India at Paris Olympics 2024, Day 2 Highlights: Manu Bhaker wins historic bronze; big change in Lakshya Sen's group

Leon Marchand smashes Michael Phelps’ all-time record!

The French swimmer wins the men’s 400-metre individual medley final with a timing of 4:02.95, smashing US swimming legend Phelps’ world record timing of 4:03.84!

Such is the gap between Marchand and the rest of the pack that the Frenchman swims home with a gap of almost six seconds!

Felix Lebrun proves too tough for Harmeet Desai, winning the Round of 64 clash 4-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8) to advance to the next round!

Massive support for the 17-year-old French paddler, who lives up to his favourites billing entering the contest. Desai fought hard and did not give up till the very end, but the teenager proved too tough for him in the end.

Lebrun is halfway through to the Round of 32, as he takes the second game as well, once again by an 11-8 margin!

Desai’s hardly able to catch up with the local favourite despite being the more experienced player of the two.

World No 5 Lebrun, seeded third in the event, draws first blood against Harmeet as he takes the first game 11-8!

Can the Indian bounce back in the next game? Stay tuned to find out!

Time for the final event involving an Indian athlete on Day 2, with Harmeet Desai set to face France’s Felix Lebrun.

Desai had beaten Jordan’s Zaid Yaman 4-0 in the preliminaries. Can he continue his winning run in the Round og 64?

JUST IN: Major change in Group L in the badminton men’s singles competition, with Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon withdrawing from the Paris Games due to a left-elbow injury.

Which means Group L effectively becomes a three-man group, with Jonatan Christie and and Julien Carraggi now playing two games each. As for Lakshya Sen and his 21-8, 22-20 victory over Cordon yesterday, that match will now get deleted from the Paris 2024 records, and the 22-year-old shuttler starts afresh.

Lakshya thus will be the only player from his group playing three matches, even if one of them isn’t official.

A little over half-an-hour left for Harmeet Desai’s Round of 64 clash against France’s Felix Lebrun to get underway.

No word on the men’s doubles match involving Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji so far though.

Korea continue their domination of the women’s team archery event, winning their 10th straight gold medal since team events were introduced in archery in Seoul 1988!

Only this time the Korean trio of Jeon Hun-young, Nam Su-hyeon and Lim Si-hyeon had to fight harder than they would have initially expected, and nearly suffered their first-ever defeat in the Olympics — both in the semi-final against Netherlands as well as in the final against China.

Jeon, Nam and Lim, however, ended up winning both matches 5-4 to be crowned champions!

As for Day 3 of the Paris Olympics, Indian athletes will be in action in 10 different events including two medal events in shooting.

Additionally, the men’s hockey team will be aiming to extend their winning start as they take on Argentina in their second Pool B clash.

Just a couple of events left today as far as Indian athletes are concerned. The tennis men’s doubles clash between Rohan Bopanna-N Sriram Balaji and Gael Monfils-Edouard Roger-Vasselin, which was supposed to take place yesterday, but was postponed due to inclement weather, is supposed to begin shortly.

The final event of the day will have Harmeet Desai facing France’s Felix Lebrun in the table tennis men’s singles Round of 64.

Rafael Nadal advances to Round 2 with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics! He faces Novak Djokovic in a blockbuster men’s singles clash next!

The 14-time Roland Garros champion was expected to breeze through his opening clash, but the manner in which Fucsovics bounced back and fought till very end earns up a hearty applause from the packed house at Court Philippe-Chatrier!

Meanwhile at Court Philippe-Chatrier, Rafa Nadal has a slender lead over Marton Fucsovics, but cannot afford to breathe easy with the Hungarian putting up quite the admirable fight at the moment.

Here’s one of the long rallies that Prannoy won in his Group K clash against Roth

HS Prannoy 21-18, 21-12 Fabian Roth

Prannoy moves to matchpoint with a powerful smash down the court. Roth then sprays one wide to Prannoy’s right next up, resulting in a straight-games victory for the Indian ranked 12th in the world!

Indian shuttlers have won all of their singles encounters so far, with Lakshya Sen beating Kevin Cordon yesterday and PV Sindhu triumphing over Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq today!

Just the start Prannoy was looking for on Olympic debut!

HS Prannoy 21-18, 17-11 Fabian Roth

Roth concedes an easy point to Prannoy with a serve that lands well outside the court. Prannoy wins the next point as well to stretch his lead to six!

HS Prannoy 21-18, 15-10 Fabian Roth

Powerful cross-court smash by Prannoy, and Roth is once again on all-fours after failing to pick it. Excellent reflex shot by Prannoy next up as he puts in a neat little flick close to his waist that catches his opponent unawares.

HS Prannoy 21-18, 11-6 Fabian Roth

The momentum’s firmly on Prannoy’s side at the moment as he opens up a five-point lead at the interval in Game 2!

Can he seal the deal in this game itself, or will Roth take this to a decider?

HS Prannoy 21-18, 9-6 Fabian Roth

Prannoy wins another long rally against Roth, with the German finding himself on the floor, failing to return a clever drop shot from the Prannoy after picking a powerful smash.

Meanwhile at Court Philippe-Chatrier, Marton Fucsovics fights back in style to take the second set 6-4, and drag the men’s singles Round 1 clash against 14-time French Open champion to a deciding set!

HS Prannoy 21-18, 5-2 Fabian Roth

Three consecutive points for Prannoy now as he moves to 5-2. Roth fires one far too long as it drops beyond the right tramline close to the baseline, and later fails to clear the net.

HS Prannoy 21-18, 2-2 Fabian Roth

Prannoy’s in the lead in Game 2 as well, but Roth claws back shortly after to go level at two points each.

HS Prannoy 21-18 Fabian Roth

Two game points for Prannoy as he moves to 20 with a sharp smash down Roth’s left!

He forces an error from Roth in the next point to seal Game 1 21-18!

Been a hard-fought encounter so far!

HS Prannoy 19-17 Fabian Roth

Back-to-back points for Prannoy now and the Indian is two points away from winning Game 1. Roth fires the shuttle wide of the right tramline once again, before hitting the net on his next attempt.

HS Prannoy 16-16 Fabian Roth

Prannoy wins a long rally against Roth, which ends with the latter smashing one a bit too wide to the Indian’s side as it falls outside the tramline. The two are level on 16 points.

Prannoy’s ahead by a solitary point at the interval in Game 1. It has been a tense affair so far in the Group K clash.

Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi is in the news once again after winning a historic shared gold in Tokyo 2020, but for an entirely different reason in the Paris Games.

Tamberi ended up losing his wedding ring during the boat parade in the opening ceremony on Friday, the prized possession of his slipping out of his finger and falling all the way to the bottom of the Seine!

Manu Bhaker reacts for the first time since her historic bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol event in Paris 2024, crediting her coach Jaspal Rana — with whom she had a falling out in Tokyo 2020 — among others for her medal.

Well, well, well… it’s Fucsovics leading 3-1 in the second set after losing the first 1-6. Can the Hungarian take this to a decider?

Shuttler HS Prannoy is the next Indian in action, and he will be taking on Germany’s Fabian Roth in the first round.

Earlier today, we had two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu defeat Maldives’ Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq 21-9, 21-6 in the women’s singles section. And on Saturday, Lakshya Sen defeated Kevin Cordon 21-8, 22-20.

The match will be underway in a few minutes.

Rafael Nadal wins the first set 6-1 against Márton Fucsovics. Can he seal the match in straight sets and setup a dream clash against Djokovic?

Here’s what IOC Member and chairperson of Reliance Foundation Nita Ambani said after Manu Bhaker scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting:

“What an incredible moment! One of our youngest shooters has opened India’s tally at the Paris 2024 Olympics with a bronze. Congratulations, Manu Bhaker! As the first Indian woman to win in the 10 m air pistol at the Olympics and the youngest Indian shooter to do so, you’ve made history. I’m sure your success today will inspire young athletes across India to dream big and give it their all. Keep the Indian flag flying high. Go India Go make us all proud!”

Rafael Nadal begins his men’s singles campaign at the venue where he has been the undisputed king throughout his career.

The 14-time French Open champion begins his singles campaign against Hungary’s Márton Fucsovics.

Should he win this contest, he awaits long-time rival Novak Djokovic, who had thrashed Australia’s Matthew Ebden 6-0, 6-1, in what will be a blockbuster second-round showdown!

Earlier today, US gymnast Simone Biles was off to a grand start in the Paris Olympics after skipping most of the events in Tokyo 2020 due to a mental block that widely came to be known as the “twisties”.

Despite discomfort on her lowest left leg, Biles put on quite the show during the artistic gymnastics qualifying round at the Bercy Arena as Team USA finished with 172.296, well ahead of Italy.

Biles will be hoping to add to her seven Olympic medals, including four gold medals in Rio 2016, in Paris.

Sumit Nagal loses his men’s singles first round clash against France’s Corentin Moutet 2-6, 6-2, 5-7 to end the Indian challenge in that event.

Later today we have Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji taking on Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Gael Monfils.

Netherlands blank India 6-0 to progress to the semi-finals of the women’s team archery event! The trio of Quinty Roeffen, Gabriela Schloesser and Laura van der Winkel take the third set 53-48, hitting the 10s and 9s a lot more consistently than their Indian counterparts.

India were the favourites heading into this contest given their higher seeding, and looked like medal contenders in the ranking round, gaining a direct entry into the quarters. Their form, however, appears to have deserted them when it mattered the most.

Netherlands have now won back-to-back sets! India start with consecutive 10s through Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur, but their challenge slowly fizzles out. The Dutch take the second set 54-49!

India will have to win the next two sets if they are to keep their medal hopes alive.