Shooter Manu Bhaker was the standout performer on India’s eventful opening day at the Paris Olympics 2024. The 22-year-old qualified for the finals of the women’s 10-metre Air Pistol event by securing third place in the qualifying round with a score of 580, trailing Hungary’s Veronika Major and South Korea’s Oh Ye Jin.
Bhaker will be aiming to rewrite history, as no Indian woman has ever won an Olympic medal in shooting.
Here is a summary of India’s performance on Day 1 of the Paris Olympics 2024:
Rowing:
– Men’s single sculls: Balraj Panwar finished fourth with a timing of 7:07.11 in Heat 1.
Shooting:
– 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team (Qualification): Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta (628.7) finished sixth. Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh (626.3) finished 12th.
– 10m Air Pistol Men’s (Qualification): Sarabjot Singh (577) finished ninth. Arjun Singh Cheema (574) finished 18th.
– Women’s 10-metre Air Pistol (Qualification): Manu Bhaker (580) finished third.
Badminton:
– Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen beat Kevin Cordon 21-8, 22-20 in Group L.
– Men’s doubles: Satwitsairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-17, 21-14 in Group C.
– Women’s doubles: Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto lost to Kong Hee-yong and Kim So-yeong 18-21, 10-21 in Group C.
Table Tennis:
– Men’s singles: Harmeet Desai beat Zaid Abo Yaman 4-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5).
Tennis:
– Men’s doubles: The match between Rohan Bopanna-Sriram Balaji and Edouard Roger Vasselin-Gael Monfils was cancelled.
Hockey:
– India beat New Zealand 3-2 in the Men’s Group B match.
Boxing:
– Preeti Pawar beat Vo Thi Kim Anh 5:0 (Win by Points) in the women’s 54 kg Round of 32.