India At Tokyo 2020: Lovlina Borgohain Assures Second Medal; PV Sindhu, Men's Hockey Team Win - Highlights

Boxer Lovlina Borgohain produced a brilliant bout to assure India its second medal at Tokyo Olympics on Friday. The first woman Olympian from Assam beat former world champion Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei 4-1 in their 69kg quarter-final fight to enter the semis. Weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu opened India's account on Saturday with a silver. Earlier in the morning, archer Deepika Kumari was ousted in the quarter-finals and it was another disappointing day for the shooter as both Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat failed to make the 25m pistol final. Indian track and field athletes also started their campaign but were underwhelming throughout the day, to say the least. Reigning world Champion PV Sindhu kept India's hopes of winning a first-ever Olympic gold in badminton alive as she reached the semifinals of women's singles with a fighting straight-game win over world no 5 Japanese Akane Yamaguchi. Indian men's hockey team defeated Japan 5-2, while women got better off Ireland 1-0. Catch the day's highlights here:

MEDAL TALLY | INDIA'S SCHEDULE ON JULY 30

5:08 PM IST: Medal Alert !

Japan wins men's epee team gold; Hosts have won first-ever fencing gold in the men's epee with a 45-36 win over the ROC.  Korea finishes third.

5:00 PM IST: Novak Djokovic Golden Slam Bid Ends
There will be no Golden Slam for Novak Djokovic. The top-ranked Serb lost to Alexander Zverev of Germany 1-6, 3-6, 6-1 Friday in the semifinals of the tennis tournament at the Tokyo Olympics.

4:47 PM IST: Poland wins Mixed 4x400m relay, Heat 2 with a time of 3:19.44. India finish last with the timings of 3:19.93. Another feeble show by India in track and field today.

4:40 PM IST: Mixed 4x400m relay, Heat 2 coming up. India will see Revathi Veeramani, Subha Venkatesan, Alex Antony and Sarthak Bhambri in action.

** USA's mixed team has been disqualified after heat 1 for fumbling during baton exchange**

4:35 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India Beat Japan  5-3

India have won the match despite resting few key players. India will know their quarterfinal opponents by end of today.

4:31 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 5-3 Japan (4th quarter)

Japan have scored a goal via Kazuma Murata.

4:28 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 5-2 Japan (4th quarter)

India win penalty corner and Gurjant has scored through deflection. India surely now have the match in the bag with 4 minutes left on the clock

4:24 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 4-2 Japan (4th quarter)

Japan has won penalty corner but PR Sreejesh makes a brilliant save

4:19 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 4-2 Japan (4th quarter)

India now have two goal cushion over hosts Japan who are trying to stitch quick counter attacks. Nilakanta Sharma scores the goal

4:11 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 3-2 Japan (End of 3rd quarter)

India have 3-2 lead and the fourth quarter is coming up. Japan will be looking for the equaliser

4:06 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 3-2 Japan (3rd quarter)

India have been dominating the possession and have won the penalty corner. Harmanpreet shoots wide. the ball took a deflection of a stick of Japan's defender. India gets long corner but fail to take advantage of the attack.

3:55 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 3-2 Japan (3rd quarter)

India are back in lead in the very next minute with Shamsher Singh scoring via deflection

3:53 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 2-2 Japan (3rd quarter)

Japan managed to pull another one back and have now equalised via  Kota Watanbe

3:40 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 2-1 Japan (end of 2nd quarter)

India are leading 2-1 at the end of second quarter with goals from Harmanpreet and Gurjant. Japan managed to pull one back with Kenta Tanaka sounding the board.

3:24 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 2-1 Japan (2nd quarter)

Japan has scored a goal to reduce the margin to 1-2 in the 2nd quarter with a goal from Kenta Tanaka.

3:20 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 2-0 Japan (2nd quarter)

India lead 2-0 in the 2nd quarter with a goal from Gurjant Singh

3:15 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A India 1-0 Japan (end of 1st quarter)

India lead 1-0 in the first quarter with a goal from Harmanpreet Singh,

2:58 PM IST:  Hockey - Men's Pool A

Here's India's team for the match. India are already in quarterfinals

2:57 PM IST: Hockey - Men's Pool A

India vs Japan next!

2:54 PM IST: Badminton - Women's Singles, Quarterfinal

Game 2 - PV Sindhu 22-20 Akane Yamaguchi

Sindhu wins in straight games.

2:20 PM IST: Badminton - Women's Singles, Quarterfinal

Game 1 - PV Sindhu 14-13 Akane Yamaguchi

She wins the first game in 23 minutes.

2:03 PM IST: Game 1 - PV Sindhu 8-7 Akane Yamaguchi

Another error of judgment from Sindhu which allowed Yamaguchi to reduce the gap to one point.

1:56 PM IST: Badminton - Women's Singles, Quarterfinal

PV Sindhu vs Akane Yamaguchi, it's on!

1:47 PM IST: Badminton - Women's Singles, Quarterfinal

PV Sindhu vs Akane Yamaguchi (JPN)

And at our expense, advertisers are having a field day! Assuming, they are also enjoying the delay, or whatever... The scheduled start time was 1:15 IST.

1:32 PM IST: Medal alert

Archery - Women's Singles

San An of South Korea has won the women's individual final after shoot-off against Elena Osipova of ROC.

12:14 PM IST: Badminton - Women's Singles, Quarterfinal

Next - PV Sindhu vs Akane Yamaguchi (JPN)

1:13 PM IST: Badminton - Mixed Doubles

Second seeds Wang Yi Lyu and Huang Dong Ping defeated top seeds Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong in the all-Chinese final in three games (21-17, 17-21, 21-19)

Earlier, Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino of Japan defeated Hong Kong pair Chu Man Tang and Ying Suet Tse in straight games (21-17, 23-21) to take bronze.

12:21 PM IST: Badminton - Women's Singles, Quarterfinal

Coming up - PV Sindhu vs Akane Yamaguchi (JPN). Follow match live blog HERE.

11:37 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Quarters

Set 3 - Deepika Kumari (27, 24, 24) 0-6 (30, 26, 26) San An

Sad end to Dipika Kumari's campaign.

11:35 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Quarters

Set 2 - Deepika Kumari (27, 24) 0-4 (30, 26) San An

11:32 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Quarters

Set 1 - Deepika Kumari (27) 0-2 (30) San An

11:24 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Quarters

Upcoming - Deepika Kumari vs San An

10:50 AM IST: Hockey - Women's Pool A

India 1-0 Ireland: Navneet Kaur guides from a captain Rani Rampal tomahawk and finally, India break the deadlock with little over three minutes left in the match. Ireland take review, but nothing...

Thus, Indian eves keep their hopes alive. First win in four outings. Face South Africa in the final pool match.

10:28 AM IST: Hockey - Women's Pool A

Third quarter - India 0-0 Ireland

18 chances, including 14 PCs and India still seeking first goal. Wasted chances.

9:58 AM IST: Hockey - Women's Pool A

First half: India 0-0 Ireland

Indian eves dominated the match but they have so far failed to convert any of the 11 chances created. Superb job from Ireland goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran to deny Indians the lead.

9:42 AM IST: Athletics - Women’s 100m, Round 1, Heat 5

India's fastest woman, Dutee Chand finishes seventh in the 8-woman heat with a timing of 11.54.

9:37 AM IST: Hockey - Women's Pool A

First quarter: India 0-0 Ireland

9:30 AM IST: Lovlina Borgohain will square off against reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey, who hammered Anna Lysenko in her quarterfinal bout.

9:07 AM IST: Boxing - Women’s welterweight (64-69kg), Quarter-final

Round 3 - Lovlina Borgohain beats Nien-Chin Chen (TPE) to assure herself at least a bronze medal. She wins 4-1, by split decision.

9:02 AM IST: Boxing - Women’s welterweight (64-69kg), Quarter-final

Round 2 - Lovlina Borgohain overwhelms Nien-Chin Chen (TPE) in the second round. Takes the second round too.

8:57 AM IST: Boxing - Women’s welterweight (64-69kg), Quarter-final

Round 1 - Height advantage for Lovlina Borgohain. Very tight first round with both the boxers holding ground. Indian boxer takes the round by split decision.

8:34 AM IST: Boxing - Women’s welterweight (64-69kg), Quarter-final

Lovlina Borgohain, in the red corner, takes the ring to face Nien-Chin Chen (TPE).

8:50 AM IST: Hockey - Women's Pool A

India vs Ireland: Check India's starting XI

8:35 AM IST: Athletics - Men's 400m Hurdles, Round 1, Heat 5

MP Jabir finishes last in the seven-man field, clocking 50.77.

8:34 AM IST: Boxing - Women’s welterweight (64-69kg), Quarter-final

Upcoming - Lovlina Borgohain vs Nien-Chin Chen (TPE)

8:32 AM IST: Boxing - Women’s lightweight (57-60kg), Round Of 16

Round 3 - Better from Simranjit Kaur. But too little, too late as they say. Despite her height advantage and reach, the Indian boxer fails to impress. Too raw. Her first Olympics, understandably. Easy win for Thailand's Sudaporn Seesondee. 5-0.

8:28 AM IST: Boxing - Women’s lightweight (57-60kg), Round Of 16

Round 2 - Simranjit Kaur's spraying her punches, hardly landing any. And the worst part, her guard is hollow. In boxing, the target always moves. And Sudaporn Seesondee (THA) takes the second round too, another unanimous decision.

8:24 AM IST: Boxing - Women’s lightweight (57-60kg), Round Of 16

Round 1 - Simranjit Kaur loses first round against Sudaporn Seesondee (THA) with all five judges ruling against her.

8:20 AM IST: Boxing - Women’s lightweight (57-60kg), Round Of 16

Simranjit Kaur, in the blue corner, up against Sudaporn Seesondee (THA)

8:14 AM IST: Shooting - Women’s 25m pistol, Rapid qualification

It's confirmed! Both Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat fail to qualify for the final. Bhaker finishes 15th while, Sarnobat manages 32nd. The top eight qualify for the final.

8:11 AM IST: Athletics - Men's 400m Hurdles, Round 1, Heat 5

Upcoming - MP Jabir gets lane fifth. Race scheduled to start at 8:27 AM IST.

8:06 AM IST: Badminton - Women's Singles, Quarterfinal

Top seed Chen Yufei of China beats seventh seed An Seyoung of South Korea in straight games to enter semis. She will meet her Chinese compatriot He Bingjiao for a place in the final.

8:02 AM IST: Medal Alert - Swimming

Men's 200m Individual Medley

Shun Wang of China creates a new Asian record en route to gold medal. Duncan Scott of Great Britain and Jeremy Desplanches of Switzerland take silver and bronze medals respectively.

7:54 AM IST: Boxing - Women’s lightweight (57-60kg), Round Of 16

Upcoming - Simranjit Kaur vs Sudaporn Seesondee (THA)

7:50 AM IST: Medal alerts - Swimming

Women's 200m Breaststroke

Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa creates a new world record en route to gold medal. Lilly King and Annie Lazor of USA take silver and bronze respectively.

Men's 200m Backstroke

Evgeny Rylov of ROC wins gold with a new Olympic record time, ahead of USA's Ryan Murphy and Great Britain's Luke Greenbank.

Women's 100m Freestyle

Another Olympic record. Emma McKeon wins gold with a record time, ahead of Siobhan Bernadette Haughey of Hong Kong (Asian record) and Cate Campbell of Australia.

7:38 AM IST: Shooting - Women’s 25m pistol, Rapid qualification

Seems like both Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat fail to qualify for the final. Bhaker shoots a combined 582 (292 in precision and 290 in rapid), while Sarnobat manages 573 (287 in precision and 286 in rapid). They are currently 11th and 32nd in the 44-shooter field with more than yet to complete their respective rapid rounds.

The top eight qualify for the final.

7:35 AM IST: Hockey - Women's Pool A

India vs Ireland clash rescheduled due to heavy rain. It will now start at 9:15 AM IST.

Athletics - Women’s 100m, Round 1, Heat 5

Upcoming - Dutee Chand to compete in heat 5. She gets lane nine. Start time 9:17 AM IST.

7:04 AM IST: Medal alert

Rowing - Men's Eight

New Zealand win gold medal. Germany and Great Britain settle with silver and bronze respectively.

With that rowing competitions at Tokyo Olympics get over. 14 events, 14 gold medals.

New Zealand won three gold, two silvers. Australia won two gold and two bronze each.

7:00 AM IST: Badminton - Women's Quarterfinal

Third seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan loses to China's He Bing Jiao, 2-1.

6:56 AM IST: Athletics - Men’s 3000m steeplechase, Heat 2

Despite creating a new national record, Avinash Sable fails to make the final.

6:52 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Quarters

San An of South Korea beats Ren Hayakawa of Japan 6-4 to set up a quarter-final match with Deepika Kumari. (Start time: 11:30 AM IST)

Deepika, who finished ninth in the ranking round, is the first Indian to make the last-eight stage in an individual event of the archery competition in the Olympics. San An created a new Olympic record during the ranking round. 

6:47 AM IST: Medal alert

Rowing - Women's Eight

Canada win gold medal. New Zealand and China take silver and bronze medals respectively.

6:28 AM IST: Athletics - Men’s 3000m steeplechase, Heat 2

Result - Avinash Sable sets a new national record with a timing of 8:18.12 but it's only a seventh-place finish in the heat. And it may not be enough to qualify for the next round.

Kenya's Abraham Kibiwot wins the heat with a timing of 8:12.25.

6:26 AM IST: Medal alert

Rowing - Men's Single Sculls

Another Olympic best time as Greece's Stefanos Ntouskos takes gold. Kjetil Borch of Norway and Damir Martin of Croatia settle for silver and bronze medals.

6:20 AM IST: Medal alert

Rowing - Women's Single Sculls

New Zealand's Emma Twigg sets the new Olympic best to win gold, ahead of ROC's Hanna Prakatsen (silver) and Austria's Magdalena Lobnig (bronze).

6:17 AM IST: Athletics - Men’s 3000m steeplechase, Heat 2

Avinash Sable starts India's athletics campaign. 

6:14 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Round Of 16

Shoot-off - Deepika Kumari (10) 6- 5 (7)Ksenia Perova (ROC).

Indian shooter enters quarterfinals.

6:11 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Round Of 16

Set 5 - Deepika Kumari (28, 26, 28, 26, 25) 5-5 (25, 27, 27, 26, 28) Ksenia Perova (ROC). Shoot-off to follow...

6:09 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Round Of 16

Set 4 - Deepika Kumari (28, 26, 28, 26) 5-3 (25, 27, 27, 26) Ksenia Perova (ROC)

6:07 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Round Of 16

Set 3 - Deepika Kumari (28, 26, 28) 4-2 (25, 27, 27) Ksenia Perova (ROC)

6:05 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Round Of 16

Set 2 - Deepika Kumari (28, 26) 2-2 (25, 27) Ksenia Perova (ROC). And slight drizzle!

6:03 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Round Of 16

Set 1 - Deepika Kumari (28) 2-0 (25) Ksenia Perova (ROC)

5:57 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Round Of 16

Deepika Kumari vs Ksenia Perova (ROC)

The weather forecast is not good. Chances of rain interruption.

On Wednesday, world number one archer Deepika Kumari survived some anxious moments before getting past US teenager Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez 6-4 to enter the pre-quarterfinals.

Deepika lost the first set by one point but she bounced back strongly with three 10s in a row to take a 4-2 lead. She, however, failed to wrap up the match in the fourth set as she misfired a six in her second arrow.

The 18-year-old American made it 4-4, winning the set by one-point (25-24). In the winner-take-all fifth set, Deepika had two 9s to start with before finishing with a poor 8. Needing a 10 in her last arrow to force a shoot-off, Jennifer signed off with a nine in what was a promising campaign for the American teenager.

5:46 AM IST: Archery - Women’s individual, Round of 16

Upcoming - Deepika Kumari vs Ksenia Perova (ROC)

5:37 AM IST: Here's a look at the medal tally, top 15, before the day's first medal event.

Check full standing HERE.

5:25 AM IST: Shooting - Women’s 25m pistol, Rapid qualification

Upcoming - Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat

Bhaker and Sarnobat were placed 5th and 25th respectively in the women's 25m pistol qualification - precision. In a field of 44 shooters, Bhaker scored 292 after 30 shots on target in the precision round while compatriot Sarnobat aggregated 287. Serbia's Zorana Arunovic led the pack with 296 points, followed by Greece's Anna Korakaki who has 294.

The top-8 shooters in the qualification will enter the final.

5:01 AM IST: A look at Indians in action today

Archery - Women’s individual, Round of 16

Deepika Kumari vs Ksenia Perova (ROC)

Athletics - Men’s 3000m steeplechase, Heat 2

Avinash Sable

Men’s 400m hurdles, Heat 5

MP Jabir

Women’s 100m, Heats

Dutee Chand

Mixed 4x400m relay, Heat 2

India - 4:42 PM IST

Badminton - Women’s singles quarter-finals

PV Sindhu vs Akane Yamaguchi (JPN)

Boxing - Women’s lightweight (57-60kg), Round of 16

Simranjit Kaur vs Sudaporn Seesondee (THA)

Women’s welterweight (64-69kg), Quarter-finals

Lovlina Borgohain vs Nien-Chin Chen (TPE)

Equestrian - Eventing Individual Dressage

Fouaad Mirza

Golf - Men’s Round 2

Udayan Mane and Anirban Lahiri

Hockey

Women’s Pool A: India vs Ireland
Men’s Pool A: India vs Japan

Sailing - Women’s Laser Radial, Race 9 and 10

Nethra Kumanan

Sailing - Men’s 49er - Race 7, 8 and 9

KC Ganapathy/Varun Thakkar

Sailing - Men’s Laser Standard Race 9 and 10

Vishnu Saravanan

Shooting - Women’s 25m pistol

Rapid qualification: Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat

4:55 AM IST: Medals to decide on 21 events today

Swimming (4), archery (1), athletics (1), badminton (1), canoeing - slalom (1), cycling - bmx (2), fencing (1), gymnastics - trampolining (1), judo (2), rowing (4), shooting (1), table tennis (1), tennis (1).

Friday's first medal could come from the Asaka shooting range. Manu Bhaker was placed fifth and Rahi Sarnobat 25th, after the first precision round of qualifying in the women’s 25m pistol event on Thursday. Manu shot an excellent 292 out of 300 while Rahi shot 287, and both can make it among the top eight finalists on the back of a very good second rapid-fire round on Friday.

Archer Deepika Kumari will draw inspiration from her husband Atanu Das, who defeated the South Korean Olympic champion Jin-Hyek Ho en route to grabbing a Round of 16 berth in the men's singles round on Thursday. World No. 1 Deepika has won every archery medal but an Olympic medal has remained elusive. Tokyo 2020 is her third Olympics. Deepika could face top seed An San of Korea if she can beat ROC's Ksenia Perova in the pre-quarters.

Lovlina Borgohain, in her first Olympics, faces a tough quarterfinal bout against world championship bronze medallist Nien-Chin Chen of Chinese Taipei in the women's welterweight (69 kg) category. A win guarantees the lanky boxer a medal.

And PV Sindhu will face Akane Yamaguchi, whom she has beaten 11 times in 18 meetings. World No. 5 Sindhu had defeated the world No. 5 Yamaguchi in the All England quarters in March this year but this contest should be a cliff-hanger. Sindhu has been in good form but the Japanese will be no pushover.