India at Paris Olympics on Day 5: Top names remain on course for medals

New Delhi: As there were no medal rounds for India athletes on Day 5 on Wednesday, there was no addition to the two shooting bronze at Paris Olympics that kept the country at the joint 38th spot in the standings.

But Indians did the next thing they could, to win their group stage or knockout games to remain in the hunt for a podium finish.

Shuttle stars PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen were through to the pre-quarterfinals with two confidence-boosting wins.

Chasing her third consecutive Olympics medal, Sindhu had a comfortable outing against Kristin Kuuba of Estonia, winning her second and last group match 21-5 21-10.

Sen was even more impressive as he stunned the reigning All England and Asian champion Jonatan Christie, pulling off a sensational 21-18 21-12 victory over the world number four from Indonesia.

Swapnil in final

While Sindhu and Sen have a few hurdles before they can reach the title round, Swapnil Kusale qualified to the final of the 50m rifle 3 positions event.

He finished seventh in the qualification round to become the first Indian to qualify for the final round of the event.

Aishwary Tomar’s hopes extinguished after finishing 11th while in women’s trap event, Rajeshwari Kumari and Shreyasi Singh bowed out after finishing in 22nd and 23rd positions, respectively.

Lovlina enter quarters

Eyeing her second consecutive Olympic medal, Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) brushed aside Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad 5-0 win in the pre-quarters, to come within one win of adding to her Tokyo 2020 bronze.

To achieve that she has to take out top-seeded Li Qian of China in her last eight bout.

In table tennis, birthday girl Sreeja Akula celebrated turning 26 by moving into the pre-quarterfinals of women’s singles, conquering Singapore’s Jian Zeng 4-2 (9-11 12-10 11-4 11-5 10-12 12-10).

But her senior team-mate Manika Batra’s singles campaign ended as she went down 1-4 to eighth-seed Miu Hirano of Japan.

Archer Deepika back in form

Veteran archer Deepika Kumari struggled in team competition but found some modicum of form to advance to the round of 16 in the women’s individual event.

The former top-ranked Deepika first beat Reena Parnat of Estonia 6-5 in a shoot-off before getting the better off Dutchwoman Quinty Roeffen 6-2 to set up a clash with Michelle Kroppen of Germany.

Tarundeep Rai was beaten by Tom Hall 4-6 in the men’s individual 1/32 elimination round.

In equestrianism, Anush Agarwalla exited with a ninth-place group stage finish in the individual dressage category.

On Thursday, Indian athletes will step on to the track for the first time at Paris with Akshdeep Singh, Vikash Singh and Paramjeet Singh Bisht competing in the men’s 20km race walk while Priyanka Goswami featuring in the women’s 20km event.

In golf, Shubhankar Sharma and Gaganjeet Bhullar will compete in the men’s competition on Thursday.

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 Shuttle stars PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, boxer Lovlina Borgohain won their respective matches on Day 5 of Paris Olympics.  Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today