India endured one of its most tumultuous and disappointing days in the Paris Olympics after Vinesh Phogat lost a sure-shot medal owing to disqualification, fellow-wrestler Antim Panghal found herself in a soup following a disciplinary breach and celebrated weightlifter Mirabai Chanu ended medal-less.
Adding to the woes was the consistently poor show by the country's track-and-field contingent which seems to be banking solely on defending Javelin Throw champion Neeraj Chopra to deliver a medal.
Chopra will aim for a historic second Olympic gold on Thursday evening after topping the qualification on Tuesday.
The country's medal tally remained at three, all bronze, secured by the shooters.
The biggest heartbreak of the day was Vinesh, who was disqualified ahead of her summit clash against American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt after being found 100gm overweight at the morning weigh-in.
The devastated 29-year-old has appealed against the decision and demanded that she be considered for a joint-silver after being replaced in the final by Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to her in the semi-finals.
Lopez went on to lose to Hildebrandt in the final.
Tokyo Olympics silver-medallist Mirabai's fourth-place finish in the 49kg division was another dampener as she failed to be anywhere close to her best in the field.
Mirabai lifted a total of 199kg (88kg+111kg) at the South Paris Arena, which was 3kg less than what she heaved at the Tokyo Olympics -- 202 kg for a silver medal.
She could manage only three valid lifts out of six attempts and two of these came in the clean and jerk section.
If the poor performance was not enough, Antim Panghal ensured that the country had reasons to feel embarrassed too.
Panghal and her entire entourage is being flown back from Paris after the young wrestler handed her official accreditation card to her sister, who was caught by security while leaving the Games Village.
Panghal crashed out of the Games after losing her opening bout in the women's 53kg category during the day.
Check out how India's athletes fared on Day 12, Tuesday, August 7, 2024:
ATHLETICS
Avinash Sable failed to keep pace with the best in the business as he finished 11th in the men's 3000m steeplechase final.
The 29-year-old clocked 8 minutes 14.18 seconds.
Triple jumpers Praveen Chitravel and Abdulla Aboobacker also disappointed, failing to reach the final after disappointing performances of 16.25m and 16.49m respectively.
Chitravel finished a poor 27th and Abdulla ended up 21st out of 32 competitors.
100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, the National record holder, also failed to book an automatic semi-final spot after finishing seventh with a below-par time in her heat.
The Olympic debutant, the first Indian to compete in the 100m hurdles at the Games, clocked 13.16 seconds in heat No. 4 and finished 35th overall out of 40 total runners.
Experienced Indian javelin thrower Annu Rani too failed to impress on the global stage as she made a qualification round exit with an extremely poor performance.
The 31-year-old National record holder opened her event with 55.81m and could not improve upon that mark in her next two attempts, which measured 53.22m and 53.55m. She finished 15th among 16 competitors in Group A and 26th overall.
GOLF
Diksha Dagar carded 1-under 71 and was placed tied-seventh, while Aditi Ashok was on tied-13th after an even par round with two holes to go in the women's golf competition.
TABLE TENNIS
India's table tennis campaign came to an end after the women's team of Manika batra, Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath lost to Germany 1-3 in the quarter-finals.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Mirabai Chanu's dream of a second successive Olympic medal was dashed as she finished fourth in the women's 49kg event.
The 29-year-old, who won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, could only lift a total effort of 199kg (88kg+111kg).
