Manu Bhaker stayed on course for more Olympics glory after getting into contention for an unprecedented second medal on a day when the men's hockey team just about snatched a draw, a fourth-place finish broke Indian hearts at the shooting range and the pampered archers simply capitulated.
India is placed joint-23rd in the medal tally with one bronze. China, Korea and Australia hold the top three positions.
A look at how India's athletes fared on Day 3, Monday, July 29, 2024:
SHOOTING
Bhaker-Sarabjot in contention for 10m Air Pistol mixed team bronze
For a second day running, Bhaker was India’s star at the Paris Games as she combined with Sarabjot Singh to make the bronze medal round in the 10m Air Pistol mixed team competition at Chateauroux's shooting range.
The two will be up against the Korean combination of Oh Ye Jin and Lee Wonho, who shot 579, in the bronze-medal match. Should they triumph, Bhaker will become the first Indian to win two medals in a single edition of the quadrennial showpiece.
A second medal could have come on Monday itself had debutant Arjun Babuta held his nerves in the 10m Air Rifle men's final. He looked good for a bronze, or even a silver, at one stage of the competition but finished fourth.
In contrast, Bhaker, who became the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal with her 10m Air Pistol individual bronze on Sunday, and Sarabjot, managed a score of 580 to be in the race for a third-place finish in the mixed team Air Pistol event.
In the 10m air rifle women's competition, there was no close finish as Ramita Jindal ended up seventh.
Shotgun marksman Prithviraj Tondaiman was 30th and last at the end of the three qualification rounds of 25 each with a score of 68/75 on the opening day of the trap competition.
BADMINTON
Lakshya Sen on course
Forced to make a fresh start after his opening win was wiped off the record books, Sen stamped his class to defeat Julien Carraggi of Belgium in straight games in a men's singles group match in Paris.
The 22-year-old Olympics won 21-19, 21-14 in 43 minutes.
Sen will face third seed and world No. 3 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in his final group match on Wednesday. The match will decide which of the two players moves forward in the competition as only one each from the 16 groups will qualify for the pre-quarters.
HOCKEY
Men's hockey team escapes with draw against Argentina
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh converted a last-minute penalty-corner to save India the blushes as they held former champions Argentina to a 1-1 draw in a Pool B match.
The profligate Indian team wasted as many as nine penalty-corners before Harmanpreet found the net.
ARCHERY
Archers’ poor run continues
After the pathetic performance by Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat managed to pull down an in-form Bhajan Kaur in the women's team quarter-final on Sunday, India’s men also came a cropper.
Veteran Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Pravin Jadhav were woefully short against a fired up young Turkish team and knocked out after a 2-6 loss in the quarter-finals of the men's team event.
India's success hinged on whether Tarundeep could show the way and the young Bommadevara and Jadhav were ready to rise to the challenge. But nothing of that sort happened.
The final scoreline: 53-57, 52-55, 55-54, 54-58.
TENNIS
Bopanna calls it quits from National duty
Veteran doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna declared that he will no longer be turning up for India after losing in the opening round of the men's doubles event of the tennis competition.
"This will definitely go down as my last event for the country. I totally understand where I am and now, I am just going to be enjoying the tennis circuit as long as that goes," Bopanna said, ruling himself out of the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.
