Paris Olympics 2024 Shooting: Manu Bhaker salvages disappointing day for India

Manu Bhaker has qualified for the finals in women’s 10m air pistol event.

Indian shooters had a heartbreak on the first day of the Paris Olympics 2024, as the country missed out on two medal opportunities by a whisker. However, Manu Bhaker saved face by reaching the final of Women’s 10m Air Pistol event after finishing third in the qualification round. She will compete in the medal round on Sunday.

The day started with the 10m Air Rifle mixed team event, with the pairs of Ramita Jindal/Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan/Sandeep Singh in action. Both pairs had contrasting starts—while Elavenil and Sandeep started brilliantly to be in the top three but slipped to 21st after a 10.1 and 10.2 in their third shot, Ramita and Arjun started slowly, but climbed into the top 15 at the end of the first series.

Arjun had a brilliant second series with shots of 10.5, 10.6, 10.5 and 10.9 which took them to the top eight. The pair were within touching distance, but finished with 628.7 points, just 1.0 short of the German pair of Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich, who qualified for the bronze medal match but lost to Kazakhstan.

It was the Germans again who gave India another heartbreak, this time in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol event, as India’s Sarabjot Singh and Germany’s Robin Walter tied at 577 points at the end of the qualification round. But the man from Deutschland had 17 Inner 10s compared to Singh’s 16, which denied an opportunity for the Indian to have a shot in the finals.

It was the same storyline, with Sarabjot starting with a jolt but coming back strongly. Once reeling at 31st place, the 22-year-old did well in the second half, with a perfect 100 in the fourth series. It wasn’t enough though, as the German had his number in the bull’s eye count.

Arjun Singh Cheema, the other Indian in the event, started in his own style. He rose to the third position, having struck 10 consecutive shots in the inner circle from the 16th to 25th shot. But, a disappointing seven in the 32nd shot pulled him down as he finished at 18th place.

Also Read: Manu Bhaker becomes first Indian female shooter in 20 years to reach individual final at Olympics

Just when it looked like a repeat of the Tokyo Olympics, Manu Bhaker came to the rescue, as she put up an impressive performance to book a place in the women’s 10m air pistol final.

It was a display of her class as she teased the inner circle more often than not. With scores of 97, 97, and 98, Bhaker was in the second spot. She dropped a bit scoring 96 in the next three, but it was enough to finish third and book a place in the finals. The best part of the qualification was the Delhi girl’s precision, as she had 27 bull’s eye shots, the most in qualification.

Her compatriot Rythym Sangwan was also in the reckoning for qualification after the first round. But the second proved to be decisive, as she could hit the 10 only thrice. Sangwan bettered her numbers with a 97 and 96 in the next two series, but the dent in the second round proved to be the deciding factor, as she ended in a disappointing 15th place.

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