Two is a joy: Manu Bhaker bags another historic bronze, remains star of India's Olympic campaign

Chateauroux/Paris, Jul 30 (PTI) It was twice as nice for Manu Bhaker as she clinched a history-making 10m air pistol mixed team bronze with Sarabjot Singh in the Olympic Games, joining the league of India's greatest athletes in a span of 72 hours by being the driving force of the country's campaign so far.

A good 124 years after British-Indian Norman Pritchard won silver medals in 200m sprint and 200m hurdles, incidentally also in a Paris edition of the Games, Bhaker became the first athlete in post-independent India to snare two individual medals in the same Olympics.

Her performance, which also includes a 10m air pistol individual bronze won on Sunday, left the country joint 28th with Moldova in the medals table.

The Indian performance on the day was mostly about 22-year-old Bhaker's ascendence to greatness but there were other highlights too, including teenaged archer Bhajan Kaur, the men's hockey team and the men's doubles badminton team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.

The headline-maker was, however, the shooter from Jhajjar, Haryana, whose vivacious persona, and calm response to pressure and media scrutiny have become as much of a talking point as her precision with a pistol in her hands.

Bhaker combined with an equally unruffled Sarabjot in the 10m air pistol mixed team bronze and gave a superb demonstration of how to control nerves in a high-pressure situation.

The Indian pair defeated the Korean duo of Lee Wonoho and Oh Yeh Jin 16-10. It just added to Bhaker's growth story as she completely wiped off the memories of a horrendous Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020 where her pistol malfunctioned leaving her in tears.

And it's not over yet. She remains in contention for another podium finish -- in the 25m sports pistol event, the qualification for which will take place on August 2.

While it is a massive achievement for women's sport in the country, Tuesday's medal was also redemption for Sarabjot, who had failed to make the men's 10m air pistol final, finishing ninth on Saturday with a score of 577.

"Actually we can't control (what the rivals will do), we can do what is in our hand, me and my partner thought let's just try our best and we will keep fighting till the end," said Bhaker.

Ambala shooter Sarabjot, who passed through a difficult phase trying to come to terms with the disappointment of the individual competition just three days back, said he was under a lot of pressure to perform.

"I'm feeling good, the game was very tough and there was a lot of pressure, I am very happy," said the 22-year-old Sarabjot, who comes from a farming family.

Satwik-Chirag on course ================ Medal contenders and quarterfinal-bound Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty notched up a dominating straight-game win against the Indonesian duo of Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Fajar Alfian to top Group C in men's doubles badminton competition.

The third-seeded Indians beat their opponents 21-13 21-13 in the final group match that lasted just 38 minutes.

They had qualified for the quarterfinals on Monday after the withdrawal of the German duo of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel and the loss suffered by Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar of France at the hands of Ardianto and Alfian combine.

Satwik and Chirag are the first set of Indians to reach the doubles quarterfinals in the Olympics. They will know their quarterfinals opponents when the draws are held on Wednesday.

"Really happy with the way we played today. More than topping the group, we wanted to get this win. It will boost our confidence. They (the Indonesian pair) are a top team and we really had tough fights against them earlier. So, we are happy," Chirag said after the match.

Bhajan Kaur comes into her own ====================== Her brilliance overshadowed by the mediocrity of veteran Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat in the women's team competition, 18-year-old archer Bhajan Kaur came into her own in the individual event.

She advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after defeating Indonesia's Syifa Nurafifah Kamal and Wioleta Myszor of Poland in her opening two rounds.

Her compatriot, Ankita Bhakat, however, stumbled in the opening round, going down to Myszor 4-6.

Bhajan's round of 16 match is scheduled for Saturday, for which her opponent is yet to be decided.

Hockey team close to quarters berth ======================== The Indian men's hockey team expectedly beat Ireland despite a few defensive lapses to more or less secure its passage into the quarterfinals, with skipper Harmanpreet Singh scoring a brace in their 2-0 win in a Pool B match.

The win has taken them to seven points from three matches while the defeat has ousted Ireland from the quarterfinal race. Belgium and Australia, both unbeaten, have six points each and they play against each other later in the day.

India just about managed to edge New Zealand 3-2 before holding Argentina to a 1-1 draw in their previous two outings.

Amit Panghal makes shock early exit ======================== Former world number one boxer Amit Panghal bowed out of the Olympics with a 1-4 loss to Zambia's Patrick Chinyemba in the 51kg pre-quarterfinal bout after getting an opening-round bye.

Panghal, the 2019 world championship silver-medallist, was put under pressure by the sprightly Zambian, who is also the reigning African Games champion.

The seasoned boxer, who had made a similar opening-round exit from the Tokyo Olympics, failed to counter-attack in the bout, struggled with his footwork, and looked a pale shadow of his sharp and aggressive self in the lacklustre outing. PTI AM/BS/AT/PDS/APA PM PM PM