'Nari Shakti' in Paris: Manu claims historic shooting bronze; Sindhu, Nikhat, Manika advance

vivacious Manu Bhaker shone brightest with her historic shooting bronze while seasoned P V Sindhu and debutant Nikhat Zareen held out promise for more podium finishes going forward as women athletes dazzled in India's account-opening performance on second day of Olympic Games on Sunday.

Three years after she left range in Tokyo as a broken 19-year-old, whose weapon malfunctioned in qualification of women's 10m air pistol competition, Bhaker became first Indian markswoman to grab an Olympic medal, in same event at Chateauroux's National Shooting Centre.

w 22-year-old was evidently more in control of her emotions. Guided by teachings of Bhagwat Gita, and watched over by her long-time coach Jaspal Rana, she held her nerve to clinch bronze with a score of 221.7 and open India's medal account in ongoing Games.

"In Bhagwat Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna that 'you focus on your karma and t on outcome of that karma'. Only that was running in my he," she said, relief written large on her smiling face, when asked about her state of mind during final.

Her medal placed India at joint 18th spot with South Africa, Hungary and Spain in overall standings.

bronze was significant for more than one reason. It ensured that India ended a 12-year Olympic drought in shooting, a sport that promised a lot but delivered thing in past two editions.

It could well be a very different story this time as Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta have also entered final of 10m air rifle women's and men's finals respectively.

Sindhu off to winning start  

Chasing a third successive Olympic medal, Sindhu showed just why she is entitled to tag of 'national treasure' in Indian sports.

She was all class in a resounding straight games win over Maldives' Fathimath Abdul Razzaq in ir opening women's singles group st match in Paris.

gulf between two players was evident as Sindhu took just 29 minutes to dispatch her lower-ranked opponent 21-9 21-6 in Group M fixture.

29-year-old, who is being coached by legendary Prakash Pukone this time, revealed how 'Yoga' has been helping her keep her mind stey.

"It is very important to be mentally strong. You at times don't kw what is happening...I have tried to be positive, I keep myself calm and do yoga," she said.

Also moving ahe was debutant HS Prany with a straight-game win over lesser-ranked Fabian Roth of Germany in men's singles competition.

32-year-old from Kerala, who was down with chikungunya for almost two weeks ahe of Paris Games, seemed completely fit and proved his mettle during 21-18 21-12 win over Roth in a 45-minute Group K match.

He will next face Le Duc Phat of Vietnam on Wednesday in second and final group match.

Nikhat Zareen records tenacious win  

If Sindhu was all dominance, Zareen was all tenacity in her 50kg category opener in boxing ring.

28-year-old Hyderabi entered pre-quarterfinals after beating Germany's Maxi Carina Kloetzer in Paris.

She would need this tenacity even more as next up for her is top-seeded Asian Games and reigning flyweight world champion Wu Yu of China, who received a first round bye, on Thursday.

Manika, Sreeja vance, Sharath out of TT singles  

29-year-old Manika Batra dominated Anna Hursey of Great Britain in her round of 64 women's singles match to win 11-8 12-10 11-9 9-11 11-5.

In process, Manika equalled her feat at Tokyo Olympics where she h become first woman table tennis player from India to make it to round of 32 in singles.

India's top-ranked woman pdler Sreeja Akula also entered round of 32 with a clinical 4-0 win over Sweden's Christina Kallberg.

Sreeja, who h created history by becoming first Indian pdler to win a WTT Contender singles title, registered an 11-4 11-9 11-7 11-8 victory over Swede.

But 42-year-old A Sharath Kamal, making his fifth Olympic appearance, lost 2-4 (12-10 9-11 6-11 7-11 11-8 10-12) to Deni Kozul of Slovenia, who is ranked 86 places below him to crash out of Games in singles event.

He, however, continues to be in contention in team event, which will start later.

Rower Panwar enters quarters  

Balraj Panwar progressed to quarterfinals of men's single sculls rowing competition after finishing second in Repech 2.

Panwar clocked 7 minutes 12.41 seconds to finish behind Monaco's Quentin Antognelli who clocked 7:10:00. first two finishers in each repech qualify for quarterfinals to be held on Tuesday.

Disappointment in Archery and Tennis  

archers flattered to deceive, at least on Sunday. women's team of former world number one Deepika Kumari, and debutant duo of Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur went down 0-6 to Nerlands in quarterfinals.

On a day when youngest member of team, 18-year-old Bhajan Kaur, shot an exceptional 56 out of 60 points, Deepika and Ankita proved to be weak links as India lost 0-6 (51-52, 49-54, 48-53).

To put things in perspective, four-time Olympian Deepika shot a cumulative 48 points, while Ankita shot two points lesser at 46 out of a maximum 60 which included a horror shooting into 4-ring.

Bhajan, on or hand, shot 56, missing just four points.

At Roland Garros, usually indefatigable Sumit Nagal me a first-round exit after losing 2-6 6-4 5-7 to Frenchman Corentin Moutetin in a contest that lasted two hours and 28 minutes.