Chateauroux (France), July 27 (IANS) Indian shooters Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema failed to qualify for the finals of the men’s 10m Air Pistol in the Paris Olympics on Saturday.

Chateauroux (France), July 27 (IANS) Indian shooters Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema failed to qualify for the finals of the men’s 10m Air Pistol in the Paris Olympics on Saturday.

Sarabjot missed the final spot by a whisker after finishing ninth in the qualification round behind Germany’s Robin Walter. The Indian added 577 points after 60 shots, tied with Walter but the German has hit one inner-10 more than the Indian and progressed to the finals.

The other Indian shooter, Cheema, finished 18th in the qualification round with a total of 574 and 17 inner 10s.

Earlier in the day, Ramita Jindal-Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan-Sandeep Singh failed to qualify for the final of the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event.

Ramita and Arjun shot a total of 628.7 in a series of 30 shots for each to finish while Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh, the second Indian team, finished 12th with 626.3 points.

–IANS

cs/

Paris, July 27 (IANS) The beautiful opening ceremony that took place at the Seine River on Friday has been overshadowed by a mistake made when the South Korean contingent were set to be introduced.

The 143-member team were introduced as North Korea, with whom the country has had very sour relationships with, using their official name “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”

Following the incident, an IOC spokesperson ‘apologised wholeheartedly’ for the regrettable incident.

“We are deeply regrettable and we apologise wholeheartedly. We have issued a statement last night so we made it very clear from the IOC that an operational mistake was made, we can only apologize. In an evening with so many moving parts that mistake was made and we apologize to the people of the Republic of Korea for that error,” said IOC Spokesperson Mark Adams to reporters.

“We deeply apologize for the mistake that occurred when introducing the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony,” read the statement by the IOC on X.

South Korea’s sports ministry “expressed regret” over the “announcement during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the South Korean delegation was introduced as the North Korean team,” through a statement and announced their intentions of holding a meeting between second vice sports minister Jang Mi-ran, a 2008 Olympic weightlifting champion and IOC chief Thomas Bach to discuss the matter.

–IANS

cs/

Tahiti (France), July 27 (IANS) As the Paris Olympic Games surfing competition is expected to start on Saturday, Chinese coach Luo Yang is cautious despite the excitement of China’s debut on the Olympic waves with 15-year-old Yang Siqi.

“Yang has never surfed in Teahupo’o before,” said Luo, referring to the Olympic surfing venue in Tahiti famous for its mighty waves, reported by Xinhua.

“We don’t have such conditions in China, nor have we encountered such waves during our overseas training. We had two weeks of training ahead of the Games, but compared with some top athletes who have long surfed here, we still have much to learn,” Luo told Xinhua.

Yang secured a berth for the Paris Olympic Games at the World Surfing Games (WSG) 2024 earlier this year and is set to become the first Chinese surfer to appear in the Olympic Games.

As Yang is the youngest among the total of 48 Olympic surfers in the men’s and women’s competitions, her coach is eyeing the long term.

“Our main goal is to accumulate experience of competing in major events like the Olympic Games, to learn from our opponents, and to have a safe competition while trying to enjoy the process. And for Yang herself, she wants to complete a barrel in the Olympic Games,” said Luo.

Yang is set to face Nadia Erostarbe of Spain and Saffi Vette of New Zealand in the Round 1 heat. The winner would advance to the Round of 16 while the remaining two would have another chance in the second round.

Despite being cautious about Yang’s perspective of the Games, Luo said they would try their best to advance as far as possible.

“We don’t feel much pressure. The pressure is all on our opponents,” he said.

The Paris Olympic Games surfing competition window is open for 10 days, finishing on August 5, with approximately four days needed to complete, as the schedule varies over the weather and wave conditions. The latest forecast predicts overhead waves and clean winds to allow the start of the competition on Saturday.

–IANS

hs/

Chateauroux (France), July 27 (IANS) China’s mixed shooting pair of Lihao Sheng and Yuting Huang won the first gold medal of the Paris Olympics here at Chateauroux on Saturday.

The Chinese duo outclassed South Korean pair of Kim Jihyeon and Park Hajun 16-12 in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event final to start their campaign on high.

China had the upper hand since the initial rounds and maintained their lead throughout despite the fighting effort from the Koreans in the end.

Earlier, Kazakhstan bagged the first medal of the Games after Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev defeated Germany’s Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich 17-5 in the same event to win bronze.

–IANS

cs/

Chateauroux, July 27 (IANS) Kazakhstan claimed the first medal of the Paris 2024 Olympics with a dominant performance in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event, defeating Germany 17-5 in the bronze-medal match on Saturday.

Kazakh shooters Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev set the tone early in the match, taking the first round with a score of 21.4 to Germany’s 20.7, establishing a 2-0 lead. Despite a spirited effort from Germany’s Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich, who managed to level the score at 3-3 and 4-4, the Kazakh pair never relinquished their grip on the match.

Le and Satpayev’s consistency proved too much for the Germans. After the brief tie, Kazakhstan surged ahead, winning the next three rounds to secure a 10-4 lead. Although Germany managed to tie one more round, it was merely a temporary reprieve as the Kazakhs continued their commanding performance, ultimately sealing a comfortable victory.

Kazakhstan’s journey to the bronze medal was marked by a strong showing in the qualification rounds, where they finished third, just ahead of Germany in fourth place.

With Kazakhstan securing the bronze, the focus now shifts to the gold medal match between China and the Republic of Korea, the top two qualifiers in the event.

–IANS

cs/