Rio Olympics 2016: India on a medal hunt and a prayer

A win away from scripting their best ever showing in the Olympics after 36 years, the Indian men’s hockey team would look to cut down on errors and raise their game by leaps and bounds to upstage a formidable Belgium in the quarterfinal of the Rio Games on Sunday.

India had already achieved a feat by qualifying for the knockout stage of the Olympics after a long hiatus and the PR Sreejesh-led side would like to go one step further in their quest for an elusive Olympic medal. India qualified for the last eight round after finishing fourth in Pool B with two wins, two losses and a draw, accumulating seven points.

Going by world rankings, there is hardly anything to differentiate as India are placed fifth while Belgium is just one rung below at sixth position in the FIH chart. But in the Games so far, Belgium are in red-hot form, having stunned gold-medal contender and world champion Australia in the pool stages. The Red Lions also won against Spain, Great Britain and minnows Brazil and their only blemish came against New Zealand.

India, on the other hand, have blown hot and cold. Even though they showed sparks in their first four matches, what cost them dear were mistakes committed in the late stages of those encounters.

Meanwhile, boxer Vikas Krishnan, just one win away from winning an Olympic medal after a comprehensive victory over his opponent in his prequarterfinal bout, says he wants nothing less than a gold at the Rio Games.

Vikas stormed into the quarterfinals with a onesided 3-0 win by unanimous decision against Onder Sipal of Turkey in the men’s 75 kg middleweight bout. He feels that Uzbek Bektemir Melikuziev, who is four years junior to him, stands in his way of an unprecedented boxing gold medal.

“He (Melikuziev) is the toughest in the group. Mark my words, if I am able to defeat him, I will return home with a gold. I won’t take a silver or bronze. I will return empty-handed or with the gold medal. Gold is assured if I get past him,” the 24-year-old Indian said after his pre-quarterfinal fight. Krishnan will face Melikuziev on Tuesday.

As ET Magazine went to press, the tennis mixed doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna were just one win away from a medal, and were to face Venus Williams and Ram Rajeev of the US in the semifinals. A win will assure the Indian duo of at least a silver, while a loss will mean they play for bronze. Both the gold-medal and bronze-medal face-offs are scheduled for Sunday.