Chelsie Giles’ bronze in the judo marked Great Britain’s first medal in Tokyo with Bradly Sinden’s taekwondo silver following a few hours later. Here’s our summary of the main action on day two:
- Giles delivers first Team GB medal of the Games
- Sinden claims silver in the taekwondo, while Jones misses out
- Women’s artistic gymnasts follow men into team finals
- Victories in the ring for British boxers
- Underdog Drinkhall advances in table tennis
- Peaty and Daley go for gold on day three
Judo’s Chelsie Giles secures Great Britain’s first medal in Tokyo
Judoka Chelsie Giles won Team GB's first medal
at Tokyo 2020 with bronze at -52kg.The 24-year-old twice threw Swiss Fabienne Kocher for waza'ari to get her nation off the medal mark at the Games.
For an athlete who only made her senior international debut in 2017, it was a dream come true.
Britain's judokas have now produced medals at each of the last three Games, with Giles following in the footsteps of Gemma Gibbons, Karina Bryant and Sally Conway.
She said: "I believed I could do it, my coach has always believed I could and it showed in today's performance.
"It feels very special to do it in Japan. It's an amazing arena and the atmosphere was amazing. To do it where Japan started the sport, it makes it extra special.”
READ: Bronze for Giles gets Team GB up and running
Silver for Sinden in Taekwondo, but disappointment for Jones
Bradly Sinden became Team GB’s second ever male taekwondo medallist after losing out to Uzbekistan's Ulugbek Rashitov in the men’s -68kg final and settling for silver.
Doncaster's Sinden, 22, was seconds away from securing the gold before his teenage opponent fought back to claim the Olympic title with a 34-29 win.
Sinden follows in the footsteps of two-time medallist Lutalo Muhammad who won bronze and silver at London and Rio respectively.
After the fight, Sinden said: "The feeling right now is just disappointment, it was my gold medal to give away and it's a hard one to take.
"I'll reflect on this and be proud of what I've achieved in these last five years, from having no ranking points to becoming world champion and winning an Olympic silver.”
Meanwhile, two-time Olympic champion Jade Jones failed to defend her title after suffering a shock defeat in the first round of the women’s 57kg.
READ: Sinden desperate for more after Olympic debut silver
Young women’s gymnasts secure qualification to finals
Team GB’s debutant women’s artistic gymnastics squad secured qualification to the team final to match the performance of their male teammates.
Great Britain had the youngest team in the competition, but their youth did not count against them as 16-year-old twins Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova also made it to the all-around final.
Jessica will also go in the floor final and said after qualifying: "I'm speechless. It's just amazing and incredible, there are no words to describe how I'm feeling right now.
"It's so crazy to even think I could be an Olympian this young. I tried to treat it like any other competition and tried to put my best performance out there.”
The Gadirovas will be joined by Amelie Morgan and Alice Kinsella in the team final on Tuesday.
Three out of three for boxers
All three British boxers in action on day two got their Olympic campaigns off to a winning start in the Kokugikan Arena.
Men’s light heavyweight Ben Whittaker showed control to earn a points victory over Colombian Jorge Luis Vivas Palacious with four of the five judges awarding the win to the West Midlands boxer.
Whittaker said: “My dad said to me before I left that if you don't get a medal, especially the gold, then I should stay here!
“To be honest I love it here, so I actually wouldn't mind, but I know I've got to go back to the West Midlands with something shiny.”
Luke McCormack also tasted last-32 success with victory in the men’s lightweight division on points against Manish Kaushik.
Charley Davison’s Olympic debut aged 27 started perfectly with a unanimous points victory over Morocco’s Rabab Cheddar.
READ: Supermum Charley Davison determined to make kids proud
Drinkhall marches on in the table tennis
Paul Drinkhall advanced to the last 32 of the table tennis men’s singles with an impressive victory over Robert Gardos.
The Middlesbrough native defeated the Austrian, who is ranked 33 places above him in the world, 4-1 (13-11, 6-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-6) and will now face Jang Woojin of Korea.
The win ensures Drinkhall’s fairytale run continues after he was called up as a late replacement having initially missed out on Tokyo qualification.
Drinkhall said: “I thought I’d be camping because that was the plan if I didn’t come here!
“I know that I’m capable of good things and my game, when I get everything together, can challenge the best. That’s what I was planning for.
“Not qualifying initially was a disappointment but now I’m here and performing how I expect and how I train to perform.”
Swimmers, divers and triathletes looking for day three splash
Having breezed through the heats and semi-finals, Adam Peaty will look to defend his 100m breaststroke title at 03:12 BST.
Peaty was the only swimmer to go sub-58 in the semi-finals and will be joined in the final by fellow Brit James Wilby who will start in lane seven.
Tom Daley begins his fourth Olympic campaign at 07:00 BST as he goes in the Men’s Synchronised 10m Platform final alongside Matty Lee.
Daley has won multiple gold medals on the world stage but is still searching for an elusive Olympic gold and Monday presents his first opportunity to secure that title.
Jonny Brownlee and Alex Yee will start off in a different body of water as they take their place on the starting line of the men’s triathlon at 22:30 BST this evening.
Brownlee will look to claim his first Olympic title having twice finished behind his brother Alistair while Yee could continue the golden generation of British triathlon.
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