India at 2024 Olympics, Day 5 as it happened: Kusale in 50 3p final; Prannoy to face Lakshya in R16

That’s it for Scroll’s coverage of Day 5 of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

No medals today, but there were man from the Indian contingent that took firm steps towards the podium.

Swapnil Kusale became the first Indian man to reach the final of the men’s 50m 3-position rifle event.

In table tennis, Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra’s campaigns ended in the women’s singles event, as did archer Tarundeep Rai in the men’s individual event. Deepika Kumari however, rode her luck and is through to the women’s Round of 16.

Lakshya Sen defied the odds to make it out of his group in the men’s singles event. Later in the day, HS Prannoy did the same, and has set up an irresistible clash against Sen in the men’s singles Round of 16.

Tomorrow promises to be another big day for the Indian contingent at the Olympics.

See you then!

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: Sun Yinghsa turned up the heat in the fourth game, winning it 11-3 to secure a 4-0 win over Sreeja Akula.

A good effort from the Indian, but the world No 1 gave a glimpse of the gulf in class between China and the rest of the world in table tennis.

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: World No 1 Sun Yingsha take the third game 11-8 against Sreeja Akula. She's one game away from a spot in the quarter-final.

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: Sreeja Akula once again had a solid start. Once again she had game points, this time leading 10-5. And once again world No 1 Sun Yingsha turned on the afterburners. The Chinese player won seven points in a row to win it 12-10 to go 2-0 up.

Boxing, men's 75kg: Nishant Dev defeats Gabriel Rodrigues by a 3:2 split decision. It was more convincing from the Indian than the scorecard seems to suggest as he remained dominant with the accuracy. Rodrigues was relentless in the third round but it is not enough. Finally a good day for boxing after the consecutive heartbreaks yesterday.

Boxing, men's 75kg: Better from Rodrigues but Nishant seems far ahead in terms of coming out on top of these exchanges. He continues to consolidate on the lead with the counter punches the moment Rodrigues pushes forward. The Indian takes the second round on four cards. Now only needs to close this out smoothly.

Boxing, men's 75kg: Nishant has the height and reach advantage and is able to land cleaner scoring punches. He impresses four out of the five judges to take Round 1. All he needs to do now is keep the momentum going with the straight left-hands.

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: Sreeja Akula had an unbelievable start, leading 10-6. But then Sun Yingsha seemed to switch gears to win six points in a row to win the opening game 12-10.

Boxing, men's 75kg: In action now is World Championships bronze medallist Nishant Dev in the men's 75kg Round of 16 against Gabriel Hosier Rodrigues of Ecuador. Nishant is the only Indian male boxer still in contention at the Paris Games. The pressure to deliver is high with three out of the six boxers being handed an exit. A relatively easier draw for Nishant. Can he capitalise on it?

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: And away we go!

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: Tough tie coming up for Sreeja Akula, as she takes on the world No 1 Sun Yingsha for a spot in the quarter-final. But Akula is no stranger to hitting above her weight. Can she do it again?

Match will start shortly.

Will this be the last time we see Rafael Nadal, at Roland Garros, as a professional player?

Abhijit Nair: The badminton men's singles Round of 16 clash is set. Group L topper vs Group K topper. India vs India. Lakshya Sen vs HS Prannoy.

The duo has faced off seven times in BWF circuit, starting 2022 with Sen winning on four occasions including their last encounter in January 2023. They know each other's game inside out and will surely have a hard time outfoxing each other at the La Chapelle Arena. The coaching chairs might be empty too, leaving the two shuttlers with no inputs from the sidelines.

The clash is expected to be held on August 1, i.e. Day 6 but today itself as per IST. Will Prannoy get a decent rest before the encounter? If not, will it play to Sen's advantage? Answers tomorrow.

Badminton, men's singles: HS Prannoy lets out a loud roar. He was made to battle hard, but he is through. He tops group K with a 16-21, 21-11, 21-12 in 62 minutes. A knockout appearance on Olympic debut confirmed for HS Prannoy.

Will this be the last time the world sees Rafael Nadal serving in a professional match at Roland Garros?

Badminton, men's singles: HS Prannoy dictating the pace of the game and pocketing crucial points. He leads 11-9 before the change of ends in the decider.

Earlier, during a point the umpire inadvertently awarded a point to Prannoy after a review taken by Le Duc Phat. The Indian went up to the official and got it reversed. Top display of sportsmanship in such a crucial match.

Badminton, men's singles: HS Prannoy is back in control. He coasts along to pocket the second game 21-11 without breaking a sweat to force a decider against Le Duc Phat.

This is the first Indian match at the La Chapelle Arena to head into a deciding game at the Paris Olympics.

Badminton, men's singles: The change of sides have brought in a change in fortunes for Prannoy. Le Duc Phat committing the same errors the Indian committed in the opening game. Prannoy leads 11-7.

Badminton, men's singles: World No 70 Le Duc Phat shows that he is no pushover. Completely dominates the opening game and wins it 21-16. HS Prannoy under pressure. He has to find a way to deliver.

Badminton, men’s singles: Not the best of starts this for HS Prannoy. The Indian is looking scrathy, multiple errors and he finds himself trailing 9-11 at the mid-game interval.

Badminton, men’s singles: HS Prannoy is out at the La Chapelle Arena. He takes on Le Duc Phat of Vietnam. Winner of the contest will advance to the knockouts.

Badminton, men’s singles: Much like Lakshya Sen, his training partner Toma Popov has also scalped a big fish in Paris. The French shuttler takes down Indonesia’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Anthony Ginting 21-19, 17-21, 21-15 to advance to the knockouts.

Ginting’s loss also means that Indonesia won’t have any representation in the knockout stages of men’s singles, with Jonatan Christie going down to Sen earlier in the day.

HS Prannoy will be the next Indian in action. He takes to the court at 11 pm. Later tonight, boxer Nishant Dev will be in action in the men’s 71kg event. Sreeja Akula will player her Round of 16 women’s singles table tennis match against Sun Yingsha of China at 12.30 am.

Stay tuned!

Archery, men's individual: Once again, both archers are able to match each other with two 10s and a 9, but Hall wins 6-4 despite the tied fifth set and will proceed to the next round. Rai's campaign in Paris ends, but India still have one remaining archer in the men's individual event with Pravin Jadhav competing on Thursday.

Archery, men's individual: Nearly perfect from both archers, but Hall takes the fourth set to lead 5-3 with only one point needed to progress into the next round.

Archery, men's individual: 8, 10, 9 from Rai but two loose arrows from Hall gives the Indian the third set 28-25 and the match is again tied at 3-all.

Archery, men's individual: A trio of 9s from Rai, but Hall shoots a 10 in his last arrow to take the set 28-27 and lead 3-1 in the match.

Archery, men's individual: Rai and Hall both match each other arrow for arrow and they share the set points.

Archery, men's individual: Veteran Tarundeep Rai is in the arena to open his individual campaign against Great Britain's Tom Hall. This is Rai's fourth Olympics, having made his Olympics debut back in Athens 2004.

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: Manika Batra's journey in the women's singles event ends in the Round of 16. She lost to eight seed Miu Hirano of Japan 6-11, 9-11, 14-12, 8-11, 6-11.

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: Miu Hirano wins the fourth game 11-8. She's one game away from the quarter-final, leading Manika Batra 3-1.

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: Gripping stuff from both players in that third game. Batra had a solid lead, but Hirano caught up. Then Batra saved multiple game points before earning one of her own and converting it at first time of asking, winning it 14-12. Batra trails 1-2 now.

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: Miu Hirano makes it 2-0. She wins the second game against Manika Batra 11-9.

“Only two people have beaten Sun Yingsha [world No 1] in recent times. One is Miu Hirano, the other is an Indian who is here. Ayhika Mukherjee,” said table tennis commentator Adam Bobrow. Batra is playing Hirano at the moment.

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: Hitano takes the opening game 11-6.

Table tennis, women's singles, Round of 16: Manika Batra in action now. She takes on Miu Hirano, the eight seed, for a spot in the quarter-final.

Shooting, women’s trap: Gautemala win their first-ever Olympic gold. Adriana Ruano Oliva finishes on top of the podium at the Chateauroux Shooting Range.

India’s Rajeshwari Kumari and Shreyasi Singh had finished 22nd and 23rd respectively in this event.

Equestrian, individual dressage: Anush Agarwalla and Sir Caramello Old are officially eliminated from the Paris Games. They finish ninth in Group E with a score of 66.444%. Top two in each group and next six best athletes make it through to the final.

Badminton, women’s singles: Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying, PV Sindhu’s long time nemesis, bows out of the 2024 Paris Olympics with a 19-21, 15-21 loss to Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon. The third seeded Tai finishes second in Group E behind the Thai shuttler.

This also marks the end of the Olympic career for Tai Tzu Ying, who had won the silver medal in Tokyo three years back and is expected to retire later this year.

Sun Yingsha is also the current world No 1 women’s singles player. Sreeja Akula will face her at 12.30 am.

Plenty of action still to come today. Manika Batra will be competing in the table tennis women's singles Round of 16 match against world No 13 Miu Hirano of Japan at 8.30 pm. Later on, Tarundeep Rai will be in archery action, while HS Prannoy will look to secure a spot in the knockout stages in the badminton men's singles event at 11 pm.

Sreeja Akula will then take on Tokyo Olympics silver-medallist Sun Yingsha of China in the Round of 16, while Nishant Dev competes in the boxing men's 71 kg Round of 16 bout.

Badminton, men's doubles: The knockouts draw for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are out. The third seeds will take on Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wook Yi in the quarter-finals.

This will be followed by a possible semi-final against either the top seeds from China Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang or their group stage opponents Alfian/Adrianto.

The third seeded Indians trail 3-8 in head to head contests against the Malaysians, but have beaten them on the past three occasions.

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The latest edition of the Field’s newsletter Game Points explores the contrast in the International Olympic Committee’s response between banning Russian and Belarussian athletes because of their countries’ involvement in the war on Ukraine as opposed to allowing Israel’s participation at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris despite its role in the war in Gaza.

Archery, women’s individual: Roeffen isn’t able to recover from the missed arrow in the previous set and can only manage 23 as Deepika seals the deal with a 10, 9, 9 to win the fourth set and the match 6-2 to move into the Round of 16.

Archery, women’s individual: A horror start from Roeffen who misses the target and a 9, 9, 7 from Deepika is enough to take the third set and lead 4-2 after three sets.

Archery, women’s individual: The 18-year-old Roeffen gets back on level terms in the match with an almost perfect set to win the second set.

Archery, women’s individual: Almost a perfect set from Deepika who takes the first set 29-28 and leads 2-0 in the match.

Archery, women’s individual: Deepika Kumari will now aim to join her compatriot Bhajan Kaur in the Round of 16 when she takes on Quinty Roeffen of the Netherlands.

Boxing, women’s 75kg event: A comfortable win in the end for Lovlina Borgohain. Did not exert herself a lot against an opponent who was eager to go all out. The Indian did the damage on points in the first two rounds and even though Hoftsad won the third round on points, it wasn’t enough to overcome her deficit.

Up next for Borgohain will be a mouth-watering quarter-final clash against China’s Li Qian, the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist. The pair met twice last year with Borgohain winning at the World Championships in New Delhi and Qian winning at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Archery, women’s individual: This time the shoot-off goes India’s way. Deepika with a wry smile as she shoots an 8, but Parnat shoots an 8 further away from the centre than her and the Indian survives to enter the Round of 32. Some luck that for the world No 12.

Boxing, women’s 75kg event: It’s another good round for Borgohain. The Indian more than happy to let her young opponent do the attacking as she dances around the ring and look for openings. Borgohain takes the second round 5-0 as well.

Archery, women’s individual: Brilliant from Deepika who shoots a perfect set to win the fifth set and force a shoot-off against Parnat.

Archery, women’s individual: Deepika shoots a loose 7 and Parnat takes the fourth set 27-24 to take a 5-3 lead in the match.

Archery, women’s individual: Nearly equal shooting there from both archers and they share the set points after both scoring 27 in the third set. Match score now stands at 3-all.

Boxing, women’s 75kg event: Hofstad comes out swinging at Borgohain trying to not let the Indian settle in. The Indian uses her experience to block and evade before landing a fair few punches. Hofstad is still attacking but unable to string punches in a row. Borgohain takes the first round 5-0.

Archery, women’s individual: Parnat fights back in the second set to win it 27-26 and levels the match at 2-all.

Archery, women’s individual: Almost a perfect set from Deepika who shoots 10, 10, 9 to take the first set 29-28 and lead 2-0 in the match.

Archery, women’s individual: Deepika Kumari will now begin her individual campaign against Reena Parnat in the Round of 64. She will be looking to join Bhajan Kaur who progressed to the Round of 16 yesterday.

Boxing, women’s 75kg event: Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain is up next. The 27-year-old boxer takes on 20-year-old Norwegian Sunniva Hofstad in the round of 16. Borgohain, a World Championships gold medallist, is favourite against her inexperienced opponent who exited in the first round in the European Championships last year but secured her spot in Paris at the first World Qualification tournament.

Shooting, women’s trap event: There will be no Indian in the trap finals in Paris as Rajeshwari Kumari and Shreyasi Singh bow out in the qualification round. Kumari and Singh finish 21st and 22nd respectively with the same score of 113 out of 125.

Table tennis, women’s singles: The world No 16 holds her nerve and gets the matchpoint in the end! Sreeja Akula beats Zeng Jiang 4-2 (9-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10) and enters the Round of 16. A fine birthday gift for the Indian and the charge continues.

Akula will come back later in the night for her Round of 16 match, the opponent yet to be decided.

Table tennis, women’s singles: Zeng gets back into the game with a tightly-fought fifth game that she wins 12-10, but still trails 2-3 in the match.

Table tennis, women’s singles: Hardly breaking a sweat there is the birthday girl as Akula takes a 3-1 lead in the match, winning the fourth game 11-5.

Table tennis, women’s singles: Supreme confidence from Akula there who just blitzes past Zeng in the third game, winning 11-4 and leading 2-1 in the match. Some lovely gameplay from the Indian there.

Badminton, men's singles: A high stakes encounter? Lakshya Sen brings out his A-game. The unseeded Indian has taken down third seed Jonatan Christie 21-18, 21-12 in straight games.

Impeccable defence from Sen throughout and the Indonesian just could not find a way to win points. The Indian is through to the knockouts. Compatriot HS Prannoy up next, most likely.

Table tennis, women’s singles: And Akula gets on the board, winning the second game 12-10 to level the match at 1-game all. More confidence from Akula who used the net well and allowed for Zeng to make errors as well.

Table tennis, women’s singles: Akula is able to keep pace with the Singaporean, but Zeng takes the first game 11-9 and leads 1-0 in the match.

Badminton, men's singles: Lakshya Sen on the rise now. An 11-6 lead at the mid-game interval and he is within touching distance of taking down Christie.

Table tennis, women’s singles: It’s time for Sreeja Akula to continue her individual campaign as she takes on Zeng Jiang of Singapore in the round of 32.

Badminton, men's singles: Lakshya Sen asserts himself. A stunning back of his body retrieve to stun Jonatan Christie and win the 20th point, before he wraps the game up. Sen wins the opening game 21-18. He's done the tough job has Lakshya with his impeccable defence and cross court shots. Can he now wrap this up in straight games?

Badminton, men's singles: Lakshya Sen with a beautiful fightback. He was 2-8 down, playing from the unfavourable end, but has bounced back to take a slender 11-10 lead at the mid-game interval.

Equestrian, Individual dressage: Anush Agarwalla and Sir Caramello Old score 66.444%. The duo are placed 4th in Group E after four performances.

Top two from each group and six athletes with next best scores will qualify for the Final. Not looking good for Agarwalla this.

Shooting, Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Position event: Swapnil Kusale has qualified for the final! Kusale shoots 195 in the standing series, not the ideal score, to finish with a total of 590 with 38 bullseye shots. Those 38Xs come in handy with three shooters tied at 590. Kusale had the most so he qualifies in seventh. Tomar endured a horror standing series as he shot 193 out of 200 to finish 11th with 589 points.

Badminton, men's singles: Lakshya Sen vs Jonatan Christie. The all important clash. This is what it comes down to in the group of death.

Sen will receive first!

Badminton, women's singles: There's the inevitable. PV Sindhu hands Kristin Kuuba a proper thrashing. The Indian wins 21-5, 21-10 in straight games. Sindhu tops women's singles Group M and moves into the pre-quarters.

Shooting, Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Position event: High quality shooting in the standing series now but Tomar posts the joint worst score in the first series among the top 20 shooters with 95. He needs a perfect score in the second series to have any chance of making it to the final. Kusale shoots 98 and is well within range of finishing in the top 8.

Badminton, women's singles: Sindhu having to counter the drift in the second game, but she still has a healthy 11-6 advantage at the mid-game break.

Rowing, men’s single sculls: Balraj Panwar, competing in semi-final C/D, finishes sixth out of six rowers with a timing of 7:04.97 minutes, which is his best in Paris so far. Panwar will now compete in final D where he will be fighting for rankings from 19-24. Panwar was not in medal contention after not finishing in the top three in the quarter-final.

Badminton, women's singles: PV Sindhu dominating the play. She takes the opening game 21-5 and it was not even a contest.

Badminton, women's singles: PV Sindhu is off and running. The Estonian shuttler is of no match to the Indian, who races to an 11-2 lead at the mid-game interval. This should be done quickly.

Shooting, Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Position event: Kusale shoots 98 in his first kneeling series and 99 in his second to finish with 197. He is 10th with 395 points, just one point outside the top eight. The shooters ranked fourth to ninth all have 396 points. Kusale will need a perfect score in the standing series to challenge for a place in the final.

Badminton, women's singles: PV Sindhu is out on court at the La Chapelle Arena. She is up against a much lower ranked Kristin Kuuba and starts as the favourite.

Shooting, Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Position event: Tomar runs through his shots in the kneeling series and at climbs to third with 10 in his first 17 shots. However, he drops a point in the next shot and finishes with 199 out of 200. He has 396 points with 23 bullseye shots and is currently sixth with other shooters, including Kusale, yet to complete their series.

Shooting, Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Position event: A decent showing from Kusale and Tomar in the kneeling series. Kusale drops a point in each series to end with 198 out of 200. Tomar drops three points across the two series to finish with 197. While Kusale is eighth, Tomar is tenth. We move on to the prone position of the event now.

Badminton: All the three Indian singles shuttlers at the Paris Games will be in action today at the La Chapelle Arena. PV Sindhu will be the first in action at 12.50pm IST, taking on Krisitn Kuuba.

This will be followed by the most anticipated, all-important clash between Lakshya Sen and Jonatan Christie to decide the fate of men's singles Group L. Later, HS Prannoy will go up against Le Duc Phat of Vietnam.

Shooting, women’s trap event: Shreyasi Singh and Rajeshwari Kumari resume in the women’s trap event. The pair are well outside the top six and event if they shoot perfect scores in the remaining two rounds today, it might not be enough for them to reach the final.

Shooting, Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Position event: The action resumes in shooting for India. Swapnil Kusale and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar are in action in the 50m rifle 3 positions event. Each shooter will get 20 shots each in kneeling, prone and standing position. The top eight shooters will qualify for the final.

‘Paris 2024 my last appearance at Olympic Games’, says Ashwini Ponnappa

Indian badminton stalwart Ashwini Ponnappa on Tuesday announced that the 2024 Paris Olympics would be her last one. Ponnappa and her partner Tanisha Crasto bowed out in the group stage in the women’s doubles event after losing all three of their matches.

“This will be my last, but Tanisha has a long way to go,” a tearful Ponnappa said.

“It takes a toll emotionally and mentally, I can’t go through this again. It is not easy, you can take all these if you are a little younger. Having played for so long, I can’t take it anymore," she said.

North-South Korea podium selfie goes viral

Images of Olympic table tennis players from North Korea and South Korea taking a selfie together on the medal podium in Paris went viral in South Korea Wednesday, hailed as a rare show of cross-border unity.

Nuclear-armed North Korea declared the South its principal enemy earlier this year and tensions between the two countries are at one of their highest points in years.

But after South Korea won bronze and North Korea silver in the mixed doubles behind China, South Korea's Lim Jong-hoon took a group photo after the medal ceremony.

North Korea's Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong, the South's Shin Yu-bin and the victorious Chinese team Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha all beamed into Lim's phone, a South Korean-made Samsung.

South Korean broadcasters have repeatedly run videos of the selfie, with many commentators reflecting on the significance of a rare moment of unity. (AFP)

Hello and welcome to Scroll’s coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games!

India now has two medals in the kitty after Day 4. Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh paired up to clinch the bronze in the shooting mixed team air pistol event. That was Bhaker’s second medal in Paris, after she won bronze in the individual event on Sunday.

Bhaker is the first Indian, post-independence, to win two medals at the same edition of the Games, and there is still one more event that she has to compete in.

Today, two medals are possible for India in the women’s trap event, where Shreyasi Singh and Rajeshwari Kumari are competing.

But there is still a lot of high-octane action featuring Indians. Two-time medallist PV Sindhu is back on the court while Tokyo bronze-medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain opens her campaign in the women’s 75kg event.

In archery, Deepika Kumari, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav will compete in the individual event, while HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen will also be in action in badminton.

In table tennis, Manika Batra will aim to become the first Indian to reach the singles quarter-finals, while Sreeja Akula hopes to make the third round.

Late at night, boxer Nishant Dev will be in action.

That, and so much more.

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In the build up to the mega event in Paris, Scroll looks at the eight different Olympic disciplines where Indians have returned with a medal.

Athletics: Neeraj Chopra India’s best bet, but don’t forget Avinash Sable in Paris

Badminton: Satwik-Chirag India’s favourites for podium; Chinese hurdle for PV Sindhu

Boxing: Nikhat, Lovlina shoulder hopes but pressure on male boxers mounts

Hockey: Harmanpreet & Co have tough task in Paris, but podium finish not impossible

Shooting: Manu Bhaker and Co hope to bury Tokyo ghosts in Paris

Tennis: Rohan Bopanna and Sriram Balaji lead charge; Sumit Nagal ready to run on clay

Weightlifting: Resilient Mirabai Chanu expected to shine after injury-plagued year

Wrestling: Indian grapplers aim to kickstart new era in Paris

Screenshots in blog courtesy Jio Cinema and 2024 Paris Olympics website.