Women athletes step closer to creating history — Lovlina, Sindhu & Deepika

Rohit Mahajan in Paris

PV Sindhu, all adrenaline, rushed across the court like a storm against a hapless Kristin Kuuba, world No. 73, of Estonia; Lovlina Borgohain weighed her steps carefully, weaved and bobbed her head, and put weight behind her punches against Sunniva Hofstand of Norway; Deepika Kumari decimated Netherlands’ teenager Quinty Roeffen, who went to pieces at the biggest stage of her nascent career.

In table tennis, Sreeja Akula beat Zeng Jian of Singapore to enter the women’s singles Round of 16.
These women headlined the India news on Day 5 of the Paris Olympics; the men who mattered most were shooter Swapnil Kusale, who qualified for the 50m Rifle 3 Positions final, and Lakshya Sen, who crushed world No. 3 Jonatan Christie 21-18, 21-12 to make it to the pre-quarterfinals.

Chasing glory

• In pursuit of her 3rd Olympic medal, shuttler PV Sindhu advances to next round
• Boxer Lovlina Borgohain breezes into quarters; one win away from 2nd Olympic medal
• Archer Deepika Kumari enters pre-quarterfinal stage

The road ahead is tougher — no more amateur-like opponents from Estonia or teenagers from the Netherlands. Sindhu must beat a Chinese star, He Bingjiao — second-rung player by Chinese standards, but one who possesses a 11-9 career advantage over Sindhu.
Lovlina’s next opponent is also a Chinese woman — the two-time Olympics medallist Li Qian. Lovlina faced Li twice last year, and both won at home turf — Lovlina at the World Championships in New Delhi, Li at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Deepika’s opponent in the pre-quarterfinals is an Olympics medallist, Germany’s Michelle Kroppen who won a bronze at Tokyo 2020. Sindhu, Lovlina and Deepika have what it takes — they know they must keep strong. “Every match is tough here onward,” said Sindhu. “It’s the knockout stage, nothing is easy now.” Lovlina agrees, and Deepika says: “For me, in archery, it’s me against myself — if I shoot three perfect arrows, I get 30 points,” she said. “I must focus on myself.” Sen, flush from his defeat of world No. 3 Christie, echoed the sentiment. His opponent in the pre-quarterfinals is will be HS Prannoy, his teammate from India who won his match late in the evening on Wednesday. “Whoever it is, I have to give my best!”
The day brought to a close the challenge of Manika Batra in women’s singles badminton — she lost her Round of 16 match to Japan’s Miu Hirano (6-11 9-11 14-12 8-11 6-11).