Lakshya Sen plays for bronze; wrestling starts

Lakshya Sen will take on Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in his men’s singles badminton bronze medal match at the Paris 2024 Olympics while Avinash Sable will compete in the men’s 3000m steeplechase (SC) qualifying event on Monday, August 5.

Sen, the first Indian badminton player to make the men’s singles semi-finals at the Olympics, will look to further his achievement at Paris 2024 with a bronze medal. The match between world No. 22 Lakshya Sen vs Lee Zii Jia, ranked seventh, will take place at 6:00 PM.

Sen leads his Malaysian opponent 4-1 in the head-to-head record and goes into the medal match after a strong show against the defending champion Viktor Axelsen on Sunday.

Athletics will see Avinash Sable, the Indian national record holder, take on a stacked qualifying field in Heat 2 of the men’s 3000m steeplechase at 10:50 PM. The top five of the 12 racers will progress to the final.

Sable, ranked 15th in the world, will race alongside Kenya’s world No. 3 Abraham Kibiwot, the Commonwealth Games champion and a world championships bronze medal winner. Sable won a historic silver medal for India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, finishing behind Kibiwot.

Besides badminton and athletics, India will compete in shooting, sailing, table tennis and wrestling events today.

India’s Nethra Kumanan, currently 25th in the women’s dinghy standings, will need two top finishes in the final two races today to stand a chance to make the medal race, featuring only the top 10-ranked boats.

Vishnu Saravanan, 18th in the men’s dinghy after eight races, will also look to make the top 10.

Indian shooters, who have won all three of India’s Olympic medals at Paris 2024, will look to end the campaign on a high with a strong show in the mixed skeet team event.

The Indian mixed skeet team, comprising Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan, will shoot in the qualifying rounds at 12:30 PM.

Meanwhile, Indian wrestlers will open their campaign today with Nisha Dahiya facing Tetiana S Rizkho of Ukraine in the women’s 68kg round of 16.

Indian women’s table tennis players Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula, who entered the Indian record books at Paris 2024 for their historic campaigns in the women’s singles, will lead India in the women’s team event.

The Indian women’s table tennis team, seeded 11th, will play fourth seeds Romania in the round of 16 at 1:30 PM.

Paris 2024 Olympics India schedule today: 5 August, Monday

All in Indian Standard Time (IST)

Athletics

Women’s 400m heat 5 – Kiran Pahal - 3:57 PM

Men’s 3000m steeplechase heat 2 – Avinash Sable - 10:50 PM

Badminton

Men’s singles bronze medal match - Lakshya Sen vs Lee Zii Jia (MAS) - 6:00 PM

Sailing

Women's dinghy race 9 - Nethra Kumanan - 3:45 PM

Women's dinghy race 10 - Nethra Kumanan - 4:53 PM

Men’s dinghy race 9 - Vishnu Saravanan - 6:10 PM

Men's dinghy race 10 - Vishnu Saravanan - 7:15 PM

Shooting

Skeet mixed team qualification - Anantjeet Singh Naruka/Maheshwari Chauhan - 12:30 PM

Skeet mixed team bronze medal match (subject to qualification) - Anantjeet Singh Naruka/Maheshwari Chauhan - 6:30 PM

Skeet mixed team gold medal match (subject to qualification) - Anantjeet Singh Naruka/Maheshwari Chauhan - after bronze medal match

Table tennis

Women’s team event round of 16 - India vs Romania - 1:30 PM

Wrestling

Click here to read article