It has been a slightly disappointing campaign for the Indian contingent so far at Tokyo Olympics 2020. Since weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal on Day 1, there hasn’t been much for the Indian fans to celebrate. The shooting team, which was expected to get some medals for the nation, stumbled when it mattered the most. With nothing going according to plan, there was finally a ray of hope presented on Wednesday.
In a matter of one hour on Day 5, the Indian Olympic campaign seemed to be back on track as Pooja Rana (Boxing) and Deepika Kumari (Archery) progressed to quarter-finals and pre-quarters, respectively. The hopes of the entire nation rose once again as the duo went a step ahead in their pursuit of clinching historic medals in the Games.
Pooja dominates; Deepika wins a nail-biter
In the round of 16 in women’s middleweight boxing event, India’s Pooja Rani put on an absolutely dominant display. The 30-year-old absolutely outplayed Israel’s Ichrak Chaib 5-0 to cruise to the quarter-finals. On the other hand, world no. 1 archer Deepika Kumari held on to her nerves as she defeated USA’s Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez in a nail-biting contest to progress to 1/8 eliminations round. After going down in the first set, Deepika bounced back to eventually win the match 25-26, 28-25, 27-25, 24-25, 26-25 (6-4).
Fans hail Indian women athletes for their impressive display
The netizens were in awe of the scintillating performance by the duo on Day 5 of the Games. The Indian fans were relieved to see Deepika and Pooja living up to the expectations and finally giving a positive result to celebrate on a day when Sai Praneeth and Pravin Jadhav were knocked out. Everyone was in full praise of the performances of Indian women athletes as they once again put on a strong show, with Mary Kom, PV Sindhu, Pooja Rani, Deepika Kumari and Lovlina Borgohain among few of the brightest prospects to win a medal for the nation.
Here are the best Tweets:
Second consecutive Olympics that the onus to move India's static medal count now lies almost solely on our women athletes. Deepika Kumari, Pooja Rani, PV Sindhu, Lovlina Borgohain and MC Mary Kom carrying the hopes of a billion plus after Mirabai Chanu's historic lift ?????
— Ateet Sharma (@Ateet_Sharma) July 28, 2021
Applauds to Pooja Rani ? , Lovlina ? and Deepika Kumari ? !
Three of our's are in to the Quarterfinals!
Bring in the support for them on 30th July and 1st August. ??#Olympics #Olympics2020 #IndiaTodayAtOlympics #TokyoOlympics #Boxing #Archery— Soumen Paul (@msoumenpaul2) July 28, 2021
Deepika Kumari in Archery Women's Individual quarters winning a cliffhanger!
Pooja Kumari winning her boxing Bout few minutes back!Good hour for India!#Tokyo2020 #TeamIndia
— Karan Bhatia (@sonofsardar4) July 28, 2021
Pooja Rani in Boxing & Deepika Kumari in Archery – Both come up with good performances and qualify to the next round! #TeamIndia #Tokyo2020
— Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) July 28, 2021
Excellent wins for Pooja Rani ( Boxing) and Deepika Kumari ( Archery). Looks like Indian Women will salvage some pride in this Olympics. #Olympics
— Nizamul Bhuyan (@nizamul_bhuyan) July 28, 2021
Deepika Kumari (woman's Archery) and Pooja Rani Boora (75's kg woman's wrestling) qualified for quarterfinals ??
INDIAN WOMEN DOMINATION ✌#TokyoOlympics #wrestling#Archery
— Apurv Anand (@atheistladd) July 28, 2021
Hope for India…Pooja Rani & Deepika kumari#TokyoOlympics
— Harjinder Singh Brar (@hsbtamkot14) July 28, 2021
Both Pooja Rani & Deepika Kumari won their respective games. #Cheer4India
Now in the next round.
Our girls are going strong. ?????#Tokyo2020 #IND #IndiaAtTokyo2020 @SonySportsIndia— Gagan Paliwal (@gaganhindi) July 28, 2021
Both Deepika Kumari and Pooja Rani will have a one-day break before they return to action for their next rounds on July 30, Friday.
