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.
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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.