NEW DELHI: The Indian women’s team produced a spectacular opening round of scoring performances on the second day of the Paris Olympics on Sunday, with Manu Bakhter bagging a historic bronze medal in shooting.
While Bhakkar won her first Olympic medal, two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and debutant Nikhat Zareen have shown promise for future podium finishes.
Bakar, now 22, became the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal when she won the bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol at Chateauroux National Shooting Centre.
Her achievement was particularly notable as it ended a 12-year medal drought for India in Olympic shooting, an event in which the nation had high hopes but which had failed to deliver success in either of the previous two Olympics.
“In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna to ‘Concentrate on your karma and not on the results’. Those were the only words going through my mind,” a smiling and relieved Bhakkar said when asked about his feelings during the final, PTI quoted him as saying.
This achievement has helped India rank 18th in the overall rankings, alongside South Africa, Hungary and Spain.
Bhakkar’s medal, bolstered by the guidance of his longtime coach Jaspal Rana, was India’s first victory in the ongoing Olympics.
Bakar’s bronze medal win was a kind of redemption for her three years after a disappointing performance in the qualifying round of the same competition in Tokyo when her weapon malfunctioned, this time highlighted by the 221.7 points she earned in the final.
Adding to the optimism, Indian shooters Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta have made it to the finals of the 10m air rifle event in their respective categories, promising further success for India in shooting at the Games.
Sindhu gets off to a winning start
Sindhu and HS Prannoy registered straight sets wins in their opening group stage matches at the Paris Olympics.
Sindhu, chasing her third Olympic medal, defeated Maldives’ Fatimus Abdul Razak while Prannoy got off to a strong start by beating Germany’s Fabian Roth.
Sindhu displayed her strength by defeating Razak 21-9, 21-6 in just 29 minutes in the women’s singles Group M match. The 29-year-old Sindhu, who is trained by legendary coach Prakash Padukone, emphasised the role of “yoga” in keeping her mentally strong.
“It’s very important to be mentally strong. Sometimes you don’t know what’s going on…. I try to stay positive, I calm myself down and I do yoga,” she said.
Prannoy, making his Olympic debut, defeated Ross 21-18, 21-12 in a 45-minute Group K match. The 32-year-old from Kerala, who recently recovered from chikungunya, showed his strength and skill. He will face Vietnam’s Le Duc Phat in the second and final group match on Wednesday.
Nikhat Zareen records tenacious win
While Sindhu was dominating on the badminton court, boxer Zareen displayed her resilience in her opening bout in the 50kg category in Paris.
The 28-year-old Hyderabad player defeated Maxi Karina Klotzer of Germany to reach the quarterfinals.
Zareen will next face China’s Wu Yu, the top seed at the Asian Games and the current flyweight world champion who has been given a first-round exemption, on Thursday.
Manika and Sreeja step forward, Sharath misses out on the TT single.
Manika Batra, 29, matched her success at the Tokyo Olympics by defeating Anna Hershey of Great Britain by scores of 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5 in the round of 64 women’s table tennis singles.
Joining her in the round of 32 is India’s top-ranked women’s player Sreeja Akula, who defeated Sweden’s Christina Kalberg 4-0. Sreeja, who made history as the first Indian to win a WTT Contender singles title, registered a flawless win over Kalberg with scores of 11-4, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8.
In contrast, 42-year-old A. Sharat Kamal, playing in his fifth Olympic Games, lost 2-4 to Deni Kozul of Slovenia, ranked 86th below him.
Kamal’s match ended with the scores 12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 10-12, but he will still be in contention for the title in the team match later.
Harmeet Desai also lost 0-4 to world number 5 Felix Leblanc of France in the second round of the men’s singles table tennis event, ending his first Olympic appearance.
The 31-year-old from Surat couldn’t find his rhythm and lost 8-11, 8-11, 6-11, 8-11 in 28 minutes to a 17-year-old local prospect, bringing India’s men’s singles campaign to an end.
Archery and tennis disappointments
The Indian women’s archery team, featuring former world number one Deepika Kumari and debutants Ankita Bakat and Bhajan Kaur, suffered a tough defeat in the quarter-finals, going down 0-6 to the Netherlands.
On the same day at Roland Garros, Sumit Nagal was eliminated in the first round after a tough match against Frenchman Corentin Moutin.
In the archery quarter-finals, 18-year-old Bhajan Kaur performed brilliantly scoring 56 out of 60 points, but her teammates Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bakat struggled to keep up.
Deepika scored a total of 48 points while Ankita scored 46 out of 60 points, including a disappointing shot on the fourth ring. The final score of the match was 0-6 (51-52, 49-54, 48-53).
Nagal lost the French Open match 2-6, 6-4, 5-7 in a match that lasted two hours and 28 minutes.
Rower Panwar advances to quarterfinals
Balraj Panwar placed second in the second repechage round and advanced to the quarterfinals of the men’s single sculls event.
Panwar finished in 7 minutes 12.41 seconds, behind Monaco’s Quentin Antognelli, who finished in 7 minutes 10 seconds. The top two finishers from each repechage will advance to the quarterfinals on Tuesday.