India at Paris Olympics Day 12 Highlights: Mirabai misses out on bronze; Sable finishes 11th in 3000m steeplechase final

USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt wins gold in the women’s 50kg event in wrestling! The same event in which Vinesh Phogat is currently fighting for a joint-silver after being disqualified for being overweight.

Hildebrandt was supposed to fight for gold against Vinesh, but instead faces Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzman, whom the Indian had defeated 5-0 in the semi-finals.

Guzman wins silver for now, and might have to share it with Vinesh depending on CAS’ ruling tomorrow.

Japan’s Yui Susaki and and China’s Ziqi Feng win bronze after defeating Ukraine’s Oksana Livach (10-0) and Mongolia’s Otgonjargal Dolgorjav (6-4) respectively.

Some good news for Avinash Sable — he has qualified for the 2025 World Championships with his time of 8:14:18!

The World Championships Qualification mark is 8:15:00.

No medals for the Indian contingent on Day 12 of the Paris Olympics as Avinash Sable finishes 11th in the men’s 3000m steeplechase final with a timing of 8:14.18.

Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali wins gold with a timing of 8:06.05 while USA’s Kenneth Rooks (8:06.41) and Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot (8:06.47) collect silver and bronze respectively.

We have the final event featuring an Indian on Day 12 of the Paris Games, with Avinash Sable competing in the men’s 3000m steeplechase final!

Can the day end on a happy note for the Indian contingent after multiple heartbreaks?

Another Indian finishes fourth at the Paris Olympics with Mirabai Chanu finishing with a total score of 199 — 88kg in snatch and 111kg in clean-and-jerk!

China’s Zhihui Hou wins gold in her final attempt after successfully lifting 117kg — an Olympic record — to finish with a total score of 206!

Romania’s Valentina Cambei, who had been leading the pack until Zhihui’s last attempt, wins silver with 205 while Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao wins bronze with 200!

Tiebreaker rule:

In case two participants have lifted the same combined weight, then the one with the lower bodyweight is declared the winner. In the event of the bodyweight also being equal, the one with lesser attempts will be the winner.

Looks like Valentina Cambei has assured Romania of a medal in weightlifting after finishing with 205 — 112 in he final clean-and-jerk attempt! Which colour, we’ll find out soon.

Meanwhile, Chanu is set for her final attempt and she has registered 114 for the same.

As many as six competitors are done with all of their attempts across snatch and clean-and-jerk, and USA’s Jordan Delacruz has a highest score among them — 195 (84+111).

Mirabai fails to lift 111kg in her first attempt! She had brought it up to chest height without much trouble but was in the final step, where she had to hoist the barbell above her head, which she couldn’t quite nail.

She clears 111 in her second attempt though, taking her combined score to 199 — at par with China’s Zhihui Hou.

China’s Zhihui Hou successfully lifts 110kg in her first attempt in clean-and-jerk, and takes her total to 199 with two attempts to go. She registers her second attempt at 115.

Cambei, meanwhile, takes her score to 203 after successfully lifting 110kg in her second attempt.

Guam’s Velasco Lagatao had registered a highest successful lift of 59kg in snatch and manages a maximum of 77kg in clean-and-jerk, finishing with a combined score of 136kg.

The final rankings are determined by the combination of the highest successful lifts from the snatch and clean-and-jerk sections.

Romania’s Valentina Cambei is currently leading the pack with a combined score of 199 with two attempts remaining in C&J.

Mirabai Chanu initially listed 107 as her first attempt in the clean-and-jerk section and later upgrades it to 111.

Meanwhile, Romania’s Valentina had lifted the highest weight in snatch and starts off with a successful lift of 106 in C&J.

Mirabai had lifted 85kg with ease but needed two attempts to move to 88kg — which is her best attempt in the snatch series.

Romania’s Valentina Cambei lifts 93 in her third attempt to register the highest score in snatch.

Former Olympics bronze medallist Karnam Malleshwari is supporting Mirabai Chanu at the Olympics in Paris!

Meanwhile in men’s triple jump, India’s Praveen Chithravel and Abdulla Aboobacker register jumps of 16.25m and 16.19m respectively in their second attempts.

They are yet to breach the Olympic qualification standard of 17.10m, which they will have to achieve in their third and final attempts or finish among the top-12 to advance to the final.

Here’s the start list for the women’s 49 kg weightlifting competition:

Just as it seemed the powers that be had surrendered and Phogat would enter the promised land, destiny had one more trick up its sleeve. On the morning of the first gold medal match for a female Indian wrestler, Phogat failed the weigh-in by 100 grams. The same weigh-in she had cleared just a day earlier before the three grueling bouts.

Despite desperate measures including jogging, skipping, sauna baths, cutting off her hair, and reportedly drawing out blood, she could not make weight. Click here to read Ujwal Singh’s story on Vinesh Phogat’s constant battle with destiny.

“I am so excited to go to Paris. Our weightlifting championship has never taken place there”

After winning silver in Tokyo, Mirabai Chanu had expressed excitement on participating in the Paris Olympics, where she hopes to upgrade her medal to gold.

Read: At Paris 2024, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is ready to defy the odds once again

American athletes have had to raise funds to campaign their Paris Olympic campaign through GoFundMe, including paddler Kanak Jha, who raised $30,000 and would go on to reach the Round of 16 in the men’s table tennis event.

Read: American athletes forced to rely on GoFundMe to participate in Games

Here’s the full schedule for Day 13 of the Paris Olympics and boy could it be the biggest day of the Paris Olympics so far for the Indian contingent.

The focus will be on the final event, in which reigning Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra will be aiming to win a second successive gold in javelin!

Here are the events involving Indian athletes that are left today:

10:45 PM IST – Athletics – Men’s Triple Jump Qualification – (Praveen Chithravel, Abdulla Aboobacker)

11 PM IST – Weightlifting – Women’s 49kg (Mirabai Chanu)

1:13 AM – Athletics – Men’s 3000m Steeplechase final (Avinash Sable)

Could Vinesh Phogat have avoided her second weigh-in on Wednesday ahead of her 50kg final against Sarah Hildebrandt by pulling out injured. And in the process fly back home with the silver medal around her neck?

Click here for more on that contentious topic

Avinash Sable men’s 3000m steeplechase final is at 1:13 AM IST (8 August, Thursday).

Here’s the full list for 3000m steeplechase final:

Avinash Sable (IND) – 8:09.91 (PB)
Ahmed Jaziri (TUN) – 8:14.93 (PB)
Leonard Chemutai (UGA) – 8:17.14 (PB)
Jeah-Simon Desgagnes (CAN) – 8:13.11 (PB)
Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui (TUN) – 8:09.41 (PB)
Amos Serem (KEN) – 8:02.36 (PB)
Daniel Arce (ESP) – 8:10.63 (PB)
Samuel Firewu (ETH) – 8:05.78 (PB)
Abraham Kibiwot (KEN) – 8:05.51 (PB)
Kenneth Rooks (USA) – 8:15.08 (PB)
Mohamed Tindouft (MAR) – 8:10.62 (PB)
Getnet Wale (ETH) – 8:05.15 (PB)
Ryuji Miura (JPN) – 8:09.91 (PB)
Simon Kiprop Koech (KEN) – 8:04.19 (PB)
Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR) – 7:56.68 (PB)
Lamecha Girma (ETH) – 7:52.11 (PB)

Diksha Dagar finished 1-under 71 on Day 1 of the women’s golf competition, one better than Aditi Ashok.

Dagar carded two birdies and two bogeys.

The final standing will be out after all players finish the 18-hole course.

Mirabai Chanu will compete in the women’s 49kg weightlifting medal round today. She won silver in the Tokyo Olympics.

India is hoping for a medal from her.

Here’s a look at her storied career record.

Tokyo 2020: Silver medal (49kg)

World Championships

Anaheim 2017: Gold medal (48kg)
Bogota 2022: Silver medal (49kg)

Commonwealth Games

Birmingham 2022: Gold medal (49kg)
Gold Coast 2018: Gold medal (48kg)
Glasgow 2014: Silver medal (48kg)

Men’s Triple Jump (Qualification): Praveen Chithravel and Abdulla Aboobacker Narangolintevida – 10.45 pm

Men’s 3,000m Steeplechase (Final): Avinash Sable – 1.13 am (8 August, Thursday)

Women’s 49kg (Medal round): Saikhom Mirabai Chanu – 11.00 pm

UWW president Nenad Lalovic said he feels sorry for Vinesh but rules will be followed in her case.

“We have to respect the rules. I’m so sad what happened to her. She was overweight, even though by a small margin but rules are rules. The weigh-in is public and all the athletes are there. It’s impossible to let someone to compete who doesn’t make the weight,” Lalovic said.

Lalovic also said that the chances of Vinesh leaving with at least a silver medal were impossible. “It is impossible because the brackets are changing. Everything is changing. And anyway, the rules are rules. Everybody who goes to these competitions knows they have a second weigh-in the next day,” he added. ( READ MORE )

Aman Sehrawat and Anshu Malik will start their wrestling campaign tomorrow.

No. 5 seed Aman will take on unseeded Vladimir Egorov of North Macedonia in the men’s 57kg round of 16 bout.

Anshu will fight two-time Olympic medallist Helen Louise Maroulis in the women’s 57kg pre-quarterfinal.