Tokyo Olympics 2020: 5 August, Day 13 schedule of Indian athletes-Sports News , Firstpost

India’s Ravi Kumar Dahiya defeated Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev to enter the men’s 57kg final. AP

Despite suffering yet another heartbreak in hockey, Team India ended Day 12 of the ongoing Tokyo Olympics on a happy note as they ensured a fourth medal with Ravi Kumar Dahiya progressing to the men’s 57kg final.

After the men’s side lost to Belgium on Tuesday, it was the India women’s hockey team’s turn to suffer a heartbreak as they ended up on the losing side in the semi-final clash against Argentina despite grabbing the lead as early as the second minute, going down fighting by a 2-1 margin.

Both the men’s and women’s teams however, still stand a chance of ending the country’s four-decade wait for an Olympic medal in hockey as they face Germany and Great Britain respectively in the bronze medal match, the men’s side in action on Thursday at the Oi Hockey Stadium. Rani Rampal and Co, on the other hand, will be in action next on Friday.

Dahiya, though, put a smile on a billion faces thanks to his stunning turnaround in the semi-final bout against Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev. Dahiya’s hopes seemed over at one stage when he was trailing the Kazakh grappler 9-2, before turning things around by pinning his opponent to the mat in the dying minutes of the bout to win by ‘pinfall’. He faces Russian Olympic Committe’s (ROC)  Zaur Uguev, the reigning world champion, in the summit clash on Thursday.

Big day on Thursday for the Indian contingent as they hope to add more medals to their tally and go past the six-medal haul at London 2012 — their best-ever performance in the world’s biggest sporting event. Here’s a look at the events lined up for on Thursday:

Athletics:

— KT Irfan, Rahul Rohilla and Sandeep Kumar in men’s 20km race walk event: 1:00pm IST.

Golf:

— Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar in women’s individual stroke play round 2: 4:00am IST.

Hockey:

— India vs Germany in men’s bronze medal match: 7:00am IST.

Wrestling:

— Vinesh Phogat vs Sofia Magdalena Mattsson (Sweden) in women’s freestyle 53kg; 8:00am IST.

— Anshu Malik vs Valeria Koblova (ROC) in repechage round of women’s freestyle 57kg; second bout after 7:30am IST start.

— Ravi Dahiya vs Zavur Uguev (Russian Olympic Committee) in men’s freestyle 57kg final; ninth bout after 2:45pm IST start.

— Deepak Punia in men’s freestyle bronze medal match; 11th bout after 2:45pm IST start.

With inputs from PTI