How Indian athletes fared on Day 3 in Rio

IMAGE: Abhinav Bindra waves to the crowd after bowing out of the 10m Air Rifle final at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Photograph: PTI

Check out India’s report card on the third day of the 2016 Olympics.

SHOOTING

Men's 10m Air Rifle:

Abhinav Bindra lost a heart-stopping shoot-off and a great chance to provide India with their first medal of the Olympic Games on a day of missed opportunities for the country's contingent in Rio de Janeiro.

In his fifth successive and final Olympic appearance, Bindra had to settle for a fourth place after eventual silver medallist Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine edged the Indian out 10.5-10 in the men's 10m air rifle shoot-off in the race to reach the medal round after the two were tied with the same score at the packed Olympic Shooting Centre in Deodoro.

Bindra's miss to climb the podium by a hair's breadth was akin to two other such misses in India's Olympic history, Milkha Singh's fourth place finish in men's 200m dash in 1960, Rome, and P T Usha's fourth-place show in the women's 400m hurdles final in 1984, Los Angeles.

Bindra, country's only individual Olympic gold medallist hardly showed emotion after losing the tension-filled shoot-off against Ukrainian marksman Kulish after the two were tied third at 163.8 in the race to reach the medal round.

The Indian did not show any emotion after the heart-breaking moment as he walked off after losing the one-shot elimination against Kulish who went on to win the silver medal with 204.6 behind gold medallist Niccolo Campriani (206.1) of Italy.

Men's Trap Shooting:

There were setbacks elsewhere with men's trap shooting duo of Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai not able to improve on their opening day's performance. They failed to qualify for the semifinals, signing off at 16th and 19th respectively on the second and final day of qualification.

ARCHERY

Women's Individual Recurve (1/32):

Woman archer Laxmirani Majhi also put up a below-par show in the individual elimination round one and bowed out without a fight, losing 1-7 against Alexandra Longova of Slovakia. And as the day drew to a close, the women's hockey squad suffered a humiliating 0-3 loss to Britain.

HOCKEY

Men’s:

IMAGE: Germany’s Mats Grambusch, centre, is tackled by Indian defenders during the men’s hockey match at the Rio Olympics. Photograph: Sergio Moraes/Reuters.

In men's hockey, India's perennial habit of conceding late goals continued to haunt them as reigning double Olympic champions Germany scored seconds from the final hooter to steal a 2-1 win in a thrilling Pool B match.

It was heart-break for the Indian fans as despite playing near perfect hockey for the major part of the match, India allowed the Germans to steal the win with just three seconds from full time.

Women's:

IMAGE: Nicola White, centre, of Great Britain celebrates her team's second goal with teammate Helen Richardson-Walsh, in the women’s hockey match against India at the Rio Olympics on Monday night. Photograph: Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters.

In women's hockey, India found themselves at the mercy of heavyweights Britain who cruised to a 3-0 result for a second successive win in a women's pool B encounter.

After a cautious first quarter, the English women who are the 2012 London bronze medallists, unleashed their fury by scoring within two minutes in the second quarter.

Giselle Ansley pierced through captain Sushila Chanu and goalkeeper Savita Punia to sound the board with a powerful drag-flick to break the deadlock in the 25th minute.

Before the Neil Hawgwood-coached team could settle down, it was Nicola White who deftly scored to make it 2-0.

The third quarter too went against India with Alex Danson making it 3-0 in the 33rd minute after some effortless dribbling.

SWIMMING

Men's 200m Butterfly heats:

Sajan Prakash 41st among 43 (in terms of timing).

Women's 200m freestyle heats

Shivani Kataria 28th among 29 (in terms of timing).

Report cards: Day 1 - Day 2

The Rio Olympics, on Rediff.com

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