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The 37-year-old Serb, competing in his fifth Games, came through 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2) in an enthralling final at Roland Garros to add Olympic gold to his 24 Grand Slam triumphs.
Earlier, India beat Great Britain 4-2 in penalty shoot-out to enter the semifinals of the men’s hockey event at the Paris Olympics, having played with 10 men for more than 40 minutes on Sunday. This is their second consecutive semifinal appearance at the Games.
India were reduced to 10 men after Amit Rohidas was shown a red card for raising his stick against a Great Britain player.
Veteran custodian PR Sreejesh, playing his last international tournament, stood like a rock in front of the Indian goal, making saves after saves.
Down by a man, it was India who took the lead through Harmanpreet Singh in the 22nd minute from a penalty corner before Great Britain drew level through Lee Morton from a field effort in the 27th minute.
Once Rohidas, a key defender and India’s first rusher was given the controversial marching order, Great Britain attacked in numbers, constantly trying to take advantage of the one-man lead.
India’s dream of a first-ever Olympic gold in badminton will remain unfulfilled after Lakshya Sen suffered a straight-game defeat to reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the men’s singles semifinals at the Paris Games here on Sunday.
The 22-year-old from Almora, a 2021 World Championships bronze medal, squandered a three-point advantage in the first game and a 7-0 lead in the second to surrender 20-22 14-21 to the two-time world champion Axelsen in a 54-minute semifinal clash.
Sen will have another chance to become the first Indian male shuttler to win an Olympic medal when he meets Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the bronze medal playoff.
India’s boxing campaign at the ongoing Olympics came to a medal-less end after Tokyo edition bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) bowed out following a hard-fought quarterfinal loss to China’s Li Qian in the women’s competition.
Borgohain, the reigning world champion in the category, went down 1-4 to the Tokyo Games silver-winning 34-year-old in a messy contest during which both the boxers were repeatedly cautioned for clinching and holding.
The 26-year-old’s loss ended India’s boxing campaign in the Olympics after Nishant Dev was ousted from the men’s 71kg quarterfinals on Saturday night, also a close contest.
A six-strong boxing contingent, comprising four women and two men, was representing the country in the Games. Out of these, four had crashed out in the preliminary stage itself.
