On the sixth day in Rio, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna held the medal hopes high. Mirza, who has paired with Bopanna for the first time in the mixed doubles, was on a winning crusade. The first time partners defeated Australia’s Samantha Stosur and John Peers in straight sets 7-5, 6-4. With their first win the pair has qualified for the quarterfinals. Mirza and Bopanna will face Britain’s Heather Watson and Andy Murray in their next match.
In Badminton, Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal won her first singles match against Brazil’s Vicente Lohaynny by 21-17, 21-17. Nehwal will play her next match against Ukraine’s Maria Ulitina on Sunday. Even P V Sindhu won her first singles against Hungarian badminton player Laura Sarosi by 21-8, 21-9 in Group M.
In women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost their first match against Japan’s Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi. Misaki/Ayaka won the match by 21-15, 21-10. Gutta and Ponnappa will face Holland’s team today.
In the men’s doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also lost their opening match against Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in straight sets 18-21, 13-21.
Indian archers also disappointed on day six as Deepika Kumari and Bombayla Devi Laishram have crashed out of the Olympic race. Laishram lost her pre-quarterfinal match to Mexico’s Alejandra Valencia. The Mexican archer Alejandra Valencia registered her win by 6-2 as the scoreline read 26-28, 26-23, 27-28, 23-25.
Whereas Deepika Kumari did not qualify for another round as she lost her match against Taipei archer Tan Ya-ting on Thursday. Ya-ting won the match by a perfect 6-0 score.
Indian men’s hockey team lost their fourth match against Netherlands by 1-2. Even after being given five penalty corners in the last few seconds of the fourth quarter, India could not culminate the opportunity into a goal. Indian men’s hockey team will face Canada in the next game.
Meanwhile, the women’s hockey team was defeated by US by the score 0-3. The women’s hockey team, who happens to participate in Olympics after 36 years, has lost three continuous matches and is now seeded to the bottom of Group B.
In world front, American swimmers Michael Phelps continued his winning streak as he won his 22nd gold in the 200 metres individual medley at the Rio Olympics. So far Phelps has won four gold medals in 2016 Olympics. On Saturday, Phelps will compete in 100 metre butterfly event.
In women’s 200 metres swimming event, African-American origin Simone Manuel created history as she became the first coloured woman to win a gold medal in an individual swimming event. American swimmer Simone Manuel, 20, and Canada’s Penny Oleksiak, 16, tied for the first place in the women’s 100-meter freestyle, on Thursday.
