Indian shooting contingent brought yet more laurels to the nation at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday as Swapnil Kusale clinched the nation’s first-ever bronze in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 position event. However, there were also shockers as the highly touted badminton doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were shown the exit door, and so was pugilist Nikhat Zareen.
Lakshya Sen ousted HS Prannoy in the Round of 16 men’s badminton singles clash, while PV Sindhu was knocked out of the women’s singles by China’s He Bingjiao.
Shooting: Men’s 50m Rifle 3 position- Kusale scripts history, Sift and Anjum face exits
Swapnil Kusale became the first Indian to finish on the podium of the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 position event as he finished with a score of 451.4 in the final. The medal was the national contingent’s third honour in the 33rd edition of the Summer games, with all three medals coming from the shooting camp.
However, Anjum Moudgil and Sift Kaur Samra were ousted in the qualification round as they finished 18th and 31st with scores of 583 and 575 respectively in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 positions event.
Badminton: Lakshya through, PV Sindhu and Sat-Chi shocked!
Lakshya Sen continued his fine touch at the quadrennial event with a win over compatriot HS Prannoy in an all-Indian ro16 clash as the youngster claimed a 21-12, 21-6 triumph over the veteran.
The nation’s hopes for a medal in the men’s doubles badminton event were dashed as the highly acclaimed pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty was ousted in the quarterfinals of the event by the Malaysian pairing of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, who triumphed 21-13, 14-21, 16-21.
There was another shock as PV Sindhu was ousted by China’s He Bingjiao in the round of 16 encounter as the Indian missed out on a medal at the Summer Games for the first time.
Boxing: Women’s 50 kg- Nikhat out!
Nikhat Zareen was handed a Round of 16 exit at the hands of Chinese pugilist Wu Yu in the women’s 50kg event. The 28-year-old Indian boxer went down 0-5 to her opponent in a unanimous verdict.
Archery: Men’s individual recurve – Pravin Ramesh Jadhav goes down!
Indian archer Pravin Ramesh Jadhav lost to China’s Kao Wenchao 0-6 in the 1/32 elimination round of 64 of the men’s individual recurve event. Jhadhav lost 0-6 (28-29, 29-30, 27-28).
Hockey: India lose group game to Belgium!
Team India surrendered a goal lead to Belgium as the Harmanpreet Singh-led unit succumbed 1-2 to the European outfit to endure their first loss at the spectacle on Thursday.
However, the men in blue had already sealed their qualification to the quarterfinals of the event and the loss did not harm their progress.
Sailing: Men’s Dinghy- Vishnu stands 25th overall!
Vishnu Saravanan finished race 1 of the Men’s Dinghy ICLA 7 in the 10th position, before coming in 34th in the second. The Indian sailor came in 25th overall.
Sailing: Women’s Dinghy- Nethra comes in sixth in race 1!
Nethra Kumanan came in sixth in race 1 of the Women’s Dinghy ICLA 6 event, before the second race of the evening was suspended due to inclement weather conditions.
Race Walk: Women’s 20 Km – Priyanka finishes 41st!
Priyanka Goswami clocked 1:39.55 in the women’s 20 km racewalk event as she placed 41st on the list.
Race Walk: Men’s 20 Km Final- Vikas, Paramjeet finish course, Akashdeep DNF!
Vikash Singh placed 30th in the final of the Men’s 20 Km race walk event final as he completed the stretch in 1:22:36, while compatriot Paramjeet Singh Bisht finished 37th with a time of 1:23:48.
Akashdeep Singh, however, could not complete the race and came away with a Did Not Finish result.
