Maheshwari and Naruka shot 43 to finish fourth behind China's Yiting Jiang and Jianlin Lyu (44) in a thrilling match for the bronze medal
Indian men's hockey team (Pic: AFP)
Monday was a day of near misses as Lakshya Sen's steely resolve finally wilted in the high-pressure bronze playoff, an unexpected skeet medal in shooting slipped away after a promising start, while a podium hope in wrestling was left in tears, adding to India's mounting heartbreaks in the Paris Olympics 2024.
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Sen, hoping to become India's first male shuttler to win an Olympic medal, was expected to come out trumps against Malyasia's world no.7 Lee Zii Jia. But it was not meant to be as he squandered a game's advantage to lose 21-13 16-21 11-21 in a 71-minute clash.
Around the time the 22-year-old crumbled under pressure in Paris, some 300km away in Chateauroux's shooting range, Maheshwari Chauhan and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka lost by a solitary point to China in the skeet mixed team event, settling for the fourth spot.
Maheshwari and Naruka shot 43 to finish fourth behind China's Yiting Jiang and Jianlin Lyu (44) in a thrilling match for the bronze medal.
It all started with a fired-up Sen, who looked like an unstoppable force in the opening game. But then Lee became an immovable force in the second game, going on a nine-point streak that completely changed the complexion of the match.
There was more agony in store for India when grappler Nisha Dahiya was left sobbing in acute pain after she lost her quarterfinal bout to North Korea's Pak Sol Gum 8-10 in the women's 68 kg freestyle category.
Leading 8-1 at one stage with just over 90 seconds left, Nisha sustained a serious injury on her right hand, which left her in agonising pain as she wept inconsolably.
Following a medical break, she didn't have any strength left in her right hand and it became a cakewalk for the North Korean, who showed her ruthless streak to get a leg-hold and nine straight points.
With 10 seconds left, the scoreline was 8-8 but the writing was on the wall as the Haryana woman surrendered in the dying moments.
It wasn't all doom and gloom though with the women's table tennis team of Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath beating higher-ranked Romania to enter the quarterfinals.
Leading 2-0, India saw Romania fight back to draw level at 2-2 but in the decider, Manika delivered for her side.
Sreeja and Archana started the proceedings with a 11-9 12-10 11-7 win over Adina Diaconu and Elizabeta Samara in a doubles match.
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Manika made short work of higher-ranked Bernadette Szocs in a 11-5 11-7 11-7 victory as India took a comfortable 2-0 lead in the tie against their fourth-seeded opponents. India are seeded 11th in the competition.
In the second singles match however, things did not go in India's favour as Sreeja went down 2-3 (11-8 4-11 11-7 6-11 8-11) to European champion Samara after winning the first game.
Sreeja's defeat paved the way for a face-off between Archana and Bernadette, in which the latter prevailed.
Manika then blanked Adina 3-0 (11-5 11-9 11-9) to seal the tie in India's favour.
Following is India's Day 11 schedule at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Tuesday:
Table Tennis
1:30 PM: Harmeet Desai, Sharath Kamal and Manav Thakkar vs China in Men's Team Pre-quarterfinal
Athletics
1:50 PM: Kishore Jena in Men's Javelin Throw Qualification Group A
2:50 PM: Kiran Pahal in Women's 400m Repechage Round
Wrestling
3 PM: Vinesh Phogat in Women's Freestyle 50kg Round of 16
Athletics
3:20 PM: Neeraj Chopra in Men's Javelin Throw Qualification Group B
Wrestling
4:20 PM: Vinesh Phogat in Women's Freestyle 50kg Quarterfinal (If qualified)
Sailing
6:13 PM: Nethra Kumanan - Women's Dinghy Medal Race (If qualified)
7:17 PM: Vishnu Saravanan - Men's Dinghy Medal Race (If qualified)
Wrestling
10:25 PM: Vinesh Phogat in Women's Freestyle 50kg Semifinal (If qualified)
Hockey
10:30 PM: India vs Germany in Men's semifinal
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