Tokyo Olympics: Hockey and archery hopes fade on a day of losses

India faltered at crucial moments against the mighty Koreans to make a quarterfinal exit from the men's team event

Indian athletes had a poor outing on Monday at the Tokyo Olympics with leading table tennis player Sharath Kamal (pictured) progressing to the third round. The paddler overcame a sluggish start to beat Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia in the men’s singles event, but the women’s challenge ended with the gritty Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee losing to superior rivals.

The 39-year-old Kamal beat his opponent 2-11 11-8 11-5 9-11 11-6 11-9 to set up a clash with defending champion Ma Long from China. Later in the day, Batra’s impressive campaign ended with a 0-4 loss to 10th seed Sofia Polcanova of Austria