Day 1 was a disappointing one for the Indian contingent and while Jitu Rai qualified for the final of the 10m air pistol, he could only manage an eighth place finish. Tennis, once again in the news for the wrong reasons, proved why off-field antagonism will always be a problem as both the men’s doubles and the women’s doubles teams crashed out in the first round.
Sunday, though, is for Dipa Karmakar to prove her mettle. The first Indian gymnast to qualify since the 1964 games in Tokyo, she will make history simply by stepping out to participate in the women’s individual all-round event.
10m Women’s Air Pistol – Qualification: 5.30 pm IST, Final: 7.30 pm IST
Heena Sidhu, the world No. 27, may not be highly fancied going by her ranking, but will have every chance to believe that she can replicate her gold medal winning performance at the 2013 World Cup in the 10m air pistol event. Participating in the first of her two events, Sidhu also holds the Finals world record in the 10m air pistol. She will hope to peak at the right time.
Men’s Trap Shooting – Qualification: 6.30 pm IST
The shooting contingent continues its journey as Manavjit Singh Sandhu, a former World No. 1, will be going into his fourth Olympics hoping to win a medal at last, while the higher ranked Kynan Chenai (No. 17 in the world) will be looking to make his mark in his first attempt at the Olympics.
Women’s Team Archery – 1/8 Eliminations: 6.45 pm IST, Quarterfinal (if applicable): 11.45 pm IST
After a qualification round riddled with errors, which saw all three archers struggle and Deepika Kumari miss the target completely with one of her arrows, the team, ranked 3rd in the world, finished 7th and will face Colombia, who qualified 10th.
If India win this knockout clash, they could go on to face the Russian team, ranked 2nd in the world. Russia are already in the quarters by virtue of having finished 2nd when qualifying.
Women’s Hockey: 7.30 pm IST
There were scenes of mass jubilation after the women’s hockey team qualified for the Olympics after a gap of 36 years. Placed in an extremely tough group with Argentina (World No. 2), Australia (3), USA (5), and England (7), India, ranked 13th in the world and the lowest of the teams in the group, kick off their campaign against the Japanese, ranked 10th.
India must win this game in order to have any hopes whatsoever of qualifying for the next round. The top four teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals.
Women’s All-Round and Apparatus Gymnastics Qualification: 11.00 pm IST
Karmakar, the 22-year old from Agartala, Tripura will be taking part in four individual events as part of the all-round competition – Vault, Balance Beam, Uneven Bars and Floor. The cumulative score of these four apparatus events will also be used to decide the outcome of the women’s individual all-round competition.
A total of 98 women will take part in the qualification for the four individual exercise events as well as the all-round competition. While the top eight in each exercise (a maximum of two per nation) qualify for the finals of the four individual apparatus competitions, the top 24 women with the highest cumulative scores will be in contention for the all-round finals.
Karmakar became the first Indian woman to get a gold in a global gymnastic competition when she won the vaults event at a qualifying event for Rio in April.
Her ability to pull off a Produnova, an extremely difficult and high-risk manoeuvre introduced by Russian Yelena Produnova, may give her an edge, but she will still have to contend with formidable opponents from Brazil, Germany, Russia, England and the United States.
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