India’s rowing efforts at the Paris 2024 Olympics began with a challenging start as Balraj Panwar placed fourth in his heat on Saturday. Panwar clocked a time of 7:07.11 minutes, finishing behind three other competitors who directly advanced to the quarterfinals.
Despite the setback, Panwar still has a chance to advance, as he qualifies for the repechage round scheduled for Sunday. In his heat, New Zealand’s Thomas Mackintosh led with a time of 6:55.92 minutes, followed by Greece’s Stefanos Ntouskos at 7:01.79 minutes, and Egypt’s Abdelkhalek El-Banna, who finished third with 7:05.06 minutes.
Panwar, who secured India’s sole rowing spot at the Paris Olympics, earned this opportunity by finishing third in the men’s single scull event during the Asian Olympic qualifiers in Chungju, South Korea, earlier this year.
In other Olympic news, India’s shooting team faced an early exit from the 10m air rifle mixed team events. Both Indian pairs — Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh, and Arjun Babuta and Ramita Jindal — failed to advance to the medal rounds. Ramita and Arjun ended sixth with 628.7 points, narrowly missing out on the top four, while Elavenil and Sandeep finished 12th with 626.3 points.
Germany and Kazakhstan will compete for the bronze medal, with China and South Korea battling for gold. India’s shooting hopes continue with the upcoming 10m air pistol qualification rounds featuring Sarabjot Singh, Arjun Cheema, Manu Bhaker, and Rhythm Sangwan, scheduled for 2 pm and 4 pm respectively.
