Four medals at stakes for India at day 2 of Tokyo Olympics

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

The Indian hockey teams will also kick-off their campaign while Sai Praneeth makes his debut at the Games.

Tokyo Olympics will finally be in full flow on the second day of the sporting extravaganza. A record number of Indian athletes have qualified for the Games. As many as 121 Indian athletes will represent the country in various sporting events.

The opening day witnessed a memorable curtain raiser ceremony. Several Indian archers were also in action on Friday, in their respective individual ranking rounds. World No. 1 Deepika Kumari was the first Indian athlete to get off the blocks. However, she finished the day underwhelmingly. Kumari finished the ranking rounds in a lowly ninth position. She will face Bhutan's Karma in the next round. Meanwhile, Korea's An San achieved an Olympics record with 680 points.

The second day of the Tokyo Olympics will witness several high-profile Indian athletes in action. Badminton star B. Sai Praneeth, boxer Vikas Krishan, Indian national men's and women's hockey team, Mirabai Chanu and many others will take to the field on Saturday.

Shooting: (Women's 10m Air Rifle) Medal Event

The Indian shooting contingent will be the first ones in action. Shooting is India’s biggest medal hope. The nation has achieved at least a medal in the sport in three of the last four Olympics. There is a large Indian contingent of 15 shooters, who will be participating at the Tokyo Olympics. There is a high expectation from the Indian shooters this time around.

World No. 1 Elavenil Valarivan and World No. 11 Apurvi Chandela are the two Indian shooters who will participate in this event. Valarivan is a student of legendary Indian shooter Gagan Narang's Gun for Glory academy. The London 2012 bronze medallist has spoken highly about Valarivan's prospects at the Tokyo Olympics.

As for Chandela, she is much more experienced compared to her compatriot. The 28-year-old had participated in Rio 2016 and as such, she is also expected to perform well in Tokyo. The event will begin at 5 AM IST in Saturday morning.

Archery Mixed Team (Medal Event)

Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav will hope to make amends in the mixed team event. The duo had disappointing individual ranking round outings in their respective categories. Kumari had recently clinched the gold medal in the mixed team event with Aatanu Das at the Archery World Cup held in Paris. However, they won't play together in Tokyo as the mixed team rankings suffered a big blow due to their bad performance in the individual ranking event.

The event is scheduled to start at 6 AM IST on July 24.

Weightlifting (Women's 49kg) Medal Event

The lone Indian weightlifter to have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics is Mirabai Chanu. The 26-year-old is the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and currently holds the clean and jerk world record. Chanu had a disappointing campaign in Rio in 2016, where she had failed to finish the event. This time around, a much more determined Chanu will be aiming to clinch India's second ever Olympics medal in weightlifting.

The event will begin at 6:20 AM IST on July 24.

Men's Hockey: India Vs New Zealand

The much-improved Indian men's hockey team will lock horns with New Zealand in their opening encounter. Led by Manpreet Singh, the men's team is currently ranked fourth in the world. Their Group A opponents New Zealand are ranked eighth. The match will kick-off at 6:30 AM IST on Saturday.

Judo (Women's 48kg): Sushila Devi Vs Eva Csernovickzi (Medal Event)

India's lone judoka at the Tokyo Olympics, Sushila Devi will be competing in this event. The 26-year-old has been handed a tough draw and will face London 2012 bronze medallist Eva Csernovickzi of Hungary in the Round of 32.

The fixture will start at 7:30 AM on Saturday morning.

Rowing Men's Lightweight Double Sculls

The duo of Arun Jat and Ajit Singh sealed their Olympics quota in the men’s doubles sculls event after securing second place in the Asia Oceania Continental Regatta event. They will begin their Tokyo Olympics journey in the heat round at the Sea Forest Waterway, from 7:50 AM IST on July 24.

Tennis Men's Singles: Sumit Nagal Vs Denis Istomin

India's Sumit Nagal will face the challenge of Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin in the first round. Istomin has the experience of facing the world's best. He had recently played Roger Federer in the French Open first round. The match will take place at around 8 AM IST on July 24.

Table Tennis Mixed Doubles: Manika Batra & Sharath Kamal Vs Ju-Yun Lin & Cheng-I Cheng

The 19th ranked veteran Indian pair of Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal will face a tough challenge in the Round of 16. They will have to get past World No. 4 Chinese Taipei duo of Ju-Yun Lin and Cheng-I Cheng. The match is scheduled to begin at 8:30 AM IST.

Badminton Men's Doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty Vs Yang Lee & Chi-Lin Wang

The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and his partner Chirag Shetty will begin their Tokyo Olympics campaign on Saturday. Ranked 10th in the world, their Group A opponents will be World No. 3 Yang Lee and Chi-Lin Wang of Chinese Taipei. The match will begin at 8:50 AM IST.

Badminton Men's Singles: B. Sai Praneeth Vs Misha Zilberman

There are high hopes on the only Indian men's singles player to have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, B. Sai Praneeth. His opponent in the Group D fixture will be Israeli Misha Zilberman. The game will begin at 9:30 AM IST.

Here's what he had to say about his first opponent at the Olympic Games.

Shooting: (Men's 10m Air Pistol) Medal Event

Two of the world's best shooters in the 10m men's air pistol category is from India. World No. 1 Abhishek Verma and World No. 2 Saurabh Chaudhary are carrying high hopes going into the mega event. Both of them are at different ends of their careers. While Verma is aged 31, Chaudhary is just 19 years old.

The duo has won a number of medals previously in their career. From the Asian Games, ISSF World Cup to Youth Olympic Games, there's no tournament that they have not left their mark on. India will be looking forward to Abhishek Verma and Saurabh Chaudhary to deliver on the Olympics stage. The event will begin at 9:30 AM IST on Saturday morning.

Table Tennis (Women's Singles): Manika Batra Vs Tin-Tin Ho

Manika Batra will begin her women's singles campaign on Saturday afternoon. She is slated to face Great Britain's Tin-Tin Ho in the first round. The match will begin at 12:15 PM in the afternoon.

Table Tennis (Women's Singles): Sutirtha Mukerjee Vs Linda Bergstroem

On the other hand, Olympic debutant Sutirtha Mukherjee will also begin her Tokyo Olympics journey on Saturday. Her opponent will be Linda Bergstroem of Sweden. The match will begin at 1 PM IST.

Men's Boxing Welterweight: Vikas Krishan Vs Quincy Okazawa

Vikas Krishan will be carrying high hopes going into his Round of 32 clash. The Indian pugilist will take on local favourite Quincy Okazawa in his opening bout. The game is scheduled to start at 3:54 PM IST.

Women's Hockey: India Vs Netherlands

The Indian women's hockey team will face an acid test in their first match. Led by Rani Rampal, they will take on World No. 1 Netherlands. An opening day draw might well feel like a victory for the Indian team. The match will begin at 5:15 PM IST.

Where to Watch?

The Tokyo Olympics will be available to watch on the Sony Sports Network channels and DD Sports in India. Alternatively, they can also be streamed LIVE on the Sony LIV and Jio TV applications.

*All timings are in IST.

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