India put up a dismal show at Tokyo Olympics today

India lost their semi final match in men’s hockey against world champions Belgium 2-5 after producing some initial fight and even taking a 2-1 lead for a brief period after their rivals went ahead in the very second minute.

The  teams were locked 2-2 till the 49th minute but India succumbed to the pressure and conceded three more goals during the last eleven minutes.

For Belgium one of the top drag flickers in the world  Alexander Hendrickx scored a hat-trick converting two penalty corners and a penalty stroke, Loick Luypaert  and   John John-Domen found the target once each. Indian goals came through Harmanpreet Singh and Mandeep Singh.

India will now play for the bronze medal against Germany.  Germany lost to Australia in the second semi final.

In women’s javelin Annu Rani cleared a distance of 54.04 m which was, however, not enough to qualify for the final.

Men shot putter Tejinder Pal Singh Toor also cut a sorry figure producing a below par performance. Toor, who could manage one  legal throw  of 19.99m placed him on the 13th position out of total 16 in the qualifying round.

India’s campaign  in wrestling began on an inauspicious  note  as 19 year old Sonam Malik lost to Bolortuya Khurelkhua of Mongolia in the round of 16 for women  62 kg category.

Sonam had a chance to remain in contention for the bronze medal via repechage provided Bolortua reached the title clash.  But the Mongolian lost in the quarter final.