Today at Paris Olympics: Shooter Swapnil eyes medal, Lakshya vs Prannoy and more

Day 6 of the Paris Olympics 2024 promises to be the busiest and significant day of the Games for the Indian contingent.

It would be a make-or-break kind of situation for the Indian athletes with regard to the medal prospects. The day will witness many critical clashes across boxing, badminton and shooting. It was a fulfilling day for the Indian contingent on Day 5 despite not bagging any medals. However, Day 6 will be crucial with three medal rounds scheduled for the players on August 1, Thursday.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhi, ace shuttler Lakshya Sen and veteran HS Prannoy stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s and men’s singles events at the Paris Olympic Games. Meanwhile, Prannoy and Lakshay are set for a mouthwatering all-Indian showdown in the men’s singles event. Shooting has been India’s best bet in the Paris Olympics so far and is set to have a major day as well. India’s Swapnil Kusale will be participating in his rifle final, while Sift Kaur Samra will hunt a spot for the finals in her 50m rifle event.

The 28-year-old Swapnil Kusale will look to put his past setbacks behind him as the Indian shooter will take part in the final of the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final at the Paris 2024 Olympics shooting competition after finishing seventh in the qualifying round. This is the fifth appearance made by an Indian shooter in the final of all the shooting events at the Paris Games, having bagged two bronze medals.

Nikhat Zareen

Nikhat Zareen is set to face a stern test against the Chinese favourite Wu Yu, in what would be the battle of the world champions (across tow weight categories). Having won the Asian Games gold medal in 2023, the Chinese boxer has been a strong medal contender in the Paris Games. This will be the first time when Nikhat Zareen will face Wu Yu in the ring in round of 16 match.
Women’s 50kg R16: Nikhat Zareen vs Wu Yu: 2.30 pm

Satwik-Chirag
India’s badmiton men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the quarterfinals at Paris Olympics 2024. The Indian pair is coming into the match on the back of a hat-trick of victories against their Malaysian counterparts. However, Sat-Chi had lost their last eight bouts against them. The Indian duo qualified for the knockouts after winning both matches in Pool C.

HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen
HS Prannoy registered a come-from-behind victory against Vietnam player Le Duc Phat to set up a round of 16 clash against his Indian compatriot Lakshya Sen. The 22-year-old had produced a masterclass against World No. 4 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia to qualify for the round of 16.
PV Sindhu

World No. 13 PV Sindhu will face the sixth-seeded He Bingjiao of the People’s Republic of China in the round of 16 match. He Bingjiao holds an 11-9 advantage in the head-to-head record against Sindhu. The Chinese player also won their last meeting at the Asian Games quarter-finals last year. However, Sindhu had beaten the Chinese player in the Tokyo 2020 bronze medal match.

Here’s India’s schedule for Day 6 of the Paris Olympics 2024:

11:00 AM – MEDAL EVENT

Athletics: Men’s 20km racewalk Final – Akashdeep, Vikash, Paramjeet Singh

12:30 PM

Golf: Men’s individual strokeplay R1 – Shubhankar Sharma, Gaganjeet Bhullar

12:50 PM – MEDAL EVENT
Athletics: Women’s racewalk Final – Priyanka Goswami

1:00 PM – MEDAL EVENT
Shooting: Men’s 50m rifle 3 position Final- Swapnil Kusale

1:30 PM

Hockey: Men’s Pool B match – India vs Belgium

Table Tennis: Women’s singles quarter-finals – Sreeja Akula (if qualified)

2:30 PM

Boxing: Women’s 50kg R16 – Nikhat Zareen

2:31 PM

Archery – Men’s recurve individual R64 – Praveen Jadhav

3:10 PM

Shooting: Women’s 50m rifle 3 position qualification – Sift Kaur Samra, Anjum Moudgil

3:45 PM

Sailing: Men’s dinghy ILCA 7 – Race 1 and 2 – Vishnu Saravanan

4:30 PM

Badminton: Men’s doubles quarter-finals – Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty

5:40 PM

Badminton: Men’s singles R16 – Lakshya Sen vs HS Prannoy

7:05 PM

Sailing: Women’s dinghy ILCA 6 – Race 1 and 2 – Nethra Kumanan

10:00 PM

Badminton: Women’s singles R16 – PV Sindhu vs He Bing Jaio