Tokyo Olympics: All eyes on Rani Rampal and Co, Lovlina Borgohain

In what promises to be one of the most exciting days for Team India at the Tokyo Olympics the womenrsquos hockey team and boxer Lovlina Borgohain 69 kg will be battling in their respective semifinals on Wednesday to earn a spot in the gold medal matchA historic feat already achieved a rampaging Indian womenrsquos hockey team take on the mighty but beatable Argentina while Lovlina who has already assured herself of at least a bronze medal in the 69 kg category will be in pursuit of history when she takes on reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of TurkeyIndiarsquos welterweight boxer Lovlina Borgohain PicAFPBrilliant bunch of 18A bunch of 18 fearless and determined Indian women did the unthinkable when they stunned threetime champions Australia 10 on Monday to enter their maiden Olympic semis Dragflicker Gurjit Kaur converted Indiarsquos lone penalty corner in the 22nd minute to surprise the World No 2 sideComing into the match the odds were totally against India but the side led by the talismanic Rani Rampal and coached by master tactician Sjoerd Marijne exceeded expectationsIndiarsquos best performance in the Olympics came at the 1980 Moscow Games where they finished fourth out of six teams as womenrsquos hockey made its debut thereBy virtue of their performances here the Indian womenrsquos team also got a major boost when it jumped to seventh in the world rankings their bestever position But in World No 2 Argentina they face a tough opponent who have won two silver medals Sydney 2000 and London 2012 and are desperate for their maiden goldThe Indian defence led by goalkeeper Savita had a brilliant outing against Australian stoutly defending their 22ndminute goal Gurjit Deep Grace Ekka Monika and Udita will have to defend well again to stop the aggressive Las LeonasArgentina have won two silver medals at 2000 Sydney and London 2012 but a gold has eluded them But having registered three wins on the trot after as many loses the momentum is in Indiarsquos favour The recent headtohead record however gives Argentina the edgeBefore the Olympics earlier this year the Indian women toured Argentina where they played seven matches The first two against the Argentine youth team ended 22 and 11 India then lost 12 and 23 to Argentinarsquos B team Against the Argentina senior side India managed a 11 draw before losing 02 and 23India captain Ranirsquos eyes are already on the final ldquoWe made history by reaching the semis but we donrsquot want to just finish thererdquo Rani had said on TuesdayA boxing first hereBoxer Lovlina 23 meanwhile will be aiming to become the first Indian boxer to advance to the Olympics final The Assam girl is only the third Indian boxer to ensure a podium finish at the Games after Vijender Singh Beijing 2008 and MC Mary Kom 2012 ldquoSince this bout is in the afternoon we have been training in the afternoon everyday for the past two days These two have never faced each other before so itrsquos an unchartered territory for both The strategy has been conveyed to Lovlina and shersquos ready and confident about a good performance I am sure she will deliverrdquo national coach Mohammed Ali Qamar told PTI on the eve of thebig fightLovlina beat former world champion NienChin Chen of the Chinese Taipei in the quarters but current world champ Surmeneli 23 has already collected two gold medals this year internationallyLovlina though is no novice either and has secured two world championship bronze medals so far in her career In fact both Borgohain and Surmeneli competed in the 2019 world championships where the Indian settled for bronze while the Turkish boxer won goldAlso Read Virat Kohli set to thrive again Sunil GavaskarThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever