Olympics 2021 Highlights: Women's hockey team scripts history, enters semis
The Rani Rampal-led side will play Argentina in the semifinal on Wednesday
 "India women's hockey team")
Drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur rose to the occasion when it mattered and converted India's lone penalty corner in the 22nd minute to surprise the Australians.
On Day 10 of Tokyo Olympics 2021, the Indian women's hockey team scripted history today by qualifying for the Olympic Games semifinals for the first time, beating three-time champions Australia by a solitary goal. A day after the Indian men's team entered the Olympic semifinals following a 49-year gap, the world no. 9 women's side also entered the history books with a phenomenally gritty performance.
Check Tokyo 2020 Day 11 action and live coverage of IND vs BEL HOCKEY MATCH SEMIFINALS
India's best performance in the Olympics came way back in the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished fourth out of six teams.
India would be hoping a good performance from discus-thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, who was one of the two athletes to meet the automatic qualification mark [64.00m] and moved into the final ranked second in qualification.
ALSO READ: Olympics 2021: India men's and women's Hockey full schedule, squad, timings
Athletics:
India vs Australia in Women's quarterfinal: 8:30am IST
Shooting:
Important international events today
6.50 AM -- ATHLETICS: Men's Long Jump final (look out for Cuba's Juan Miguel Echevarria and Jamaica's Tajay Gayle)
1.30 PM and 4.30 PM - FOOTBALL: women's semis - USA vs. Canada and Australia vs. Sweden
6.10 PM - ATHLETICS: Women's 5000m final (watch for Netherland's Sifan Hassan, Kenyans Helen Obiri and Agnes Tirop, and Ethiopians Gudaf Tsegay, Senbere Teferi and Ejgayehu Taye)
Dutee Chand clocks 23.85 sec, finishes 38th out of 41 athletes in 200m
Check Tokyo 2020 Day 11 action and live coverage of IND vs BEL HOCKEY MATCH SEMIFINALS
Coming into the match, the odds were totally against India as in world no.2 Australia, a mighty unbeaten opponent, awaited them in the last four round.
Tokyo 2020 Medal Tally
ALSO READ: Tokyo Olympics 2021 India contingent: List of Indian athletes, officials
Tokyo 2020 Medal Tally
ALSO READ: Tokyo Olympics 2021 India contingent: List of Indian athletes, officials
But the Indians, determined to prove a point, produced a strong and brave performance to eke out the narrow win over the Hockeyroos.
Drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur rose to the occasion when it mattered and converted India's lone penalty corner in the 22nd minute to surprise the Australians.
WATCH: India vs Australia hockey match highlights
WATCH: India vs Australia hockey match highlights
India's best performance in the Olympics came way back in the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished fourth out of six teams.
In that edition of the Games, women's hockey made its debut in the Olympics and the sport was played in a round-robin format with top two teams qualifying for the final.
The Rani Rampal-led side will play Argentina in the semifinal on Wednesday.
India would be hoping a good performance from discus-thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, who was one of the two athletes to meet the automatic qualification mark [64.00m] and moved into the final ranked second in qualification.
ALSO READ: Olympics 2021: India men's and women's Hockey full schedule, squad, timings
India schedule on August 2
Athletics:
- Dutee Chand in Women's 200m Heat 4: 7:25am IST.
- Kamalpreet Kaur in Women's Discus Throw Final: 4:30pm IST.
- Eventing Second Hose Inspection: 6am IST.
- Fouaad Mirza in Eventing Jumping Individual Qualifier: 1:30pm IST
- Eventing Individual Jumping Final: 5:15pm IST.
India vs Australia in Women's quarterfinal: 8:30am IST
Shooting:
- Sanjeev Rajput and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar in Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Qualification: 8:00am IST.
- Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Final: 1:20pm IST.
Important international events today
6.50 AM -- ATHLETICS: Men's Long Jump final (look out for Cuba's Juan Miguel Echevarria and Jamaica's Tajay Gayle)
- Gold: Miltiadis Tentoglou (Greece)
- Silver: Juam Miguel Echevarria (Cuba)
- Bronze: Maykel Masso (Cuba)
- Gold: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico)
- Silver: Kendra Harrison (USA)
- Bronze: Megan Tapper (Jamaica)
1.30 PM and 4.30 PM - FOOTBALL: women's semis - USA vs. Canada and Australia vs. Sweden
6.10 PM - ATHLETICS: Women's 5000m final (watch for Netherland's Sifan Hassan, Kenyans Helen Obiri and Agnes Tirop, and Ethiopians Gudaf Tsegay, Senbere Teferi and Ejgayehu Taye)
India shooters their Olympics campaign without any medal
India's ace shooters Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Sanjeev Rajput failed to qualify for the medal event after finishing 21st and 32nd respectively in the men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions, at the Asaka Shooting Range today.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar amassed 1167 (63x) points at an average of 9.725 after shooting 120 shots on the target in three positions while compatriot Sanjeev Rajput gathered 1157 (55x) in the qualifications which in the end was just not good enough to make it to the top-8 players' final. Russian Olympic Committee's (ROC) Sergey Kamenskiy topped the qualification with 1183 (78x) points. China's Changhong Zhang also scored 1183 points but with 67x that landed him on the second.
In the first position of the qualification event -- Kneeling -- Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar got off to a flying start after he aimed 99 and 100 in the first two series. He proceeded with a good 98 and again a perfect 100. Meanwhile, veteran Sanjeev Rajput aimed 96 and a 99 in the first two series and followed it with a decent 95 and 97.
During the prone position series, Aishwary again enjoyed a good start with a 98 and a 99 in the first two series. The 20-year-old surprisingly didn't land any perfect score in prone as he finished the position with two consecutive 97s which instantly landed him out of the top-15. Sanjeev improved massively in prone as he aimed 97, a perfect 100, and two consecutive 98s as he continued to stay outside of the top-20.
Pratap was unable to carry the momentum into the standing position round where he opened with a below-average score of 95. He improved it by a 96 but then dropped a very poor 93 in third. Aishwary finished with a decent 95 but till then it was just too late for the Indian shooter to gain any ground.
For 40-year-old Sanjeev, he failed to replicate the success of the previous round in standing position as he scored 94, 93, 95, and 95 and dropped outside of top-30 in the 39 players' field.
Dutee Chand clocks 23.85 sec, finishes 38th out of 41 athletes in 200m
India's top woman sprinter Dutee Chand failed to advance in 200 metres, finishing last in her heat at the Tokyo Olympics, clocking 23.85 seconds to ends seventh. Her personal best in 200m is 23.00 seconds, set at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
The 25-year-old Dutee was 38th out of 41 in the overall standings despite a season's best time of 23.85.
Namibia's Christine Mboma won the heats with a timing of 22.11 seconds, a new national record, while Gabrielle Thomas of the USA -- the world-leading time holder for the season -- was second in 22.20 seconds.
Niger's Aminatou Seyni came in third with a timing of 22.72 seconds to seal the three automatic qualifying slots for the semi-finals.
The top three finishers from each heat along with the three fastest timings across the seven races make the semifinals, which will be held later on Monday. The final is scheduled for Tuesday.
Earlier, the Indian sprinter had bowed out of the 100m competition on the opening day of track & field competitions, clocking 11.54 seconds to finish seventh in her heat that also featured two-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica.
The world champion, however, was later pipped by her compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah in the final for the gold medal. Shericka Jackson took the bronze medal in the women's 100m to complete the all-Jamaican podium.
Social media came alive following Dutee's 200m sprint, with few complimenting the runner for achieving her season's best time, while others were critical of her performance.
7:43 PM
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Olympics: Denmark's Axelsen wins men's singles badminton gold
Denmark's world No. 2 Victor Axelsen outclassed China's defending champion Chen Long 21-15, 21-12 in the men's singles badminton final to claim the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics here on Monday.
After tying at 9-9, Axelsen reinforced his strong smashes to take a 21-15 lead. Chen failed to come back and Axelsen wrapped up the second set 21-12.
In their previous encounter at Rio 2016, Chen had routed Axelsen 21-14, 21-15 in the semifinal before he beat Malaysia's legendary shuttler Lee Chong Wei to win his first Olympic gold, reports Xinhua.
Earlier in the day, Indonesia's fifth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting needed only 38 minutes to defeat the tournament's dark horse and world No. 59 Kevin Cordon from Guatemala 21-11, 21-13 and win the bronze medal.
7:42 PM![]()
Tokyo Olympics: India Schedule on Tuesday
7:39 PM![]()
Gurjit Kaur's village celebrates as Indian women hockey team storms into semifinals
Celebrations broke out in Gurjit Kaur's Myadi Kala village in Amritsar district after the Indian women's hockey team stormed into the Tokyo Olympics semifinals, riding on the drag-flicker's solitary strike against Australia.
Gurjit, whose goal in the 22nd minute gave India the lead against the mighty Australians on Monday, hails from Amritsar and her family said they have been rejoicing continuously.
"It is all God's blessings, I am very proud of her. She has worked very hard," said her father Satnam Singh.
The Indian women's hockey team entered the Olympic Games semifinals for the first time.
The 25-year-old Gurjit's father is a farmer by profession. She has an elder sister named Pardip Kaur. The family lives in a small old house.
After the win over Australia in the quarterfinals stage, villagers thronged their residence and ladoos (sweets) were distributed to celebrate the victory of the Indian team.
7:33 PM
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Olympics 2021 live updates: India's result on Monday, August 2
ATHLETICS- Women's discus final (Medal Event)-- India's Kamalpreet Kaur finished sixth.
Equestrian Jumping final (Medal event): Fouaad Mirza and Seigneur Medicott finished 23rd in the final of Jumping (Individual) event.
HOCKEY: India Women's hockey team defeated Australia 1-0 to enter semi-final.
SHOOTING: Men's 50m 3 Positions Qualifying - Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Sanjeev Rajput out in qualification.
ATHLETICS: 200m women's -- Dutee Chand out in heat 4
7:28 PM
Fouaad Mirza's in Equestrian final
Indian equestrian Fouaad Mirza, who advanced to jumping finals of individual eventing at the Olympics, finished 23rd in the final of Jumping (Individual) event.
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Olympics 2021 live updates: Hockey (Quarter-final): Spain vs Great Britain Penalty shootout
Great Britain defeated Spain 2-0 at penalty shootout, to face Netherlands in semi-finals!
6:53 PM
Olympics 2021 live updates: Hockey (Quarter-final): Spain vs Great Britain
It's 2-2 now after the final whistle and we are now headed for penalty shootout!
6:46 PM
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Olympics 2021 live updates: Hockey (Quarter-final): Spain vs Great Britain
It's 2-2 now as the match enters fourth quarter, about 6 minutes left now
6:42 PM
Olympics 2021 live updates: US's Vallerie Allman wins Gold!
US's Vallerie Allman wins Gold, Germany's Kristin Pudenz wins Silver, and Cuba's Yalme Perez gets Bronze. India's Kamalpreet Kaur finish sixth.
6:40 PM
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Olympics 2021 live updates: Kamalpreet Kaur in Women's Discus Throw Final
6th round: US's Vallerie Allman throws , she wins GOLD!!
6:39 PM
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Olympics 2021 live updates: Kamalpreet Kaur in Women's Discus Throw Final
6th round: Germany Pudenz throws into the ring, Allman looks set to win Gold
6:38 PM
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Olympics 2021 live updates: Kamalpreet Kaur in Women's Discus Throw Final
6th round: Cuba's perez throws out of the field
6:36 PM
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Olympics 2021 live updates: Kamalpreet Kaur in Women's Discus Throw Final
6th round: Croatia's Perkovic throws 63.25
6:35 PM
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Olympics 2021 live updates: Kamalpreet Kaur in Women's Discus Throw Final
6th round: Foul for Kamalpreet throws, she throws out of the field and it's all done for her, she is out of medal contention.
6:34 PM
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Olympics 2021 live updates: Kamalpreet Kaur in Women's Discus Throw Final
6th round: Foul for Jamaica's Lawrence, out of medal contention
Topics : 2020 Tokyo olympics Olympics Hockey sports sports broadcasting Indian Hockey Team Australian Hockey Team Dutee Chand Shooting
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First Published: Aug 02 2021 | 6:20 AM IST
