Tokyo Olympics highlights: Argentina, France, Germany eliminated from Olympic football

Twenty athletes, including 10 from Nigeria, will not be allowed to participate in track and field at the Olympics because they did not meet anti-doping testing requirements in the lead-up to the Games.

. The Congress's Manipur unit on Wednesday handed a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to noted weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, who won Silver at the Tokyo Olympics.

The cheque was handed to Chanu at a reception hosted by the party at her birthplace, Nongpok Kakching village in the Imphal East district.

Speaking at the function, state Congress's interim president Nameirakpam Loken Singh said he was hopeful that Chanu would try to get Gold in the next Olympic games, to be held in 2024.

The Congress will support her efforts to achieve it, he said.

. The railways announced special cash awards on Wednesday for its athletes and officials participating in the Tokyo Olympics, with a Rs 3 crore bonanza for a gold medal winner.

Twenty-five athletes, five coaches and a physiotherapist from the Railway Sports Promotion Board are representing the Indian contingent in the Tokyo Olympics that started from July 23.

The railways is one of the biggest contributing organisations in the Olympics, accounting for about 20 per cent of the athletes in the Indian contingent.

. No third gold for Argentina. No return to the final for Germany. No defensive ability for France.

Some of football's biggest nations have fallen at the first stage in the Tokyo Olympics men's tournament, failing to advance from the group stage Wednesday.

If only like Spain they weren't blocked by clubs from selecting the strongest players for this extra competition squeezed into the calendar.

Even with stars from the team's run to the European Championship semifinals earlier this month, Spain was held 1-1 by Argentina in the final group game.

But it was still enough to top Group C and set up a quarterfinal meeting with Ivory Coast on Saturday.

Mikel Merino, one of three permitted players older than 24, swept in Spain's goal in the 66th minute in Saitama after being set up by Marco Asensio.

. A young Ugandan weightlifter who disappeared in Japan after failing to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics was charged Wednesday with conspiracy to defraud, his lawyer said.

Julius Ssekitoleko vanished from an Olympic training camp after learning he did not meet standards to compete in the Games, making headlines around the world as Japanese officials scrambled to locate him.

The 20-year-old was found several days later and flown home to Uganda where government officials said he would undergo counselling.

But he was swiftly taken into police custody, and on Wednesday he was charged with "conspiracy to defraud" before being released on a police bond, his lawyer Anthony Wameli told AFP.

. Novak Djokovic said "pressure is a privilege" after keeping his Golden Slam bid intact at the Tokyo Olympics, where the decision of superstar gymnast Simone Biles to withdraw from two events over mental health concerns has put the spotlight on athletes' wellbeing.

World number one Djokovic is trying to become the first man to win all four Grand Slams and Olympic gold in the same year, and emulate the feat achieved by Steffi Graf in 1988.

The Serb is thriving on the Olympic experience, mingling and posing for pictures with athletes from all walks of life in the village, cutting an extremely relaxed figure as he goes in search of history.

"Pressure is a privilege. Without pressure there is no professional sport," said Djokovic after his 6-3, 6-1 win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round on Wednesday.

"If you are aiming to be at the top of the game, you better start learning how to deal with pressure and how to cope with those moments."

. World number one Kento Momota was stunned by number 38 South Korea's Heo Kwanghee on Wednesday, going down 15-21, 19-21 and looking visibly despondent at each lost point.

Badminton's comeback kid Momota has faced tremendous obstacles to get to the Tokyo Olympics - including serious injury in a car accident - and was expected to win the match.

Instead, he struggled to keep his head above water in the first game, overwhelmed several times by Heo's sharply angled smashes and unable to retaliate with his own.

. Success at the Tokyo Olympics would be like winning a battle against herself for world number one archer Deepika Kumari, who confessed that she's nervous to live up to the expectations.

Battling windy conditions, Deepika on Wednesday survived some jittery moments to overcome US teenager Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez 6-4 to keep Indian hopes alive on a day when Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav exited.

"Obviously, I'm nervous. The pressure at the Olympics is at a different level as you put in years of effort to win a medal here. It's a battle within yourself and I'm trying to win against myself here," Deepika told Indian reporters here after her hard-fought second round win on Wednesday.

. Australia's Emma McKeon fired a warning shot Wednesday with a new Olympic record in the women's 100m freestyle heats, as storming South African Tatjana Schoenmaker clocked the second fastest 200m breaststroke time ever.

The door to the sprint gold is wide open, with American defending champion Simone Manuel stunningly failing to qualify at the US trials.

Manuel had dominated since Rio, winning back-to-back world titles, but missed crucial weeks in the lead-up to Tokyo after being diagnosed with overtraining syndrome, in which an athlete fails to recover adequately from training and competition.

McKeon, who won four medals at Rio, but not in the 100m sprint, came to Japan with the fastest time this year ahead of veteran team-mate Cate Campbell and bettered it with her 52.13 seconds.

. A second round exit in her debut Olympics at Tokyo was a lesson for India’s lone fencer Bhavani Devi, who said she would work on improving her technique to scale greater heights in the future.

The 27-year-old Bhavani, the first Indian fencer to qualify for Olympics, began her individual sabre event campaign with a confident 15-3 win against Tunisia's Nadia Ben Azizi but bumped into world number three Manon Brunet of France in the next round, which she lost 7-15.

"The one lesson I learned from Tokyo is to keep working hard, because I kept working hard after Rio and that brought me to Tokyo. I need to improve on some fencing moments and fencing strategies, like technical (aspects) and I got good feedback from my matches,” Bhavani said during a virtual press conference arranged by Sports Authority of India.

"Because I was in good control about the outside pressure, that is very good for me. I will continue to work hard and in the coming competitions, it will be better results than previous years,” she said.

. The Olympic Games organisers announced 16 new Covid-19 cases associated with the event on Wednesday but none of them were athletes.

The fresh additions took the total number of Games-related cases to 169.

It is for the first time in four days that no Covid-19 cases were reported among Olympic athletes.

Out of the 16, four are Games-concerned personnel, two from the media, nine contractors and one volunteer. But, none of the 16 were staying at the Olympic Village.

According to reports, two cases previously reported proved to be negative and were removed from the cumulative total.

The figures were released on a day when Tokyo reported a new record of 3177 infections, topping the previous high of 2848 registered on Tuesday.

. Credit: AFP Photo

. World number one archer Deepika Kumari survived some anxious moments before getting past US teenager Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez 6-4 to sail into the pre-quarterfinals of the women's individual section and keep Indian medal hopes alive at the Tokyo Olympics here on Wednesday.

On a day her teammates Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav made second round exits, Deepika seemed to feel the pressure initially as she started off hitting the red-zone, capping a poor seven at the floodlit Yumenoshima Park.

Deepika lost the first set by one point but she bounced back strongly with three 10s in a row to take a 4-2 lead. She, however, failed to wrap up the match in the fourth set as she misfired a six in her second arrow.

The 18-year-old American made it 4-4, winning the set by one-point (25-24). In the winner-takes-all fifth set, Deepika had two 9s to start with before finishing with a poor 8.

Needing a 10 in her last arrow to force a shoot-off, Jennifer signed off with a nine in what was a promising campaign for the American teenager.

Deepika's husband Atanu Das is the only other Indian left in the fray. The India No 1, who slipped to 35th place in the ranking, begins his campaign against Deng Yu-Cheng of Chinese Taipei in his opening round of 64 match on Thursday.

. Its morale hit after a series of poor results and revelation of factionalism among coaches, India's shooting contingent would be looking towards the seasoned Rahi Sarnobat for a reboot while hoping that Manu Bhaker rediscovers her form in the women's 25m pistol event of the Olympics here on Thursday.

The Indian shooters, tipped to be country's best medal bet before the Olympics, endured yet another forgettable outing on Tuesday when they crashed out in the qualifying stages of the mixed team events in both pistol and rifle.

The duo of Saurabh Chaudhary and Bhaker caved in under pressure and failed to qualify for the final of the 10m air pistol mixed team event.

Thy finished seventh in Qualification 2 after topping the first phase with 582 at the Asaka Range. Both the 19-year-olds then lost the plot completely when the top eight teams battled it out in the second phase.

. Pooja Rani Bohra startedoff her Tokyo 2020 campaign with an impressive performance over Algeria's Ichrak Chaib, winning the bout 5-0.

. Andy Murray said he was unsure if he would play at another Olympics after his bid for a third gold medal ended with a quarter-final defeat in the men's doubles on Wednesday.

Murray, a two-time Olympic singles champion, and partner Joe Salisbury lost 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 10-7 to Croatia's Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig.

The British pair led Cilic and Dodig by a set and a break but suffered a late collapse as the Croatians prevailed in a deciding tie-break. ( AFP )

. Just in | Pravin Jadhav loses 0-6 in round of 16

. Pravin Jadhav's round of 16 match starts soon. The archer will take on 3-time Olympics gold medalist Brady Ellison.

. China has won gold in Diving, Men's Synchronised 3m Springboard

. Archer Pravin Jadhav wins 6-0, secures a place in round of 16 in men's individual.

. USA Gymnastics has confirmed to Tokyo 2020 that six-time Olympic medallist Simone Biles will not participate in Thursday's women's all-around final.

. India's archer Pravin Jadhav will be in action soon.

. India's Pusarla V. Sindhu with her coach Tae Sang Park after winning her women’s singles badminton match against Hong Kong China's Ngan Yi Cheung, at the Summer Olympics 2020, in Tokyo ( PTI )

. Bent over in exhaustion before serving. Resting on his racket between points. Grasping for a rubber tube blowing cool air next to his seat on changeovers. Two medical timeouts and one visit from a trainer.

Daniil Medvedev was struggling so much with the suffocating heat and humidity at the Ariake Tennis Park on Wednesday that at one point the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos, asked him if he could continue playing.

“I can finish the match but I can die," Medvedev replied. ( AFP )

. The Olympic Games organisers announced 16 new Covid-19 cases associated with the event on Wednesday but none of them were athletes.

The fresh additions took the total number of Games-related cases to 169.

It is for the first time in four days that no Covid-19 cases were reported among Olympic athletes.

Out of the 16, four are Games-concerned personnel, two from the media, nine contractors and one volunteer. But, none of the 16 were staying at the Olympic Village.

According to reports, two cases previously reported proved to be negative and were removed from the cumulative total.

. Tears were shed and dreams came true for Britain's 4x200m freestyle relay team as they celebrated an historic first at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday and their country's best performance in the pool in more than a century.

Tom Dean collected his second gold medal of the Games, after winning the individual 200m on Tuesday, while a tearful James Guy joined Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott in collecting a first.

Calum Jarvis also swum in the heats. ( Reuters )

. KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkarfinish 49er Men Race 03 at 18th spot.

Race 4 has started.

. A livid Indian women's hockey team coach Sjoerd Marijne on Wednesday described the 1-4 loss to Great Britain as his side's "worst match" of the ongoing Olympics and lambasted the players for failing to raise their game in the crucial match.

Marijne didn't mince words in criticising his players after India wasted several chances to suffer their third consecutive defeat in Pool A, which reduces their quarterfinal chances.

"This was our worst match. We always try to play for a six (out of 10) for each individual, and I don't think each individual today played for a six. Bad decisions, bad choices and I'm pretty disappointed by this," the Dutchman said after the match. ( PTI )

. Great Britain has won Gold in Swimming in Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay at Tokyo 2020

. Semi Radradra scored the decisive try as defending champions Fiji set up an Olympic rugby sevens final against New Zealand at the Tokyo Stadium on Wednesday.

Fiji, running a solid defensive pattern, ran out 26-14 winners over Argentina, who had surprisingly knocked out Rio bronze medallists South Africa in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

New Zealand outmuscled Great Britain 29-7 in the other semi-final. The British team will play Argentina in the bronze medal match. ( AFP )

. India's rowing pair of Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh advance to Lightweight men's double sculls Final B, finishing the race with a time of 6:24.41.

. Katie Ledecky has won gold in Swimming — 1500m Freestyle at Tokyo 2020. She is the first gold medallist in Olympics women's 1500m history.

. Indian shuttler PV Sindhu beats Hong Kong's Ngan Yi Cheung 21-9, 21-16 in women singles group stage and secures place in Last 16.

. Tokyo Olympics organisers on Wednesday reported 16 new Games-related COVID-19 cases, bringing the disclosed total to 169. ( Reuters )

. P V Sindhu, India's medal hopeful,takes the first game 21-9

. Archer Tarundeep Rai wins his 1/32 Elimination match against Ukraine, 6-4

. India lose to defending champions Great Britain 1-4 in women's hockey Pool A,their third consecutive defeat in pool stage

. Great Britain was leading at the end of the third quarter in the India vs GB women's hockey pool game, with Britain ahead 3-1.

. Just in | China has won gold in rowing —Women's Quadruple Sculls

. Hungarian world record holder Kristof Milak powered to the Olympic men's 200m butterfly gold medal on Wednesday, touching more than two seconds clear of his nearest rival.

The 21-year-old, who smashed Michael Phelps's world record in 2019, hit the wall in a new Olympic record time of 1min 51.25sec ahead of Japan's Tomoru Honda (1:53.73) and Italy's Federico Burdisso (1:54.45).

. Ariarne Titmus of Australia won the gold medal in the women's 200m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday.

Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong won the silver and Penny Oleksiak of Canada took the bronze. ( Reuters )

. There are a few worthy contenders for the "dirtiest race in history" title but the 2012 Olympic women's 1,500 metres probably takes the gold medal for not only the brazen nature of the cheating, but the sheer depth of it.

. After a series of underdogs stole the show at the beginning of surfing's historic Olympic debut, two of the sport's most seasoned superstars took home the gold medals.

. The first two rowing medal races of the Tokyo Games delivered thrills on Wednesday as Romania's Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis won gold in the women's double sculls while Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias of France triumphed in the men's event, both with Olympic-best times. - Reuters.

. US Olympic star Simone Biles received support from fellow gymnasts, other athletes and celebrities after pulling out of the women's team event at Tokyo over mental health concerns.

. Olympic champions Yuto Horigome and Momiji Nishiya of Japan will headline the roster of elite skateboarders competing on the 2021 Championship Tour, Street League Skateboarding (SLS) said on Tuesday.

. The delivery of Bermuda's first ever Olympic gold medal on Tuesday by triathlete Flora Duffy is a victory shared by the whole island, her parents told AFP.

Tokyo Olympics highlights: Argentina, France, Germany eliminated from Olympic football

20 athletes banned from Olympic track under testing rules

Congress hosts reception at Mirabai Chanu's birthplace in Manipur

Railways announces cash awards for its athletes, coaches participating in Tokyo Olympics

Argentina, France, Germany eliminated from Olympic football

Tokyo 2020 | Day 5 Updates

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