Rio de Janeiro: India had a lot to cheer about on Day 5 of Rio Olympics as apart from archers Bombayla Laishram and Deepika Kumari, who moved the 1/16 eliminators, boxer Manoj Kumar, too, entered into the pre-quarterfinals. However, shooter Jitu Rai once again failed to impress in the 50m pistol event.
Lifting the sagging Indian spirits, Bombayla, who finished 24th in the ranking round, got the better of Chinese Taipei's Lin Shih-Chia 6-2 in the 1/16 elimination after beating Austria's Laurence Baldauff in 1/32 elimination round.
Later, Deepika defeated Italy's Sartori Guendalina 6-2 in the 1/16 elimination after prevailing over Kristine Esebua of Georgia 6-4 in the 1/32 elimination round.
Boxer Manoj Kumar too brought in cheers in the Indian camp as he beat Petrauskas by split decision in the Round of 32 of the men's Light Welterweight (64kg) category at the Riocentrio Pavilion. Manoj dominated all three rounds to win a 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 verdict and advance to the pre-quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, judoka Avtar Singh failed to progress after losing to Refugee Olympic Team's Misenga Popole in the second round of the men's 90 kg and weightlifter and weightlifter Satish Sivalingam finished 11th in the men's 77kg Group B (lower) category.
After his miss on Day 4, Jitu, winner of the gold medal in the same 50m pistol event in both the Commonwealth and Asian Games two years ago, failed to qualify for the finals of 50m pistol event. Jitu started the qualification by scoring 91 and then 95 and followed it with scores of 90, 94 and 95, including four 10s in the fifth series that propelled him to the fourth position at the completion of the series. However, he messed up his chances in the final series that included two eights, which left him way behind. He ended up overall 12th with a total of 554 out of 600. Meanwhile, fellow pistol shooter Prakash Nanjappa finished 25th out of 41 shooters with 547 in the 50m qualification.
Indian women hockey team were simply outplayed by the higher-ranked Australians who exposed the defensive frailties of their opponents. Jodie Kenny struck twice (43rd and 46th minute) while Kathryn Slattery (5th), Georgina Morgan (9th), Jane Claxton (35th), Georgina Parker (36th) scored once each to rout the Indians. For India, Thokchom Anuradha scored the lone goal with just 8.3 seconds left on the clock. Australia won 6-1.
