Rio 2016: India endures day of heartbreaks at Olympics

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 17: It turned out to be another day of heartbreaks for India at the Rio Olympics with wrestler Vinesh Phogat's victory march halted by a freak injury and Sakshi Malik losing her quarter-final bout while shuttler Kidambi Srikanth's valiant fight in the semi-final ended on the losing side.

The day started with Srikanth going down after a valiant fight to two-time defending champion Lin Dan of China in the quarter-finals of the men's singles event of badminton competitions.

Meanwhile, in the wrestling arena, Sakshi and Vinesh lost their respective quarter-final bouts in contrasting fashion to dent India's medal chances in the category.

(Abhinav Bindra reveals why India fails to win medals at Olympics)

While Sakshi lost 2-9 to Russia's Valeria Koblova in 58kg Freestyle category, it was heartbreak for Vinesh, who was forced to concede her 48kg bout against China's Yanan Sun 1-2 after a freak knee injury.

Sakshi is still in contention for bronze via Repechage as Valeria reached the finals of 58kg weight category.

Earlier, Sakshi defeated Moldova's Mariana Esanu Cherdivara on a four point take down criteria to enter the 1/4 final round.

In the 48kg category, Vinesh's surge was cut short after her Chinese opponent hit back with a single-leg takedown hurting the Indian in the process.

The 21-year-old Haryana grappler was leading 1-0 before hurting her knee as the Chinese gained two points to be declared victorious by injury at the Carioca Arena.

(Rio 2016: Wrestler Sakshi Malik has a chance to win bronze via Repechage)

Vinesh, who got her injured knee wrapped, was taken off on a stretcher as the injury seemed to be a very serious one.

Earlier, she got her Rio campaign off to a rousing start by overpowering Romania's Emilia Alina Vuc 11-0 in the 1/8 round after getting a bye in her opening round.

In track and field, Tintu was the lone Indian athlete in action on Wednesday.

(Freak injury costs wrestler Vinesh Phogat in Quarter Final bout)

She started off well but her strategy backfired to finish with a timing of 2:00.58 minutes in Heat 3. Tintu finished overall 29th in the qualification round.

The qualification round was topped by Canada's Melissa Bishop followed by Marina Arzamasova of Belarus and Habitam Alemu of Ethiopia respectively at second and third spots.

Another Indian in the fray is woman golfer Aditi Ashok, whose first Round is currently underway.

IANS