Sports

For the first time in 25 years...India's Sumit Nagal sets a remarkable milestone in Tokyo Olympics!

By alagu, 24 July, 2021
Tokyo Olympics 2021, Olympics, India

For the Indian contingent, the first day of the Tokyo Olympics has been promising although there have been some setbacks and disappointments.  India, which has sent one of the largest contingents to the Olympics, has won the first medal on the very first day of the Olympics. 26-year-old Mirabai Chanu has won the Silver medal in the women's 49kg weightlifting competition and through her triumph, India has opened its medal account with the entire country is celebrating Chanu as she has etched a history.

Besides Chanu creating history through her victory, India has got a slew of incredible milestones and shocking debacles in its store on the first day of the Olympics. On the first day, India has recorded something remarkable for the first time in 25 years - five Olympic seasons after India's Sumit Nagal has become the first Indian to advance to the second round of men's singles tennis at the Olympics since 1996. 

In what has become a remarkable milestone, Nagal has become the first Indian to win a singles tennis match at the Olympics after Leander Paes, who won the Bronze medal in the 1996 Games hosted by Atlanta. 23-year-old talented Nagal has defeated Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin in the opening match on Saturday through which he is entering the second round. Interestingly, Nagal wasn't born when Leander Paes won the Bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. 

A native of Haryana, Nagal has got a breakthrough in 2015 after he won the 2015 Wimbledon boys' doubles title and with that victory, he had become the sixth Indian player to win a junior Grand Slam title. Since 2018, Nagal has been the highest-ranked Indian singles tennis player. Nagal's trajectory towards the Tokyo Olympics was hard and his first match was even harder. It took him two hours and 34 minutes to successfully win the first match. 

With an impressive victory in the first match, Nagal has also become the third Indian to win an Olympic singles tennis match after Zeeshan Ali (Seoul 1988) and Paes (Atlanta 1996). Armed by the boosting victory, Nagal will be battling the World No 2 Daniil Medvedev in the second round. The singles tennis match on Saturday was held at the Ariake Tennis Center in Tokyo and Nagal's milestone would give a crucial push to Tennis in India, where the game is still searching to produce a global icon like cricket. 

No Indian could win a singles match after Paes and though Somdev Devvarman and Vishnu Vardhan had competed at the 2012 Games in London but the duo didn't manage to go beyond the first round. Nagal has put on a great show in Tokyo and two years ago, he had impressed the legendary tennis star, Roger Federer. In the 2019 US Open, Nagal has won the qualifying round and came face-to-face with Federer, and though the young Nagal was defeated by Federer, the latter was completely impressed by the play put out by Nagal. 

In the US Open next year, Nagal has defeated Denis Kudla to become the first Indian player to win a Grand Slam main draw match at the US Open after Somdev Devvarman. Nagal also had represented India in important global tournaments including the Australian Open, Fresh Open, and Wimbledon. After Nagal had marked a remarkable achievement for the first time in 25 years, he is flooded with commendations across and beyond India as he prepares to strengthen his winning momentum in the upcoming rounds. 

 

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