India got its first medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2021 as Mirabai Chanu won a silver in the 49-kg category in women’s weightlifting. Saurabh Chaudhary’s failed to win a medal match in 10m Air Pistol as he finished seventh. For the first time, 19-year old Chaudary not able to end a event with a podium finish.
Mirabai Chanu was a medal contender in the women’s 49 kg, having set a new world record in clean & jerk by lifting 119kg in the Asian Weightlifting Championship at Tashkent in April 2021.
China wins first gold medal of Tokyo Olympics 2021 as Qian Yang topped women’s 10m air rifle event. Earlier, India shooters Apurvi Chandel and Elavenil Valarivan were knocked out in qualification in the same event.
India shooters for Tokyo Olympics 2021 today
Indian shooters endured a poor start at the Tokyo Olympics with first-timer Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela failing to qualify for the finals of the women’s 10m air rifle event here on Saturday.
Making her Olympic debut, world number one Elavenil finished 16th in the qualifications after shooting 626.5 over six series of 10 shots each, while the more experienced Apurvi, who is also the finals world record holder in the event, settled for the 36th place after aggregating 621.9 at the Asaka Range.
The Indians were off to a decent start and even as Apurvi slipped after a disastrous second series, with two scores of 9.5 and 9.9, the 21-year-old Elavenil tried to remain in the reckoning with a fine performance in the third series, including shooting a perfect 10.9.
However, Elavenil, a World Cup Final gold-medallist, could not maintain the same form and a couple of 9s in the fifth and sixth series pushed her further down.
Apurvi, 28, who has won two World Cup gold medals during her excellent run in 2019, had finished 34th at the 2016 Rio Games.
