New Delhi: A host Indian athletes were in action on the official first day of the Paris Olympics with India involved into mixed results across competitions on Saturday. The day was highlighted by young shooter Manu Bhakar’s valiant efforts to qualify for the final of women’s 10m air pistol final, making her the first Indian to move to a final event at the Paris Olympics on a day her compatriots struggled to go past their qualification round. The 22-year-old Manu scored 580 in her qualification event to finish third at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.
Indian male shuttlers Lakshya Sen and the duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty registered comprehensive wins to start their quest for Olympics glory in their respective group stage. 22-year-old Lakshya cut short the work of Kevin Cordon, the Tokyo Olympics 2020 semifinalist, in straight games21-8 22-20 despite some late resistance from the Guatemala shuttler in the Group L opening fixture.
The fancied men’s doubles pair of Satwik and Chirag rallied past local favourites Lucas Corvee and Ronal Lebar 21-17, 21-14 in the Group C contest.
At the South Paris Arena, paddler Harmeet Desai registered a convincing 4-0 win over Jordan’s Zaid Abo Yaman in the first round of men’s singles to start his Olympics debut on a brilliant note.
Later in the day, the Indian men’s hockey team managed to pip New Zealand 3-2 in the last two minutes of a thrilling encounter in a Pool B match played at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium.
Indian shooters fails to qualify
Sarabjot Singh missed his qualification in men’s 10m air pistol by a whisker after finishing at ninth place with a score of 577. Germany’s Robin Walter, who also shot 577, grabbed the last qualifying spot after managing to shoot one inner 10 (X) more than Sarabjot’s 16. The 10m rifle mixed teams of Ramita and Arjun finished sixth with a total score of 628.7, Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh ended at 12th spot with an aggregate of 626.3.
Balraj Panwar, the only Indian rower at this tournament, finished fourth in the men’s singles sculls, clocking 7:11.7s in Heat 1. He will get another shot to make it through quarterfinals as he competes in the repechage round on Sunday.
The men’s doubles round 1 match of Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji against French players Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Gael Monfils was delayed after rain interrupted. There was no further development about their match in the day.
A host Indian athletes were in action on the official first day of the Paris Olympics 2024 with India involved into mixed results across competitions on Saturday. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
