India At Paris Olympics 2024 July 27 Highlights: Hockey Team Pip New Zealand; Lakshya, Satwik-Chirag Win Openers

Shooting: July 27

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification: Sandeep Singh/Elavenil Valarivan, Arjun Babuta/Ramita Jindal (12:30pm IST).

10m Air Pistol Men's Qualification: Arjun Singh Cheema and Sarabjot Singh (2:00pm IST).

10m Air Pistol Women's Qualification: Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan (4:00pm IST).

Arjun Babuta and Ramita Jindal will be the first two Indians in action at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Elavenil Valarivan as well as Sandeep Singh will also be taking part.

India holds the qualification World Record at 635.8 in Cairo, Egypt.

The qualification round kick-off in Paris. Sandeep Singh has 10.8 in his first. Elavenil, on the other hand, is yet to take her first.

Total Score after three shots - 62.4

Ramita Jindal - 10.5, 10.6, 10.4

Arjun Babuta - 10.3, 10.1, 10.5

Total Score after five shots - 113.8

Elavenil Valarivan - 10.5, 10.7, 10.2, 10.2, 9.9

Sandeep Singh - 10.8, 10.4, 10.1, 10.2, 10.4

Ramita - 10.5, 10.6, 10.4, 10.1, 10.8, 10.2, 10.6, 10.7

Arjun - 10.3, 10.1, 10.5, 10.3, 10.7, 10.3, 10.7, 10.5

Total - 167.3

After eight shots, Ramita and Arjun have moved to tenth place with a total of 167 points.

Ramita finishes the first set with a score of 104.6, while Babuta has 104.1 After slow starts, the catching-up has started, and they sit in the top 15. China and Korea occupy the top 3.

Babuta has had a fantastic start in the second relay and is pulling the trigger. However, the combined tally only pushes them to the top 8, which does not guarantee a medal-match position. Can they pull of an unlikely recovery?

Ramita - 10.2, 10.7, 10.3, 10.1, 10.4, 10.7, 10.2, 10.5, 10.6,

Arjun - 10.5, 10.6, 10.5, 10.9, 10.6, 10.5, 10.3, 10.8, 10.7,

Things not looking very promising as Sandeep Singh fires a 9.9 in his fifth of the third series. 16th position with a lot of catching up to do. However, a medal match is mountains away.

The side moves to fifth and is just one spot away from the medal-match spot. It could go either way, can they hold onto their nerve? This is gripping action in Paris.

Ramita and Arjun get a total of 628.7 points to finish sixth, while Sandeep and Elavenil accumulate 626.3 points to end 12th. With both teams not making the top 4, both teams are eliminated.

Despite the early heartbreak, the shooting events still offer a lot of hope for India with a strong, full-of-fight 21-member contingent representing the country in 15 events.

The previous biggest was the one in Tokyo with 15.

Arjun Singh Cheema and Sarabjot Singh will be next up for India in the 10m men's air pistol qualification. (2PM IST)

The 23-year-old Arjun Singh Cheema has jumped to a score of 49 off his first five shots in the first series. Still early days, but a good start for the youngster in the 10m air pistol qualifying event. His compatriot Sarabjot Singh has garnered 48 points off his first five shots. Six series to be played in all.

Arjun Singh Cheema and Sarabjot Singh have both slumped outside the top 20 at the end of the first series. Cheema has shot an aggregate of 96, while Sarabjot tallied 94. Five more series still to come.

Arjun Singh Cheema has made his way into the top 10 after the second series. He shoots a tally of 97 to hold an average of 9.650. Sarabjot Singh, on the other hand, shoots a score of 87 to lie 19th after the second series. The top eight from qualification advance to the final tomorrow.

Arjun Singh Cheema seems to have discovered his rhythm now. After three series, the 23-year-old is in third place, following seven 10s and a score of 97 in the third series. Sarabjot Singh shoots a score of 96 but is still outside the top eight.

Well, well well. Sarabjot Singh has shot a perfect 100 in the fourth series to jump right back into contention. Arjun Singh Cheema, on the other hand, has slipped outside the top eight after a woeful series score of 94 (with a 7 in there to make matters worse).

The topsy turvy nature of top-flight shooting being instantiated in Paris. One shot of 7 seems to have derailed Arjun, who is outside the top 20 now. Meanwhile, Sarabjot, who was in the top three for a while during the fourth series, is now in 12th place with a 93 in the fifth series. One last series to go, all eyes on Sarabjot from the Indian context.

Another shooting event, another moment of heartbreak for India. After a strong resurgence in the third and fourth series, Sarabjot misses out on the final by the barest of margins. The cut-off for qualification stands at 577, and Sarabjot gets that score, but misses by virtue of having just one less in inner 10s (16) than the eighth-placed Robin Water (17 inner 10s) from Germany.

His compatriot Arjun Singh Cheema finishes 18th with a total of 574.

After the disappointment in the first two shooting events, India's Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan are now in action in the third one of the day - the 10m air pistol women's qualification. Both are highly fancied and bear the burgeoning hopes of the nation. Anything short of a final berth will leave either of them dissatisfied, one would reckon. Top eight from the pile qualify.

Both Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan start off with scores of 97 in the first series, which puts both of them inside the top eight (who will qualify for the final). Still early days, five more series to go, fingers crossed and all that.

Manu Bhaker shoots another score of 97 to stay in the hunt for the final. Rhythm Sangwan, however, slips with a below-par tally of 92 in the second series to fall outside the top 20. Four more series to go and things can change very quickly in pistol shooting events, so stay tuned.

India's doubles duo of Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji was slated to begin its first-round match at 3:30pm IST, but the match has been delayed due to rain. They will take on the home duo of Gael Monfils and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Manu Bhaker continues to hold her own in qualifying. She shoots a score of 98 in the third series to stay well and truly in reckoning for a place in the final. Rhythm Sangwan recovers somewhat with a tally of 97, but a previous series of 92 means she is still outside the top 10.

The Haryana shooter does it in style. Manu Bhaker enters the final of the 10m air pistol women's event with a third-place finish in qualifying. Her sixth series ends on a 96 and her aggregate is 580 (with 27 inner 10s) which includes scores of 97, 97, 98, 96 and 96 in the previous series.

Not to be for Rhythm Sangwan, however. She finishes 15th and crashes out of the event.

Several Indian badminton, table tennis and tennis stars will be in action shortly for their Paris Olympic campaign openers. Lakshya Sen will take the court first up (around 7:10pm), then Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Paddler Harmeet Desai will commence the TT caravan for India, while Rohan Bopanna and Sriram Balaji are waiting for their match to start after a rain delay.

The Indian men's hockey team will face New Zealand in their Pool B encounter at 9pm. In boxing, Preeti Pawar will kickstart her campaign in the women’s 54kg round of 32, just after midnight (India time).

India's fancied singles badminton player Lakshya Sen has raced away to a 13-3 lead in his group L match against Kevin Cordon. This is Lakshya's debut appearance at the Olympics and he will be eyeing a podium finish.

Even as Lakshya Sen looks set to coast to a straight-games win, Indian paddler Harmeet Desai too has kick-started his match strongly, winning the first game comfortably against Jordan's Zaid Abo Yaman. This is Harmeet's first-ever match at the Olympics and he is currently ranked 86th in the world, as against his 538th-ranked opponent.

It took a remarkable fightback in the second game, wherein he saved four game points, but Lakshya Sen has won his opening match of Paris Olympics in straight games. The 22-year-old wins 21-8, 22-20 to commence his Olympic journey on a victorious note.

Easy does it for Harmeet Desai. The Indian wins his round of 128 match against Jordan's Zaid Abo Yaman in straight games. Desai will face home favorite Felix Lebrun in the next round. The 17-year-old Frenchman had won the WTT Star Contender in Goa earlier this year.

After Lakshya Sen, it is the turn of India's ace doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty to sparkle in their opening match. The Indians win their opening Group C match against L Corvee and R Labar. The Indians clinch the match in straight games 21-17, 21-14.

Up next will be the Indian hockey team, up against New Zealand.

India trail New Zealand 0-1 after the first quarter of their men's Pool B encounter. Sam Lane converted a penalty corner for the Black Sticks to put them ahead in the eighth minute, and the lead has stayed since.

India equalize via Mandeep Singh, who scores his 117th international goal. A penalty corner is not converted but leads to a re-award, and Harmanpreet Singh's drag-flick is only partially stopped by the New Zealand goalkeeper. Mandeep does the rest at the goal line as India are back on level terms.

India are in the lead, thanks to a scrappy goal from Vivek Sagar Prasad in the third quarter. This has been a far closer contest than Harmanpreet's men would have hoped for. Can they hold on for a win?

Rain puts paid to any chances of the Rohan Bopanna-Sriram Balaji match happening today, and it is moved to tomorrow.

India emerge victorious by the skin of their teeth. Captain Harmanpreet's 59th-minute penalty stroke puts them ahead in a decisive manner after New Zealand had equalized with eight minutes remaining. A nervy but crucial win for India, who next face Argentina.

Indian supporters have two more matches to look forward to, tonight. Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto will take the court for their doubles encounter against the Korean pair of HY Kong and SY Kim at 11:50pm IST. The final Indian in action tonight will be boxer Preeti Pawar in the women’s 54kg round of 32, just after midnight (India time).

India’s Preeti Pawar is currently in action in the women’s 54 kg category boxing first round match against Vietnam's Vo Thi Kim Anh.

With a split 3-2 decision, Preeti Pawar in red has lost the first round. We move into the second.

A unanimous decision from the judges has helped Preeti Pawar make a comeback in the opening round bout in the women's 54 kg category against Vietnam's Vo Thi Kim Anh.

Another unanimous decision has taken Preeti Pawar to the pre-quarterfinals of the women's 54 kg boxing event in the Paris Olympics.

She lost the opening round of her bout against Vietnam's Vo Thi Kim Anh but came back strongly to win the next two rounds to advance to the next stage.

Indian challenge tonight ends on a damp note as Crasto/Ponappa duo loses to Kim/Kong pair in straight sets in their opening match.

And that will be it from our side today. India had a good start to the Paris Olympics, even though it could have been a bit better. India have not been able to open their medal account but there are big hopes from the second day. Thank you for following our live coverage today. Do not forget to join us tomorrow. See you!