Tokyo Olympics highlights: Mirabai Chanu shines on Day 1, Indian women lose hockey opener; shooters fail to fire

Tokyo Games opened on Friday after a year's delay due to the pandemic and with the threat of coronavirus hanging over the competition. Japan's Emperor Naruhito officially opened the Games in an eerily empty Olympic Stadium, after Covid-19 forced organisers to ban spectators at all but a handful of venues. Star Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu earned accolades for winning silver.

And finally, here's India's schedule for Day 2 of Tokyo 2020!

At the end of Day 1, here's how the Olympic medal tally looks

Men's, women's hockey sides face contrasting fortunes

The Indianmen's and women's hockey teams had contrasting fortunes with Manpreet's men securing a 3-2 win over New Zealand, while Rani Rampal's eves were handed a 5-1 drubbing by the Netherlands in their opener.

Harmanpreet Singh (26th and 33rd minutes) scored a double for India, while Rupinder Pal Singh (10th) was the other goal-getter for the eight-time former champions, currently ranked fourth in the world.For New Zealand, Kane Russell (6th minute) and Stephen Jenness (43rd minute) scored the goals.

In the women's fixture,Felice Albers gave Netherlands the lead in the sixth minute before the advantage was evened out by India skipper Rani Rampal in the 10th minute.

Margot van Geffen (33rd minute) restored Netherlands' lead soon after resumption before the three-time Olympic champions and reigning silver medallist scored two goals in quick succession through Albers (43rd) and Frederique Matla (45th) to take control of the proceedings.

(PTI)

Manika, Mukherjee get off to strong start in women's table tennis singles after mixed doubles exit

India's slim hopes for a table tennis medal in mixed doubles vanished in no time but Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee made promising starts to their women's singles campaign at the Tokyo Olympics here on Saturday.

The start to India's table tennis campaign was disappointing with Sharath Kamal and Manika losing 0-4 to the third seeds Lin Yun-Ju and Cheng I-Ching of Chinese Taipei in the mixed doubles round of 16.

However, world number 62 Manika returned to beat 94th-ranked Tin-Tin Ho of Britain 4-0 in her singles opener while 98th-ranked Sutirtha made a strong impression on her Olympics debut with a come from behind 4-3 win against 78th-ranked Linda Bergstrom of Sweden.

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Sumit Nagal nets India's first men's tennis win in 25 years

Sumit Nagal on Saturday became only the third Indian tennis player to win a men's singles match at the Olympic Games and the first in 25 years, when he edged past Denis Istomin in a three-setterhere.

Nagal got the better of Istomin 6-4 6-7(6) 6-4 in two hours and 34 minutes on court 10 at the Ariake Tennis Centre to set up a second round clash with world number two Daniil Medvedev.

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India stun Chinese Taipei in badminton men's doubles, Sai Praneeth disappoints

The men's double pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy stunnedthe world no. 3 pair of Yang Lee and Chi-Lin Wang of Chinese Taipei in a thrilling group A match of the Olympics badminton competition this morning.

Chirag and Satwik, the current world no. 10, notched up a stunning 21-16 16-21 27-25 win over third seeds Lee and Wang, who had claimed back-to-back titles at the Yonex Thailand Open, Toyota Thailand Open and BWF World Tour Finals in Thailand earlier this year.

However, 13th seeded B Sai Praneeth suffered a demoralising 17-21 15-21 loss to world number 47 Misha Zilberman of Israel in a 41-minute men's singles group D match.

(PTI)

Saurabh Chaudhary loses in finals; Chandela, Valarivan, Verma fail to fire

Sourabh Chaudhary was India's lone representative in a shooting event final after Apurva Chandela, Elnavil Valarivan and Abhishek Verma bowed out of thier respective disciplines in the qualification rounds.

Chaudhary could not replicate the form he displayed in the qualifications to finish a disappointing seventh in the men's 10m air pistol final at the Tokyo Olympics here on Saturday.

The Indian ace shot 137.4 to be eliminated in the seventh place, an hour after topping the qualifications with a mind-blowing performance at the Asaka Range.

His compatriot Verma had failed to qualify for the final round after finishing 16th with a score of 575.

In the women's 10m air rifle event, Olympic debutantElavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela failedto qualify for the finals.

World number one Elavenil finished 16th in the qualifications after shooting 626.5 over six series of 10 shots each, while the more experienced Apurvi, who is also the finals world record holder in the event, settled for the 36th place after aggregating 621.9 at the Asaka Range.

Deepika, Pravin fall short to Koreans in Mixed Team quarterfinals

The Indian mixed team Archery pair of Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav were punished for their inconsistency by the incisive Korean duo of Je Deok Kim and An San, who went on to win gold.

The pair lost 2-6, with many raising their eyebrows over the archery association's decision to club Kumari with Jadhav instead of her husband Atanu Das.

That the two Korean Olympic debutants, 17-year-old Kim Je Deok and 20-year-old An San won two sets despite scoring only 35 out of a possible 40 showed the below-par shootings by both the teams.

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Mirabai Chanu shines for India with silver medal on Day 1

Indian wrestler Mirabai Chanu brought joy to millions of Indian across the world after clinching the silver medal in the women's 49kg weightlifting event.

The 26-year-old lifted a total of 202kg (87kg+115kg) to better Karnam Malleswari's bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. With this, she exorcised the ghosts of the 2016 Games where she had failed to log a single legitimate lift.

Wishes poured in from all corners after the weightlifter from Manipur ended India's 21-year medal drought, with Sachin Tendulkar hailing her 'miracle' comeback from injury.

Thailand's Panipak Wongpattanakit wins Taekwondo gold in women's 49kg event

Poor defending sees India lose 5-1 to Netherlands in women's hockey opener

Hungary's Szilagyi wins record third Olympic fencing sabre gold

Great to witness Mirabai Chanu's success: Malleswari

Great Britain defeat hosts Japan 1-0, advance to women's football knockouts

Ellen White has bagged her third goal in two games to put Great Britain 1-0 up against hosts Japan in the women's football. And the final whistle goes, meaning Great Britain are through to the knockout rounds!

Lindsey Horan has also struck for the USA to put the four-time Olympic gold medallists 2-0 up against New Zealand.

Netherlands vs Brazil remains 1-1 with 56 minutes gone.

(olympics.com)

Indian Women's Hockey team tied 1-1 against Netherlands at half time

The Indian eves headed back to the dressing room tied 1-1 against Netherland at half time in their Group A opener. Skipper Rani Rampal netted the equaliser for India in the first quarter soon after conceding to Netherlands in the 6th minute.

Luka Mkheidze wins bronze in judo men's 60kg event, opens France's Olympic medal account

Playing for my country gave the push, says Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal

No Indian could win a singles match after Paes' heroic feat even as Somdev Devvarman and Vishnu Vardhan competed at the 2012 Games in London but did not manage to cross the first round hurdle.

"To lose second set from 5-3 and then comeback in the third set in a weather like this, is not easy. Playing for my country gave me the push. I am not sure what I would have done If I were playing at the Challenger, I came out happy from the court," said Nagal after the match.

(PTI)

India announce their starting XI for Group A opener against Netherlands women

Here's a look at how the medal tally is shaping up towards the end of Day 1

Vikas ousted from Olympics: loses opening bout to Japan's Okazawa

Indian boxer Vikas Krishan (69kg) was out-punched 0-5 and left with a bloodied eye by local favourite Sewonrets Quincy Mensah Okazawa in his opening bout of the Olympic Games here on Saturday, a thoroughly disappointing start for the nine-strong team.

The 29-year-old Krishan sustained a cut below his left eye in the high-voltage clash, which, according to team sources, he competed with a shoulder niggle.

He was the only Indian boxer in action on the day.

Japan win first gold of Tokyo 2020

Japan's Takato Naohisa and Chinese Taipei's Yang Yung Wei are deep into golden score in the final of the men's -60kg category…

And Yang has been called for a third shido (penalty) – for defensive posture – which means Takato has won Japan's first gold medal of the Games!

The bronze medals go to Yeldos Smetov and Luka Mkheidze.

Source: Olympics.com

Zhang and McKeon tie for fastest time in women's 100 metre butterfly

A dead-heat at the top of the standings in thewomen's 100m butterflyasZHANG Yufei (CHN) and Emma McKeon (AUS)are inseparable in Heat 5, clocking 55.82 seconds.

Source: Olympics.com

Sachin Tendulkar wishes Mirabai Chanu

Football: Zambia equalise against China, score is now 4-4

It's 4–4 in Miyagi!

This means Zambia have now been involved in an incredible 21 goals in their two matches, having lost 10–3 to Netherlands.

Wang Shuang has all four Chinese goals, meaning Zambia have played two games in a row where their captain Banda has scored 3, and an opponent player has scored 4.

Source: Olympics.com

Richard Carapaz is Olympic road race champion

Tadej Pogacar (SLO) is now leading the chase of Richard Carapaz, alone in the lead.

There are just 2 kilometres left of this Fuji Speedway. Carapaz has nearly 40 seconds and looks set for gold.

In the group, it is a race for silver and bronze. They look willing to let Carapaz go as this gap grows wider.

The Ecuadorian looks over his shoulder on the finish straight. No one is there. He will come across the line after a fantastic solo attack to win the Olympic road race.

Source: Olympics.com

I tried my best to win the gold medal, I wasn't able to win gold, but I really tried. When I did the second lift, I understood I will bring a medal along with me: Mirabai Chanu.

I am very happy that I have won the medal. The entire country was watching me and they had their expectations, I was a little nervous but I was determined to give my best. I worked really hard for this: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu.

A glittering career

Kiren Rijiju congratulates Mirabai Chanu on her silver medal win.

Mirabai Chanu Saikhom of India in action. Credit: Reuters Photo

Mankia Batra defeats GBR's Tin-Tin Ho 11-6, 11-7, 11-10, 11-9 in the first round of Table Tennis Women's singles.

President Kovind congratulates Chanu.

In Pic | David Rumbutis of Sweden in action on the horizontal bar. Credit: Reuters Photo

10m Air Pistol Men's event: Saurabh Chaudhary finishes No.7 in the medal round.

Mirabai Chanu wins silver in Weightlifting Women's 49kg category, India open tally in Tokyo Olympics.

Praneeth loses opening match on Olympic debut

India's B Sai Praneeth suffered a demoralising straight-game defeat against lower-ranked Misha Zilberman from Israel in Group D men's singles, making a disappointing start to his maiden Olympic campaign here on Saturday.

Praneeth, a 2019 World Championship bronze medallist and now ranked 15th, was too erratic as he lost 17-21 15-21 to world number 47 Zilberman in a 41-minute match. (PTI)

Olympics: Glittering gold distracts from Tokyo woes

Sport stretched out over Tokyo on Saturday as the Olympic Games finally got underway, but the shadow of Covid-19 and controversy was never far away on the opening day.

Read more here

Archery Mixed Team event: Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav lose 2-6 to South Korea's An San and Kim Je Deok in quarter-final.

10m Air Pistol Men's event: Saurabh Chaudhary finishes No.1 in qualification and qualifies for the medal round, Abhishek Verma misses out.

Gymnastics-China and Russia put down early medal markers

China and Russia, two of Tokyo's top Olympic medal contenders in men's artistic gymnastics, put down markers on Saturday, dominating the first of three qualifying subdivisions.

Early action on opening day at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre produced little drama as the athletes expected to battle for podium places over the next 11 days looked poised to qualify with the minimum of fuss.

Still, qualifying will provide a glimpse at where the fights will be with eight nations advancing to Monday's team final by the end of the day.

Twenty-four gymnasts will also advance to the individual all-around final on Wednesday and eight to each of the six apparatus finals.

Japan, China and Russia, competing in Tokyo as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), are expected to claim the lion's share of the medals, as they did at the Rio Olympics and recent world championships, including the team and all-around titles. (Reuters)

India's Table Tennis mixed doubles pair of Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra go down to Lin Yun Ju and Cheng I Ching (TPE) 0-4 in Round of 16.

Indian judoka Sushila loses her round of 32 clash

Indian judoka Sushila Devi's challenge in the Tokyo Olympics came to an early end as she lost her contest to Hungarian Eva Csernoviczki, who qualified for a round of 16 clash against Japan's Funa Tonaki, here on Saturday.

Csernoviczki, a 2012 London edition bronze medallist, pinned Sushila for a full 20 seconds to claim the Ippon and win the round of 32 match.

Sushila fought hard for a major part of the bout until she committed a small error, which proved to be disastrous for the Indian and cost her the match.

It was always going to be tough for the 26 year-old from Manipur at the world's premier sporting competition.

Sushila was the only Indian Judo athlete at this year's Olympic Games.

Sushila, who considers boxing icon M C Mary Kom as her inspiration, started well against the Hungarian but floundered after that.

Sushila, who competes in the 48kg category, had qualified for her maiden Games via continental quota. (PTI)

Indian rowers move to repechage round in men's lightweight double sculls, finish fifth in heats

The Indian rowing duo of Arvind Singh and Arjun Lal Jat qualified for the repechage round after finishing fifth in the men's lightweight double sculls heat here on Saturday.

Read more here

India midfielder Sumit (17) takes a shot on New Zealand goalkeeper Leon Hayward (20) during a men's field hockey match at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Credit: AP Photo.

Indian men's hockey team beats New Zealand 3-2 in opening match of Olympic Games.

Tokyo Olympics: Day 2 India Schedule

Following is India's schedule on the second day of the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.
Archery:
*DeepikaKumari and Pravin Jadhav vs Chia-En Lin and Chih-Chun Tang (Chinese Taipei) in Mixed Team 1/8 Eliminations: 6:00am IST.
*Bronze Medal Match: 12:55pm IST.
*Gold Medal Match: 1:15pm IST.
Badminton:
*Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Shetty Chirag) vs Yang Lee/Chi-Lin Wang (Chinese Taipei) in Men's Doubles Group A match: 8:50am IST.
*B Sai Praneeth vs Misha Zilberman (Israel) in Men's Singles Group D match: 9:30am IST
Boxing:
*Vikash Krishan vs Sewonrets Quincy Mensah Okazawa (JPN): 69kg Round of 32 match: 3:54pm IST.
Hockey:
*India vs New Zealand in Men's Pool A match: 6:30am IST
*India vs Netherlands in Women's Pool A match: 5:15pm IST
Judo:
*Likmabam Sushila Devi vs Eva Csernoviczki (Hungary) in Women's 48kg Round of 32 elimination bout: 10th bout after 7:30am start.
Rowing:
*Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh in Men's Lightweight Double Sculls Heat 2: 7:30am IST.
Shooting:
*Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan in Women's 10m Air Rifle Qualification: 5:00am IST
*Women's 10m Air Rifle Final: 7:15am IST
*Abhishek Verma and Saurabh Chaudhary in Men's 10m Air Rifle Qualification: 9:30am IST
*Men's 10m Air Rifle Final: 12pm IST
Table Tennis:
*Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra vs Yun Ju Lin and Ching Cheng (Chinese Taipei) in Mixed Doubles Round of 16 match: 8:30am IST.
*Manika Batra vs Tin-Tin Ho (Great Britain) in Women's Singles Round 1 match 12:15pm IST.
*Sutirtha Mukherjee vs Linda Bergstroem of Sweden in Women's Singles Round 1 match 1:00pm IST.
Tennis:
*Sumit Nagal vs Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) in Men's Singles Round 1 match: 2nd match after 7:30am IST start.
Weightlifting:
*Mirabai Chanu in women's 49kg: 10:20am. (PTI)

Portugal's Rui Braganca (Blue) and Spain's Adrian Vicente Yunta (Red) compete in the taekwondo men's -58kg elimination round bout during the Tokyo 2020. Credit: AFP Photo

Syrian 12-year-old, Tokyo Games' youngest competitor, exits in first round

Syria's Hend Zaza, at 12 the youngest athlete competing at the Tokyo Olympics, exited the table tennis tournament in the opening round on Saturday, snapping a selfie with her Austrian opponent to remember the occasion.

Zaza was battling an opponent more than three times her age in 39-year-old Liu Jia in the women's singles preliminary round but showed no sign of nerves, maintaining her composure despite a 4-0 defeat.

The youngest Olympian since 11-year-old Spanish rower Carlos Front in 1992, Zaza was born in Hama, Syria, to an athletic family and started playing table tennis at the age of five. (Reuters)

Olympic organisers announce 17 new Games-related Covid-19 cases

The Olympics organisers announced 17 new Games-related Covid-19 cases on Saturday, including one athlete and an event-related personnel staying at the Games village, taking the total number of infections to 123.

As per the official count, the total number of infected athletes now stands at 12. The Olympics officially began on Friday with an opening ceremony here.

The athlete, who has tested positive most recently was not staying at the Games village.

So far, 65 Games-related contractors have tested positive for the virus after the addition of 14 new cases to the tally on Saturday.

Thirteen of the overall 123 cases have been found to be among Games Village residents.

The Czech team has been among the worst hit by the virus, reporting six positive cases.

Their Olympic committee has launched an inquiry into possible health safety protocol violations during their flight to Tokyo. (PTI)

The greatest?

One more athlete tests positive for Covid-19 at Games

Olympics organisers said on Saturday that one more athlete at the Tokyo Games had tested positive for Covid-19.

Olympics-related cases rose by 17, organisers said, bringing the total number of disclosed cases to 123. (Reuters)

China's Yang wins the first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics in women's 10m rifle. (Reuters)

In Pic | Australian players celebrate after Thomas William Craig scored the team's second goal against Japan during their men's pool A match of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games field hockey competition, at the Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo. Credit: AFP Photo.

Despite 'freak' injury, Jamaica's Praught-Leer to compete

Jamaica's 1,500m runner Aisha Praught-Leer will "line up in Tokyo" despite tearing her meniscus on Sunday, an injury which her doctor said needs surgery.

"I tore my meniscus (a complete, off the bone root tear) on Sunday at training — a freak, shocking accident," the 31-year-old wrote on her Instagram page.

"I heard and felt a painful pop doing a drill, but then proceeded to do one of the best workouts of my life."

An MRI confirmed the injury on Wednesday and her doctor recommended she undergo surgery as soon as possible.

But that will not happen before she runs in Tokyo, Praught-Leer said.

"I will line up in Tokyo," she wrote in the Instagram post.

"When I arrive I'll get the fluid drained from my knee and get a cortisone injection (this is legal, and my surgeon understands and supports me in this)."

The 2018 Commonwealth Games 3,000m steeplechase gold medallist accepted she would be unable to compete to her best ability because of the injury. (Reuters)

Djokovic launches Olympic quest on first day of medal action in Tokyo

Novak Djokovic launches his quest for Olympic tennis glory on day one of the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games on Saturday as Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar goes for one of 11 gold medals on offer.

Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron in Friday's opening ceremony at an eerily empty stadium after the coronavirus forced organisers to ban spectators at all but a handful of venues.

Games chiefs will be desperate to shift the focus to the sporting action from the pandemic, which forced a one-year postponement and has dominated the build-up to the start of the event.

"Today is a moment of hope," Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said at the low-key opening ceremony, which unfolded in front of fewer than 1,000 VIPs and several thousand athletes.

Apurvi, Elavenil fail to qualify for 10m air rifle final

Indian shooters were off to a poor start at the Tokyo Olympics as first-timer Elavanil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela failed to qualify for the finals of the women's 10m air rifle event here on Saturday.

Making her Olympic debut, Elavanil finished 16th after shooting 626.5 over six series of 10 shots each, while the more experienced Apurvi settled for the 36th place after aggregating 621.9 at the Asaka Range.

The Indians were off to a decent start and even as Apurvi slipped after that, the 21-year-old Elavenil tried to remain in the contest with a fine performance in the third series, including shooting a perfect 10.9.

However, Elavenil could not maintain the same form and a couple of 9s in the fifth and sixth series pushed her further down.