Ace badminton player PV Sindhu and boxer Amit Panghal might have lost on day eight of the Tokyo Olympics but discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur and the Indian women's hockey team ensured fans had something to celebrate on Saturday.
While Panghal's campaign ended today, Sindhu will now play for bronze on Sunday. Archer Atanu Das also bowed out of the men's individual event after losing to Japan's Takaharu Furukawa in the 1/8 Eliminations Round.
Kamalpreet qualified for the finals after finishing second in the women's discus throw qualification. She was only the second thrower who achieved the automatic qualification of 64.00m after USA's Valarie Allman as the latter threw 66.42m in her first attempt.
Kamalpreet's compatriot and veteran athlete Seema Punia failed to qualify for the finals.
Also, the Indian women's hockey team qualified for the quarter-finals after Great Britain defeated Ireland.
The Indian side had kept their quarter-finals hopes alive after defeating South Africa 4-3 on Saturday. Vandana Katariya (4', 17', 49') and Neha (32') found the back of the net for India and helped their team clinch 3 crucial points in the competition.
India's place in the knock-out stage of the tournament depended on the match between Ireland and Great Britain. And with Great Britain's win over Ireland, the Indian side qualified as they finished at the fourth place in Pool A.
In shooting, Anjum Moudgil and Tejaswini Sawant failed to qualify for the medal event after finishing 15th and 33rd respectively in the women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions.
In the afternoon, Boxer Pooja Rani (75kg) got thrashed by China's Li Qian as the Indian bowed out from the tournament. Li Qian won the bout 5-0.
In the last event for the day, long jumper Sreeshankar Murali finished his heats at the 13th spot with the best jump of 7.69m.
The Indian athlete managed 7.43m in his last attempt after recording 7.51m and 7.69m respectively. As a result, Murali missed out on qualifying for further stages.
( With inputs from ANI )
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