India's Olympic Schedule on Day 3: Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang start their medal quest

Day 2 was another disappointing day for India. However, Dipa Karmakar’s qualification for the vault finals was the silver lining to the clouds. ,

The women’s archery team, despite being plagued by inconsistency, came very close to making it to the semi-finals, even leading the much-higher ranked Russia 4-2 before allowing their opponents to catch up at 4-4, and then losing narrowly in the shoot-out.

The Indian women’s hockey team fought back from 2 goals down to earn a draw with Japan. They continue their campaign with a match against Great Britain. The men, after their opening win against Ireland, play a strong Germany team.

On Day 3, India’s only individual gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra will be participating in the 10m Air Rifle event, at what he has announced will be his last Games appearance. The 33-year old will be at his fifth Olympic Games, but will have to make history as no one has ever won the gold in the 10m Air Rifle Event twice.

Another of India’s greatest shooters, Gagan Narang, will also take part in the first of his three shooting events at these Games. Narang, also 33, won a bronze in the 10m Air Rifle in London 2012 and will be hoping to win a long-deserved Olympic Gold that has eluded him in an otherwise stellar career.

Men’s 10 m Air Rifle – Qualification: 5.30 pm IST, Final: 8.30 pm IST

While Bindra already has a gold medal in this event, Narang will be aiming to add to the two World Cup gold medals that he has won in the 10 m Air Rifle in 2006 and 2008. Narang also holds the world record for the highest score in qualification (600), and is the only man to equal the record twice.

Bindra who has finally decided to call time on a glittering career, is the only man to have held the World and Olympic titles at the same time.

Men’s Trap – Qualification Day 2: 6 pm IST, semifinals and final: 11.30 pm IST onwards

Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai finished Day 1 in 17th and 19th place, respectively. With only two rounds of 25 targets each to go, the two will have to pray for a minor miracle in order to qualify for the next round. Only the top six shooters qualify for the semifinals.

Women’s Individual Recurve Archery – Round of 64: 7.30 pm IST

Laxmirani Majhi finished 43rd out of a field of 64 in the ranking round, and will come up against a tough opponent in the Slovakian Alexandra Longova, who finished 22nd in the ranking round. Majhi will look to put the disappointment of yesterday's loss in the women’s team archery quarterfinals behind her.

Men’s Hockey: 7.30 pm IST

The team won their first game against Ireland but only just. Next, they move to the Germans, who are ranked 3rd in the world. But an upset might just be on the cards as India drew 3-3 with Germany in the recently concluded Champions Trophy. Ominously for India, though, Germany defeated Canada 6-2 in its first game.

Women’s 200 m Freestyle: 9.32 pm IST

Shivani Kataria qualified with a time of 2:04.34, and will most likely find it tough to progress to the next round from a field of 43. The top 16 swimmers qualify for the semifinals, and Kataria will be in Heat 1.

Men’s 200 m Butterfly: 10.04 pm IST

Sajan Prakash will take to the pool in Heat 1 of the 200m Butterfly preliminaries. Prakash, who qualified with a time of 1:59.27, will need to shave this mark by four to five seconds as most of the field has qualification times below 1 minute 55 seconds. The top 16 swimmers will qualify for the semifinal phase.

Women’s Hockey: 2.30 am IST, August 9

After coming from two goals down to draw against Japan in their first match, the women’s hockey team faces Great Britain, ranked 7th in the world. It will be difficult for the team, but a draw will be a good result, considering that four of the six teams from the pool qualify for the next stage.