Paris Olympics: Five things to watch out for on Day 1
The Games will well and truly kick-off with medals on offer in aquatics, cycling, fencing, judo, rugby sevens, shooting and skateboarding
NEW DELHI The 2024 Paris Olympics will well and truly kick-off today with medals on offer in aquatics, cycling, fencing, judo, rugby sevens, shooting and skateboarding. Here’s a look at the top events to look out for on the first day of action after the opening ceremony on Friday evening:
Shooting
Even though shooting did not deliver India any medals in the last two Olympics at Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, hopes will still be high from the shooting contingent with Sandeep Singh/Elavenil Valarivan and Arjun Babuta/Ramita in 10m air rifle mixed team final while Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema will be seen in the 10m air pistol men’s qualification. Sandeep, who topped the four-stage selection trials, will team up with Tokyo Olympian Elavenil while the talented Arjun will have Asian Games medallist Ramita for company as India will hope to open their medals tally on Day 1. Meanwhile, Sarabjot and Cheema will hope to make the final. Later in the day, Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan will be seen in 10m air pistol women’s qualification. (Paris Olympics 2024 Day 1 Live updates)
Time: 12:30PM IST onwards
Hockey
The Tokyo Games bronze medallists, India, begin their campaign against New Zealand, a tricky side that sent them packing from the 2023 World Cup. Harmanpreet Singh’s side will hope to give a fitting farewell to the experienced PR Sreejesh, who is at his fourth Games, and a win against the Black Sticks won’t be a bad start before they take on tougher opponents.
Time: 9 PM IST
Badminton
Badminton, which has yielded three medals for India in as many editions, also commences on Saturday with 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lakshya Sen taking on Kevin Cordon of Guatemala, who surprised one and all at the Tokyo Olympics. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will also be in action against local shuttlers Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar and so will the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, who will take on former All England champions Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong of South Korea.
Time: 5:30 PM onwards
Swimming
An epic rivalry will resume on Saturday as Australian Ariarne Titmus and American Katie Ledecky will vie for gold in women’s 400m freestyle, with the former claiming the title three years ago in Tokyo. There could also be a four-way battle this time around with Canada’s Summer McIntosh and New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather also in contention in one of the four swimming finals on Saturday.
Time: 2:30 PM IST onwards
Rugby 7s
The men’s rugby sevens event, which started on July 24, will reach its conclusion with back-to-back Olympic champions Fiji facing Australia and South Africa going up against hosts France in the semi-finals. The bronze and gold medal matches will take place later on Saturday evening. The women’s event starts a day later on Sunday.
Time: 7 PM IST onwards
