Tokyo Olympics : DAY-8: Lovlina assured of a medal, Sindhu reach SF

Boxer Lovlina Borgohain beats Chen Nien-Chin of Chinese Taipei 4-1 in the quarter-final of women's welterweight to assure India of at least a medal by reaching the semi-final. This is India's 2nd medal in Tokyo Olympics as well as India's third medal in Olympics in boxing which came after a long wait of 9 years. Playing her maiden Olympics Lovlina Borgohain becomes the 2nd Indian woman boxer to win an Olympics medal after legend MC Mary Kom. Lovlina Borgohain will now face top seeded Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey in the semi-final. In the other bout Simranjit Kaur lost to Sudaporn Seesondee of Thailand 0-5 in women's lightweight round of 16. The Indian pugilist was no match to her Thai opponent. Simranjit becomes 2nd Indian woman boxer after MC Mary Kom to be knocked out at Tokyo Olympics. Reigning world champion PV Sindhu beat Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-13 22-20 in women's singles quarter-final to advance to semi-final. Sindhu won the opening game comfortably and in the second game Sindhu took a 12-6 healthy lead but the Japanese shuttler made a strong comeback and took a slender lead. Later on Akane Yamaguchi had a game point but Sindhu came up with a great display of smashes to clinch the match in straight games and in process qualifying for the semi-final. This is Sindhu second Semi-final appearance in as many appearances. The Rio Olympics silver medallist is looking in the same form as she was looking in World championship 2019 and she is now going to face Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei for a place in the final. A brace from Gurjant Singh and a goal apiece from Harmanpreet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma and Simranjit Singh has helped India win back to back matches at Tokyo Olympics. In response, Japan managed to net as many as three goals in their final match at Tokyo Games. India continue to be placed 2nd in Pool A below leaders Australia in the points table. Indian women's team beat Ireland 1-0 in Pool A match to stay in the contention for a place in the quarter-final. Navneet Kaur scored for India in the 57th minute. After three consecutive defeats the Rani Rampal led side have registered their first win in Tokyo Olympics and have stayed in contention for a place in the quarterfinals. India will now face South Africa in the next league match which will also be a must win game for them. Ace Indian archer Deepika Kumari’s campaign at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics came to a crashing end in the quarter-final as South Korea’s An San eased past her and won by a comprehensive margin of 6-0 in the women's individual event. Indian sprinter Dutee Chand fails to qualify for semifinals of 100 M, finishing 7th in Round 1 - Heat 1. The Asian Games medallist clocked a timing of 11.54 seconds in her race. Avninash Sable clocks a new National Record of 8:18.12 in men's Steeplechase 3000m Heat 2 but fails to qualify for the final. MP Jabir also failed to progress to the next round of 400M Men's Hurdles Race finishing last in his Round 1 heat. India's Mixed Relay team finished 8th in heats with their season-best time of 3 minutes 19.93 seconds in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. The Indian quartet of Muhammad Anas Yahiya, Revathi Veeramani, Subha Venkatesan and Rajiv Arokia finished last in the heat to bow out of the showpiece event. Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri endured an erratic day at the course and was even-par after 16 holes in the Olympic Games second round which was suspended due to persistent thunderstorms over the east course of the Kasumigaseki Country Club. Lahiri who was 4-under on the first day, was one of the 16 golfers who were yet to finish their rounds and was tied 20th at the time of suspension of play. India's other player in the field Udayan Mane shot 2-under 69 with the help of three birdies on the back nine after being 1-over for the front nine. He is Tied-57th. Nethra Kumanan failed to finish her campaign on a high as she became the first Indian woman to qualify for the Sailing event. Nethra didn't qualify for the final round of the event finishing 35th overall after 10 races. Indian sailors KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar finished in the 16th position in race 9 of Men’s skiff 49er at Tokyo Olympics. Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat had disappointing outings for India in the 25m Air Pistol Women's Qualification event. The duo failed to qualify and Bhaker could only muster a total score of 582, Sarnobat managed 573 for India.