and for the country. He felt that money is an important factor, but not at the cost of playing for the national team. “But this is not fair at all. A player needs to balance things. Money is important, but this (giving franchise cricket the priority) is wrong,” said the former Indian bowler in the interview.
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