Day 3 saw Abhinav Bindra come agonisingly close to opening India's medal count, missing out on the bronze medal by 0.1 point. It was a mixed farewell to India's only individual Olympic Gold medallist in its 116-year old history of participation in the games, which began with Norman Pritchard representing a British-ruled India in the 200 metre and the 200 metre hurdles races in Paris in 1900.
While Laxmirani Majhi was eliminated in the round of 64 at the women's individual recurve archery event, the men's and women's hockey teams were on the receiving end of contrasting defeats. As the men matched Olympic gold medallists Germany stride for stride before conceding a goal in the last three seconds to lose 2-1, the women were comprehensively beaten by Great Britain who scored three goals without a reply.
The men continue their campaign against Argentina, who won 3-1 against Canada and sit in third position in Group A, a place above India. The top four qualify to the quarterfinals. The one to watch out for will be Atanu Das, whose stock keeps rising with every performance. He clocked an impressive 683 to finish fifth in the ranking round, and will face Jitbahadur Muktan of neighbours Nepal, who finished 60th with a score of 607. Atanu will be the overwhelming favourite in this round of 64 match.
Women's 25 metre Pistol – Qualification: 5.30 pm IST
Heena Sidhu will try her luck again at the 25 metre pistol event after finishing 14th in the qualifiers in the 10 metre air pistol event. The precision qualification event will be at 5.30 pm while the rapid qualification will be at 8.30 pm. If Sidhu qualifies, she will contest the semi-finals on the same day at 12.00 midnight.
Rowing – Men's Single Sculls Quarterfinal 4: 5.30 pm IST
Dattu Baban Bhokanal, who did well to qualify for the men's quarter-finals and qualified with a time that was higher than all the other five competitors in his heat. While boats finishing first to third go on to semifinal A/B, the other boats go on to semifinal C/D.
Men's Hockey – India v Argentina: 7.30 pm IST
India are currently in fourth place in their group, after beating Ireland 3-2 and losing against Germany. Their game against Argentina is key to boosting their chances of a quarter-final slot. India last played against Argentina in the Six Nations Invitational Tournament in July where they drew 3-3.
Men's Individual Archery – Round of 64: 8.06 pm IST
Atanu Das looks like India's best medal bet in archery this Olympics. The 24-year old is confident, self-assured and has put up some memorable performances over the last year. If Das wins, he will progress to the round of 32 which will be held later in the evening.
Boxing – Men's 75 kg Preliminaries: 2.45 am IST, Aug 10
India's boxing contingent will begin their Rio campaign on Tuesday with Vikas Krishnan taking on the United States's Charles Albert Shone Conwell in the men's middle (75 kg) preliminaries. Krishnan, a former Asian Games gold medallist in 2010 and a bronze medallist at the World Championships in 2011, is one of India's biggest hopes and has been seeded seventh.