Bhaker-Sarabjot bag second bronze medal for India, Boxers disappoint: India at 2024 Paris Olympics Day 4 Roundup

The 2024 Paris Olympics juggernaut rolled on as Day 4 brought a second bronze medal for India with Sarabjot Singh and Manu Bhaker winning 16-10 to bag the bronze. Shuttlers thrived except for the pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto who ended their campaign with another loss.

Bhaker in particular has written her name in the history books by becoming the first Indian athlete post-Independence to win two medals in a single Olympics. Here is a detailed look at how the Indian athletes fared on the fourth day of the Paris Olympics.

Shooting

Bhaker and Singh kicked off the fourth day at the Paris Olympics for India in some style. The shooting duo won a bronze medal in the mixed team event of 10m air pistol. Manu and Sarabjot defeated Oh Ye Jin and Wonho Lee representing the Republic of Korea in the bronze medal match by 16-10. 

After the opening series, things looked bleak for India when Sarabjot’s 8.6 proved costly as the Korean duo registered the first two points. The Indian duo regained themselves and bounced back in style as they won six consecutive points. Oh Ye Jin was right on the money in the next few sets as her consistency stretched the match 14-10. 

The Indian duo was just a series win from winning the medal when the Korean duo scored 9 and 9.5 while Manu hit a 9.4 and Sarabjot hit a 10.2 to bag the medal.

While Manu and Sarabjot tasted success on day four at the Paris Olympics same could not be said about the rest of the Indian shooters. Tondaiman Prithviraj failed to qualify for the final of the Men’s trap shooting. 

In the qualification for the finals, Prithviraj scored 118 from a maximum of 125. In the first round, he hit 22 following up by 25 in the second round. In the third round he hit 21 but despite scoring the maximum 25 in the subsequent two rounds he failed to qualify for the finals.

Don’t miss: Manu Bhaker wins first medal for India at the 2024 Paris Olympics: Day 2 Roundup

Rajeshwari Kumari and Shreyasi Singh took part in the women’s trap qualification. The women have completed three rounds and will be completing the last two rounds tomorrow. Both have scored 68 points so far. Rajeshwari is placed 21st while Shreyasi is 22nd. They have already dropped seven points so qualifying in the next round would be very tough even tomorrow.

Rowing

Balraj Panwar was the only competitor from India in rowing. He was participating in Men’s single sculls. Playing in the fourth quarterfinal, Panwar needed to finish in the top three to qualify for the semi-finals. 

Panwar finished with a time of 7:05.10 in the 2000m sculls. He ranked fifth in his quarterfinal which means that he is out of the medal contention and will be fighting for 13-24 position in the next two days.

Hockey

The Indian men’s hockey team has continued their dominance in the group stages with another win. The Tokyo Olympics’ bronze medal-winning team has now gone undefeated in their first three games. With two wins and a draw, India now sits comfortably at the top of their group. 

Coming on today’s game the eight-time Olympic champions looked completely in control of their opponents. Harmanpreet Singh, the Indian skipper scored a brace to continue his goal-scoring streak in the quadrennial event. 

In the first three matches, Harmanpreet has scored four goals. The 28-year-old has been crucial in the first three matches for India. He scored the match-winning goal against New Zealand in the first match and also scored the only goal for India against Argentina in the second match in a 1-1 draw.

Archery

Ankita Bhakat was defeated by the Polish archer, Wioleta Myszor in the Round of 32. Myszor won the first set but Bhakat bounced back in style and took a 4-2 lead by winning the next two sets. Needing just a win in the next two sets, Bhakat was outclassed by her opponent’s greatness as she scored 29 and 28 in the last two rounds.

Bhajan Kaur started on the backfoot in her Round of 32 match as the first set between Bhajan and her Indonesian opponent, Syifa Nurafifah Kamal ended in a tie before the Indonesian won the second set and took a 3-1 lead. 

Bhajan with scores of 29, 27 and 28 won the next three sets to proceed in the Round of 16. Kaur played Wioleta Myszor in the round of 16 and defeated her in straight sets. Kaur scored 28, 29 and 28 and won the first three sets to qualify for the quarterfinals.

Dhiraj Bommadevara defeated his opponent from the Czech Republic, Adam Li in the Round of 32 with a 7-1 margin. After drawing the first set, Dhiraj scored 29, 29, and 28 in the next three sets to win the match. 

The 22-year old archer faced defeat in his Round of 16 match against Eric Peters. Dhiraj won the first set while Peters won the second set and then the Vijayawada-born shuttler won the third set and drew the fourth set, leading 5-3 after four sets. 

Needing only a draw or win in the fifth set, Dhiraj scored 29 but Peters scored a perfect 30 to take the match to shoot-off. In the shoot-off, both scored 10 but it was the Canadian archer who was closer to the centre mark and clinched the match.

Badminton

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their dominance in men’s doubles badminton as they won yet another encounter in their group stage. The duo of Rankireddy and Shetty defeated the Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in two games by margins of 21-13 and 21–13. 

The Indian duo was hardly troubled as their opponents could not string together more than two consecutive points in either game. With this win, they have qualified for the quarterfinals.

Crasto and Ponnappa could not emulate the success shown by the Indian men’s doubles pair. Crasto and Ponnappa registered their third defeat in the group stage against the Australian pair of Setyana Mupasa and Angela Yu. With that loss, the Indian duo bowed out of the tournament and Ponnappa announced that this would be her last Olympics.

Boxing

India had a torrid day in boxing at the Paris Olympics today. Amit Panghal faced defeat in the men’s 51kg Round of 16 against Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba. Panghal lost the first two rounds in a split decision while he lost the third round unanimously with one judge out of five adjudging Panghal as the winner.

Jaismine Lamboria participated in the women’s 57kg Round of 32 where she lost against Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines. Unlike Panghal’s loss, Jaismine’s defeat came when all five judges decided that Petecio was the winner of the match.

The last Indian to play on day 4 of the Paris Olympics was Preeti Pawar in the Women’s 54kg Round of 16. Pawar too suffered a loss at the hands of Colombia’s Yeni Marcela Arias. Unlike the other two losses, this was closely contested as Preeti won the second round via split decision. The 20-year-old lost the other two rounds by a 4-1 margin.