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- Paris Olympics 2024 Day 9 Highlights: India to play Germany in men's hockey semis; Djokovic beats Alcaraz to win men's singles gold
Paris Olympics 2024 Day 9 Highlights: India to play Germany in men's hockey semis; Djokovic beats Alcaraz to win men's singles gold
The 37-year-old Serb, competing in his fifth Games, came through 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2) in an enthralling final at Roland Garros to add Olympic gold to his 24 Grand Slam triumphs.
Earlier, India beat Great Britain 4-2 in penalty shoot-out to enter the semifinals of the men's hockey event at the Paris Olympics, having played with 10 men for more than 40 minutes on Sunday. This is their second consecutive semifinal appearance at the Games.
India were reduced to 10 men after Amit Rohidas was shown a red card for raising his stick against a Great Britain player.
Veteran custodian PR Sreejesh, playing his last international tournament, stood like a rock in front of the Indian goal, making saves after saves.
Down by a man, it was India who took the lead through Harmanpreet Singh in the 22nd minute from a penalty corner before Great Britain drew level through Lee Morton from a field effort in the 27th minute.
Once Rohidas, a key defender and India's first rusher was given the controversial marching order, Great Britain attacked in numbers, constantly trying to take advantage of the one-man lead.
India's dream of a first-ever Olympic gold in badminton will remain unfulfilled after Lakshya Sen suffered a straight-game defeat to reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the men's singles semifinals at the Paris Games here on Sunday.
The 22-year-old from Almora, a 2021 World Championships bronze medal, squandered a three-point advantage in the first game and a 7-0 lead in the second to surrender 20-22 14-21 to the two-time world champion Axelsen in a 54-minute semifinal clash.
Sen will have another chance to become the first Indian male shuttler to win an Olympic medal when he meets Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the bronze medal playoff.
India's boxing campaign at the ongoing Olympics came to a medal-less end after Tokyo edition bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) bowed out following a hard-fought quarterfinal loss to China's Li Qian in the women's competition.
Borgohain, the reigning world champion in the category, went down 1-4 to the Tokyo Games silver-winning 34-year-old in a messy contest during which both the boxers were repeatedly cautioned for clinching and holding.
The 26-year-old's loss ended India's boxing campaign in the Olympics after Nishant Dev was ousted from the men's 71kg quarterfinals on Saturday night, also a close contest.
A six-strong boxing contingent, comprising four women and two men, was representing the country in the Games. Out of these, four had crashed out in the preliminary stage itself.
Belgian professional cyclist Remco Evenepoel clinched the gold medal in the Men's Individual Time Trial Road Cycling event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Dominating the road race, Evenepoel added the Olympic gold medal to his world title on Saturday, overcoming rain, a strong field, and the fatigue from the Tour de France to win the 32.4km individual time trial in Paris.
The 24-year-old finished nearly 15 seconds ahead of Italian Filippo Ganna, who took silver, while another Belgian, Wout van Aert, secured bronze, 25 seconds behind.
Ahead of the Paris Games, Evenepoel also became the first Belgian cyclist in over four decades to secure a spot on the overall podium at the prestigious Tour de France.
TimesofIndia.com caught up with Paris Olympics champion Evenepoel for an exclusive chat about his gold-medal finish, the Tour de France, and more...
If two bad rounds haunted Manu Bhaker in the morning in Chateauroux, it was a case of two bad shots for Deepika Kumari in archery. The 30-year-old, competing at her fourth consecutive Olympics, was looking to put all past disappointments to rest as she took on South Korea’s 19-year-old Suhyeon Nam in the quarterfinals of the individual recurve archery.
Deepika was close, fighting the prodigy tooth and nail, but just when it mattered, the inner-circle of the board which measures 12.2 cm eluded her. She lost to the eventual silver medallist 4-6 and her dreams of a first Olympic medal were shattered, maybe for one last time.
A 33rd place in London 2012, ninth at Rio Games, eighth in Tokyo and now another disappointment as she ended seventh. It could have easily been a top 4 finish, even a historic medal could just be in the offing, but then the pressure of the situation got the better of her.
Controversy has erupted at the Paris Olympics after Indian boxer Nishant Dev lost in the quarter-finals of the men's 71 kg category.
Despite appearing dominant in the first two rounds, Nishant was defeated by Mexico's Marco Verde with a 4-1 decision, sparking concerns over the scoring system's fairness.
The defeat led to an outcry from notable figures, including former Olympic medallist Vijender Singh and Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda. Both expressed their dissatisfaction with the judges' decisions, questioning the transparency of the scoring system.
A rollercoaster. That's how Manu Bhaker described it later here on Saturday morning. Her bid for a historic third medal had ended in an agonizing finish. It must have left her feeling empty inside, but she did not show it. She has learnt not to show it. She was there, up there. And then she was not. A couple of poor shots, a couple of poor series – at the beginning and the end – and that was it. That's sport for you.
When it all started, Manu looked confident when she walked up to station G inside the 25m pistol women's final hall. The routine was the same, the rigour same. She set up her station, did some shadow shooting and was ready. Both hands in pocket, she waited.
The first series was a disaster. She was surely feeling the pressure. She shot 2/5 and found herself in the sixth position in the eight-woman field. A shrug of the shoulders, a fleeting look at her coach Jaspal Rana – sitting in the same seat in the stands when Manu won her first bronze – and she was back to the task. She was not giving up.
"Hi!" Manu Bhaker greeted us as she walked into the mixed zone wearing a pretty smile. She had just come out of the shooting range, having missed another medal that would have added to her growing stature. She wore the disappointment of it all lightly on her shoulders.
"Yes, fourth position, but I am not complaining. There is always a next time. The two medals I have won for India have given me a lot of motivation. I will keep trying my best to do better in the future," said Manu, looking composed.
Manu, was the start poor? "Yes. It was a rollercoaster. But I recovered and caught up with the field. I kept telling myself, 'keep trying, give your best on every shot'. I kept trying but nerves got the better of me. I was trying but things were not going my way," she said.
"It was a fourth-place finish, but I feel this is better than not making the final. I have no regrets. There are certain elements I have to work on. I will start preparing for the next cycle," she added.
All eyes will be on Lovlina Borgohain when she plays her women's boxing 75 kg quarterfinal bout at 3:02 PM.
Minutes later, India's medal contender, Lakshya Sen, will play the men's singles badminton semi-final match at 3:30 PM.
Will it be Super Sunday for India and Lakshya Sen?
The young star, who already has a glittering collection of medals starting from the 2018 Youth Olympics, is well primed for the biggest match of his career at the La Chapelle arena here.
The 22-year-old, whose collection includes an All England sliver and a bronze at Worlds, takes on second seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, a two-time world champion. It seems all the hard work, put in at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence, is bearing fruit as Sen hits peak form at the business end of the tournament.
HEAD TO HEAD:
VIKTOR AXELSEN leads LAKSHYA SEN 7-1.
Sen's solitary victory came on March 12, 2022 at the German Open semifinal.
Surrounded by a sea of red Chinese flags in the crowd, Zheng knelt on the court and screamed with his arms outstretched as Yaqiong collapsed to the floor before running into her coach's arms as they celebrated victory to the sound of the crowd's rhythmic roars of "jiayou", a cry of support in Chinese.
"Three years ago we lost in the final and since then we've been preparing for today," said Zheng, who won a silver medal with Huang in Tokyo.
"Compared to Tokyo where we were hard working, this time we played smarter."
Japan's Arisa Higashino and Yuta Watanabe took the bronze by beating South Korea's Chae Yu-jung and Seo Seung-jae 21-13 22-20.
On August 2, Lakshya Sen made history by becoming the first Indian male shuttler to reach the semifinals at the 2024 Olympics.
In a remarkable performance, Lakshya, who has been in stellar form throughout the Paris Games, secured a comeback victory over 12th seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.
At 22, he stands as India's sole hope in badminton after the exits of prominent players like Satwik-Chirag and PV Sindhu.
Lakshya Sen will face a familiar opponent in the semifinals, Viktor Axelsen. The two have a shared history, as Lakshya trained with the former World No. 1 in Dubai after being dropped from the Thomas Cup team.
According to his coach, Vimal Kumar, Lakshya gained valuable insights from the Danish star during their training sessions. The head-to-head record heavily favours Viktor Axelsen, who has won 7 of their 8 encounters.
Lakshya Sen's sole victory over the current World No. 2 came in the 2022 German Open semi-finals, where he won 21-13, 12-21, 22-20.
In their most recent matchup at the Singapore Open 2024, Axelsen triumphed in a closely contested round-of-32 clash, winning 21-13, 16-21, 21-13.
A win will keep Sen on course for Indian badminton's maiden Olympic gold, while a loss will give him a shot at the bronze medal in the play-offs.
“There's lot more work to do. Now, the real test starts,” Sen had said after his quarterfinals.
For Sen, who wears "Sky is the limit" tattoo on his neck, only the gold can quench his hunger.
In their eight meetings, only two matches have gone to three games, including the contest in Muelheim an der Ruhr.
After seeing off the speedy and consistent Chou in a gruelling three-gamer on Friday, Sen will be now backing himself to prevail if it goes the distance against the Dane.
Axelsen had robbed him of All England glory two years back when he beat him in the final. Then there were those twin losses in the 2021 BWF World Tour Finals and Sen will be itching to return the favour at the world's biggest stage.
The 22-year-old, however, has shown little to no respect for the past records against his higher-ranked opponents so far as he plotted the downfall of world number 4 Jonatan Christie in the group stage and Chou, ranked 11, in the quarters.
Axelsen has looked a tad subdued this season with just one title at the Malaysia Masters. The Dane also suffered an ankle injury in early June during the Singapore Open and was forced to withdraw from the Indonesia Open.
Sen, on the other hand, hasn't looked fitter in his career. He has been rock solid in his defence as he covered the court well and played at a high pace. His ability to produce winners at will has held him in good stead.
The 1.94m-tall Dane has an all-rounded game and is known to rain down brutal smashes from a great height.
Making his Olympics debut, Sen created history on Friday after becoming the first Indian individual male shuttler to reach the last four of the showpiece with a 19-21 21-15 21-12 win over Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in an intense quarterfinal match.
The Indian will have yet another uphill task at hand when he takes on Axelsen, the baby-faced badminton giant, who has terrorised his opponents in the last few years.
The 30-year-old from Odense, Denmark, has won the Tokyo gold and Rio bronze, two world championship titles in 2017 and 2022, a Thomas Cup triumph in 2016 and multiple BWF world tour and Superseries titles to experience a dominating run as world No. 1 from December 2021 to June 2024.
