Off-field controversy coupled with dismay on track marred India’s Day 12 at the 2024 Paris Olympics
The day started in the worst way possible as India who was guaranteed a fourth medal in the morning lost their medal contender in Vinesh Phogat due to disqualification. While Mirabai Chanu came close to creating history by winning her second Olympic medal, Phogat’s disqualification remained the most discussed point of the day.
The athletics contingent continued to disappoint as multiple athletes failed to qualify for further stages. Here is a roundup of how Team India performed on day 12 of the Paris Olympics.
Athletics
The day started on the streets of the Trocadero for the marathon race walk relay mixed team event. Suraj Panwar and Priyanka Goswami were the two Indian participants in the race. While Panwar was playing in his debut Olympics, Priyanka was part of the Tokyo Olympic Games in the Women’s 20km race walk where she finished 17th. Today, the duo could not finish the race and ended the race at the 33.4km mark. Their race came to an end due to multiple violations like loss of contact and bent knee issues.
Sarvesh Anil Kushare was part of the men’s high jump qualification round. The athletes either needed to jump a height of 2.29 metres or more or be among the top 12 athletes among the 31 athletes from two groups. Kushare jumped a height of 2.15 metres and was placed 13th in his group.
Jyothi Yarraji despite being India’s fastest disappointed in her heat
Jyothi Yarraji ran in the women’s 100-metre hurdles semi-final qualification round. In her heat, the fastest Indian women hurdler finished 7th with a time of 13.16 seconds. She failed to qualify for the semi-finals and will now be a part of the repechage round which will take place on Thursday.
While the men’s javelin throw has been a fan-favorite event for many Indians because of Neeraj Chopra’s success the same hasn’t been emulated in the women’s division. Annu Rani, the lone javelin thrower in the women’s division was part of the qualification round. She threw a distance of 55.81 metres and finished 15th in her group. The qualification standard was 62 metres which the 31-year-old failed to make.
Praveen Chithravel and Abdulla Narangolintevida were part of the triple jump qualification at the Stade de France. Chithravel in group A jumped a distance of 16.25 metres. Narangolintevida was slightly better than his compatriot and jumped a distance of 16.49 metres in group B.
Among the 32 athletes, the Indian jumpers ranked 27th and 20th. To qualify for the finals, they needed to jump a distance of more than 17.1 metres or be among the top 12 ranked athletes.
The final event of the day for Indian athletes came in the form of the men’s 3000-metre steeplechase finals. Avinash Sable running in the finals was the Asian Games gold medalist at Hangzhou.
Sable finished the final race in 8:14.18 in the 11th position. Despite his final time being better than what he had produced in the heats a few days ago the Commonwealth Games silver medalist failed to make a substantial mark at the track.
Golf
Aditi Ashok is joint 13th after round of women’s individual stroke play
Golf may not be one of the most popular sports in the country but the Indian women have certainly risen on the course. Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar were the two players in women’s individual stroke play.
While Diksha is playing just her second Olympics, Aditi is a seasoned campaigner playing in her third edition of the Olympic games. It was a heartbreak finish for the 26-year-old, Aditi three years ago. She finished in the fourth position with just one stroke away from the second and third positions.
After round 1 of Women’s Individual Stroke Play, Diksha is tied on 7th with one less stroke than par while Aditi is joint 13th with par. Both women will be in action for the next three days to compete for India’s first Olympic medal in the sport.
Table Tennis
After the men’s team crashed out yesterday, the women’s team too suffered a similar fate. India faced world number 5, Germany in the quarterfinals. Sreeja Akula and Archana Girish Kamath faced Yuan Wan and Xiona Shan in the first match. The Indian duo bounced back by winning the second game after losing the first. The third and fourth games were won by the German pair as they clinched the first match of the tie.
Arguably, India’s best player, Manika Batra went head-to-head against teenager, Annett Kaufmann in the second match of the tie. Manika won the first game and looked like she would bring the first win for India. The Indian paddler was defeated easily in the subsequent three games as Germany took a 2-0 lead.
Archana won the first match for India when she won against Xiona. The first game was heavily contested and the Indian paddler clinched it 19-17. She lost the following game 11-1 and things looked bleak for the Indian women’s team. The 24-year-old paddler won the next two games which won the match for India.
Sreeja lost the fourth match against Kaufmann in straight games, 11-6, 11-7, and 11-7.
Wrestling
After the heartbreak in the morning, another Indian female wrestler stepped on the mat. Antim Panghal faced Zeynep Yetgil of Turkey in the Round of 16 but lost the bout quite easily in the first period itself. Yetgil scored 10 points and moved to the quarterfinals.
Weightlifting
Mirabai Chanu was the sole Indian representative at Weightlifting. So when she was lifting her weights she was also lifting the hopes of more than a billion Indians alone on her shoulders. The Tokyo Olympics’ silver medalist had history in her sight as she needed just one more medal to become India’s most decorated weightlifter at the Olympics.
The women’s 49 kg weightlifting finals started with the snatch event. The 30-year-old lifted 85 kg in her first attempt. After failing to lift 88 kg on her second attempt, Chanu found success on her third attempt.
After the snatch event, the Indian was the joint third and had the historic medal in her sight. Clean and jerk is Chanu’s stronger suit so many expected her to see her at the podium. The 2022 Indian Sportswoman of the Year failed to lift 111 kg in her first attempt.
While she successfully lifted 111 kg in the second she failed to lift 114kg in the final attempt and finished with a total of 199 kg just 1 kg short of what the bronze-medalist, Surodchana Khambao of Thailand lifted.