The Indian women continued to lead the country's campaign at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur making it to the final and the hockey team also keeping the hopes of a medal alive with their second win on Saturday.
There is more to come later in the day as Rio Olympics silver medalist P V Sindhu faces Chinese Taipei's World No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying in the semifinal of the individual event and Asian boxing champion Pooja Rani takes on China's Qian Li in her quarterfinal bout. A win today will secure medals for both Sindhu and Rani.
Meanwhile, archer Atanu Das, who had beaten two-time Olympic champion Korean Jinhyek OH to reach the quarters, bowed out of the Games after losing to Japan's Takaharu Furukawa. More disappointment was in store for the Indian men as top seed boxer AmitPanghal was knocked out in the first round of the flyweight event, losing 1-4 to Colombia's Yuberjen Martinez Rivas.
In hockey Pool A, India were pushed all the way by South Africa before taking a 4-3 win, moving them ahead of Ireland and into the top four.
Three goals from Vandana Katariya helped India complete their pool campaign with an important win over South Africa, a result which keeps alive their dream of qualifying for the competition quarter-finals.
The result puts India into fourth place in the pool, but will have to wait until the end of today’s play before knowing if it is enough to progress, with fifth placed Ireland needing to defeat Olympic champions Great Britain to snatch quarter-final qualification away from the Indians.
It was far from straight-forward for India, who faced a South Africa team utterly determined to end their own competition on a high. Katariya’s fourth minute opener was cancelled out by South Africa’s Tarryn Glasby on the stroke of quarter time, with Katariya restoring India’s lead shortly after the re-start.
Erin Hunter restored parity seconds before half time, but again India hit back when Neha established a 3-2 lead. Marizen Marais made the score 3-3 in the latter stages of the third quarter, putting real pressure on India’s hopes of claiming a crucial three points.
However, the Indian victory was sealed 11 minutes from the end when Katariya completed her hat-trick.
This was the first-ever hat-trick for the Indian women's hockey team in the Olympics.
Hailing from the Kabarwala village in Punjab's Muktsar district, 25-year-old Indian discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur booked her place in the final by attaining the direct qualification mark of 64m. Kaur had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a national record attempt of 65.06 meters.
The Olympic debutant will now compete with 11 other throwers for a podium finish on August 2.
