Avinash Sable created history by reaching the final, Olympic champion was also left behind, Lakshya missed the medal in badminton
Even after 10 days of Paris Olympics, India has got only 3 medals so far, which came through shooting. 2 more medals could have been added to this on Monday 5th August but Lakshya in badminton and Maheshwari-Anant pair in shooting failed to win their matches.
Avinash Sable (Safar Jersey) made it to the finals.Image Credit: PTI
10 days of Paris Olympics have passed and the search for the fourth medal for India is still on. On Monday, 5th August, India had a chance to win 2 medals but it could not happen and thus the wait has increased for a few more days. On Monday, Indian players participated in badminton, table tennis, shooting, sailing, wrestling and athletics, in which there was a chance to win 2 medals and secure a medal in one. Most eyes were on Lakshya Sen, who had entered with the intention of winning the bronze medal but he failed. However, India's Avinash Sable created history by reaching the final of 3000 meter steeple chase. Read in this report how the Indian players performed in which sport-
Sable created history
Although this was the last event of the day for India, the biggest success came in this. India's hope and national record holder Avinash Sable performed as expected and made it to the final of the 3000 meter steeple chase. He completed his heat in 8:15.43 minutes and qualified for the final by finishing fifth. He has become the first Indian male and second athlete overall to reach the final of this event. Before him, Lalita Babar had qualified in the women's category in Rio 2016. The special thing is that Avinash's time was better than the current Olympic and world champion Sufyan Al Bakkali of Morocco, who completed his heat in 8:17.90 minutes. Avinash's final will be held on August 8.
Badminton
India had been getting medals in this game since the 2012 Olympics and this time, it was empty handed. The last hope was 22-year-old shuttler Lakshya Sen, who had performed well throughout the tournament. A day before, he had lost a tough match to Viktor Axelsen in the semi-finals. In such a situation, he faced Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the bronze medal match. Lakshya won the first game easily and was far ahead in the second as well but once again he lost the lead and lost the bronze along with the match by 21-13, 16-21, 11-21.
Skeet shooting
In the mixed team event of skeet shooting, the pair of Maheshwari Chauhan and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka were in the competition and both of them performed well in the qualification and made it to the bronze medal match. Here they faced China which was in third place. This match was very tough and the Indian team, which was on the verge of victory at one point, had to face defeat by just one point. China won the bronze medal by a margin of 44-43
Table Tennis
Before these two disappointments, India got success in the team event of table tennis. In the women's team event, the Indian team faced Romania in the first round. Here the 11th seed Indian team defeated the fourth seed Romania 3-2 in a tough match. Star paddler Manika Batra won both her singles matches from India, while the pair of Sreeja Akula and Archana won the doubles match and took India to the quarter-finals.
Wrestling
Wrestling matches also started on Monday, in which the first challenge from India was presented by Nisha Dahiya in the 68 kg weight category but she lost in the quarter-finals and was eliminated. Nisha started well and defeated the Ukrainian wrestler 6-4 in the first match. Then in the quarter-finals, she was ahead 8-1 against North Korea but then she suffered an injury in her hand and the Korean wrestler took advantage of this and defeated her 10-8. However, Nisha can still go to the repechage if the Korean wrestler reaches the final.
Athletics
It was a mixed day for India here. Before Avinash Sable's brilliance, there was the women's 400m race, where India's Kiran Pahal finished 7th in her heat and failed to qualify for the semi-finals. However, she has another chance to qualify for the semi-finals through the repechage, which will take place on Tuesday.