India at Olympic Games today : Shooters carry India’s medal hopes on day 1
After a glittering opening ceremony at the Maracana, all eyes will now turn to the events with shooters Apurvi Chandela, Ayonika Paul, Jitu Rai, and Gurpreet Singh set to carry India’s medal hopes on the first day. Men’s hockey team will also start their campaign today against Ireland.
While Atanu Das produced a scintillating performance in the archery ranking round yesterday, Deepika Kumari and the women’s team failed to live up to the expectations and secured mediocre finishes for India on day 0 of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Shooters will carry India’s biggest medal hopes on the day and Jitu Rai will be the biggest prospect for
The Indian men’s hockey team skipped the opening ceremony in order to be fresh and ready for their opening match and will be looking to start their campaign with a win when they face Ireland in the first game of Group B. Tennis stars Rohan Bopanna, Sania Mirza, and Prarthana Thombare also skipped the ceremony today early morning, while Bopanna’s partner Leander Paes chose to attend the ceremony. Bopanna and Paes will be up against Poland's Marcel Matkowski and Lukasz Kubot in the first round of the men’s doubles, while Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare will face Chinese duo of Peng Shuai and Zhang Shuai.
Apart from these high-profile stars, Dattu Bhokanal in rowing, Mirabai Chanu in weightlifting, and the table tennis quartet of Mouma Das, Manika Batra, Soumyajit Ghosh, and Achanta Sharath Kamal will also be in action for India today.
Here is the schedule for the day (August 5, Day 1):
Rowing
Event: Men’s singles sculls (heat 1)
Athlete: Dattu Bhokanal
Time: 5pm
Venue: Lagoa Stadium
Shooting
Event: Women’s 10m Air Rifle (qualification)
Athletes: Ayonika Paul and Apurvi Chandela
Time: 5pm
Venue: Olympic shooting centre
The final will be at 7pm
Event: Men’s 10m Air Pistol (qualification)
Athletes: Jitu Rai and Gurpreet Singh
Time: 9.30pm
Venue: Olympic shooting centre
The final will be at 12am (August 7)
Hockey
Event: Men’s team (Group B - preliminaries)
Match: India vs Ireland
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Olympic Hockey centre
Tennis
Event: Men’s Doubles (Round 1)
Match : Rohan Bopanna/Leander Paes vs Marcel Matkowski/Lukasz Kubot
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Olympic Tennis centre
Event: Women’s Doubles (Round 1)
Match: Sania Mirza/ Prarthana Thombare vsPeng Shuai/Zhang Shuai
Time: 1.30 am (August 7)
Venue: Olympic Tennis centre
Table Tennis
Event: Women’s singles (Round 1)
Match 1: Mouma Das vs Daniela Monteiro Dodean
Time: 7.45pm
Match 2 : Manika Batra vs Katarzyna Grzybowska-Franc
Time: 8.30 pm
Event: Men’s singles (Round 1)
Match 1: Soumyajit Ghosh vs Padasak Tanviriyavechakul
Time: 12.30am (August 7)
Match 2: Achanta Sharath Kamal vs Adrian Crisan
Time: 12.30am (August 7)
The round 2 matches of both the men’s and the women’s events will be played on the same day after the completion of the first round.
Weightlifting
Event: Women’s 48kg – Group A
Athlete: Saikhom Mirabai Chanu
Time: 3.30am (August 7) Â