Terrific Tuesday for India: Vinesh, Neeraj in finals of Paris Olympics

Paris, Aug 6 (PTI) Vinesh Phogat showed what an enraged but focussed mind can achieve as she became the first Indian woman wrestler to enter the Olympic finals, while defending javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra was calm as still water during his top-place finish in the qualifiers on a terrific Tuesday for the country here.

However, the Harmanpreet Singh-led hockey team was left to fight for a bronze medal for the second successive Games after going down 2-3 in the semifinal against Germany. The team will next be up against Spain.

The story of the day was, however, Vinesh and her tenacity.

After spending a good part of the last one year spearheading a protest against alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers by the national federation’s former President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, she made the 50kg summit clash defeating Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez 5-0 in the semifinals.

Whatever be the colour, India are assured of their fourth medal in the showpiece and it’s going to be a notch higher than the three bronze achieved so far through shooting.

Vinesh’s day long campaign was as remarkable as it could get. It started with a 3-2 win over defending Olympic and world champion Yui Susaki of Japan, a modern day legend who was unbeaten in her 82-fight international career. Until today.

The 29-year-old then dismantled world number 7 Ukrainian Ostava Livach before toying with Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez for a 5-0 win to seal an unparalleled final spot.

She did let out scream after beating Susaki but after that, mostly kept her emotions locked inside as she went about the job of taking down opponents.

“Tomorrow is an important day, will talk then,” she told journalists as she walked away from the arena after a quick video call with her mother, promising to bring back gold.

Vinesh will square off against American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt.

Neeraj advances with monster throw

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Defending champion Neeraj Chopra turned on the style as he stormed into the men’s javelin throw final with a season’s best effort of 89.34m in his very first attempt in the qualification round.

Much like his qualifying round performance in the Tokyo Olympics, the 26-year-old crossed the automatic qualifying mark of 84m in his opening throw to occupy the top spot in Group B.

The tremendous effort, which is the second best of his career, also set aside concerns surrounding Chopra’s fitness after he revealed that he had been battling an adductor niggle in the build-up to the Games. His personal best continues to be 89.94m achieved back in 2022.

Chopra, also the reigning world champion, topped the qualification round — combined of Group A and B — with his monster throw. Two-time world champion Anderson Peters (88.63m) of Grenada was second in Group B and he was second overall also.

Julian Weber of Germany, who won Group A with 87.76, was third overall, while reigning Commonwealth Games champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan also qualified for the finals with a throw of 86.59m in Group B.

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic, who was the only man to have beaten Chopra this year in Doha Diamond League, was seventh overall with a first round throw of 85.63m.

The other Indian in fray, Kishore Jena, bowed out of contention to make the 12-man final on Thursday after managing a poor throw of 80.73m. He finished ninth in Group A and 18th overall.

All those who threw 84m or above, or at least the 12 best performers from Group A and B combined advanced to the final. Nine throwers crossed the automatic final round qualification distance, a reflection of the quality of the competition.

In the final, Chopra will have a chance to become only the fifth man in Olympic javelin throw history to defend the title. If he wins gold, and for that matter any medal, he will become the most decorated Indian in Olympics in individual sport.

Shuttler PV Sindhu (one silver, one bronze), wrestler Sushil Kumar (one silver, one bronze) and shooter Manu Bhaker (two bronze) have won two Olympic medals each post Independence.

However, Kiran Pahal failed to qualify for the women’s 400m semifinals after finishing sixth and last in her repechage round heat race with a below-par time of 52.59 seconds.

The first position holder in each of the four repechage heats and the next two fastest advanced to the semifinals.

The 24-year-old Kiran, who has a season’s and personal best of 50.92 seconds, had failed to book an automatic semifinal spot after finishing seventh in her heat race on Monday with a time of 52.51 seconds.

Heartbreak for hockey team

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The Indian team, which was eyeing a maiden final spot in 44 years, went down 2-3 to Germany. The side will now take on Spain in the bronze medal playoff.

Skipper Harmanpreet Singh (7th) and Sukhjeet Singh (36th) scored for India, while Gonzalo Peillat (18th), Christopher Ruhr (27th) and Marco Miltkau (54th) sounded the board for Germany.

Germany will be up against Netherlands in the final.

Mirabai Chanu in action tomorrow

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Away from the spotlight owing to an injury-plagued buildup, Mirabai Chanu (49kg) will be in focus on Wednesday when she attempts to become India’s first weightlifter to win two Olympic medals but a challenging field and lingering fitness concerns stand in the way.

Her best effort since Tokyo came at the 2022 Commonwealth Games where she lifted 201kg (88kg+113kg). She had won the silver in Tokyo by heaving 202kg (87kg+115kg).