Tokyo Olympics 2020 Live Updates Day 1: Archery, Shooting and Weightlifting could provide some early joy to India on Saturday, while the Badminton, Hockey, TT and Boxing campaigns also begin.
Tokyo Olympics 2020 Live Updates Day 1: The Tokyo Olympics are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic. Deepika Kumari, Mirabai Chanu, Saurabh Chaudhary and Vikas Krishan are some of the biggest names in the schedule for the day.
The biggest joy for the Indians in the morning on Saturday came in Archery, with the mixed team of Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav outclassing Chinese Taipei to make their way into the last 8. Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela, meanwhile, failed to progress to the 10m air rifle final. The Indian men’s hockey team then beat New Zealand 3-2 in their first group match to make a triumphant start to their campaign.
The Games were declared open by Japan’s Emperor Naruhito after which tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games on Friday, ending the flame’s long journey from Greece to these delayed Olympics. The cauldron sat atop a peak inspired by Mount Fuji. It was a sphere that opened like a flower, “to embody vitality and hope,” organizers said. A second cauldron has been placed in Tokyo’s waterfront area was to be lit after the opening ceremony. The games, delayed for a year by the pandemic, have had competition taking place since earlier in the week, but are not considered officially having started until the opening ceremony.
Here is the Indian schedule for the day–
July 24: Women’s 10m Air Rifle Qualification — Elavenil Valarivan, Apurvi Chandela from 5 AM
July 24: Men’s 10m Air Pistol Qualification — Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, from 9:30 AM
July 24: Women’s 10m Air Rifle Final — Elavenil Valarivan, Apurvi Chandela (if qualify), from 10:15 AM
July 24: Men’s 10m Air Pistol Final — Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma (if qualify), from 12 PM
July 24: Women’s 48kg Round of 32, Successive Rounds — Sushila Devi Likmabam, from 7:30 AM
July 24: Women’s 49kg Medal Round — Mirabai Chanu, from 10:20 AM
July 24: Mixed Doubles Round of 16 — Sharath Kamal/Manika Batra, from 7:45 AM
July 24: Hockey Men’s Pool A — India vs New Zealand, 6:30 AM
July 24: Hockey Women’s Pool A — India vs Netherlands, 5:15 PM