Young shooter Manu Bhaker kept India on course for their first medal at the Paris Olympics after advancing to the 10m women's air pistol final.
A look at how India's athletes fared on Day 1, on Saturday, July 27, 2024:
SHOOTING
Manu Bhaker, 22, was at the top of her game as she entered the 10m women's air pistol final after finishing third in the qualification with a total score of 580.
The other Indian shooter in the event -- Rhythm Sangwan, ended up 15th with a score of 573.
Haryana shooter Bhaker made a bright start with a total of 97 points to take fourth spot at the end of Series 1.
Bhaker got a 97 in the second series too and remained in fourth, as Sangwan slipped to 26th after a poor outing including an 8.
But Bhaker was back in the top two after an excellent 98 in her third series. She got an 8 in the fifth series, her first bad shot in an otherwise excellent qualification, but still remained in the mix and eventually made the final.
Earlier, Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema sparkled in patches but could not make the men's 10m air pistol final along with both the 10m air rifle mixed teams in a disappointing start for Indian shooters. Sarabjot finished ninth with a total score of 577 in the qualifications while Arjun ended way behind at 18th with 574.
Indians were eliminated in the 10m air rifle mixed team qualifications stage. Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta finished sixth with a total score of 628.7, while Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh ended 12th with an aggregate score of 626.3.
HOCKEY
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty stroke in the dying moments to lead India to a thrilling 3-2 win against New Zealand in their opening hockey match at the Paris Olympics.
New Zealand took the lead in the eighth minute through Sam Lane from their first penalty-corner.
However, India came back strongly. They restored parity in the 24th minute through Mandeep Singh, who scored from a rebound off a penalty-corner, and then took the lead through Vivek Sagar Prasad in the third quarter.
New Zealand, however, drew level in the 53rd minute through Simon Child.
But skipper Harmanpreet Singh scoring from a penalty stroke just a minute from the hooter to give India victory.
BOXING
Preeti Pawar defeated Vietnam's Vo Thi Kim Anh in women's 54kg category first round bout to enter the pre-quarter-finals.
Asian Games bronze medallist Preeti, competing in her debut Olympic Games, opened the proceedings for India and she won 5-0 on points.
The 20-year-old from Haryana was unimpressive in the first round as her Vietnamese opponent dictated the proceedings. But the Indian made amends in the next two rounds, attacking and landing clear blows on her opponent.
Preeti will face second seed and World championships silver-medallist Marcela Yeni Arias of Colombia in the round of 16 clash on Tuesday.
ROWING
India's lone rower in the Paris Olympics, Balraj Panwar moved to the repechages after finishing fourth in heat 1 of the men's singles scull competition.
The 25-year-old Panwar came up with a time of 7:07.11 to finish behind New Zealand's Thomas Mackintosh (6:55.92), Stefanos Ntouskos (7:01.79) and Abdelkhalek Elbanna (7:05.06).
The top three in each heat qualifies for the quarter-finals. In repechages, Panwar will have a second chance to advance to the semi-finals or final.
BADMINTON
In the badminton competition being held at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena in Paris, the celebrated men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty recorded an easy straight-game victory in their opening group stage men's doubles match after Lakshya Sen got his maiden Olympic campaign underway on a winning note.
The third-seeded duo of Satwik and Chirag, who are also the reigning Asian Games champions, notched up a 21-17, 21-14 win over the French pair of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar in a Group C match.
Sen, on the other hand, beat Tokyo edition semifinalist Kevin Cordon of Guatemala 21-8, 22-20 in a Group L contest of the men's singles.
However, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto were beaten in their first round doubles by South Korea's Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong 18-21, 10-21 in the women's doubles Group C match.
TABLE TENNIS
Paddler Harmeet Desai dazzled on debut. He added some more sparkle to India's performance by progressing to the men's singles second round with a convincing 4-0 victory over Jordan's Zaid Abo Yaman.
Photographs: Reuters
