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Day 11 at Rio: hope for India, two runners collide and many upsets

Sahil Bhalla | Updated on: 17 August 2016, 17:32 IST

Day 11 at the Rio Olympics is behind us now. There was enough drama on and off the field to keep sports lovers hooked to the action.

Sweden once again were upset winners in women\'s football, as they prevailed on penalties. Simone Biles captured a fourth gold medal, Usain Bolt cantered to the finish line, Faith Kipyegon caused an upset in the women\'s 1,500m, there was a photo finish in the 10,000 swim, and a fall in the 5,000m race. Also, for the first time in 44 years, there was no medal for Romania in gymnastics.

01
PV Sindhu (badminton)

The day's last participant for India brought hope to 1.3 billion Indians after her badminton quarter-finals match. Hope that had been slowly withering away. The shuttler from Hyderabad caused a huge upset in the women's singles event at the Rio Olympics, when she stunned world No.2 Wang Yihan of China in straight games to enter the semi-finals.

The 21-year-old came out the victor in 54 minutes, with the scoreline reading 22-20, 21-19. The match had it all, with both players displaying an array of shots, long rallies and excellent court coverage. Wang had the stronger start, but Sindhu forced her way back into the first game, eventually taking it 22-20.

In the second, Sindhu, at 18-13, seemed to be racing away with the match. Six straight points from the Chinese and she was on the backfoot. Some brilliant defence, coupled with a few smashes, and it was all smiles as she closed out the game 21-19.

Sindhu will now face world No.6 Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the semi-finals.

02
Hardeep Singh (wrestling)

Hardeep Singh was involved in a closely-fought battle, but came out on the losing side. It was a scrappy first period with Singh causing a foul and allowing Cenk Ildem to make the most of it and take two points.

Ildem got a warning in the second half and the scoreline became 1-2. The last 30 seconds was a frantic end to the match, with both wrestlers trying to overcome each other in vain. Singh's elimination brought the curtain down on India's challenge in the Greco-Roman category after Ravinder Khatri lost to Hungary's Viktor Lorincz by technical superiority in 85kg on Monday.

03
Narsingh Yadav (wrestling)

Narsingh Yadav's participation at the Rio Games was put in jeopardy on Tuesday when the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) against the clean chit given to him.

Yadav, the wrestler who claimed conspiracy and won a battle with the National Anti-Doping Agency, was cleared to participate, but just a day before his first match, another hearing is expected to take place.

"Yes, WADA has appealed the verdict on Narsingh to CAS, which will hear both parties on Thursday 18 August," Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Indian wrestling's governing body president, told IANS.

With women wrestlers from Haryana getting their campaigns underway, hopes in the Indian camp are high that at least one, if not two or three medals, can be brought back home. That's all from the Indian camp.

Here's what else happened on an action-packed day in Rio:

04
Women's football

Sweden were once again the giant-killers as they shocked Brazil 4-3 on penalties to advance to the final. Sweden's Hedvig Lindahl made two saves, and Lisa Dahlkvist converted the final penalty for the victory.

Sweden have reached the final for the first time in their Olympic history.

The Maracanã Stadium was packed to the brim with 70,544 people, with most, if not all, supporting the Brazilians. Sweden will now face Germany for the gold medal.

05
Photo-finish in 10km race (swimming)

Even after a 10km swim, the winner had to be determined by a photo-finish. It was a split-second margin with the Dutch swimmer coming out on top. Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands won the men's 10km open water event, just 24 hours after team-mate Sharon van Rouwendaal's victory in the women's race along the same course.

Weertman managed to grab the victory after a last gasp battle to the finish. He finished fractionally ahead of Greece's Spiros Gianniotis. The pair were given the same finishing time of 1 hour 52 minutes 59.8 seconds.

06
Simone Biles (gymnastics)

Simone Biles did it again! She may not have made the record with five golds, but on Tuesday, she got a record-equalling fourth gold medal. She won her fourth in the floor exercise. Teammate Aly Raisman finished with the silver and Amy Tinkler of Great Britain with the bronze on Tuesday. Biles's score of 15.966 for the floor routine led Raisman's tally of 15.500. They were they only two to score higher than 15 points.

07
Boxing gold for hosts Brazil

Brazil took home their first ever boxing gold medal as Robson Conceição won his 60kg division bout in a unanimous decision over France's Sofiane Oumiha. The Riocentro Pavilion 6 was packed to capacity (9,000) and the overwhelming support for the host nation boxer was palpable.

08
Another day, another proposal

Christian Taylor and Will Claye of the USA completed another gold-silver sweep in the men's triple jump, repeating their feat from London 2012. With his silver medal being assured, Claye rushed to the stands and proposed to his teammate and long-time girlfriend hurdler Queen Harrison. She said yes, in the fourth proposal of the Games.

09
Canadian athletics medal

Canada won their first athletics medal in a field event in 84 years, and they have high-jumper Derek Drouin to thank. He was the only high jumper to clear 2.38 metres.

10
New weighlifting world record

Lasha Talakhadze of Georgia set a new world record in the 105kg weightlifting division. He lifted a combined 473kg to win gold beating the world record by 1kg. Talakhadze lifted 215kg in the snatch and another 258kg on the clean and jerk. Behdad Salimi, the gold medal favourite, had set a world record with a 216kg snatch, but was disqualified in the clean and jerk.

11
A new hockey champion will be crowned

Belgium and Argentina assured that there will be a new hockey champion at the Rio Olympics. Belgium reached their first ever final in history with a 3-1 victory over their Dutch rivals. It was also the first time in 80 years that the Belgians have overcome the Dutch. Argentina beat London 2012 champions Germany 5-2.

12
Usain Bolt does it easily

Jamaican Usain Bolt cruised through to the semi-finals of the 200m with a time of 20.28 seconds in the heats.

13
Olympic volunteers quit

About 30% of Games volunteers aren't showing up for their jobs. More than 50,000 volunteers have come to the Games from around the world, at their own cost. The volunteers complained about long hours and not being given adequate food.

14
Britain at its best; China at its worst

The official Chinese news agency called it the 'worst ever' showing by the Chinese.

"China is facing its poorest Olympic showing in two decades after a succession of disappointments in sports such as badminton, diving and gymnastics. The country currently trails both the United States and Great Britain in the medals table, with Team GB taking 19 gold medals to China's 17. The US has 28."

On the other hand, this is the best ever away Games for Great Britain. Great Britain has 19 gold medals and 50 total, surpassing its target of 48 medals.

15
Women's 1,500m

Kenya's Faith Kipyegon shocked world record holder and world champ Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia to win the 1,500m race with a timing of 4 minutes 8.92 seconds. Jenny Simpson won the USA's first-ever medal in the 1,500m with a bronze.

16
Omar McLeod (men's 110m hurdle)

Omar McLeod streaked ahead by a metre to win gold in the men's 110m hurdles race with a timing of 13.05 seconds. Spain's Orlando Ortega won silver with 13.17, France's Dimitri Bascou took the bronze with 13.24.

17
Inspiring moment during women's 5,000m race

In the heats of the women's 5,000m event, Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand and Abbey D'Agostino of the USA were running side-by-side. With just over four laps left in the race, D'Agostino fell while running and tripped Hamblin who was just ahead of her.

"When I went down I was like 'Why am I on the ground' and suddenly there was this hand on my shoulder," Hamblin said.

It was D'Agostino, who had stopped, and was lifting her rival to her feet. "Come on, get up," the American was saying. "We have to finish this race."

D'Agostino's knee had been hurt during the fall and both the athletes helped each other until they could finish the race at their own pace.

18
Boos for pole-vault slilver medallist

Renaud Lavillenie, the French pole vaulter, finished second to Brazil's Thiago Braz Da Silva on Monday. On Tuesday, during the ceremony, he was unpleasantly booed by the crowd as he stepped onto the podium. Here's what he said to French TV:

"It's disgusting, there is a total lack of fair play and I want to stress that the Brazilian [gold medallist Thiago Braz Da Silva] is not involved at all. But I am going to move on."

19
Weightlifters to be banned after Rio

Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus are set to see their weightlifters banned from competition for a year after the Rio Games, the International Weightlifting Federation has told AFP.

First published: 17 August 2016, 17:32 IST
 
Sahil Bhalla @IMSahilBhalla

Sahil is a correspondent at Catch. A gadget freak, he loves offering free tech support to family and friends. He studied at Sarah Lawrence College, New York and worked previously for Scroll. He selectively boycotts fast food chains, worries about Arsenal, and travels whenever and wherever he can. Sahil is an unapologetic foodie and a film aficionado.