The sixth day of Rio Olympics 2016 witnessed India's tennis mixed doubles pairing of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna progressing to the next round. Three badminton singles players, including Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth, gave Indian fans a reason to cheer with a victory in their opening round.
However, those were the only positive results from the day as women archers Bombayla Devi Laishram and Deepika Kumari along with boxer Shiva Thapa crashed out of the quadrennial event. Badminton men's and women's doubles team also lost their respective first matches.
Deepika lost to Chinese Taipei's Tan Ya-Ting 0-6, while in form Bombayla was outplayed by Mexico's Alejandra Valencia in the women's individual archery event, score reading 2-6. For Thapa, his bout against Cuba's Robeisy Ramirez, who is the top favourite for the gold medal, was not easy. The Indian boxer lost to Cuban 0-3.
The men's hockey team lost to Netherlands, but they provided a tough fight to the European powerhouse, who won 2-1. India got several chances to draw level, including five penalty corners after the final hooter, but they still could not convert the opportunity into a goal.
After some disappointing performances from medal prospects in the shooting and archery events, pressure on the shuttlers have increased. Saina might have won her first match against Lohanny Vicente, but it was not a comprehensive performance from the Indian, who was tested by the Brazilian. Saina won the match 21-17, 21-17.
But the other two shuttlers, Sindhu and Srikanth looked in complete control of their respective matches. Sindhu defeated Hungary's Laura Sarosi in straight games, score reading 21-8 and 21-9, while Srikanth looked calm and composed in his victory against Lino Munoz, 21-11, 21-17.
Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta lost to Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi in the women's doubles. Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy failed in their first match against Ahsan Mohammad and Hendra Setiawan in the men's competition.
