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Srikanth in quarters, others disappoint
NEW DELHI/ RIO DE JANEIRO: Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth’ s entry into the quarterfinals kept India’s medal hopes alive as the athletes continued to cut a sorry figure
NEW DELHI/ RIO DE JANEIRO: Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth’ s entry into the quarterfinals kept India’s medal hopes alive as the athletes continued to cut a sorry figure while wrestler Ravinder Khatri also flopped in his bout at the Rio Olympics here on Monday.
World No 11 Srikanth continued his rollicking form to register a 21-19, 21-19 triumph in 42 minutes over world No 5 Jan O Jorgensen in the pre-quarterfinal tie at Rio Centrio.
In a hard fought first game, both shuttlers started on an attacking note but it was Srikanth who managed to maintain the lead with some body-line smashes.
Jorgensen, bronze medallist in the 2014 World Championships, gave a tough fight at the end but it was the Guntur lad who proved superior to clinch the first game 21-19.
In the second game, the Denmark player upped the ante and played a disciplined game to maintain the lead from the start.
But with some swift court movements, the Indian diminished the lead to stay at 17-17 and then took a one-point lead to make it 19-18 before wrapping up the game to advance into the quarter-finals.
Srikanth had entered the pre-quarterfinals after topping Group H. In quarters, he will face the tough task of beating two-time defending champion and five-time world champion Lin Dan of China.
RENJITH FLOPS
Ten days before he left for Rio, India’s triple jumper Renjith Maheshwary claimed he would repeat his home performance of 17.30 metres at the Games.
On Monday, he flopped. Of the three preliminary attempts, his best was 16.13m. He started with a 15.50m, which gave the impression that he was warming up. A jump of 16.13 in the second attempt raised hope.
However, in the third attempt, he managed 15.99m, which ended his hopes of making the cut for the finals.
Had the Kerala-born athlete repeated his performance of17.30m (July 11, Bengaluru), he would have been the leader going into the main round.
America’s Christian Taylor, with a jump of 17.24m, led the field of 12 athletes who made the cut.
NANDA FAILS
Srabani Nanda failed to qualify for the semis of the women’s 200 metres after finishing 55th among 72 athletes in Round 1.
Srabani clocked 23.58 seconds, finishing sixth in her heat, way below top per Cote d’Ivoire’s Marie-Josee Talou (22.31 seconds).
To add salt to the wounds, wrestler Khatri lost to Hungary’s Viktor Lorincz on technical superiority in the men’s Greco-Roman 85kg first bout.
The 24-year-old Indian failed to provide any resistance during a 0-9 loss to the World Championship bronze medallist at the Carioca Arena 2 - WR Mat B.
