Kochi: India won its first medal in the opening day of the Tokyo Olympics when Mirabai Chanu clinched the silver in the women’s 49 kg weightlifting category. The 26-year-old Mirabai lifted 202 kg to win the medal. Karnam Malleswari won a bronze medal in the category in 2000 Sydney Olympics. The gold was won by China’s Hou Zhihui with an effort of 210kg and the bronze by Indonesia’s Aisah Windy Cantika with an effort of 194kg.
In archery, the pair of Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav moved to the quarter finals in the mixed team event but bowed out to South Korea. In men’s hockey event, India beat New Zealand 3-2 in their first group match. In badminton, Satwiksairaj Reddy and Chirag Shetty beat Chinese Taipei’s Yang Lee/Chi-Lin Wang 21-16, 16-21, 27-25 in their men’s doubles opener. Sumit Nagal became the first Indian to win a tennis singles match. The rowing pair of Arvind Singh and Arjun Lal Jat qualified for the repechage round after finishing fifth in the men’s lightweight double sculls heat.
