Rio 2016 | Atanu Das, men’s hockey team star for India on Day 4

SportsCafe Desk
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After days of disappointment from Archery, Atanu Das gave India something to cheer and qualified for the Round of 16 round in the individual event. The Indian men’s hockey team defeated Argentina 2-1 in their third group match, while boxer Vikas Krishan defeated USA's Charles Conwell to move ahead.

Archery – Men’s individual

After finishing fifth in the men’s ranking round, Atanu Das continued his good run and made it to the Round of 16 by registering two wins on the day. He defeated Jitbahadur Muktan of Nepal 6-0 in the Round of 64 before surviving a scare against Cuba's Adrian Andres Puentes Perez.

In the Round of 32 round, Atanu maintained his good form and won the first two sets 28-26 and 29-26 to make it 4-0. But Adrian made a comeback in the third to make it 4-2. In the fourth set, the Cuban scored 28, but Atanu failed to match him shot for shot and ended up at 27 to take the match to the deciding fifth set.

In the decider, Atanu hit a 9 and two 10s to finish with a score of 29. But Perez failed to hit the high scores and finished at 27 to lose the match. Atanu will next face South Korean Lee Seung-yun, who finished 12th in the ranking round, on August 12.

Hockey

India defeated Argentina 2-1, for the first time since 2009, in their third group match of the men’s hockey team event in the 2016 Rio Olympics to almost confirm their place in the quarterfinals. Chinglensana Singh and Kothajit Singh scored the goals for India.

India started the match on the positive and kept the ball with themselves in the opening minutes. SV Sunil’s pace was once again India’s big weapon, and the forward earned India their first penalty corner of the match in the eighth minute with a fast counter down the right. Rupinder Pal Singh took the penalty corner, which looked destined for the bottom corner, but the Argentine goalie saved it with his legs. However, India got another opportunity after the Argentine defenders failed to clear the ball. India used a variation, this time, and Chinglensana Singh took the shot to the right of the goal to beat a diving Juan Vivaldi. Argentina expected VR Raghunath to take the shot and the variation had outfoxed them.

After going into the half-way mark with a 1-0 lead, Kothajit Singh doubled India’s lead in the 34th minute. India harried the Argentine defender in the right corner, and after a scramble, they won the ball. Akashdeep Singh employed some nice stick work to send the ball back into the circle and Ramandeep Singh took a shot at the goal. But he failed to connect properly and the ball fell to Kothajit Singh. He made no mistake and smashed it to the right of the goalie to make it 2-0.

India last beat Argentina back in 2009, and it looked like they would register their first win in a long time. However, Argentina came out for the fourth quarter as a different team and unleashed attack after attack on the Indian goal. They won their first penalty corner in the 48th minute, and it gave Gonzalo Peillat a chance to unleash his powerful penalty corners. Peillat stepped up and unleashed a straightforward low drive to the bottom left corner to beat PR Sreejesh.

Argentina had their first goal and they pushed for more. The Indian defence, which had stood tall for the first three quarters, conceded penalty corner after penalty corner in the fourth. But, PR Sreejesh was a wall before the goal and kept Argentina out with some incredible saves. Although Argentina pushed forward over and over, India held their nerves in the last minute and held on for a 2-1 win to move to second position in the table.

India will next face Netherlands.

Shooting - Women's 25m pistol

Heena Sidhu, who had produced a disappointing performance in the 10m air pistol, once again failed to live up to expectations in the 25m pistol event. She scored 286 (95, 95, 96) in the Precision stage and 290 (97, 97, and 96) in the Rapid Fire stage to finish 18th with a score of 576.

Rowing – Men’s singles sculls

India’s Dattu Bhokanal, who qualified for the quarterfinals by coming third in his heats, finished fourth in the men’s singles sculls quarter-final on Tuesday. He ended with a timing of 6:59:89 to qualify for semi-final C/D, which are ranking rounds, effectively ending his chance of winning a medal.

Boxing – Vikas Krishan

Vikas Krishan defeated opponent Charles Conwell of the USA by unanimous decision to advance in the 75kg men's boxing category.

Krishan was definitely the more technical of the two. He started well testing Conwell in the first round, and darting back just in time again and again as Conwell kept swinging big with his left. Conwell dominated the last minute of the round with a vicious left hook, but Vikas came back with a right upper cut to end the round.

In the second round, Conwell landed a few body punches but Vikas got away soon. In a round of hit and miss, Vikas got more than he got back. With 30 seconds to go, Conwell tried to pin Vikas on the ropes, but he managed to get away. ROund 2 to Vikas.

In the third, Vikas was fighting with his guard down, taunting Conwell. Vikas was cut in the lower lip, but kept dancing away from the American. Conwell went for wild jabs as the clock kept ticking away, but it was too little too late from him. He took the last round but Vikas won the overall decision 3-0 with a score of 29, 29, 29 against Conwell's 28, 28, 28.

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