New Delhi: Maheshwari Chauhan and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka became the first Indian shooters to qualify for for the bronze medal round in the Skeet Mixed Team event at an Olympics.
The Indian duo aggregated 146 in the qualification event to tie with China’s Jiang and Lyu, and will go head to head at 6.30 pm for bronze medal.
This is the first time India have a chance to claim a Shot Gun medal in Olympics.
Italian pair D Bacosi and G Rossetti (149 points) will clash with American duo AJ Smith and V Hancock for the gold medal.
Just before the Skeet Mixed Team bronze match, Lakshya Sen will lock horns with Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the badminton men’s singles bronze medal contest.
The 22-year-old Lakshya has impressed one and all with victories against Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, fellow-Indian HS Prannoy and Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien-Chen en route to the semifinals.
In the last-four clash, Lakshya dominated reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen for large parts of the match, leading 17-11, 20-17 in the opener and 7-0 in the second game, but failed to seize the moments.
India have never won a men’s badminton singles medal in Olympics, with Saina Nehwal clinching a bronze (London 2012) and PV Sidhu a silver (2016 Rio de Janeiro) and bronze (2021 Tokyo).
