Paris Olympics: China wins first gold of Paris 2024; Kazakhstan shooters claim first overall medal of Games

Paris 2024 Olympics: China beat the Republic of Korea in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team final to claim the first gold medal of the Paris Games at the Chateauroux on Saturday.

Yuting Huang of China and Lihao Sheng of China (R) in action. (REUTERS)

The 10m air rifle pairing of Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao won the first gold medal of the Paris Olympics, thus making China the first nation to stand atop the podium at the Paris Olympics. Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao won the gold medal match by a margin of 16-12 over Keum Jihyeon and Park Jahun of the Republic of Korea.

Meanwhile, the first medal of Paris 2024 was won by Kazakhstan. The win marked Kazakhstan’s first Olympic medal in shooting since 1996! The mixed 10m rifle pair of Alexandre Le and Islam Satpayev claimed the first medals of Paris 2024!

India’s 10m air rifle mixed team duos of Ramita Jindal-Arjun Babuta and Sandeep Singh-Elavenil Valarivan failed to make it to the medal rounds of their event at the Chateauroux shooting range on Saturday. While the Ramita and Arjun pair ended sixth, Sandeep Singh and Elavenil Valarivan finished 12th.

In the 10m air rifle mixed team qualification final, the People’s Republic of China team 1 of Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao were the reigning world champions. The Chinese pair had produced a top score of 632.2 to advance to the gold medal match while the final rivals were the South Korean pair of Keum Jihyeon and Park Jahun were second in qualifying with a score of 631.4.

The Kazakhstan pair of Le and Satpayev claimed a 17-5 victory over Maximilian Ulbrich and Anna Janssen of Germany.

The Paris Olympics began in earnest on Saturday with the medal events after a rain-soaked but glamourous Opening Ceremony on Saturday.