Shooting at Paris 2024 Olympics Highlights, July 30: Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh win 10m air pistol mixed team bronze medal

We are done with shooting for the day. See you tomorrow for the women’s trap and 50m 3 positions qualification for men. Goodnight!

Nathan Hales takes the gold with an Olympic record. A massive 48 for the shooter from Great Britain! China’s Qi Ying takes silver with 44.

Guatemala’s first medal in shooting is here! The world no. 9, Brol Cardenas, who also happens to be the eldest in the final, takes the bronze with a score of 35.

Both Indian women in action - Shreyasi and Rajeshwari - have dropped seven points after three rounds of play. While the former is placed 21st, Rajeshwari is ranked 22nd.

Tondaiman’s perfect series in round five won’t save him from elimination. He finishes 21st. The cut-off score is 122.

Shreyasi hits another 22. She is 24th at present. Rajeshwari hits 21 to occupy the 28th slot.

Rajeshwari (21st) and Shreyasi (23rd) shoot 22s in their first round. 

Tondaiman doesn’t miss a single target. His rank stands at 25th now.

Mikec lets out a huge roar before enveloping Arunovic in an embrace. Both of them end up losing balance and crash onto the matting. This is a huge moment! A comeback for the ages.

Quite the fightback from Serbia led by Zorana Arunovic. This is turning out to be a thriller.

After five competition shots, Turkiye holds the lead. 51-year-old Yusuf Dikec is doing the bulk of the lifting with 10.1, 10.6, 10.2, 10.3 and 9.0. The 9 came in the only round which Turkiye lost. His partner Tarhan has hit four 9s and a 10.

The gold medal match between Turkiye (Ilayda Sevval Tarhan and Yusuf Dikec) and Serbia (Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mikec) begins.

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Manu Bhaker becomes first Indian to win two medals at a single Olympics edition

Manu also became the second Indian woman, after P.V. Sindhu, to win two Olympic medals.

Sarabjot: It feels great. The game was tough, but glad we could do it. There was a lot of pressure but the crowd was great.

Bhaker: I feel really proud and a lot of gratitude... It is just blessings. Thank you so much for all the blessings and love. We can only control what is in our hands. I had a chat with my father regarding this before coming here and decided we keep fighting till the last shot.

(Picture credit: Reuters)

A 10.6 and 10.2 won’t be enough for India as Oh Ye Jin registers a 10.8!

Both Bhaker and Sarabjot shoot in the 9s. Korea gets 19.8 and that would do. They remain alive in the contest.

A 10.5 from Bhaker and a 10.3 from Sarabjot! That would do. Match point!

A 0.1 deficit for Korea! India takes two points again. A 10.0 for Bhaker as she delays her shot again, but Sarabjot’s 10.5 saves the day.

Manu shoots an 8.3. This is unheard of. And as expected, coach Munkhbayar Dorjsuren has been summoned in the timeout. Korea takes the points.

A 9.4 from Sarabjot! But Bhaker pulling off the rescue act once more. With a 20.0 from this competition shot, India widens the lead.

A 10.2 and a 10.0 from Sarabjot and Bhaker, respectively. But Oh Ye Jin shoots a high 10.8. And Korea takes the points.

Bhaker is single-handedly carrying the team. A 10.5 from her and a 9.6 from Sarabjot. Both the Koreans shoot 9s and ask for a timeout as India takes two more points.

Sarabjot hits a 10.0 but Bhaker’s 10.7 rescues India. Korea’s Lee Wonho hits a 9.9 and that would mean two more points for India.

Two 10.4s from India sees them edge Korea by one full point.

Bhaker gets a massive 10.7, Sarabjot with a 10.5 this time. India takes two points. 2-2.

Sarabjot starts with a 8.6. Bhaker with a 10.2. A poor start. Korea takes two points with 20.5.

The shooters acclimatise themselves to the conditions and lighting before the event starts.

The athletes have been introduced. Manu and Sarabjot smile and wave at the crowd, who have gathered in numbers to watch the medal event.

Manu and Sarabjot are practising dry firing adjacent to the final hall where the 10m air pistol mixed team event will take place.

Shreyasi Singh misses a clay target off her first 10 shots.

In the qualification stage, there will be 125 targets (five rounds of 25 each) to fire at. The event is spread out over two or three days. The top six athletes will make the final. If scores are tied among multiple shooters, the countback rule is applied to determine the rankings.

The bronze medal match takes place first followed by the gold medal match. No bib numbers will be worn during the medal matches. The reporting time for all eight athletes is 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled start time of the bronze medal match. Athletes and their coaches should be allowed to place their equipments at the firing points 15 minutes ahead of the start time. Three minutes of sighting and preparation time will be given. Each team member is allowed to fire a single shot in 50 seconds. The team with the highest combined score of each round will be awarded two points. A tie in a particular round will see the teams split points. The first side to 16 points wins.

12:30 - Trap Men’s Qualification Day 2 - Prithviraj Tondaiman

12:30 - Trap Women’s Qualification Day 1 - Shreyasi Singh, Rajeshwari Kumari

13:00 - 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team - Manu Bhaker-Sarabjot Singh

19:00 - Trap Men’s Final - Prithviraj Tondaiman (Subject to qualification)

The live telecast of the Paris Olympics will be available on Sports18 while the live streaming will be available on JioCinema in India from July 26 to August 11. Only the finals of the shooting events will be televised.

While you wait for the action to begin at the range, take a look at the list of Indians who are set to be in action at the Paris Olympics today.

Paris 2024 Olympics, Day 4: Indians in action today — July 30 schedule, full list of events, venues, timings in IST, live streaming info

On July 30, Indian athletes will be in action across multiple disciplines such as badminton, shooting, hockey, archery and boxing.

Lock ‘n load! It’s almost time to climb aboard the hype train to Châteauroux, where 21 Indian shooters will take on the mission of going up against 321 of the world’s best to claim the ultimate prize — an Olympic medal.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) announcing the squad way ahead of July 8 — the Paris 2024 entry deadline — felt like the calm before the storm. The shooters have had an acclimatisation and a hard-training camp at Volmerange-Les-Mines, followed by a two-week break while waiting for Judgement Day.

India has never had more shooters representing the country at the Olympics. Tokyo 2020 saw a previous best of 15. This time, among the 81 participating nations and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Refugee Team, India will send the most shooters to France, tying with China, followed by the Republic of Korea, which has 16.

It is mostly a new-look squad except for familiar faces in pistol star Manu Bhaker and rifle wielders Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Anjum Moudgil and Elavenil Valarivan. Having waded through the choppy waters of Tokyo, they will be up and running soon for a second shot at glory.

While those who have already performed on the biggest stage would believe that past experience will help them fare better this time, the debutants may be thankful for not having to carry any baggage from previous editions.

Let’s do a quick recap. After returning empty-handed from Tokyo, Indian shooters experienced a curious mix of highs and lows in the subsequent years. Amid developments like numerous rule changes and overhauls in the coaching set-up, several prominent names such as Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Apurvi Chandela, and Rahi Sarnobat faded from scorecards for different reasons. A change of guard brought newcomers like Sift Kaur Samra and Sarabjot Singh to the forefront. Others, like Bhaker, entered recovery mode, deeply affected by the media scrutiny. However, she appears to have bounced back just in time.

One of the many factors that will work in favour of the Indians this time is the absence of Russia from the roster owing to the strict qualification restrictions in place after the latter invaded Ukraine.

Although the IOC stated that, as of July 13, 15 AINs (Athlètes Individuels Neutres/Individual Neutral Athletes) with Russian passports had qualified for the Summer Games in Paris (with a maximum of 55 eligible to make it), none of them happens to be shooters.

READ THE FULL PREVIEW BY SANTADEEP DEY HERE.