India At Paris Olympics: The Curse Of The Fourth Place

The 2024 Paris Olympics have been a series of near misses for the Indian contingent. After a historic performance in Tokyo 2021, where India secured seven medals—its best ever—there were high hopes for an even better showing this time around. However, with only a silver and four bronze medals so far and just three days remaining, the prospect of surpassing the previous record seems slim, as the team grapples with a string of fourth-place finishes.

So far, eight athletes have crashed out in the finals or semi-finals of six games, securing the fourth position.

Lakshya Sen

The 22-year-old shuttler, who dazzled in his Olympics debut, quickly became the talk of the badminton world, with many heralding him as the next big thing for Indian badminton. His exceptional energy, agility, and tactical prowess captured attention as he advanced to the semi-finals — making history as the first male Indian badminton player to do so.

Sen won his first three matches with straight set wins, displaying a calm and confident demeanor on the court. His impressive lift, which thwarted opponents' smashes, and his swift recovery after falls spoke of his fine technique. In an unfortunate draw, his fourth match pitted him against his roommate at the Olympic Village, H S Prannoy. Prannoy, appearing fatigued and lacking motivation, conceded the match with surprising ease.

The young shuttler began feeling the pressure when he faced Taiwan’s Tien Chen Chou in the quarter-finals, losing the first set but ultimately securing a narrow and impressive victory. In the semi-finals, he went up against Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, the current world No. 2 and a former bronze medalist. With a 7-1 head-to-head disadvantage, the odds seemed stacked against him.

When the game began, it initially seemed like Sen could achieve the improbable. He narrowly lost the first set by just two points and was leading 7-0 in the second set. However, the top seed quickly showed why he held that position, ultimately turning the match in his favour.

The bronze medal match against Malaysia’s Zii Jia Lee initially appeared within reach, but as the game progressed, victory continued to elude him.

Despite his promising performance and commendation from Axelsen as a future medal contender, coach Prakash Padukone emphasised the need for introspection and accountability by the young player.

Mirabai Chanu

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist and two-time Commonwealth gold medallist Mirabai Chanu missed out on a medal by 1 kg on the eve of her 30th birthday. She successfully lifted 88 kg in the snatch and 111 kg in the clean and jerk, totalling 199 kg—slightly below her previous Olympic total of 202 kg.

China’s ZH Hou, who won gold, lifted a total of 206 kg, while Romania’s MV Cambei secured silver with 205 kg and Thailand’s S Khambao took bronze with 200 kg. Mirabai Chanu completed two successful lifts in the snatch—85 kg and 88 kg—and one successful lift in the clean and jerk at 111 kg.

At the end of the snatch round, Chanu was in third position, but after the clean and jerk, she slid to fourth place.

After her match, Mirabai Chanu said she was on her third day of her menstrual cycle and was feeling weak during the lifts. "I tried my best to win a medal for the country but I missed it today...It is a part of the game, we all sometimes win and sometimes lose...Next time I will work harder to win a medal for the country...I will try my best and will deliver my best performance in the next game…” she said in a video statement posted by ANI.

Manu Bhaker

Clinching two bronze medals at mixed 10 m air pistol and women’s 10 m air pistol, 22-year-old Manu Bhaker won the first medals for India at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Despite this impressive achievement, she narrowly missed becoming the first Indian Olympian to win three medals in a single Games. Finishing just one point behind her Hungarian competitor in a shoot-off, she fell short of the podium and ended up in fourth place.

Bhaker, who was in second place at one point during the final, admitted that nerves got the better of her, causing her to miss some shots. “I got really nervous about it, but I was trying my best to stay calm and do my best. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough,” Manu said after the event, as reported by PTI.

Given her past struggles, including failing to reach the finals in all three of her events at the Tokyo Olympics, Manu Bhaker made a remarkable comeback in Paris, achieving a milestone by reaching three finals in a single Olympic Games. Prior to her, Abhinav Bindra, the 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medalist, had reached three Olympic finals, but across three different editions—Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, and Rio 2016.

Maheshwari Chauhan and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka

India was hopeful of another medal in shooting, but the mixed skeet team fell just short, finishing in fourth place, missing the podium by a single point. The duo, Maheshwari and Naruka, scored 43, narrowly losing out to China’s Yiting Jiang and Jianlin Lyu, who secured bronze with a score of 44.

In a thrilling 48-shot contest—24 shots each—the Indian pair remained in contention until the final two pairs of targets. Jiang Yiting’s decisive shots ultimately clinched the bronze medal for the Chinese duo.

Arjun Babuta

Arjun Babuta, at 25, came agonisingly close to a medal in the men's 10m air rifle at the Paris 2024 Olympics, finishing fourth with 208.4 points. Babuta led early with a strong start, scoring 105.0 in his first 10 shots. Despite a promising start and holding onto third place initially, a 9.9 on his 13th shot and a 9.5 on his final shot dropped him just 1.4 points behind Croatia's Miran Maricic, who took bronze with 209.8 points.

Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara

India's archery team had a challenging run, with Ankita Bhakat and Dhiraj Bommadevara reaching the semi-finals in the mixed team event but falling short of a medal. They lost the bronze medal match to the USA’s Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold.

In the quarter-finals, the Indian duo defeated Spain's Elia Canales and Pablo Acha 5-3 after a closely contested match. India started strong, taking the first set and levelling the second. Despite a brief dip in form, they regained their composure to win the quarter-final.

However, their momentum faltered in the semi-finals against Korea, where they were defeated 6-2. Despite a promising start, the team couldn't sustain their performance, ultimately missing out on a podium finish.