Tokyo Olympics Day 14 Highlights: Ravi Dahiya, men's hockey team win medals

Indian athletes increased their nation's medal tally.

As the Olympics near an end, Team India are intent on finishing the competition on a high note. A few impressive medals were won by Indian athletes on day 14 of the Tokyo Olympics, with a hunger for many more being persisted in the others – with some still in the race to make that dream a reality.

On Thursday, the Indian men’s hockey team picked up their first Olympic medal in over 41 years! Ravi Kumar Dahiya also brought home another medal for India in the wrestling category. A few other athletes suffered bitter elimination in key rounds, but it was an eventful day for the Indian contingent.

Hockey

India played out an absolute thriller against Germany in the men’s bronze medal match on Thursday morning. Having won only one out of their five games against the Germans before this, the Indian side were under pressure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mqbcWmqKBc

That showed as Germany raced into a 3-1 lead in the second quarter. However, Graham Reid’s men showed immense mental strength to come back and make it 3-3 going into halftime. After that, India took control of the game and scored two more to win 5-4, bringing home the bronze medal in emphatic fashion.

Wrestling

For the Indian wrestlers, day 14 of the Tokyo Olympics began with Anshu Malik fighting for a medal via the repechage rounds in the 57kgs category. She faced ROC’s Valeria Koblova, but failed to come out on top. The Russian wrestler dominated her to pick up a 5-1 win, crushing Malik’s dreams of an Olympic medal.

Ravi Dahiya was up against Zavur Uguev of ROC in the final vying for the gold medal. The 23-year-old gave a strong fight to the World Championships gold medallist but failed to win. He settled for a silver after losing the tied 4-7 points. Uguev started the bout the stronger of the two and shot into a 7-2 lead. Ravi brought the lead down to three points but Uguev showed incredible defensive work to prevent the Indian from scoring more points.

In the 86kgs freestyle Men's bronze medal match, Deepak Punia came out barely short on a win. He lost to San Marino's Miles Amine 3-2 via technical superiority, just barely being unable to get the win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvd5jC6hpjA

No. 1 seed in the Women’s Freestyle 53kg category, Vinesh Phogat started her day in dominant fashion with a comfortable 7-1 win over Swedish wrestler Sofia Mattson in the 1/8 final round.

However, she faced a disappointing upset in the 1/4 round to Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya, suffering a loss by pinfall by the margin of 9-3. Phogat was not able to enter the repechage round as Kaladzinskaya lost her semifinal match.

Golf

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok is still going strong into Round 2 of the women’s individual stroke play category and sits tied second with a total score of 133 on day 14 of the Tokyo Olympics. She’s currently looking for a real possibility for a medal and will have to continue her good work in the coming rounds.

Diksha Dagar, however, is still unable to get anywhere close to the top and is tied in 53rd with a score of 148.

Athletics : Men's 20km walk

In the Men's 20KM Race Walk final, Indian runner Sandeep Kumar failed to get a podium finish despite a strong start. At one point, Kumar was in the 2nd place and looking a surprise contender for a medal. However, he fell off towards the end and finished on 23rd place.

India's two other runners, Rahul Rohilla and KT Irfan, finished in 47th spot and 51st position respectively.

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