Paris 2024 Olympics Day 3 Recap and Highlights – July 29

Table Tennis

Manika Batra becomes the first Indian woman table tennis player to reach the round of 16 in the Olympics, thrashing Prithika Pavade of France 4-0.

Fencing

Ukrainian fencing great Olga Kharlan wins the sabre individual bronze, securing her country’s first medal of the Paris Olympics. The 33-year-old produced an extraordinary comeback from 11-5 down to beat South Korean opponent Choi Se-bin 15-14.

Tennis

• Novak Djokovic crushes Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-4 in their blockbuster Olympics clash as the two titans meet for the 60th and possibly final time.
• The showdown between the two most successful men’s tennis players in history appeared to be fizzling out before a late fightback from Nadal enabled him to avoid his heaviest-ever defeat by Djokovic.

Swimming

• Canadian prodigy Summer McIntosh wins a maiden Olympic gold medal with a dominant 400m medley swim, clocking the fourth-fastest time ever to reinforce her burgeoning reputation. The 17-year-old world record holder powered to the wall in 4mins 27.71secs, outpacing American pair Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant.
• Romanian teenager David Popovici powers to the men’s Olympic 200m freestyle gold medal, edging Britain’s Matthew Richards by a fingertip. The 19-year-old touched in 1min 44.72secs ahead of Richards, with American Luke Hobson taking bronze.

Gymnastics

Japan wins the team gold medal in men’s artistic gymnastics, with China taking silver and the United States winning bronze.

Equestrian

Michael Jung becomes the first rider to win the Olympic individual eventing title three times, clinching the fourth Olympic gold medal of his illustrious career. The 41-year-old German rider finished ahead of Australian Christopher Burton and Britain’s Laura Collett.

Mountain Biking

Britain’s Tom Pidcock roars back after suffering a puncture to retain his Olympic men’s mountain bike title after a thrilling battle with France’s Victor Koretzky. The 24-year-old world champion needed all his renowned bike handling skills to first claw back a 40-second deficit and then hold off Koretzky in a barnstorming last-lap battle.

Archery

• Korea wins gold medal in men’s archery, defeating France 5-1 in the final to clinch their third consecutive Olympic title in the event.
• Turkiye wins bronze medal in men’s archery, defeating China 5-4 in a close bronze medal match.
• India loses to Turkiye in the men’s archery quarterfinals by a score of 6-2.

Badminton

Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen shrugs off the cancellation of his opening match win and defeats Julien Carraggi of Belgium in straight games (21-19, 21-14) in the men’s singles badminton competition.

Hockey

• The India vs Australia men’s hockey match ends in a 1-1 tie in their Group B encounter.
• Argentina opens the scoring against India in their Group B men’s hockey match.

Diving

• Britain’s Tom Daley is dethroned as Olympic champion but takes an emotional silver medal with partner Noah Williams in the men’s synchronised 10m platform behind China’s Lian Junjie and Yang Hao. It is Daley’s fifth medal in five Olympics.

Shooting

• It’s heartbreak for India in the shooting event as Arjun Babuta finishes fourth in the men’s 10m air rifle final. China’s Lihao Sheng wins gold, Sweden’s Victor Lindgren takes silver, and Croatia’s Miran Maricic claims bronze.
• In the women’s 10m air rifle final, South Korea’s Ban Hyo-jin wins gold, China’s Huang Yuting takes silver, and Switzerland’s Audrey Gogniat wins bronze. India’s Ramita Jindal finishes in 7th place.
• Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh qualify for the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team bronze medal match, where they will face Korea.

Some other notable news

• A far-left activist has been arrested in connection with the sabotage attack on France’s high-speed rail network last Friday.
• Paris Olympics organisers cancel the triathlon swimming training session for the second day in a row due to heavy rain affecting water quality levels in the Seine.
• Paris Olympics organisers apologise to anyone offended by a tableau that evoked Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” during the opening ceremony, but defend the concept behind it.