Atanu Das moves to higher round !! India beats Argentina in Hockey

It was a comfortable time, back from Office, having dinner watching Rio in action. It tasted good for the stylish Atanu Das looked cool.  In the first round, he faced Jitbahadur Muktan of Nepal in the individual round.  The talented Atanu Das blanked his Nepalese rival 6-0. After that, he defeated Cuba's Adrian Andres 6-4.  He will now meet World No. 8 Korean archer Lee Seungyun on August 12 in the round of 16.

More to cheer as Indian men's hockey team defeated Argentina 2-1 in their third Pool B encounter at the Olympic Hockey Centre on Tuesday to climb to joint top with Germany in the standings with two wins to their name. Manipur's Chinglensana Kangujam scored the opening goal for India in the eighth minute and the lead was doubled in the third quarter by another Manipuri player -Kothajit Khadangbam.   It is India’s second win in three Pool B matches, after beating Ireland 3-2 and getting beaten by Germany 1-2. It was tense in the end as with  less than eight minutes to go, Argentina earned a barrage of penalty corners but India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made three crucial saves to deny drag-flick specialist Peillet. India just about managed to stave off Argentina to register a close win. This is the first time India have beaten Argentina since 2009.

On a happier  note, one tends to glean more interesting tidbits from Rio Olympics 2016.

A  little boy from the favela  stole the hearts of billions for his perfect footwork and striking samba at the Olympic Opening Ceremony. But this is as close as eight-year-old Thawan Lucas da Trindade will be getting to the Games over the next two weeks. Because despite his starring role, Thawan's impoverished family, who live in one of the most crime-ridden areas of the notoriously violent city, simply cannot afford the cost of a ticket to watch the world's greatest sports stars in action.  They say that Organisers have failed to offer them one - despite the hundreds of empty seats at every event.  'Thawan's performance was voluntary and as a gesture, it would have been nice to have been offered tickets,' grandmother Solimar Andrade Ramos, 56, told MailOnline.

On the arena, a  Russian swimmer who was booed after taking silver medal in the 100m breaststroke has hit back at competitors who criticised her for doping - even claiming that the West is fighting a new cold war. Yulia Efimova, 24, has served a 16-month ban for doping but was cleared to compete at Rio at the last minute.  Today she said: 'I don't really understand the foreign competitors. All athletes should be above politics, but they just watch TV and believe everything they read.' According to Tass news agency she added: 'I always thought the cold war was long in the past. Why start it again, by using sport?' .  The USA's Lilly King, who won gold, was involved in a spat with Efimova before the race and after victory she said: 'It just proved that you can compete clean and still come out on top'.

A total of 271 Russian athletes were cleared to take part in the Rio Olympics after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose not to hand Russia a blanket ban from the Olympic Games. A report found evidence of a state-sponsored doping programme.

When do you celebrate not as this Dutch gymnast who has been expelled from the Olympics after an all-night drinking session to celebrate reaching the finals. Yuri van Gelder, who has a history of rule-breaking, 'gravely' violated his team's restrictions on alcohol consumption. He went out celebrating in Rio on Saturday evening after qualifying for the final of the rings event, the Dutch team said.    The news of his exit from the team sparked a series of memes online.  'It's terrible for Yuri, but this kind of behaviour is unacceptable,' Dutch team ambassador Maurits Hendriks said in a statement.   The athlete’s, a three-time world championship medallist, spot in the rings final will go to France’s Danny Pinheiro Rodrigues.  He is the second replacement athlete to reach the final, after France’s Samir Ait Said broke his leg in qualifications and was replaced by Ukraine’s Igor Radivilov. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

9^th Aug 2016 : 22.10 hrs.