TOKYO: The sky over the National Stadium in Tokyo exploded in indigo and white as fireworks marked the start of the opening ceremony for the Olympics on Friday, celebrating the world`s best athletes set to compete amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Postponed for a year, organisers were forced to take the unprecedented step of holding the Games without fans as the novel coronavirus is on the rise again, taking lives around the world.
Even the opening ceremony, normally a star-studded display teeming with celebrities was eerily silent, with fewer than 1,000 people in attendance, strict social distancing rules and signs calling on the spectators to “be quiet around the venue.”
Regardless, it marks a coming together of the world, with an audience of hundreds of millions around the globe and at various stages of the pandemic tuning in to watch the start of the greatest show in sport. The opening video featured at the stadium recapped Japan`s path to the Games and the challenges the world has faced since the selection of the Japanese capital as host in 2013.
It showed how in 2020 the coronavirus struck, with lockdowns forcing the unprecedented postponement only four months before the Games were supposed to open, setting off a roller-coaster period of uncertainty and preparations in isolation for the athletes.
Some of them are expected to use the ceremony to make statements about equality and justice and several nations will be represented by a man and a woman after the organisers changed their rules to allow two flagbearers.
India’s schedule for Day 2
On Day 2 of the Tokyo Olympics, India’s hockey team, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, boxer Vikas Krishnan, shuttler Sai Praneeth and Shooter Apurvi Chandela will be in action. Manika Batra, India’s table tennis star will also be in action. Ergo, it will be an action-packed Saturday for the Indian Olympics team.
ARCHERY (Mixed Team)
Athletes: Deepika Kumari/ Pravin Jadhav or Atanu Das
Round of 16 – 6:00 AM IST onwards
Quarter-finals – 10:45 AM IST onwards
Semi-finals – 12:00 PM IST onwards
Bronze medal match – 12:55 PM IST
Gold medal match – 1:15 PM IST
BADMINTON
Men’s doubles group stage
Lee Yang/ Wang Chi-lin (TPE) Vs Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Chirag Shetty – 8:50 AM IST
Men’s singles group stage
B Sai Praneeth vs Misha Zilberman (ISR) – 9:30 AM ISTBOXING
Men (69kg): Sewonrets Okazawa (JPN) vs Vikas Krishan – 3:54 PM IST
HOCKEY
Men’s Group match: New Zealand vs India – 6:30 AM IST
Women’s Group match: Netherlands vs India – 5:15 PM IST
JUDO
Women’s extra-lightweight (48kg)Shushila Devi Likmabam vs Eva Csernoviczki (HUN)
Round of 32, Round of 16, Quarter-finals – 7:30 AM IST onwards
Repechage, semi-finals, bronze medal bout, gold medal bout – 1:30 PM IST onwards
ROWING
Men’s lightweight doubles sculls
Athletes: Arvind Singh and Arjun Lal Jat
Heats – 7:50 AM IST onwards
SHOOTING
Women’s 10m Air Rifle
Athletes: Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela
Qualification – 5 AM IST
Final – 10:15 AM IST
Men’s 10m Air Pistol
Athletes: Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma
Qualification – 9:30 AM IST
Final – 12 PM IST
TABLE TENNIS
Mixed doubles Round of 16
Lin Yun Ju/Cheng I Ching (TPE) Vs Sharath Kamal/ Manika Batra – 8:30 AM IST
Women’s singles, Round 1
Manika Batra vs Ho Tin-Tin (GBR) – 12:15 PM IST
Sutirtha Mukerjee vs Linda Bergstroem (SWE) – 1:00 PM IST
TENNIS
Men’s singles
Sumit Nagal vs Denis Istomin (UZB) – Not before 8:00 AM IST
WEIGHTLIFTING
Athlete: Saikhom Mirabai Chanu
Women’s 49kg – Qualifying from 6:20 AM; 10:20 AM IST (medal rounds).
