Paris Olympics 2024 Day 1 highlights: India beats New Zealand 3-2 in thrilling hockey match

The Indian duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto conceded a defeat in the badminton women’s doubles group stage match at the ongoing Paris Olympics.Ponnappa and Crasto failed to clinch a win in their opening match of the multi-sport event in straight sets against the Republic of Korea’s Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong. So Yeong-Hee Yong beat the Indian duo 21-18, 21-10. The game lasted for 46 minutes.Ponnappa-Crasto will face Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida in their upcoming match on July 29. - ANI

Djordje Mihailovic converted a penalty as the United States pounced early in a 4-1 victory over New Zealand on Saturday to stave off possible elimination at the Olympics. - AP

Ariarne Titmus got Australia’s women off to a golden start by winning a race of record breakers on a rocking opening night of the Paris Olympic swimming meet at the La Defense Arena on Saturday.

The Dolphins added another gold in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay, with Australia also taking two silvers from the four finals and with their reputation as a powerhouse of the pool as bright as ever.

Titmus set the tone by defending her 400 metres freestyle title in a huge battle with Canada’s Summer McIntosh and American great Katie Ledecky. - Reuters

Indian boxer Preeti Pawar defeated Vietnam’s Vo Thi Kim Anh in women’s 54kg category first round bout to enter the pre-quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics here on Saturday.

Asian Games bronze medallist Preeti, competing in her debut Olympic Games, opened the proceedings for India and she won 5-0 on points. - PTI

FIFA deducted six points from Canada in the Paris Olympics women’s soccer tournament and banned three coaches for one year each on Saturday in a drone spying scandal.

The stunning swath of punishments include a 200,000 Swiss francs ($226,000) fine for the Canadian soccer federation in a case that has spiraled at the Summer Games. Two assistant coaches were caught using drones to spy on opponent New Zealand’s practices before their opening game last Wednesday.

Head coach Bev Priestman, who led Canada to the Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021, already was suspended by the national soccer federation then removed from the Olympic tournament.

Priestman and her two assistants implicated in the case, Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, are now banned from all soccer for one year. - AP

Skipper Harmanpreet Singh saved his best for the last as he scored the winner from the spot a minute from full time to hand India a 3-2 win against New Zealand in their opening Pool B match of the Paris Olympics here on Saturday. - PTI

Antoine Dupont scored two tries and set up another to inspire France to the country’s first gold medal of the Paris Olympics with a 28-7 victory over Fiji at the Stade de France on Saturday.

Fiji, the two-time defending champions, opened the scoring through a Joseva Talacolo try converted by Iowane Teba, before France hit back thanks to Jefferson-Lee Joseph.

But the second half was all about Dupont, who scored a brace of tries and played in Aaron Grandidier Nkanang for another. Rayan Rebbadj, Paulin Riva (2) and Jean-Pascal Barraque hit all four conversions. - AFP

For the Indian contingent based here for the Olympic Games shooting competition, finding food agreeable to their taste buds has been a struggle. 

There are two Athletes’ Villages here but none of them has managed to satiate the Indians. While some have been relying on a local South Asian restaurant, some others have resorted to cooking their own meals. 

“Food is barely survivable, just managing somehow,” an Indian shooter told PTI on conditions of anonymity. 

Pistol coach Jaspal Rana has taken matters in his own hands. 

“Hum toh khud banate hain (I cook for myself). Yesterday I had Rajma-Chawal. Got the (required) stuff from a grocery store and cooked at my apartment,” said Rana, who is staying near City Centre. 

A few others are missing the buzz at the Games’ Village and would have preferred to be in Paris. 

“The shooting range is beautiful. (But) I was a little upset staying away from main village. 

“The current accommodation is not as I expected but I am here for the competition and winning and not worry about other stuff,” said another Indian shooter. 

Indian shooters are aiming to end the medal drought of last two Olympics. Manu Bhaker was the lone Indian shooter to advance beyond qualifications on Saturday as she made the women’s 10m air pistol finals to be held on Sunday.

The team manager of the top-seeded men’s heavyweight boxer at the Paris Olympics died at the athletes village in Saint-Denis. 

Lionel Fatu Elika died on Friday morning local time at the village, the Oceania regional group of Olympic national committees said in a statement on behalf of its Samoan member. 

The International Olympic Committee said Fatu Elika died of natural causes. In a statement Saturday, the IOC expressed “its condolences to the entire Samoan NOC, his family and friends.” 

Fatu Elika was at the Olympics with a Samoan team that has one boxer who is a strong medal contender, Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali. 

“No words can express how I feel but rest in love coach Lionel,” Plodzicki-Faoagali wrote Saturday in an Instagram post about his team leader whom he described as “Grand Master.” 

Plodzicki-Faoagali starts his 92-kilogram competition Sunday in a round-of-16 bout against a Belgian opponent. The 25-year-old Australia-born boxer is competing at his second Summer Games. 

The Samoan Olympic body’s president Pauga Talalelei Pauga said in the Oceania statement: “Lionel was one of Samoa’s top boxing coaches and a great believer in the Olympic ideal.” 

The Paris organizing committee said it was “deeply saddened to learn of the death of a member of the Samoan delegation. Our thoughts are with his family, his loved ones and his delegation.”

Belgian Remco Evenepoel added Olympic gold to his world title on Saturday, defying rain and a strong field to win the 32.4km individual time trial in Paris. 

The 24-year-old was almost 15 seconds faster than Italian Filippo Ganna in second while another Belgian, Wout van Aert, took bronze ahead of British hope Josh Tarling. -- AFP

The 2024 Olympics are underway. The first gold medal of the Paris Games went to China, but more winners will join the list every day from July 27-Aug. 11. See which countries lead the medal count. Below is a list of all the medal winners, day by day. 

CYCLING

WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL 

Gold: Grace Brown, Australia 

Silver: Anna Henderson, Britain 

Bronze: Chloe Dygert, United States 

DIVING

WOMEN’S SYNCHRONISED 3M SPRINGBOARD 

Gold: Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen, China 

Silver: Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook, United States 

Bronze: Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen, Great Britain 

SHOOTING

10M AIR RIFLE MIXED TEAM 

Gold: Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao, China 

Silver: Keum Jihyeon and Park Hajun, Korea 

Bronze: Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev, Kazakhstan

Ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen beat Kevin Cordon of Guatemala in straight games in a group match of the men’s singles badminton competition at the Paris Olympics in Paris on July 27. 

The 22-year-old Sen won 21-8 22-20 against reigning Pan American champion Cordon in his Olympics debut match that lasted 42 minutes. 

Sen, a gold medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze winner at 2021 World Championships, will face Julien Carraggi of Belgium on Monday in his second group match. 

Despite Cordon’s good comeback in the second game, Sen held his nerve and emerged the winner to begin his campaign on a resounding note. -- PTI

Appearing in his maiden Olympics, seasoned Indian paddler Harmeet Desai progressed to the second round of the men’s singles table tennis competition with a convincing 4-0 victory over Jordan’s Zaid Abo Yaman at Paris Games in Paris on July 27. 

Harmeet won 11-7 11-9 11-5 11-5 to get his campaign underway on a positive note. 

Desai had no trouble in getting the better of his opponent, ranked 538 in the world, in the one-sided preliminary round match that lasted exactly 30 minutes. 

The 31-year-old from Surat, who was part of the side that clinched the team gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and 2022, quickly settled into a nice rhythm and, on most occasions, came out on top in the long rallies against his Jordanian opponents. 

After a comfortable win in the first game, Harmeet picked up from where he left off, taking the lead straight away in Game 2 and continued in the same vein for the remainder of the contest. 

An established name in the Indian TT circuit, Harmeet has been toiling for many years in his quest to compete at the Olympics, having played in all other top global competitions. 

In Paris, he is competing as one of the two men’s singles players from India alongside veteran Sharath Kamal. 

Harmeet came into the Olympics after playing in three preparatory tournaments and undergoing personal training in Germany. -- PTI

Antoine Dupont helped France beat South Africa 19-5 to qualify for the final of the men’s Olympic rugby sevens tournament at the Stade de France on July 27. 

After a pointless opening seven minutes, the Blitzboks took the lead early in the second period through Tristan Leyds. 

France came roaring back, Rayan Rebbadj scoring a double before Jordan Sepho crossed for the Olympics hosts’ third try to rapturous applause from a sell-out stadium.

An era-defining winning streak in Olympic fencing was snapped in a shock upset July 27 as Hungarian fencer Aron Szilagyi lost his opening bout while chasing a fourth consecutive gold medal. 

Szilagyi won Olympic gold in men’s individual saber in 2012, 2016 and 2021 — the only male fencer to be a three-time individual champion. In Paris, he was trying to become the only fencer in Olympic history with four individual gold medals. 

Instead, the streak ended in Szilagyi’s first bout of the Paris Games as he was beaten 15-8 by the 27th-seeded Canadian Fares Arfa in the round of 32 for one of the biggest upsets so far at the 2024 Olympics. Arfa, a first-time Olympian, racked up six unanswered points to start the bout. Szilagyi closed the gap to 6-4 but couldn’t catch the Canadian. 

“I’m in a bit of shock right now, so I’m not even disappointed or angry at myself yet. It happened so fast, and I’ve never thought that my individual competition here in Paris would be so short,” Szilagyi said. 

“It’s really a shock. It’s like my opponent read me. I was an open book to him,” he added. “In every touch, what he wanted, it happened. All his parries worked, all his attacks landed.” 

Szilagyi was on a run of 15 wins in individual saber competition at the Olympics and had not lost in that event since a defeat to Keeth Smart of the United States in the round of 16 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Arfa won team gold with Canada at last year’s Pan-American Games but hadn’t fenced at the Olympics before. 

“It was like as if he’d been the three-time Olympic champion, and I was some kind of first-time Olympian,” Szilagyi added. 

Szilagyi’s early exit wasn’t the only big upset in fencing on July 27. 

Last year’s men’s saber world champion Eli Dershwitz of the United States was beaten 15-10 by Hungarian Csanad Gemesi in the round of 32. Sun Yiwen, the defending Olympic champion in women’s epee, lost her opening bout 14-13 to Miho Yoshimura of Japan.

Novak Djokovic lost just one game in his Olympic tennis opener on July 27 to set up a potential blockbuster clash against old rival Rafael Nadal. 

Djokovic, chasing a first Olympic gold to add to his 24 Grand Slams, brushed aside Australia’s Matthew Ebden 6-0, 6-1 in just 53 minutes under the roof of Court Philippe Chatrier. 

Nadal, who has been carrying a thigh strain, will take on Djokovic for the 60th time if he gets past Marton Fucsovics of Hungary on Sunday. 

Top seed Djokovic, whose Olympic career has only yielded a bronze at Beijing in 2008, holds a 30-29 head-to-head record over the Spaniard. 

However, Nadal, who has won 14 of his 22 Grand Slams at the French Open, has an 8-2 head-to-head lead over the Serb at Roland Garros. 

On Saturday Djokovic was barely pushed by 36-year-old Ebden, who only made the tournament as an alternate after a series of injury pullouts. 

Without a singles ranking, doubles specialist Ebden had not played a singles match for two years before he got an unexpected Olympics call. 

Djokovic needed just 24 minutes to wrap up the first set and was 4-0 up in the second before the Australian won a game. 

Ebden, playing to a sympathetic crowd, celebrated by pulling his shirt over his head. 

But that was as good as it got for the Australian Open doubles champion, who was broken six times and hit just seven winners to the 24 of Djokovic. -- AFP

Carlos Alcaraz enjoyed a winning start to his Olympic Games career on July 27 when he swept aside Lebanon’s Hady Habib. 

The Spanish world number three, who claimed the French Open at Roland Garros last month, coasted to a 6-3, 6-1 win over his 275th-ranked opponent. 

The 21-year-old Alcaraz, who arrived in Paris having successfully defended his Wimbledon title, will face either Cameron Norrie of Britain or Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands for a place in the last 16. -- AFP

Following is India’s schedule at the Olympics in Paris on July 28. 

Badminton: Women’s Singles (Group stage): PV Sindhu vs FN Abdul Razzaq (Maldives) -- 12.50 pm * Men’s Singles (Group stage): Prannoy HS vs Fabian Roth (Germany) -- 8.00 pm 

Shooting: Women’s 10m Air Rifle Qualification: Elavenil Valarivan -- 12.45 pm * Men’s 10m Air Rifle Qualification: Sandeep Singh and Arjun Babuta -- 2.45 pm * Women’s 10m Air Pistol Final: Manu Bhaker -- 3.30 pm 

Rowing: Men’s Single Sculls (Repechage 2): Balraj Panwar -- 1.18 pm 

Table tennis: Women’s Singles (Round 2): Sreeja Akula vs Christina Källberg (Sweden) -- 12.15 pm onwards * Women’s Singles (Round 2): Manika Batra vs Anna Hursey (Great Britain) -- 12.15 pm onwards * Men’s Singles (Round 2): Sharath Kamal vs Deni Kozul (Slovenia) -- 3.00 pm onwards 

Swimming: Men’s 100m Backstroke (Heat 2): Srihari Nataraj -- 3.16 pm * Women’s 200m Freestyle (Heat 1): Dhinidhi Desinghu -- 3.30 pm 

Archery : Women’s Team (Quarterfinals): India (Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur and Deepika Kumari) vs France/Netherlands -- 5.45 pm * Women’s Team (Semifinals): 7.17 pm onwards * Women’s Team (medal rounds): 8.18 pm onwards.

A terrific performance from Manu Bhaker in the women’s 10m air pistol event enabled her to enter the final. Manu Bhaker finished third with a total of 580 to advance to the final. After initial disappointment performance from mixed teams in the shooting arena, India really got some good news from our shooting contingent. The final of the women’s 10m air pistol event will be held at 3.30 p.m. on July 28.

World number one Iga Swiatek battled to a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania to reach the second round of the rain-lashed Olympics tennis tournament on July 27. 

The 23-year-old Swiatek, back at Roland Garros where she captured a fourth French Open title last month, had the advantage of playing under the roof of Court Philippe Chatrier. 

After two breaks in a comfortable first set, the top seed had to retrieve a break in the second set to get to 5-5 before sweeping the next two games and secured victory when Begu double-faulted. 

Polish star Swiatek, who only made the second round on her Olympics debut in Tokyo three years ago, will face either Diane Parry of France or Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska for a place in the last 16. 

As the top seed enjoyed a winning start, play on the outside courts was delayed by three hours as rain swept across the French capital. -- AFP

The first match between Iga Swiatek (Poland) and Irina-Camelia Begu (Romania) is under-way and the first set scores are at Iga (6) and Irina-Camelia (2).

The second set is almost done with the score being tied at (5-5).

Group A Game 1 match comes to an end with Australia beating Spain (92-80) at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium.

The third Hockey match of the competition is ongoing and Netherlands (3) is leading against South Africa (1) at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium - 1.

USA’s Katie Ledecky starts Olympic swimming 400m freestyle preliminaries with the fastest time of 4:2.19 in the No. 4 lane, beating her rival Australia’s Ariarne Titmus. Known as “The Terminator”, Titmus posted the second-fastest time of the heats in 4:02.46, setting up a side-by-side showdown with Ledecky.

Following in third place were New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather at 4:02.55 and Canada’s Summer McIntosh in fourth place at 4:02.65.

In quarter 3 of Group A Game 1 Australia versus Spain, Australia maintains the lead at (60-56) with Spain pushing to close in.

Chinese women win gold as they begin bid for clean sweep.

Yiwen Chen and Yani Chang began China’s bid to capture all eight diving golds on offer by winning the women’s synchronised 3-metre springboard event on July 27.

First-time Olympians Chen and Chang, who arrived in Paris having won three consecutive world titles, finished on 337.68 points.

USA’s Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook grab the silver medal, while Great Britain’s Yasmin Harper and Scarlet Mew Jenson grab the bronze.

With the 2nd match between Pool B teams Belgium (2) and Ireland (0) close to ending, there are 4 more matches, including our very own Indian team left to compete.

In Pool A, the two matches yet to begin are of Netherlands versus South Africa at 4:15 pm and Germany versus France at 8:30 pm.

In Pool B, the two matches yet to begin are of Australia versus Argentina at 4:45 pm and India versus New Zealand at 9:00 pm.

The thrilling game between Great Britain (4) and Spain (0) has ended, with Britain coming out at the top.

The third match - Netherlands versus South Africa is set to start at 4:15 pm at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium - 1.

In Pool B, Belgium (1) takes the lead against Ireland (0) in the second hockey match, taking place at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium - 2.

China’s Sheng Lihao and Huang Yuting won the first gold medal of the Olympic games on Saturday, defeating South Korea’s Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun in the final.

Sheng, a silver medallist in the individual 10m air rifle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and Huang, a two-time gold medallist at the 2022 World Championships, outscored the Korean duo 16-12 to seal victory. -- AFP

Kazakhstan duo Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev won the first medal of the Olympic Games on Saturday after claiming bronze in the 10-metre mixed team air rifle event. 

Le and Satpayev cruised to victory over Germany’s Maximilian Ulbrich and Anna Janssen, outscoring their opponents 17-5. -- AFP

The much-anticipated men’s hockey event is underway. Britain (2) is leading against Spain(0) in the first match of the competition. India will face New Zealand later today.

The match is taking place in the historic Yves-du-Manoir Stadium, which is the only French venue to host the Olympic Games for a second time.

Eventing Dressage: Team and Individual events are underway in Paris. The event is taking place in Château de Versailles, which was home to the court of Louis XIV in 1682. The facilities at the palace will be dismantled after the tournament.

Ramita (314.5) and Arjun (314.2) finish 6th with a total of 628.7, while the pair of Elavenil (312.6) and Sandeep (313.7) end up with a total of 626.3

The Indian hockey team will be playing aginst New Zealand in its opening game today. The team looks to improve the colour of its Tokyo bronze medal in this edition.

Paris Olympics hockey: Stern New Zealand test awaits India as it aims to begin campaign with a win

Hockey, Olympics 2024: India men’s hockey team faces tough competition in Paris Olympics, aiming to improve on historic bronze from Tokyo.

The men’s street skateboarding competition has been postponed due to heavy rain. A statement from Paris 2024 organisers said the preliminary rounds and final of the event, which were scheduled to take place on Saturday, will now be held on Monday.

“Due to adverse overnight weather conditions and following a meeting this morning with all relevant organisers, the decision has been taken to postpone men’s street skateboarding at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games until Monday 29th of July,” the statement said.- AFP

The Indian pair of Sandeep Singh and Elavenil Valarivan (India 1) is in the 13th place, while the pair of Arjun Babuta and Ramita Jinda (India 2) is in the sixth place. 

In this event, the top four teams qualify for the next round. The teams in the top two spots will compete for the gold medal, with the loser getting silver medal. The teams in position three and four will compete for the bronze medal.

New Zealand’s Thomas Mackintosh (6:55.92), Greek Stefanos Ntouskos (7:01.79) and Egypt’s Abdelkhalek El-Banna (7:05.06) are the top three in the Men’s Single Sculls event. India’s Balraj Panwar finishes fourth with a time of 7:07.11. He will participate in the repechage round, or a “lucky losers” heat, and can still make it to quaters.

The 10 m air rifle mixed team qualification will take place at 12:30 p.m. Two teams from India are participating in the event. Watch out for Sandeep Singh and Elavenil Valarivan (India 1) and Arjun Babuta and Ramita Jinda (India 2)

Panwar Balraj is representing India in the Men’s single sculls event, which will start 12:30 p.m. IST. He will be racing in Heat 1. The first three in each heat will qualify for the quarter-finals.

With Paris 2024 setting a new benchmark as the most gender-equal Games ever in terms of number, it is time to look back at the long road the modern Olympics has taken in its 128-year-old journey to reach this stage. 

When the Games was revived in 1896 at its spiritual home Athens, women did not participate. In 1900, 22 women were allowed to participate in the Paris Games -- that’s just 2.2% out of the 997 participating athletes. Now, an equal number of men and women are participating in this edition.

Y.B. Sarangi takes a look at the numbers.

Paris Olympics: The long road to equal participation at the Games

Paris 2024: A historic journey towards gender equality in the Olympics over 128 years.