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India wins first field hockey medal in 41 years

August 5, 2021

India defeated Germany in the bronze medal match to win its first medal in men's field hockey in 41 years. German Florian Wellbrock won the marathon swim to add to his medal count. Follow the latest from Tokyo with DW.

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Tokio 2020 | Hockey | Bronze für Indien
Image: John Locher/AP Photo/picture alliance

India ended its medal drought in men's field hockey, coming from behind to defeat Germany 5-4 to win the bronze medal.

Trailing 3-1 in the second quarter, Hardik Singh and Harmanpreet Singh scored within two minutes of each other to level the score before halftime. Rupinder Pal Singh and Sirmanjeet Singh then gave India a 5-3 lead in the third quarter, which is all they needed to clinch the medal.

It is the first time India, which has won eight Olympic gold medals in men's field hockey, had won a medal in the sport since the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quick to congratulate the team on the achievement.

Here is a roundup of the latest news and results from the Tokyo Olympics.

Gold medals

Florian Wellbrock celebrates his gold medal in the men's marathon swim
Florian Wellbrock celebrates his gold medal in the men's marathon swimImage: Oliver Weiken/dpa/picture alliance

Florian Wellbrock won gold in the marathon swim, Germany's third swimming medal in Tokyo. The 23-year-old, who won bronze in the 1,500-meter in the pool, led most of the 10-kilometer swim in Tokyo Bay to pick up his second medal.

Damian Warner of Canada won the men's decathlon gold at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, becoming just the fourth man to break the 9,000-points barrier. He joins French world record holder Kevin Mayer (9,126), American Ashton Eaton (9,045) and Czech Roman Sebrle (9,026) in the 9,000 club. Mayer won  silver with 8,726 points, and young Australian Ashley Moloney took bronze with 8,649. World champion Niklas Kaul of Germany retired injured during the 400m on day one.

Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam successfully defended her Olympic heptathlon title on Thursday, a task made easier by the withdrawal of British world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson. Thiam amassed 6,791 points in the seven-discipline, two-day event made even more gruelling because of hot, humid conditions at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium. Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands claimed silver with 6,689pts, with teammate Emma Oosterwegel taking bronze (6,590).

Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas powered to gold in the Olympic 400 meters final on Thursday to maintain his four-year unbeaten streak. The 25-year-old 2019 world champion stormed to the line in 43.85sec, with Colombia's Anthony Jose Zambrano taking silver in 44.08sec. Grenada's Kirani James, the 2012 champion and 2016 silver medallist, took bronze in 44.19sec.   

Spanish teenager Alberto Gines Lopez won the first Olympic gold medal in sport climbing, riding a win in the speed discipline to the top of the podium. The 18-year-old opened the finals with the speed win, then showed
off his all-around skills by finishing seventh in lead and fourth in
bouldering. He finished with 30 points to edge American Nathaniel Coleman by two. Austrian Jakob Schubert won bronze.

American Ryan Crouser won the men's shot put, setting a new Olympic record with his final through of 23.30 meters. Crouser had set the world record of 23.37 meters in the event in the US Olympic trials. Crouser's compatriot Joe Kovacs won silver and New Zealand's Tomas Walsh the bronze, mirroring the podium from the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Hansle Parchment of Jamaica won the men's 110-meter hurdles, chasing down American Grant Holloway to take the gold. Portugal's Pedro Pichardo took gold in the men's triple jump, setting an unbeatable mark with his third jump of 17.98 meters.

Italian Massimo Stano won in the 20-kilometer race walk, breaking from the pack with four kilometers to go to take the gold. Japan's Koki Ikeda and Toshikazu Yamanishi secured silver and bronze respectively — Japan's first medals in the event.

Belgium won the men's field hockey gold medal after defeating Australia in the gold medal game. The two sides were level at 2-2 after regulation before the Belgians won the penalty shootout.

The first Olympic men's park skateboarding event was won by Australian Keegan Palmer. The 18-year-old's first run, worth 94.04 points, would have won him the gold, but he topped his score in his third run, posting 95.83 points.

In the kayak, Hungarian Sandor Totka won the men's 200-meter sprint, becoming the first non-British paddler to win the event since it started in 2012. American Nevin Harrison won on the women's side, while New Zealand's Lisa Carrington won the women's 500-meter.

Germany update

Max Hopf and Jacob Schopf took silver in the men's kayak double 1,000-meter final. They finished a mere 0.304 seconds behind gold medalist Australia.

Germany's women's table tennis team failed to make the podium after losing their bronze medal matchup to Hong Kong. Xiaona Shan and Petrissa Solja won the opening doubles match, but Germany then went on to lose three straight singles matchups.

More news from Tokyo

Olympic organizers apologized for introducing Ukrainian synchronized swimming bronze medalists Marta Fiedina and Anastasiya Savchuk as Russian during Wednesday's medal ceremony. Tokyo spokesman Masa Tanaka says it was "purely an operational mistake" when he announced the apology. The gaff was more sensitive given tensions between Ukraine and Russia over the Crimean peninsula.

dv (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)