Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Here's India's schedule on July 24
The Indian contingent has a busy day ahead on July 24 at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. After a forgettable day for the Indian archers today in Tokyo, India will be aiming to produce substance on Saturday with a few medal events in place as well. One expects the Indians to start well as the focus will be on the medal contenders. Here's more.
Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan can start well in shooting as they gear up for the 10m Air Rifle event. The qualifying round is at 5:00 AM IST followed by the final (7:15 AM). The likes of Abhishek Verma and Saurabh Chaudhary will vie for the 10m Air Pistol event in the men's category. Qualifying round and final: 9:30 AM and 12:00 PM respectively.
The Indian men's hockey team will start its Group A proceedings against New Zealand (6:30 AM). A sound start is what India will be aiming against the eighth-ranked Kiwi outfit. After the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Manpreet Singh-led side has beaten the Black Sticks on eight occasions out of 11 meetings. Meanwhile, the women's team will face world no.1 Netherlands (5:15 PM).
In table tennis, world number 63 Manika Batra will open her women's singles round 1 campaign against Ho Tin-Tin (12:15 PM). Also, Sutirtha Mukherjee will open her campaign against 80th ranked Linda Bergstrom (1:00 PM). Meanwhile, the in-form mixed doubles team of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Batra will face Lin Yun Ju/Cheng I Ching in a crucial opening encounter (8:30 AM).
In badminton, the men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Reddy and Chirag Shetty will be facing Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin in Group A (8:50 AM approx). Sai Praneeth will be seen in action in the Men's Singles Group Play Stage - Group D (9:30 AM approx).
In boxing, Vikas Krishan starts his journey in the men's welter (63-69kg) - preliminaries - round of 32 match against Mensah Okazawa (3:54 PM). In judo, Sushila Devi Likmabam will be seen in action in the women's 48kg elimination round of 32 clash. She will take on Eva Csernoviczki (8:28 AM). There will be further rounds and medal matches later on in the day.
In tennis, the promising Sumit Nagal faces a severe first-round challenge in the form of Denis Istomin. The 23-year-old Nagal is ranked 160 by ATP.
In archery, India will face the Chinese Taipei in the mixed team 1/8 elimination round. If India move through, the quarter-finals and medal matches will also be on offer tomorrow. Deepika Kumari will partner Pravin Jadhav in the archery mixed pair event after India secured a ninth-place ranking for the competition.
In weightlifting, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu will be seen in action in the women's 49kg Group A event (10:20 AM). There is a medal event tomorrow as well and Chanu will hope to find her groove. In rowing, Arjun Jat Lal and Arvind Singh will be seen in the lightweight men's double sculls heat 2 (8:00 AM).
