Monthly Archives: July 2021

TOKYO (Reuters) – Brazilians Laura Pigossi and Luisa Stefani saved four match points against Wimbledon finalists Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina to snatch Olympic bronze in women’s doubles on Saturday.

The Brazilians, with tears in their eyes at the end of the game, capped a stellar week, coming from a set down and leading 5-9 in the tie-break to earn six straight points and beat the pair from the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 4- 6 6-4 11-9.

It was Brazil’s first Olympic tennis medal.

“We knew we gave our all and we have all this emotion now,” said Stefani, ranked 23rd in the world in doubles.

“From 0-0 in the tie-break to 9-5 behind, we thought we could do it all the time.”

“We’ve had that feeling of confidence all along and now there’s that feeling of pure happiness to have achieved a goal,” she said.

“This medal is historic for Brazil. It is also a responsibility but also a motivation for us.”

Vesnina, who aims to win her second Olympic medal after gold in women’s doubles in 2016, can redeem herself when she teams up with Aslan Karatsev against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev in a 100% ROC mixed doubles final on Sunday.

Russian athletes have been banned from using their flag or anthem due to the country’s doping scandals. They are identified as athletes of the Russian Olympic Committee.

(Report by Karolos Grohmann, edited by Ed Osmond)

TOKYO (Reuters) – World number one and 20-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic will leave the Olympics without a medal for the third consecutive Games after retiring from Saturday’s mixed doubles bronze medal match with an injury to his the shoulder.

The Serbian, who won a bronze in singles in Beijing in 2008 but failed to reach the podium in London, Rio and now Tokyo, withdrew from the mixed doubles minutes after losing to the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the singles bronze medal match.

His withdrawal from the mixed doubles means Ash Barty and John Peers win a bronze medal for Australia.

Djokovic also lost to Germany’s Alexander Zverev on Friday in the singles semifinals, putting an end to his hopes of winning a “Golden Slam,” which is Olympic gold and all four Grand Slam tournaments over this year. a calendar year.

He has already won the Australian and French Open as well as Wimbledon with the US Open, the last of four major tournaments to come.

“I regret that I didn’t win a medal for my country and missed opportunities in mixed doubles and singles and, yes, I just didn’t deliver yesterday and today,” Djokovic told reporters.

“The level of tennis has also gone down due to exhaustion, you know, mentally and physically.”

Players struggled with the heat and humidity of Tokyo throughout the tournament, requiring cold showers, ice packs and other cooling fans.

“But I don’t regret coming to the Olympics at all,” he said. “Of course not. I think there is no such thing as a coincidence in life, everything happens for a reason and I have suffered heartbreaking losses in the Olympics and some big tournaments in my career.”

Djokovic, 34, has pledged to give the Olympics another chance in three years in Paris.

“I know I will bounce back. I will try to continue for the Paris Olympics. I will fight for my country to win medals. Sorry to disappoint a lot of sports fans in my country, but this is the sport.”

The Serbian can still win all four majors in a calendar year – won only in men by Don Budge and Rod Laver (twice) – when he competes in the US Open which begins on August 30.

“The physical consequences will hopefully not create a problem for me for (the) US Open. So that’s something I’m not sure about at the moment, but I don’t regret giving it my all. because at the end of the day when you play for a country, it’s necessary. “

“I know these losses generally made me stronger.”

(Written by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Ken Ferris)

India to Tokyo Olympics – Table Tennis Olympics Schedule: Check India Tokyo Olympics Table Tennis Schedule, Full Squad, History & Live Stream Details – Table tennis didn’t make its debut until the summer of 1988, and since then it has been a regular part of the Olympics. Since the sport’s inception at the Olympics, India has been represented at every edition, but there are no significant performances or medals to display so far – but this time everything can change – Follow the Tokyo Olympics live stream on SonyLIV and follow all LIVE updates on Indian table tennis players at the Olympics on InsideSport.co.

Also read: India at the Tokyo Olympics: India enters the Tokyo Olympics with 119 members…

Also read: The History of India’s Olympic Medals: With the Tokyo Olympics ready to roll, a…

India at the Tokyo Olympics – Indian table tennis at the Tokyo Olympics: Can the mixed duo of Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra bring India’s first medal in this sport?

This time India will be mad

r players in action – Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee. The four paddlers will compete in three events – men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed doubles. Let’s look at the member of the Indian table tennis team.

Tokyo Olympics live broadcast details and all other details – All Tokyo Olympics table tennis matches will be broadcast live on SonyLIV in India and follow all updates live on InsideSport.co .

India at the Tokyo Olympics – Indian table tennis players at the Tokyo Olympics

Sharath kamal

Sharath Kamal would compete in the men’s doubles and mixed doubles events at the Tokyo Olympics. The Tokyo Olympics would be the fourth consecutive Olympics since the first at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Although he competes in singles, the best bet for a medal is in the mixed doubles. He would team up with Manika Batra in mixed doubles, and they qualified for the Olympics by winning the gold medal in the Asian Olympics qualifying tournament.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will compete in the men’s singles event at the Tokyo Olympics. Recently, he became the national champion after defeating 9-time national champion Sharath Kamal in the final. He rose to fame when he won three medals at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 – gold in the men’s team, silver in men’s doubles and bronze in mixed doubles.

Manika batra

Manika Batra will compete in the women’s singles and mixed doubles event at the Tokyo Olympics. She was beaten by Indian Sutirtha Mukherjee in the Asian qualifiers, but still managed to qualify as the second-highest ranked player in the Asian qualifiers. The focus would be on her to perform well in mixed doubles, where she will team up with Sharath Kamal. A mixed doubles medal is India’s only realistic hope in the sport.

Sutirtha mukherjee

Sutirtha Mukherjee will compete in the women’s singles event at the Tokyo Olympics. She won two national singles titles in 2017 and 2019 and in 2018 she was also part of the Indian women’s team which won gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018. The Tokyo Olympics will be her first Olympic appearance.

India at the Tokyo Olympics – Tokyo Olympics Table Tennis Schedule

• Saturday July 24 (5:30 am – 9:15 am)

– Men’s singles preliminary round (Achanta Sharath Kamal) (Sathiyan Gnanasekaran)

– Women’s singles preliminary round (Manika Batra) (Sutirtha Mukherjee)

– Mixed doubles, round of 16 (Sharath Kamal & Manika Batra)

Tokyo Olympics Table Tennis LIVE Streaming Details and all other details – Follow the Tokyo Olympics live stream on SonyLIV and follow all LIVE updates on Indian table tennis players at the Olympics on InsideSport.co.

Ma Long lived up to his reputation as the greatest paddler of the modern era by becoming the first man to win two Olympic singles gold medals. Second-seeded Long defended his Olympic title at Rio 2016 by beating seed Fan Zhendong in a 100% Chinese final at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Friday night.

The final lived up to his expectations, especially after the two Chinese favorites beat German Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Lin Yun Ju of Chinese Taipei in a tense semi-finals that went on the wire.

Even though Ma Long sealed the title 4-2, the hour-long encounter saw the two paddlers take part in breathtaking rallies. He won 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 3-11, 11-7.

READ: Athletics: Ethiopian Selemon Barega wins first track gold at Tokyo Olympics in 10,000m

It was ultimately Ma Long’s experience and expertise that meant that the world No.1 fan will have to wait another three years to get his hands on the yellow metal.

Ma Long, nicknamed Dragon, meanwhile upped his game when it mattered the most. Two years ago, winner of all major tournaments on the international table tennis calendar and three-time reigning world champion, a knee injury could have ended his brilliant career.

But the Dragon spat venom to end the tournament on a historic note. Since the inclusion of table tennis in the 1988 Olympics, each of the eight singles gold medals had been won by different paddlers. Ma Long has resisted the trend, defending her title in style.

READ ALSO: Tokyo Olympics: Croats Mektic and Pavic win gold in men’s doubles

Earlier in the evening, Ovtcharov repeated his 2012 feat in London by pocketing the bronze medal. The German superstar saved four match points in Game 6 against promising left-hander Lin, some cheers after losing an epic battle against the future champion in the semifinals.

In the women’s singles Thursday, China’s Chen Meng defeated Sun Yingsha in an all-Chinese battle to win gold in her Olympic debut. Mima Ito of Japan won bronze.

After a day’s break, table tennis action will resume on Sunday with the men’s and women’s championships.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic was inconsolable after his surprise loss to Germany’s Alexander Zverev at the Tokyo Games on Friday, saying he struggled to stay positive after his bid to become the first man to finish the Golden ended Slam. .

The Serbian was unexpectedly beaten 1-6 6-3 6-1 by fifth-overall Zverev, dashing his hopes of winning an Olympic gold in singles, the only major honor missing from his long list of accolades.

The world number one had arrived in Tokyo for the Golden Slam – winning all four majors and Olympic gold in the same year – after triumphing at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2021.

It was a tough day in the office for Djokovic, who went on to lose in the mixed doubles semi-final with partner Nina Stojanovic, the pair losing 7-6 (4) 7-5 to Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev of the Olympic Committee. Russian. .

Djokovic, who won singles bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games, admitted he found it hard to console himself by repeating the feat or finishing a calendar-year Grand Slam by winning the US Open in September. .

“I feel so bad right now, I can’t be positive right now,” said Djokovic, who will face Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in Saturday’s bronze medal game.

“I don’t know if I feel bad … in every way, but hopefully tomorrow a new start. I can recover and win at least one medal for my country.”

In his singles match, Djokovic seemed to be on course for an easy win when he won the first set for the loss of just one match, then took a break in the middle of the second.

But world number five Zverev found another gear, stepping back and rewinding eight straight games to take the set and secure a dominant lead in the decider.

Zverev sealed the victory with a winning backhand to become the first German to make an Olympic tennis final since Tommy Haas won silver at the Sydney Games in 2000.

“It’s just sport, you know, he played better. I have to give him credit for turning the game upside down,” Djokovic said of Zverev.

“He served extremely well, I didn’t get too many stares on the second serve. My serve dropped dramatically, I didn’t get any 3-2 free points on the second.”

“Yeah, my game fell apart, his game – he won, I think seven or eight games in a row and yeah, that was it.”

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Toby Davis)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Croatia’s Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic beat compatriots Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig 6-4 3-6 (10-6) in the men’s doubles final of the Olympics on Friday to win the first medal of gold of their country in this sport.

It was also Croatia’s first silver medal after three bronze medals at previous Games – two at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and one in Athens in 2004.

Mektic and Pavic, who had not played as a duet before this year, also won the title at Wimbledon this month, and Mektic admitted playing his compatriots in the final had been “a bit tricky”.

The silver medalists expressed mixed feelings about their loss.

“We are very proud even though it is a mixed emotion to be so close (to the medal) and not be able to hold the gold medal,” Cilic said.

New Zealanders Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus took bronze as they beat Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren of the United States 7-6 (3) 6-2 to secure their country’s first Olympic tennis medal.

New Zealander Anthony Wilding won a bronze medal in a combined Australasian team in 1912.

“We made history today,” Daniell said, adding that the couple had to endure extreme heat while sharing a small room in the Athletes’ Village which helped to strengthen the bond between them.

(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Ken Ferris and Ed Osmond)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Tennis governing bodies take mental health issues very seriously but recognize that more needs to be done to support players in this area, International Tennis Federation chief David told Reuters. Haggerty.

Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from Roland Garros in May highlighted the issue of athlete welfare and after American gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from the squad and general events this week in an effort to protect her health mental, the subject returns to the foreground.

“Mental health is very, very important,” said Haggerty, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in an interview at the Games.

“In the normal course of business, we work together with the men’s and women’s tours to make sure that we are really there for the players, that they have the ability to speak to someone for help when they need it. need the right way.

“But we think we can still do better.”

When Osaka first declared that she would not speak to the media at Roland Garros to protect her sanity, the organizers of the clay-court grand slam fined her $ 15,000 after boycotting the conference. post-match press and they have also joined forces with the other three Grand Slam tournaments to threaten her with expulsion from Roland Garros and ban her from entering other major tournaments.

This forced Osaka to withdraw from Roland Garros and she also revealed how she struggled with depression for several years – and it was only then that tennis authorities admitted they needed to do more to help them. players.

Haggerty said the ITF’s Scientific and Medical Committee on Sport has started looking for new ways to tackle the problem, which he said has been made worse for some players by the global health crisis.

“We have also engaged with the IOC and other groups so that it becomes more than just tennis but that it is a sport at large,” he said.

“I think the athletes after 15 to 18 months of being locked out in sport it’s a tough time. We have to be there for the athletes and tennis certainly takes it very seriously.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a massive disruption to the global tennis calendar and left a big dent in the finances of the game.

As a result, the ITF joined with ATP, WTA and the four Grand Slam boards and formed a “T7 working group” to look at areas of collaboration like a unified timeline, offers shared commercials, sponsorship and television agreements.

“The pandemic has certainly intensified our discussions,” the 64-year-old said.

“Everyone wants to work together as best they can, they each have different stakeholders. But I think we have a good collaboration. What comes out of it? We should see.

“These things take time. I don’t want to build a big hope that the world will change with this. At the same time, I think we are moving forward and working together.”

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Pritha Sarkar)

TOKYO (Reuters) – When the going gets tough for Marketa Vondrousova, who passed Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina to reach the Olympic women’s singles final on Thursday, she finds inspiration within reach of a message tattooed on her arm.

Inked just above her right elbow, the 42nd ranked Czech has the words “no rain, no flowers”, a reminder that even the most difficult times can be followed by success.

Vondrousova said making the Olympic final was a particularly sweet victory after suffering tough lessons in the past, such as losing to Australia’s Ash Barty in the 2019 Roland Garros final when she had failed to win. only four games.

“I think you know, without fail there is no success so you have to go through tough games. Even if you mostly lose, if you keep believing in yourself and yes that’s the reward.” , she told reporters.

Vondrousova was on a dream Olympic run after beating home favorite and world number two Naomi Osaka in the third round, before crushing fourth Svitolina 6-3 6-1 in Thursday’s semi-final.

“I mean it’s an amazing feeling. I played a great game today,” said Vondrousova, who will face Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic in the title match.

“Ever since I beat Naomi, you know I was thinking good, I’m playing good, so maybe I can do better and now I’m in the final. So you know, even if it’s the money or the ‘but I’m just happy that I walk away with the medal. ”

Svitolina, the top-ranked player in the women’s table after eliminating the three world premieres in previous rounds, couldn’t hide her disappointment and couldn’t say if she would be ready for the bronze medal match. against Kazakhe Elena Rybakina.

“At the moment, it’s very difficult to say. I am really disappointed, ”she told reporters in tears.

“I expected to go further, but unfortunately there are other players who are playing well. It is extremely difficult and it did not happen today.

“There was a small chance there but to be fair Marketa played really well, a very solid performance and I couldn’t find my best tennis today and everything went well for her.”

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Toby Davis)