India encountered another day of lows at the Olympics with most of the country’s sportspersons suffering losses. But even though the nation’s sporting aspirations mostly stayed buried under a heap of disappointments on Monday, CA Bhavani Devi made a mark despite defeat.
The 27-year-old, India’s first-ever fencer in the Olympics, did not last too long at the Games, but she managed to register an impressive win in the first round before losing in the second after a spirited fight against world No.3 Manon Brunet of France in the women’s individual sabre event.
Bhavani began her campaign with a confident 15-3 win against Tunisia’s Nadia Ben Azizi. But she ran into Rio Olympics semi-finalist Brunet next, losing 7-15.
“I did my level best but couldn’t win. I am sorry... Thank you so much i will come back much stronger and successful at Next Olympics with all your Prayers,” she tweeted, thanking her coaches, the government and her family for backing her.
Later on Monday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “You gave your best and that is all that counts. Wins and losses are a part of life. India is very proud of your contributions. You are an inspiration for our citizens.”
The sabre is the fastest of the fencing competitions in which opponents can slash anywhere above the waist. The fencer who touches the 15 point-mark first is declared the winner.
“It is my first Olympics… It will be a learning experience for me to improve myself,” the fencer from Chennai said.
In a sport that India is hardly acquainted with, Bhavani’s performance was commendable.
When ur inspiration icon calls u an inspiration, what better day i can ask for? Ur words motivated me @narendramodi ji, U stood by me even at loosing the match, this gesture & leadership has given me boost & confidence to work hard & win upcoming matches for
— C A Bhavani Devi (@IamBhavaniDevi) July 26, 2021
Jai Hind@PMOIndia https://t.co/RBZ8BFCXcO
Second loss
The Indian women’s hockey team fought valiantly but poor execution cost them dear, resulting in a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Germany. The team has thus suffered back-to-back losses after the 1-5 drubbing at the hands of The Netherlands.
India were guilty of wasting opportunities against Rio Games bronze-medallists Germany in the Pool A match. The misses included a wasted penalty stroke by Gurjit Kaur in the third quarter.
India will play Great Britain in their next pool match on Wednesday.
Other setbacks
In tennis, Sumit Nagal was blown away by world No.2 Daniil Medvedev in the men’s singles second round. The Russian cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win in just 66 minutes against the 160th ranked Nagal.
There was disappointment in men’s boxing as well with Ashish Chaudhary (75kg) suffering an opening-round loss to China’s Erbieke Touheta. The 27-year-old former Asian silver-medallist went down 0-5 in the bout.
In shooting, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa finished 18th while his senior compatriot Mairaj Ahmad Khan ended 25th in the men’s skeet event.
Swimmer Sajan Prakash failed to qualify for the men’s 200m butterfly semi-finals after finishing fourth in Heat 2. Prakash, who clocked a personal best of 1:56:38 in Italy last month to breach the ‘A’ mark for Olympic qualification, could only manage 1:57.22 to finish 24th among 38 swimmers. The top-16 progressed to the semi-finals. Prakash will compete in the 100m butterfly on Thursday.
