Olympics 2024: Manu Bhaker targets gold and Other India Highlights from Day 1

The Paris Olympics began on a sore note for India as they missed out on any medal on the first day as the Indian air rifle mixed team of Arjun Babuta and Ramita finished sixth on Saturday.

However, Manu Bhaker made redemption for the Indian shooters by qualifying for the final of the women's 10m air pistol individual event.

Meanwhile, the pairing of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in doubles and Lakshya Sen in singles had a winning start to the group stage in badminton.

Mixed Day in Shooting

Indian shooters had a poor start to the day as both Indian pairs of Ramita and Arjun Babuta and Sandeep and Elavanil Valarivan fell behind outside 20 in the start. However, Arjun-Ramita made a comeback in the latter half.

But, they finished in heartbreaking sixth place in the qualification round whereas Sandeep-Elavanil finished in 12th position.

The disappointment didn't end for the Indian shooters as Sarabjot Singh also had a heartbreak and finished ninth in men's air rifle qualification whereas Arjun Singh Cheema ended up in 18th place.

Eventually, Manu Bhaker proved to be the savior of the day for Indian shooters as she booked her place in the final of women's 10m air pistol by finishing third in qualification.

However, her counterpart Rhythm Sangwan finished 15th.

Winning start in Badminton

Indian shuttlers had a good start to the Paris Olympics as India registered two out of two wins on the first day.

Lakshya Sen started the day with a win against Kevin Cordon of Guatemala to give winning momentum to the Indian Team.

Then, the men's doubles pairing of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty followed this with a straight-game win over Lucas Corvee and Robert Labar in their first group-stage match.

Harmeet progressed to the second round

Harmeet Desai was the lone Indian paddler competing on the first day of table tennis action at the Paris Olympics.

He gave a good start to the Table Tennis contingent by winning his first-round match against Jordan's Abo Yaman Zaid in straight games.

He will now compete in the second round against the home favorite Felix Lebrun tomorrow.

Balraj in repechage

India's only rower at Paris Olympics, Balraj Panwar finished fourth in the heats of the men's singles sculls event. He clocked a time of 7:07.11 in the heats.

He didn't manage to qualify for the quarterfinals as only the top three to progress further. However, he will get another chance in the repechage round tomorrow.

The Indian Hockey team has a nervy start

Indian men's hockey team started their campaign with a very close victory over New Zealand as Harmanpreet Singh scored a very late 59th-minute winner in their opening group fixture.

They will next take on Argentina in the second group fixture on 29th July.

All you need to know about the Indian athletes at the Olympics in Paris 2024:

Olympics 2024: For the complete schedule of all the Indian athletes, click here

Olympics 2024: To view the names of Indians who have qualified for the Olympics, click here

Olympics 2024: To view the latest medal tally, click here.