Tokyo Olympics : Adidti Ashok on the verge of podium finish, Bajrang to fight for bronze

Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia faced a crushing defeat in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics at the hands of Haji Aliyev of Azerbaijan in the men’s freestyle 65 kg event on Friday. Aliyev defeated Bajrang 12-5 as the former dominated proceedings from the word go. The Indian grappler will now play the bronze medal match. Golfer Aditi Ashok finishes Round 3 of women’s individual stroke play in Tokyo 2020 in second place with a total of 12-under 201. The leader is the USA’s Nelly Korda who is 15-under 198.The 23-year-old rolled in five birdies to be placed second on twelve-under 201 ahead of a New Zealander, an Australian, a Japanese, and a Danish golfer (203) who all are tied on third place. The Indian finished round three with 68 (-3) for Day 3 at the Kasumigaseki Country Club. Diksha Dagar finished 51st position at the end of day 3. India women’s hockey team missed out on a bronze medal as they lost to Great Britain 3-4 in the Bronze Medal Playoff. Dragflicker Gurjit Kaur scored a brace for India and Vandana Katariya also scored a goal but they failed to win a medal for the country. India finish fourth in Heat 2 of men's 4*400 metres relay race with Muhammad Anas Yahiya, Noah Nirmal Tom, Arokia Rajiv, and Amoj Jacob setting a new Asian record with a timing of 3:00:25, although it is not enough to ensure a place in the final for them in Tokyo Olympics 2020. India finished overall 9th and missed the final qualification by a whisker. Priyanka Goswami was among the leading pack around the halfway mark but eventually finished 17th while compatriot Bhawna Jat ended at 32nd in the women's 20km race walk event. The 25-year-old Priyanka clocked 1 hour 32 minute 36 seconds, well outside her personal best of 1:28:45. Priyanka was in the leading pack from the beginning and was the front runner when she crossed the 8km mark but slowly she dropped down later on. On the other hand Bhawna Jat failed to keep pace with the leading pack and was behind from the beginning to eventually end at 32nd with a time of 1:37:38. In the morning, the 37-year-old Gurpreet, one of the lowest ranked athletes in the event, was 51st at the 35km mark with a time of 2 hr 55 minutes and 19 seconds but dropped out just after that. Debutant Indian wrestler Seema Bisla could not find a way to get out of the defensive trap of Tunisia's Sarra Hamdi and lost her 50kg opening round 1-3. The 27-year-old could not make her moves as Hamdi applied the body lock to great effect, never allowing Seema to initiate a strong attack.There were hardly any moves in the bout with Hamdi getting two of her three points on push out and one on Seema's passivity. The Tunisian later lost her next bout, which drew curtains on Seema's campaign.