Paris Olympics 2024 Day 1 Live Updates: Indian shooters eye medals

Paris Olympics 2024 Day 1 Live Updates: Let the Games begin! After a star-studded, captivating and a rather unique opening ceremony, the 33rd Olympic Games have officially begun. And if you're an Indian supported, you couldn't have hoped for a more exciting and pulsating start to the Games. Welcome to Day 1 of the Paris Olympics 2024 where a plethora of Indian stars will be in action across shooting, badminton, tennis, hockey, boxing and more. And check this out. India have a chance to open their medal tally on the opening day itself as the shooters compete in team and individual events....Read More

While the first half of the day is expected to be shooting-heavy, the second half will throw plenty of mix and match. The likes of shuttlers HS Prannoy and the double's team of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Reddy will look to give Indian badminton an early push, followed by the men's hockey team. Besides, India's oldest athlete of the Paris Olympics, Rohan Bopanna and his partner N Sriram Balaji, who have a go at France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Fabien Reboul in their men's doubles first round match.

The opening ceremony saw the likes of Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Zinedine Zidane take part in the torch relay, along with a breathtaking performance from Celine Dion. On Day 1, the spotlight will be on India's shooting contingent, who will be in action early on Saturday. India's hopes will rest on the shoulders of Ramita Jindal-Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan-Sandeep Singh, with the medal matches taking place later in the day. Meanwhile, Arjun Singh Cheema, Sarajbot Singh, Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan will also be part of the 10m air pistol events qualifiers. The top-eight will make it to the medal round later in the day.

Traditionally, shooting, as a whole, was labelled as an underachieving sport for India at the Olympics. India last won a medal at shooting in London 2012, and there isn't a better and more opportune time to start afresh than here in Paris.

Much to the excitement of fans, the men's hockey team in action, who face New Zealand in their Pool B opener. In badminton, Lakshya takes on Kevin Cordon in his men's singles group match, while the doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face France's Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar of France in their group fixture. Also, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto will face Korea's So Yeong and Kong Hee Yon.

In boxing, Preeti Pawar will fancy his uppercuts and jabs against Vietnam's Thi Kim anh Vo in her Women's 54kg opening round bout. Also in men's single sculls, Panwar Balraj will be representing India.

India have sent a strong 117-member contingent at the Olympic Games, hoping to better their tally of 7 medals at the Tokyo Games. Neeraj Chopra, Manu Bhaker, Lakshya Sen, PV Sindhu, men's hockey team, Vinesh Phogat and Nikhat Zareen are some of India's brightest medal hopes. A lot is also expected of pugilist Lovlina Borgohain and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu to put in a repeat of their Tokyo show and land their second successive medal, joining PV Sindhu as the only other Indian to win back-to-back Olympics medal.

In fact, badminton is the only sport where India have consistently won medals starting the 2012 London Games. Wrestling has been another strong sport for India at the Olympics. It has fetched the second most Olympic medals for India after hockey but given the off-the-field turmoil it finds itself it, the sport finds itself taking a hit. Someone like a Sakshi Malik is not even part of the contingent and has been restricted to doing commentary.

Here is what India's schedule looks like on Day 1 of the 2024 Paris Olympics

Shooting

- Precision Pair Duel: Mixed 10m Air Rifle Qualifiers - Ramita & Arjun, Elavenil & Sandeep - 12:30 PM

- Gold Rush: Mixed 10m Air Rifle Finals (if qualified) - 2:00 PM onwards

- Men's Pistol Precision: 10m Air Pistol Qualifiers - Arjun Singh & Sarabjot - 2:00 PM

- Women's Pistol Showdown: 10m Air Pistol Qualifiers - Manu & Rhythm - 4:00 PM

Rowing

- Solo Battle: Men's Single Sculls Heat 1 - Balraj Panwar - 12:30 PM

Badminton

- Eastern Eagle vs Central American Challenger: Men's Singles Group L - Lakshya Sen vs Kevin Cordon - 7:10 PM

- Indian Dynamic Duo vs French Force: Men's Doubles Group C - Satwik & Chirag vs Lucas & Ronan - 8:00 PM

- Indian Pair vs Korean Rivals: Women's Doubles Group C - Tanisha & Ashwini vs Kim & Kong - 11:50 PM

Tennis

- Indian Veterans vs French Duo: Men's Doubles Round 1 - Sriram & Bopanna vs Reboul & Roger-Vasselin - 3:30 PM

Table Tennis

- Indian Challenge: Men's Singles Preliminary - Harmeet Desai vs Zaid Abo Yaman - 7:15 PM

Hockey

- India vs New Zealand: Pool B Clash - 9:00 PM

Boxing

- Indian Fighter vs Vietnamese Rival: Women's 54kg Round of 32 - Preeti Pawar vs Vo Thi Kim Anh - 12:02 AM (July 28)

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