IMAGE: India’s players celebrate a goal during the Olympics men’s hockey pool match against Australia in Paris on Friday. Photograph: Hockey India/X
Manu Bhaker looks primed to become an India sports legend at just 22. The ace shooter placed herself in contention for an unparalleled third successive medal at the ongoing Olympics, while shuttler Lakshya Sen looked a man possessed during his march to the semi-finals on a roller-coaster Friday for the country at the Games.
Adding to the joy was the men’s hockey team, which broke a 52-year-old jinx, beating Australia at the showpiece event.
With no medal added to the tally on the day, India is placed 44th in overall table with its three bronze, all of which came from shooting.
With her dazzling smile that adds to her confident and vivacious persona, Bhaker stormed into the 25m Sports Pistol final after finishing second in qualification with an impressive score of 590.
The youngster from Jhajjar, Haryana, has already snared bronze medals in the 10m Air Pistol and 10m Air Pistol mixed team, partnering Sarabjot Singh.
Given that she is the reigning World champion in the 25m, a third podium finish looks all but certain on Saturday, which would make her the first Indian athlete ever to achieve the remarkable feat.
Check out how India’s athletes fared on Day 7, Friday, August 2, 2024:
ATHLETICS
Parul, Ankita, Tajinderpal disappoint
Parul Chaudhary finished overall 24th as she and Ankita Dhyani failed to qualify for the final round of the women’s 5000m.
Chaudhary, who holds the National record of 15 minutes 10.35 seconds, clocked 15:10.68s to finish 14th in heat number one while Ankita ended at 20th and last in heat number one and overall 40th.
Only 16 athletes — first eight in each of the two heats — advance to the final round.
Chaudhary is also competing in the 3000m steeplechase, which she will run on Sunday (heat races).
Tajinderpal Singh Toor finished 15th in the 16-man heat in the men’s Shot Put and failed to achieve the direct qualification standard.
Tajinderpal had also failed to qualify for the men’s shot put final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He had finished 18th in qualifying with a best attempt of 19.99m while the direct qualification mark was set at 21.20m.
BADMINTON
Lakshya rallies into men’s singles semis
Lakshya Sen continued to show just why, like Bhaker, he too is destined for greatness as he rallied to defeat Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen 19-21, 21-15, 21-12.
The come-from-behind victory took him to the semi-finals, an unchartered territory for a male Indian badminton players, although Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu had already been there the women.
Lakshya will meet the winner of the match between 2021 World champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the last four.
Should he win, he will be assured of at least a silver; should he lose, he will still have a shot in the bronze medal play-off.
But the day was not without its share of heartbreaks, the biggest being the fourth-place finish by the mixed archery team of Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara, who lost 2-6 to the United States in a hard-fought bronze medal play-off.
The duo looked good to bring in India’s maiden Olympics medal in archery but could not keep their composure in the crucial clash after losing to defending champions Korea in the semi-finals.
GOLF
Shubhankar, Gaganjeet keep it steady
Shubhankar Sharma landed two eagles in his second round but gave away four shots in the middle to card a two-under 69, which placed him 25th in the golf competition.
Alongside his first round 70, he was three-under for two days at the at Le Golf National on the outskirts of Paris.
The other Indian, Gaganjeet Bhullar improved on his first round 75 with a two-under 69 and is now T-52nd.
HOCKEY
Men’s team breaks Australia jinx
This was after the hockey team beat Australia 3-2 at the Games for the first time since 1972 to finish second in Pool B.
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace as India registered a famous win over the Tokyo Games silver-medallists in their final pool match.
Assured of a quarter-final berth, the Indians played with intent and dominated the proceedings for a major part of the match to stun the Kookaburras, against whom they last won in Olympics in the 1972 Munich edition.
“It was an important match. We needed a match like this before the quarterfinals. From the start we put them under pressure. It’s a proud moment to beat Australia,” a proud Harmanpreet said after the match.
Veteran India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, playing his last international tournament, was rock solid, making vital saves to deny the Aussies.
JUDO
Tulika Mann crashed out of the women’s +78kg event, going down in the opening round to London Games champion Idalys Ortiz of Cuba.
The 25-year-old from Delhi, a silver medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, lost to the Cuban, who has four Olympic medals including two silver and a bronze, 0-10 by ippon at the Champ-de-Mars Arena.
SHOOTING
Bhaker on cusp of hat-trick
Manu Bhaker stayed on course for a hat-trick of medals with one of her most memorable performances in her favourite event, the 25m Sports Pistol to enter the final.
She dominated the event and was among the top three almost throughout the qualification phase of ‘Precision’ and ‘Rapid’ rounds, aggregating 590, to be placed second behind Hungary’s Veronika Major, who equalled the Olympic record with a score of 592.
Asian Games-medallist shooter Esha Singh faltered, aggregating 581 (291 in precision and 290 in rapid) to finish 18th among 40 shooters in the 25m pistol qualification and miss the eight-shooter final by a distance.
ROWING
Balraj Panwar ended his Games campaign in 23rd position in the men’s single sculls event after signing off at fifth in the Final D round.
The 25-year-old from Haryana clocked 7:02.37s, his best timing of the Games, in Final D, which was not a medal round.
On Tuesday, Balraj, India’s lone representative in rowing finished fifth in his quarter-finals heat race.
