The Tokyo Olympics will kick off on Saturday and it will be a super event with as many as four medal hopefuls on the day right from shooting to weightlifting.
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The Tokyo Olympics 2020 is finally here after a delay of one year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The opening ceremony will be muted on Friday but the real action will begin on Saturday, July 24. This day promises to be Super Saturday for India as there could be some medals won on that particular day. India will be gunning for their best-ever show in the Olympics this time. The country has sent 119 athletes, which is the largest ever for them. There is hope that either India can match their tally of six in the 2012 London Olympics.
Shooting, archery, and weightlifting are the potential sports that can give India a medal. A great start could set the tone for a magnificent Olympics for the Indian contingent. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, India secured only two medals with PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik getting the country honors in badminton and weightlifting. Here is the complete schedule for India on July 24
Archery
Mixed team elimination matches: 6:00 AM IST
Mixed Team medal matches: 10:45 AM IST
Shooting
10m air rifle women qualification and final: 5:00 AM to 7:15 AM IST
10m air pistol qualification and final: 9:30 PM IST to 12:00 PM IST
Weightlifting: Women’s 49 kg category 6:30 AM IST to 10:20 AM IST (Mirabai Chanu)
Hockey
India men’s team vs New Zealand 6:30 AM IST
India women’s team vs Netherlands 5:15 PM IST
Tennis
Women’s doubles first round
Judo: Preliminary rounds Women’s 48 kg and Final block
Badminton
(12.20 PM IST) – Men’s Doubles Group Play Stage – Group A – Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty vs Yang Lee/Chi-Lin Wang
(1.00 PM IST) – Men’s Singles Group Play Stage – Group D – B Sai Praneeth vs Misha Zilberman
Table Tennis
Women’s and Men’s singles Round 1, Mixed Doubles Round of 16
Boxing
Men’s welterweight round of 32: Vikas Krishan vs Sewonrets Quincy Mensah Okazawa at 4:00 PM IST
The shooting contingent in India this time is touted to win at least a couple of medals. Manu Bhaker, Saurabh Chaudhary, Rahi Sarnobet, Anjum Moudgil, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Abhishek Verma and Elavenil Valarivan are all in contention for a medal. Shooting has been India’s best bet to break the medal jinx after the heartbreak of Rio 2016.
Chaudhary, the youngster, will have the hopes of 130 billion Indians as he looks to create history. The youngster, who impressed in the Youth Olympics, has grown from strength to strength. In the ISSF Shooting World Cup, Chaudhary has already won eight gold medals while in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, he won a historic gold. Even in the Junior World Cup, Chaudhary has won three gold medals. It is this confidence that gives India the hope that Chaudhary might be able to do well.
In Weightlifting, Mirabai Chanu will be aiming to create history and win an individual medal in the discipline for the first time since Karnam Malleshwari’s bronze in 2000 Sydney. The archers, especially Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das, will have their hands full as they look to stop the Korean domination. Although their individual hopes seem low, there is a faint chance in the team event.
