The grand opening ceremony of the much-anticipated Paris Olympics 2024 took place on Friday, featuring 10,714 athletes from 206 nations in the Parade of Nations. The Indian contingent is set to compete in 12 sporting events across seven disciplines on Saturday, July 27.
Rower Balraj Panwar will kick-start India's campaign at the Paris Olympics by participating in the men's singles sculls heats. The main focus will be on shooting, with two medals up for grabs in the 10m air rifle mixed team and 10m air pistol men's events. India hasn't won an Olympic medal in shooting since the 2012 London Summer Games.
The Indian men's hockey team, led by Harmanpreet Singh, will begin their quest for successive Olympic medals against New Zealand. In the Tokyo Olympics 2021, India ended a 41-year drought by winning a bronze medal, defeating Belgium in the third-place match.
In Badminton, youngster Lakshya Sen will kick off his first round against Kevin Cordon, while the doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will take on Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar in the Men's Doubles opening round. The women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto to lock horns against Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong in the group stage encounter.
Veteran Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna will partner with N Sriram Balaji to take on Edouard Roger and Vasselin and Fabien Reboul in the Men's Doubles' first round match.
In table tennis, Harmeet Desai will begin his campaign against Zaid Abo Yaman in the preminilary round.
Preeti Pawar will kick start boxing contingent's campaign Thi Kim anh Vo in the opening round of the Women's 54kg.
India's Day 1 schedule
Rowing
Men's Singles Sculls Heats - Panwar Balraj - 12:30 PM IST
Shooting
10m air rifle mixed team qualification (Sandeep Singh/Elavenil Valarivan and Arjun Babuta/Ramita Jindal) - 12:30 PM IST
10m air rifle mixed team bronze medal match - 2:00 PM IST
10m air pistol men's qualification (Arjun Singh Cheema and Sarabjot Singh - 2:00 PM IST
10m air rifle mixed team gold medal match - 2:30 PM IST
10m air pistol women's qualification (Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan)- 4:00 PM IST
Badminton (group stage)
Men's singles: Lakshya Sen vs Kevin Cordon - 7:15 PM IST
Men's Doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty vs Lucas Corvee- Ronan Labar - 8 PM IST
Women's Doubles: Ashwini Ponappa-Tanisha Crasto vs Kim So Yeong-Kong Hee Yong - 11:50 PM IST
Hockey
Group stage - India vs New Zealand - 9 PM IST
Table Tennis
Men Singles Preliminary Round - Harmeet Desai vs Zaid Abo Yaman - 7:15 PM IST
Boxing
Women's 54 kg opening round - Preeti Pawar vs Thi Kim anh Vo - 12:05 AM IST
