Paris Olympics: Indian shuttlers, hockey team get down to business on 27 July

Come Saturday, 27 July, the Indian contingent will plunge into the thick of the competition at the Paris Olympics in as many as eight disciplines. Shooting, badminton and boxing – three of the key disciplines where India have medal prospects – will see their competitors in action while Harmanpreet Singh & Co will begin their campaign against New Zealand in men’s hockey.

 If Thursday saw the men and women’s archers keeping calm and a degree of consistency to reach the quarter finals, Indian boxer Preeti Pawar will take to the ring against Vietnam’s Vo Thi Kim Anh in a round-of-32 match-up on Saturday. Lovlina Borgohain, a Tokyo bronze medallist in 69 kg class and two-time world champion and Olympics debutant Nikhat Zareen, have meanwhile been handed tough draws in their respective weight categories.

Nikhat will face Germany’s Maxi Carina Kloetzer in the round of 32 at the 50 kg class while she could potentially run into China’s Wu Yu, the reigning Asian Games champion, in the round of 16. Lovlina’s road to a back-to-back Olympic medals will not be easy either as she will start her campaign in the women’s 75 kg against Sunniva Hofstad of Norway and a potential run-in with China’s Li Qian in the quarter-finals. The tall Assamese boxer had to graduate to a new weight category as her kg class in Tokyo (69 kg) has been discontinued in this Games.

Wu, the top-seeded boxer in the women’s 50 kg category, tipped to face Nikhat in round-of-16 is also the reigning world champion in the women’s 52 kg category while the later is the world champion in the women’s 50 kg category. If Nikhat gets past the Chinese boxer, she could potentially face Thailand’s Chuthamat Raksat or Uzbekistan's Sabina Bobokulova in the quarter-finals. Nikhat lost to Bobokulova in the Strandja Memorial final in February where the Uzbek boxer also beat Wu in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Chuthamat Raksat defeated Nikhat in the semi-finals en route to her Asian Games silver in 2023.

In the men’s category, Amit Panghal and Nishant Dev will start their campaigns in the round of 16 of the men’s 51kg and 71kg, respectively, later. Both received opening round byes.

 A lot of hopes are being pinned on the 21-member shooting party, accounting for the largest number of athletes in a single discipline after track & field (29). The pairing of Arjun Singh Cheema-Ramita and Sandeep Singh-Elavenil Valariyan will feature on Saturday in the 10m air rifle mixed team event. Manu Bhaker and Rhytham Sangwan will also take aim in the 10m air pistol women’s qualifying event.

The badminton group stage competition in all categories also get underway on Saturday with Lakshya Sen and H.S. Prannoy in the men’s singles group stage; double Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu in women’s singles; former world No.1 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in men’s doubles and Ashwini Ponappa-Tanisha Crasto in women’s doubles.

It was after 41 years that the Men in Blue, once a superpower in hockey, ended their medal drought in a dramatic fashion for a bronze in Tokyo. P.R. Sreejesh, their veteran goalkeeper who made a fine save from a penalty corner in the bronze play-off game against Germany three years back, has decided to call time on his career after Paris and his teammates plan to give their Sreejesh Bhai a fitting send-off.

The other teams in their group are: New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, Argentina and defending champions Belgium and it would be a stiff test for India, current Asian Games champions, to hold their own to emerge as one of the top four teams from a six-team group to make the quarter finals.  

The other Indian athletes to be seen on Saturday are in table tennis (round-of-64); tennis (men’s singles & doubles first round); equestrian (dressage) and rowing (single sculls).