Paris Olympics 2024 Day 1 highlights: Lakshya 'cordons' Kevin after Manu Bhaker show; Satwik-Chirag record easy win

Singles ace Lakshya Sen won his badminton first-round match while shooter Manu Bhaker entered the 10m air pistol final on Day 1 of the Paris Games.

On a day when Indian shooters endured a forgetful outing, Manu Bhaker stormed into the 10m air pistol finals at the Paris Olympics 2024. Competing in her second Olympics, Bhaker finished third to enter the final of the women's 10m air pistol event at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre. Saving the day for the Indian shooters, Bhaker shot 580 in the qualifications while her compatriot Rhythm Sangwan finished 15th with an underwhelming 573.

Feeling the Olympic pressure in his debut outing, Sarabjot Singh narrowly missed out on final berth in the men's 10m air pistol event. Sarabjot and Arjuna Singh Cheema bagged the ninth and 18th positions with scores of 577 and 544, respectively. Indian shooters were also knocked out of the 10m mixed team qualifications at the rifle range.

Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta bagged the sixth position with a total score of 628.7. Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh ended 12th with an aggregate score of 626.3. Traditionally, shooting, as a whole, was labelled as an underachieving sport for India at the Olympics. India last won a medal at shooting in London 2012, and there isn't a better and more opportune time to start afresh than here in Paris.

Dazzling debuts

Kickstarting India's campaign in badminton, debutant Lakshya Sen outclassed Guatemala's Kevin Cordon (21-8, 22-20) in the first-round match at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena. Appearing in his maiden Olympics, Indian paddler Harmeet Desai advanced to the second round of the men's singles table tennis competition by defeating Jordan's Zaid Abo Yaman 4-0 at the Paris Games.

Gael Monfils vs Rohan Bopanna

The first-round tennis match between India and France was called off due to rain. Gael Monfils has joined forces with Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the men's doubles opener against Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji after Fabien Reboul pulled out of the event due to an injury. Monfils became France's last-minute entry on Day 1 of the Summer Games.

Satwik-Chirag enter 2nd round

Strong medal contenders Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty recorded a comfortable straight-game victory over French pair of Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar (21-17 and 21-14) in the men's doubles competition. Satwik and Chirag will face Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel of Germany in the 2nd round of the tournament on Monday.

India upstage New Zealand in 5-goal thriller

Indian hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh rescued the Men In Blue in their Pool B opener against New Zealand. Scoring from the penalty spot just a minute from the hooter, Harmanpreet sealed India's thrilling 3-2 win over the Kiwis. India will play Argentina in their next Pool B match on Monday.

In the Sculls men's singles heat 1, rower Balraj Panwar went full throttle as he finished fourth to secure a repechage berth. The badminton duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto lost their women's doubles opener. In boxing, Preeti Pawar defeated Vietnam's Thi Kim anh Vo in her women's 54kg opening-round bout.

Can Team India better their Games medal tally in Paris?

India have sent a strong 117-member contingent to the ongoing Paris Olympic Games, hoping to better their tally of 7 medals at the Tokyo Games. Neeraj Chopra, Manu Bhaker, Lakshya Sen, PV Sindhu, men's hockey team, Vinesh Phogat and Nikhat Zareen are some of India's brightest medal hopes. A lot is also expected of pugilist Lovlina Borgohain and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu to put in a repeat of their Tokyo show and land their second successive medal, joining PV Sindhu as the only other Indian to win back-to-back Olympic medal.

Did you know?

In fact, badminton is the only sport where India have consistently won medals starting the 2012 London Games. Wrestling has been another strong sport for India at the Olympics. It has fetched the second most Olympic medals for India after hockey but given the off-the-field turmoil, the sport finds itself taking a hit. Someone like Sakshi Malik is not even part of the Indian contingent and has been restricted to doing commentary.

Day 1 highlights: Key takeaways from Summer Games in Paris-

Boxing

-Indian boxer Preeti Pawar defeated Vietnam's Vo Thi Kim Anh in the women's 54kg category first-round bout to enter pre-quarterfinals.

Hockey

-The Indian men's team defeated New Zealand 3-2 in Pool B match.

Tennis

-Spain's Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz kickstarted their Paris campaign with impressive doubles victory.

-The men's doubles match between India's Rohan Bopanna/Sriram Balaji and Gael Monfils/Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France has been cancelled for today due to persistent rainfall.

Badminton

Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 18-21, 10-21 in the women's doubles Group C match against Korea.

-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty clinched a brilliant 21-17, 21-14 win over locals Lucas Corvee/Ronan Labar in their first men's doubles match.

-Lakshya Sen made a winning start to his Olympic campaign. The Indian shuttler defeated Kevin Cordon 21-8, 22-20 in Group L.

Table tennis

Harmeet Desai storms into the round of 64 with a dominant 11-7, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 win over Jordan's Abo Yaman Zaid.

Rowing

- Balraj Panwar finished fourth in men's singles Sculls heat 1, into repechage.

Shooting

- Manu Bhaker finished 3rd in the women's 10m pistol qualification to enter the final.

-China bagged the first gold medal at the Paris Games with 16-12 over Korea in the 10m Air Rifle mixed team final.

- Ramita Ramita-Arjun Babuta finished 6th in air rifle 10m mixed team qualification event; Elavenil Valarivan-Sandeep Singh came 12th. Both teams failed to qualify.

- Sarabjot Singh was ninth in 10m men's air pistol qualification round; Arjun Cheema was 18th. Both failed to qualify.