All eyes will be on Neeraj Chopra to deliver India's elusive Olympic medal in athletics and end a wait of 100 years when he competes in the men's javelin throw final at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 on Saturday.
A pre-tournament medal contender, the 23-year-old fuelled country's expectations by topping the qualification round with a stunning first round throw of 86.59m.
Three track and field athletes were part of the five-member Indian team at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium -- the other two being wrestlers. Since then, no Indian has won a medal in athletics.
The International Olympic Committee still credits Norman Pritchard's 200m and 200m hurdles silver medals in the 1900 Paris Olympics to India though various research, including the records of then IAAF (now World Athletics), showed that he had competed for Great Britain.
Meanwhile, wrestler Bajrang Punia who suffered a huge setback as he lost to Aliyev Haji of Azerbaijan, going down 12-5 on points in the semifinals of the 65kg freestyle wrestling and will now fight for the bronze medal on Saturday.
Punia, who had survived a scare in the pre-quarterfinals against Akmataliev Ernazar of Kyrgyzstan and outplayed Ghiasi Cheka Morteza of Iran in the semifinals, went behind 1-4 on points in the first period and then came under repeated attacks from the Azerbaijani in the second to lose by a big margin.
Punia did fight back in the second period by claiming four points but Aliyev, the bronze medallist in 57kg in Rio de Janeiro and a three-time world champion in 61kg, proved too strong with late attacks.
Punia will now face the winner of the repechage round bout between Senegal's Adama Diatta and Kazakhstan's Daulet Niyazbekov in the bronze medal match on Saturday.
Athletics:
Neeraj Chopra in the final of men's javelin throw: 4:30pm IST
Golf:
Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar in women's individual stroke play round 4: 3:00am IST.
Wrestling:
Bajrang Punia in men's 65kg freestyle bronze medal match; either second or third bout after 3:15pm IST start.
(With inputs from agencies)
