Paris, July 31 (IANS) Ace archer Deepika Kumari advances to the Round of 16 after beating Netherlands Quinty Roeffen 6-2 in the women’s individual event, here at the Invalides arena on Wednesday.

After dropping the first set, a four-time Olympian Deepika won by 6-2 (29-28, 27-29, 25-27, 28-23) and went on to join compatriot Bhajan Kaur in the Round of 16.

Deepika, playing her first Olympics since becoming a mother, began the match impressively, scoring 29 points in her first set and narrowly defeating Roeffen by one point to secure opening set. Roeffen responded strongly in the second set, shooting two 10s to level the match at 2-2.

The momentum shifted back to Deepika in the third set as Roeffen missed the target entirely, allowing the Indian to win the set comfortably at 28-17.

Roeffen, however, found it difficult to regain her form in the subsequent set. Deepika capitalised on it, winning the set 29-23 and ultimately securing the match with a 6-2 victory to seal the spot in the round of 16.

Earlier, Deepika defeated Estonian Reena Parnat 6-5 to advance into the Round of 32. The two archers could not be separated after five sets, where Deepika fought back with three consecutive 10s to send the match into a shoot-off.

While the two-time Estonian notched an eight in the shoot-off, Deepika scored nine to take the contest.

Deepika’s opponent in the pre-quarterfinals will be Michelle Kroppen of Germany, the reigning Olympic medalist and World Champion (in the Team event).

–IANS

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Paris, July 31 (IANS) Tokyo 2020 medallist Lovlina Borgohain made an emphatic start to her Paris 2024 campaign with a unanimous 5-0 victory against Norway’s debutant Sunniva Hofstad in the women’s 75kg Round of 16 bout in the boxing competition here on Wednesday. Despite Sunniva’s attempt to get off to an aggressive start, Borgohain carefully established her dominance in the game with some great defense after not facing much of a challenge.

Sunniva is the Junior World Champion in this weight class and one of the upcoming stars in the sport. But on Wednesday, Lovlina did not give her any chance to impose her game. Despite Sunnia’s attempt, the Indian managed to outscore the Norwegian in all five rounds,

Lovlina will next face Li Qian of the People’s Republic of China in the quarterfinals on Sunday and will hope to exact revenge for her defeat in the final of the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.

A win will also guarantee Lovlina a second medal in the Olympics, adding to the bronze she won in Tokyo. If she wins a medal in Paris, Lovlina will become just the fourth Indian to win two medals in the Olympics in individual events after Sushil Kumar, PV Sindhu, and Manu Bhaker.

Lovlina’s victory was a much-needed boost to the Indian boxing squad in Paris as Amit Panghal, Preeti Pawar and Jaismine Lamboria were eliminated from the Games after defeats in their respective categories on Tuesday.

Two-time World Champion Nikhat Zareen will take on top-seeded Chinese and Asian Games champion Wu Yu in the Round of 16 of the women’s 50 kg category on Thursday.

In the men’s section, Nishant Dev will take on Colombia’s Jose Gabriel Rodriguez Tenorio in a Round of 16 clash in the men’s 71 kg category.

–IANS

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Pallekele, July 31 (IANS) India Head coach Gautam Gambhir praised the team for pulling off a win in the third T20I against Sri Lanka via a Super Over for a clean sweep series triumph. But he also urged the team to improve themselves on playing at pitches providing lots of turns.

At the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, India struggled against both pacers and spinners to post a modest 137/9. But India came back in the back-end of the match by restricting Sri Lanka to 137/8, after being 129/4 at one point, thanks to some tight bowling from part-timers Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh and Suryakumar Yadav.

In the Super Over, India kept Sri Lanka to just two runs, before achieving the required runs on the first ball to seal 3-0 series win. “Guys, congratulations on a great series win. Congratulations to Surya as well, outstanding captaincy and more importantly, with the bat as well. I asked for something before the start of the game and you absolutely delivered it.”

“This is what happens when you keep fighting, (and when) you don’t give up. These kind of games happen and the only way these key games can happen (in our favour) is when we keep fighting on every delivery and for every run and this was the example.”

“We keep getting better, we keep improving our skills as well because we need to still get better on playing on wickets like these, because we might end up getting these kind of wickets (in future). So we should first assess the situation and conditions really quickly and what is the par score as well. There is a lot of learning from this game, but more important than not, this is a great series win,” said Gambhir in his dressing room chat video posted by BCCI on ‘X’.

He then went on to address a message specifically for Suryakumar, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravi Bishnoi, as they will not feature in the ODI leg of the tour starting on August 2 in Colombo.

“Some of the guys, who won’t be a part of the 50-over format (series against Sri Lanka), will have a longer break. So make sure when you come back for the Bangladesh series, you can take a break. You absolutely deserve it, but more importantly, keep your skills and especially the fitness levels high.”

“You don’t want to come for that series thinking that ‘okay, I can just turn up, probably deliver for the team’. So make sure that from the fitness point of view, the fitness levels are right up there,” added Gambhir.

Fast-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya praised Shubman Gill (39) and Parag (26) for their gritty 54-run stand, as well as of Washington Sundar (25) and Bishnoi (eight not out) for their crucial batting contributions.

“First of all, well done. In batting first, we were challenged, the conditions were difficult. But after losing those early wickets, Shubman and Riyan, the way they batter and created the partnership was brilliant.”

“When you speak about situational awareness, at that point of time what both of you did was very, very important. That gave us a platform to at least reach to a decent total (to which) our bowlers can make sure and bowl at the right areas. I always emphasise on the fact that the lower order has to come and chip in, and Washy (Washington Sundar) and those eight runs by Bishi (Ravi Bishnoi) was very important.”

Pandya went on to shower praise on Suryakumar for his out-of-the-box bowling changes at the end, as well as towards Washington for picking 2-23 and keeping Sri Lanka’s innings in Super Over to just two runs.

“As Gauti bhai mentioned, Surya, well done in making sure that the way you rotated the bowlers, showing faith in the bowlers which you gave (the ball to) in the last couple of overs that was brilliant and as a bowling group, obviously, it was fantastic.”

“Everyone chipped in, and Washy, well done buddy. When you win games like this, eventually it kind of takes us forward. We are taking it step-by-step, but this was definitely a right step going forward for the future and well done to all the guys who are playing ODIs, kill it, continue,” he concluded.

–IANS

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Paris, July 31 (IANS) Putting aside the disappointment of the Team Competition, India’s Deepika Kumari advanced to the Round of 32 after beating Estonia’s Reena Parnat 6-5 in the women’s individual archery event at the Invalides arena here on Tuesday.

Deepika looked good with her consistency and won the first set 29-28 against Reena. But soon Estonian made a comeback and leveled the game with a win in the second set (26-27).

However, Deepika soon closed the game with a 6-5 win (29-28, 26-27, 27-27, 24-27, 30-27, 9-8 SO).

Deepika is now playing the Netherlands’ Quinty Roeffen for a place in the pre-quarterfinals stage, on Wednesday.

–IANS

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Paris, July 31 (IANS) India’s Sreeja Akula outplayed the Singaporean paddler Zeng Jian in the women’s singles round of 32 table tennis match at the Paris 2024 Olympics and joined compatriot Manika Batra in the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals.

Sreeja, India’s top-ranked singles player, registered a 4-2 (9-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10) win in 51 minutes at the South Paris Arena on Wednesday.

Sreeja became only the second Indian table tennis singles player to make the round of 16 at the Olympics.

She will face top seed Sun Yingsha in the round of 16 match, scheduled at 12:30 am (Thursday).

The Indian paddler, who is celebrating her 26th birthday, lost the opening game but she quickly regrouped herself and took the next three games.

While Zeng bounced back to win the fifth, Akula held her nerve to seal the match in the sixth game.

–IANS

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