Indian athletes who finished fourth at Paris Olympics 2024

Published at :August 8, 2024 at 8:59 AM

Modified at :August 8, 2024 at 8:59 AM

(Courtesy : Getty Images)

As many as six Indian athletes have narrowly missed a medal resulting in massive heartbreak moments.

Apart from the medal victories from shooting, the Paris Olympics 2024 have brought multiple heartbreak moments for Indian athletes and fans. Indians have gone through the proverbial moment of “so near yet so far” many times because of the close fourth-place finishes by Indian athletes. Finishing fourth is the most disappointing result for an athlete as it adds nothing to the medal tally.

Indian contingent went into Paris Olympics 2024 with the target of producing the country’s best-ever performance and taking the medal tally to double digits. The nation would have been very close to achieving that goal, if not for the athletes missing by the narrowest margin and finishing fourth.

Let us have a look at the fourth-place finishes for Indian athletes at Paris Olympics 2024 so far.

Indian athletes who have finished fourth at Paris Olympics 2024

1. Arjun Babuta — men’s 10m air rifle shooting

In the men’s 10m air rifle shooting event, Arjun Babuta narrowly missed the medal after finishing fourth in the final with a total of 208.4. He was looking good for a podium finish for most of the competition but his final shot of 9.5 put him behind. Croatia’s Miran Maricic won the bronze medal with a score of 209.8 and the Indian shooter missed out on a medal by 1.4 points.

2. Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat — mixed team event in archery

The pair of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat became the first Indian archers to play for a medal at the Olympics. In the bronze medal playoff against the third-ranked USA duo of Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison, the Indian pair lost by 6-2 (38-37, 37-35, 34-38, 37-35).

The pressure of a big stage match was visible on the Indians as Ankita shot two 7s in her opening two attempts of the first two sets. Indian pair made a comeback in the third set and won it but two 8s from Ankita in the fourth set ended India’s hopes of its first medal in Archery.

3. Manu Bhaker — 25m women’s pistol

Manu Bhaker qualified for her third finals at the 2024 Olympics in the 25m women’s pistol shooting event. Riding on the confidence of her double medal victories, Manu looked set to win a historic third medal for India. She tied for third place with former World record holder Veronika Major of Hungary. In the shoot-off, Manu dropped two points and had to settle for a fourth-place finish with 28 points.

However, during her historic run at the 2024 Olympics, Manu became the first Indian shooter to qualify for more than one final at the Olympics.

4. Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka – skeet mixed team event

In the final shooting event at the Paris Olympics 2024, the Indian pair of Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka surprised everyone by finishing fourth in the qualification round with a combined total of 146/150. In the bronze medal match, Maheshwari and Naruka shot 43 to finish fourth behind China’s Yiting Jiang and Jianlin Lyu, who shot 44.

Also Read: Which Indian athletes have won most medals at Olympics?

5. Lakshya Sen – badminton men’s singles

India’s streak of winning a badminton medal at the Olympics since 2012 came to an end after Lakshya Sen lost the bronze medal match to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia. Lakshya looked the outright favourite to win the match after he won the first game comprehensively by 21-13.

He was leading 8-3 in the second when the Malaysian turned the tides and won it 21-16, forcing a decider. In the third game, Lakshya looked fatigued and could not build momentum as he was forced to take multiple medical timeouts too. He lost the game and the match 13-21, 21-16, 21-11.

5. Mirabai Chanu – weightlifting women’s 49kg category

Mirabai Chanu had entered Paris Olympics 2024 in hopes of becoming the first Indian athlete to win multiple medals in weightlifting. She began with a successful 85kg snatch and then failed in her attempt to snatch 88kg. She bounced back by successfully lifting 88kg in her third attempt.

Over to clean and jerk, Chanu started with 111kg but could not make it. She overcame her initial failure and again took a try at 111kg, and this time made it. In her third attempt, Chanu set the bar even higher as she increased the weights to 114kg but that was too much too handle. Chanu finished fourth with a result of 199kgs (88+111 kgs). She missed the bronze medal by 1kg.

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