It is officially the first day of the Rio Olympics. Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela will be the torchbearers of India's medal hopes today. With Rai's recent form, there is a chance that India's medal scoreboard will get ticking right away.

Rai will be in action in the 10 m air pistol event. Also participating in the event is Gurpreet Singh, who, after missing out on a place in London 2012, was the last Indian shooter to qualify for Rio, finishing fourth with 154.8 points at the World Cup rifle/pistol event in Munich.

Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul will be a part of the women's 10 m air rifle event . Chandela won the silver medal at the World Cup finals last year.

Women's Air Rifle 10 m – Qualification: 5 pm IST, Final: 7 pm IST

Men's Air Pistol 10 m - Qualification: 9.30 pm IST, Final: 12 midnight IST


Rai has won gold medals in both the Asian and the Commonwealth Games. What has earned him top billing among the Indian medal hopefuls is his silver medal finish at the World Cup for the 10 m air pistol in 2016. The event involves the participants shooting from a distance of 10m with one hand. Men will take 60 shots within 75 minutes. The top eight finishers progress to the next stage.

Paul, who is no stranger to big events, landed a silver medal during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Rules for the air rifle event are similar to those for the air pistol. Women will take 40 shots, which will be fired within 75 minutes. During the qualification stage, 10 points are awarded for each shot. The top eight finishers will progress to the finals stage.

Rowing: 5.00 pm, August 6

Dattu Baban Bhokanal, who will be a part of the men's singles sculls Heat 1, has done well to make it to the Olympics, but will find the going tough at Rio. There are six heats, divided into two groups of six and four groups of five. The first three from each heat progress to the next round, while the rest will be a part of the repechage, where the fastest loser can stake his claim in the next round.

Men's hockey: 7.30 pm, August 6

India are the most successful men's hockey side of all time in the Olympics. To start things off, PR Sreejesh's side will be taking on the Irish, who made India sweat recently during the Six Nations hockey tournament. India won the game 2-1, just about managing to hold off their opponents.

The format gives the teams more than a fair chance – four teams from each group of six will progress to the next round. The ignominy of London 2012, where the eight-time gold medal winners finished at the bottom of the field, lingers. India lost narrowly to Australia in the Champions Trophy final recently, but the silver it won was still a historic achievement. India's form during the build-up to the event has been up and down, after losing heavily to Spain and Germany, and being upset by New Zealand in the Six Nations tournament.

Tennis - Men's and women's doubles, Round 1

Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski of Poland will be the opponents of Paes and Bopanna first up. The Indian duo have had very little match practice together coming into the game. The 43-year-old Indian legend will create history as he stands on the cusp of becoming the first tennis player to represent his country at seven Olympic tournaments. Bopanna has a higher doubles ranking (15) than Kubot (25) and Matkowski (27).

Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna vs Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski (Poland) - 7.30 pm, August 6

Doubles action will also be underway later in the day as world number one Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare will up against the Chinese pair of Peng Shuai and Shuai Zhang in the first round. The India duo start out as favourites in this contest.

Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare vs Peng Shuai and Shuai Zhang (China) - fifth match on court 9 (1st match on court 9 starts at 7.30 pm IST)

Table tennis – men’s and women’s singles, Round 1: 7.45 pm onwards

Achanta Sharath Kamal has long been the flagbearer of men’s table tennis in India. However, the 34-year old’s shock loss to Soumyajit Ghosh, then 19, in the National Table Tennis Championships of 2013 opened the door for the latter to stake his claim as India’s no 1.

Soumyajit Ghosh (World No. 65) vs Tanviriyavechakul Padasak (Thailand, World No. 181): 12.30 am, August 7.

Achanta Sharath Kamal (World No. 73) vs Crisan Adrian (Romania, World No. 90): 3.30 am, August 7.

Both Manika Batra, India’s reigning No. 1 women’s table tennis player and Mouma Das, a veteran of the game at 32, face uphill tasks in the first round as they take on much higher-ranked players.

Mouma Das (World No. 127) vs Daniela Monteiro Dodean (Romania, World No. 58) :7.45 pm.

Manika Batra (World No 150) vs Katarzyna Grzybowska-Franc (Poland, World No. 60): 8.30 pm.

Women's Weightlifting – 48 Kg: 3 am, August 7

In her fledgling career, Mirabai Chanu has managed to scale great heights, even bettering a long-time national record in the process. The Manipuri will be participating in the 48 kg category and also bagged a silver during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.