Tokyo Olympics Highlights: Heartbreak in women's hockey, Punia loses semis
India's women's hockey team's maiden Olympic medal remained out of bounds as Great Britain came out on top in the pulsating encounter.
The history-making Indian women's hockey team's dream of securing its maiden Olympic medal remained unfulfilled as it lost 3-4 to Great Britain in a hard-fought bronze play-off match at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics 2020 on Friday.
The Indian women had already created history and surpassed all expectations by entering the semifinals of the Games for the first time. But the maiden Olympic medal remained out of bounds as world no.4 Great Britain, who were gold-winners in the 2016 Rio Games, came out on top in the pulsating encounter.
India's Bajrang Punia suffered a huge setback as he lost to Aliyev Haji of Azerbaijan, going down 12-5 on points in the semifinals of the 65kg freestyle wrestling and will now fight for the bronze medal on Saturday.
Punia, who had survived a scare in the pre-quarterfinals against Akmataliev Ernazar of Kyrgyzstan and outplayed Ghiasi Cheka Morteza of Iran in the semifinals, went behind 1-4 on points in the first period and then came under repeated attacks from the Azerbaijani in the second to lose by a big margin.
India's schedule on August 7
Here's India's schedule and results today:
Deepak Punia's coach Murad's accreditation terminated by IOC
International Olympic Committee (IOC) cancelled the accreditation of Deepak Punia's coach Murad Gaidarov after he "yelled" at a referee after the wrestler's game in the ongoing Tokyo Games.
Speaking to ANI, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Secretary-General Rajeev Mehta confirmed that there was a complaint made against the coach and they have got the email from IOC about his accreditation termination.
"After the bout, Deepak's coach yelled at the referee. A complaint was filed into the international body, later the international body wrote to IOC and now IOC has taken action against him," Rajeev Mehta said.
Grappler Deepak Punia was not able to win a bronze medal in the men's freestyle 86kg category after suffering a defeat at the hands of Myles Amine of San Marino.
Deepak suffered a 2-4 defeat on the basis of points in the bronze medal match.
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Over and out: Marijne says Olympic was last assignment as coach with India women's hockey team
The Indian women's hockey team's chief coach Sjoerd Marijne on Friday revealed that the bronze medal match against Great Britain in the ongoing Olympics was his last assignment with the side.
The 47-year-old coached the Indian women's hockey team to its best ever performance in the Olympic Games, guiding them to a creditable fourth place finish here.
The Indian women came tantalisingly close to winning their maiden Olympic medal before losing to Great Britain 3-4 in a close bronze play-off match. Hours after this feat, Marijne announced that it was his last assignment with the Indian team.
"I don't have any plans because this was my last match with Indian women. It's upto Janneka (Schopman) now," the Dutchman told the Indian media in a virtual press conference.
It has been learnt that both Marijne and team's analytical coach Janneka Schopman were offered an extension by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) but the former refused the offer due to personal reasons.
Sources in the know of developments told PTI that Schopman is expected to take over Marine's position on a full-time basis now.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik speaks to India's women's hockey team
Tokyo Olympics Live updates: Bajrang Punia vs Haji Aliyev in men's 65kg wrestling (Semi-final)
Tokyo Olympics Live updates: Bajrang Punia vs Haji Aliyev in men's 65kg wrestling (Semi-final)
Tokyo Olympics Live updates: Bajrang Punia vs Haji Aliyev in men's 65kg wrestling (Semi-final)
Tokyo Olympics Live updates: Bajrang Punia vs Haji Aliyev in men's 65kg wrestling (Semi-final)
Tokyo Olympics Live updates: Bajrang Punia vs Haji Aliyev in men's 65kg wrestling (Semi-final)
Tokyo Olympics Live updates: Bajrang Punia vs Haji Aliyev in men's 65kg wrestling (Semi-final)
Tokyo Olympics Live updates: Priyanka Goswami and Bhawana Jat in women’s 20km race walk
Tokyo Olympics Live updates: Priyanka Goswami and Bhawana Jat in women’s 20km race walk
Tokyo Olympics Live updates: Priyanka Goswami and Bhawana Jat in women’s 20km race walk
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First Published: Aug 06 2021 | 6:18 AM IST