Disappointing day as expectations failed to deliver amid some positives

It was a disappointing day for the Indian contingent after a bright spark yesterday. Hopes were high on shooting buy they have wilted under pressure with a bit of luck deserting us also. In the women’s 10m air pistol event Manu Bhaker lost time due to pistol malfunctioning and from there on things went from bad to worse. Manu showed good composure to resume shooting and had she shot a 10 in the last shoot would have played the finals.

After that in the men’s 10m air rifle event, the young duo of Deepak Kumar and Divyansh Singh Panwar failed to reach the final and it was the first time in 17 years that India has not qualified for the finals of the rifle event. Sindhu was playing the first league match and breezed past her opponent. Mary Kom did not have the feeling that she is a 38 years old boxer and won her R32 match in a convincing manner. Manish Kaushik was not on the right side mad bowed out but not before putting up a good fight.

In table tennis, It was a mixed day with Sathiyan blowing up a 3-1 lead to lost the second round match 4-3 against a lesser-known opponent. Manika Batra won her R2 match and thus became the first Indian to reach R3 at the Olympics. Indian hockey teams were given a reality check by Australia and were humiliated 7-1. Better to forget and concentrate on the 27 July match. There were events like Sailing, Gymnastics where nothing was expected but credit to athletes for making it to the mega event.

Tomorrow is a new day and India will take part in eight events with the expectation of a medal in shooting and archery. In both events, we do have players to last the distance but it will need a greater percentage of luck as we have seen since two days we require some sort of divine help. In both, the margin of the event of an error is very less but as long as hope is, there are prospects of winning a medal.