India's quest for a medal spills onto Day 10. The only bright spots till now have been Abhinav Bindra's "so close, yet so far" fourth place finish in the 10 metre air rifle event and gymnast Dipa Karmakar's spellbinding performance on Sunday. PV Sindhu and K Srikanth carry India's hopes after Saina Nehwal's shock exit.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna were within touching distance of winning a bronze medal. From the looks of it, the weight of expectations of winning a medal weighed them down. As for the Indian men's hockey team, they simply ran out of gas in the final quarter of the game against Belgium in the quarters. All eyes are on Lalita Babar, who punched above her weight to enter the 3000 metre steeplechase final.
(all times in Indian Standard Time)
Badminton men's singles - Round of 16: 5:30 pm (delayed)
Kidambi Srikanth has a major challenge on his hands in his round of 16 match. Danish ace Jan O Jorgensen is his opponent, and the test will be a lot sterner than than the one Lino Munoz or Henri Hurskainen posed in the group stages. Out of the three games they have played so far, Jorgensen has a 2-1 winning record.
Srikanth has proved that playing against the world's best does not faze him. Less than a year ago, he even upset Chinese great Lin Dan. It will be a tough fight but it is Jorgensen who holds the edge here.
Men's Triple Jump - Qualification: 6.00 pm
Renjith Maheshwary is no spring chicken, participating in his third Olympics. The Kerala athlete's qualifying leap was recorded at 17.30 metre in the Indian Grand Prix in July - a feat that is the third best in 2016. However, Renjith's records in the last two Olympics have been unflattering. In London, he committed three consecutive fouls while not finishing anywhere close to the qualifying spots in Beijing. A repeat of the Indian Grand Prix display may be enough to get him into the final
Women's 200 metre - Round 1: 6:24 pm
Srabani Nanda's rise has been consistent and she won a gold medal in the South Asian Games earlier this year. A semi-final spot though might be a little out of the Odisha athlete's reach as she races alongside powerhouses such as Blessing Okagbare, Dina Asher-Smith, and Tessa van Schagen.
Wrestling - Men's Greco-Roman 85 kg, round of 16: 7:02 pm
This is Ravinder Khatri's first event after narrowly missing out on a spot four years ago. Khatri will face a qualifier from the previous round. Wrestling has reaped rich dividends for India in recent times. Can Khatri follow in Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar's footsteps?
Lalita Babar - 3000 m steeplechase: 7:45 pm
Not many gave Lalita Babar a chance to get to the final. This is the first time an athlete has entered a final in a track event after PT Usha's historic feat in 1984. Having finished with a time of 9:19.76 in the qualification event, Babar will need to force her way into the eight minute mark to win a medal.
Badminton women's singles - Round of 16: 2.00 am, Tuesday
PV Sindhu has a daunting task on her hands as she prepares to face Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying, who enjoys a 4-2 record against the Indian. The trend for India in these Olympics so far has been to get into a healthy position and squander the advantage, as Chain Singh and the hockey team showed yesterday. Sindhu did the reverse by coming back from a game down to get to this stage. By no means is this a cakewalk for the Hyderabad shuttler but there is no ruling her out of the contest either.
Boxing - Men's middleweight (75 kg) - Quarter-finals: 3.15 am, Tuesday
Vikas Kishan was not given much of a chance to get to this stage of the competition. Bektemir Melikuziev, also won his round of 16 match with consummate ease. An even fight is on the cards.
Women's Discus throw - qualification: 6.20 am, Tuesday
Seema Punia may not have hogged the limelight as some of the other track and field athletes. However, she comes into good form, even recording her personal best of 62.62 metre earlier in the year. It is that effort that gives her a slender chance of making it to the final.
