Paris Olympics: Prithviraj bows out of men's trap event, Balraj's magical run in rowing ends on bitter note
Jul 30, 2024
Paris [France], July 30 : Once again, heartbreak was on the cards for India and its athletes after Prithviraj Tondaiman and Balraj Panwar bowed out of men's trap and rowing, respectively, on Tuesday in the ongoing Paris Olympics.
In the shooting event, Prithviraj finished in the 21st position, which ended his hopes of going past the qualification round. In the men's single sculls, Panwar and India's hopes for a medal ended after he secured the fifth spot in the quarter-finals.
On the first day of qualification in the men's trap event, Prithviraj struggled and had a tough outing after he finished in 30th rank after three rounds.
He came into the arena with redemption in the final two rounds on his mind. In the fourth round, he shot 25 out of 25 and moved five places up to the 25th spot.
He continued to ride high on his success in the fifth and final round after shooting all 25 with success once again. Unfortunately, his efforts were not enough to propel him past the qualification mark. He finished in the 21st position with a total of 118 shots to his credit. Only the top six shooters from the qualification round could proceed to the finals.
In rowing, Balraj was the sole representative for India. During the event, with a speed of 16.88 km/h, he completed the first 500m in 1:42.28s and stayed in the fifth position. However, he was not too far behind the rest of his competitors. The top three have pulled ahead now. Panwar crossed the halfway point in 3:29.24s and maintained his place in the fifth spot.
The rowers ahead of him started to accelerate and started to gain an advantage over Panwar. He failed to move past the other rowers and finished fifth in heat 4 of the quarter-final of men's single sculls by clocking 7:05.10s.
Neutral athlete Yauheni Zalaty (6:49.27s), Lithuania's Giedrius Bieliauskak (6:51.80s) and Japan's Ryuta Arakawa (6:54.17s) secured the top three spots respectively.
Only the top three rowers from each of the four quarter-finals could qualify for semi-finals A/B. The rest would go into semi-finals C/D, which meant Panwar was out of contention for a medal.
