Tokyo Olympics: P V Sindhu and Deepika Kumari register thumping wins

Reigning world champion P V Sindhu advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of women’s singles badminton at the Tokyo Olympics after beating Hong Kong’s N Y Cheung in a group match on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old, who had won a silver in the last edition in Rio, prevailed over the 34th ranked Cheung 21-9 21-16. The 13th seed, B Sai Pran­eeth, however went down 14-21 14-21 to Mark Cal­jouw of the Nether­lands for his second defeat.

World number one archer Deepika Kumari survived some anxious moments before getting past US teen Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez 6-4 to sail into the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s individual section.

However, Pravin Jadhav knocked out world number two Galsan Bazarzhapov of the Russian Olympic Committee in straight sets in his opening match, but suffered a heavy defeat to world champion Brady Elison of the US to make a second round exit in the men’s individual section. His fellow archer and his senior Army colleague, Tarundeep Rai also faced a second round defeat to Itay Shanny of Israel in a tight shoot-off finish.

In hockey, the Indian wom­en’s team lost 1-4 to defending champions Great Britain, its third consecutive defeat in the tournament. The Indians now will have to win their remaining two matches to have a chance at qualifying for the knockout stage. Boxer Pooja Rani (75kg) out-punched Algeria’s Ichrak Chaib in her opening bout to enter the quarterfinals of her maiden Olympic Games.

Rowers Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh failed to qualify for the men’s lightweight double sculls final after finishing sixth and last in the second semifinal. Sailors K Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar languished at 18th place after four races in men’s skiff 49er sailing.