Here's How Indian Female Athletes Fared in Week 1 of Paris Olympics

By: WE Staff

The first week of the sporting extravaganza, Paris Olympics 2024 has concluded with phenomenal athletes showcasing their strengths in their respective genres. Indian women athletes, utilizing advanced training facilities, are showcasing their skills in various sports.

India is set to showcase its strength at the Paris Olympics 2024, with 48 medal events. The event across three verticals: track and field, road running, and race walking in the forthcoming days will be witnessed. The champions will also compete in badminton, equestrian, rowing, windsurfing, and shooting. The athletics events started on August 1 with race walking while the track and field events started today. Athletics events will be held at Pont d'lena for race walking, Hotel de Ville and Les Invalides for marathon races, and Stade de France for track and field events.

After the first week of the Paris 2024 Olympics, here is a weekly round-up of the events that you need to know:

Shooter Manu Bhaker created history by winning a Bronze medal at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. The young shooter from Haryana became the very first Indian woman shooter to scoop a medal at the Olympics. Manu came third in the women's 10m air pistol final held at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Paris. Manu had suffered a bout of bad luck three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics. But overcoming the losses from last time, the 22-year-old shooter brought India its maiden medal in shooting and made the entire nation proud.                    

Manu’s Bronze medal came ending India’s 12-year-long wait for a shooting medal at the Olympics. With this win, Manu joined the exclusive and elite group of shooters including Abhinav Bindra, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Vijay Kumar, and Gagan Narang to notch a win at the Olympics in shooting. She bagged another bronze medal in the 10m Mixed Air Pistol along with Sarabjot Singh.

Manu Bhaker advanced to the third final of the Paris Olympics in women's 25m pistol qualification, shooting 294 on the precision and 296 in the rapid stages, while Esha Singh finished 18th in the qualification, with the top 8 contenders advancing to the finals.

Manika Batra became the first Indian table tennis player to reach the singles pre-quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics 2024, winning a commanding 4-0 match against Prithika Pavade, world number 18. Manika gave a brilliant performance, winning the match with scores of 11-9, 11-6, 11-9, and 11-7. The achievement is significant for the player as it surpasses her previous best at the Tokyo Olympics, where she reached the round of 32. However, Manika failed to qualify for the pre-quarters after round 16.

Lovlina Borgohain defeated Sunniva Hofstad in women's 75kg and succeded into the quarterfinals. Deepika Kumari storms into pre-quarters of women's individual archery, defeating Reena Parnat and Quinty Roeffen. Shreyasi Singh and Rajeshwari Kumari ended in the 23rd and 22nd positions respectively in the Women's Trap Qualification. India managed to secure another bronze to its medal tally on Day 6 by Swapnil Kusale, but top medal prospects PV Sindhu and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were eliminated in the 16th round, losing to China. Athletics Ankita Dhyani and Paril Chaudhary will compete in the women's 5,000m heats on day 7 of qualification.