Rio Olympics: Hockey brings India joy despite twin setbacks in Paes, Sania

India's campaign in the Olympic shooting competition got off on a disappointing note with medal hope Jitu Rai finishing eighth in the men's 10 metre Air Pistol event here on Saturday.

Jitu produced a string of poor shots for a total score of 78.7 and was the first to be eliminated from the eight-man final.

Earlier, Jitu came up with a splendid performance in the final series of the qualification round and finished sixth with 580 points. Another Indian shooter Gurpreet Singh failed to qualify for the final round after finishing 20th in the qualifying round with 576 points.

Meanwhile, India's women shooters also failed to impress on the opening day and crashed out of the Summer Games after Ayonika Paul and Apurvi Chandela lost in the quarter-finals in their 10 metre air rifle event on Saturday.

Apurvi was placed in the 34th position with a combined score of 411.6 while Ayonika was 43rd with 407.0 among 53 shooters at the Olympic Shooting Centre.

PAES-BOPANNA CRASH OUT

India's men's tennis doubles pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna went down 4-6, 6-7 (6) against Poland's Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski in their first round match here on Saturday.

Paes-Bopanna surrendered the first set in 32 minutes at the Olympic Tennis Centre and the second set in 52 minutes.

It was Paes' record-setting seventh Olympic appearance, which ended on a disappointing note for the veteran player.

Paes-Bopanna converted both break points received but gave away seven break points in the first set. Kubot-Matkowski won three of the seven break points received to win the first set 6-4.

The Indian pair committed 18 unforced errors in comparison to 10 by their opponents in the first set.

The second set was closely contested with both teams retaining their serves to stretch it to a tie-breaker.

But ultimately the Indian pair went down fighting 8-6 in the tie-breaker to bow out in 1 hour 24 minutes.

JOY FOR MEN'S HOCKEY TEAM

India began their men's hockey campaign with a morale boosting 3-2 win against Ireland in their opening pool encounter here on Saturday.

Rupinder Pal Singh (27th and 49th) scored a brace while V.R. Raghunath (15th minute) opened the scoring for the eight time gold medallists.

John Jermyn (45th), Conor Harte (55th) reduced the margin for the Irishmen in the Pool B match.

India's next match is against two-time defending champions Germany on Monday.

TABLE TENNIS CHALLENGE OVER

India's Mouma Das and debutant Manika Batra crashed out in the first round of the women's singles table tennis competition at the Olympics here on Saturday.

World No.150 Mouma failed to put up a fight against World No.58 Romania's Daniela Dodean Monteiro, as the Indian went down 2-11, 7-11, 7-11, 3-11 to bow out of the competition.

Meanwhile, Manika lost 12-10, 6-11, 12-14, 11-8, 4-11, 12-14 to her opponent but will leave the Games with head held high because of her performance as a debutant.

The men's singles event also turned out to be a huge disappointment for India as both Sharath Kamal and Soumyajit Ghosh lost their respective first-round matches to bow out of the competition.

Soumyajit lost 8-11, 6-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-13 against Thailand's Padasak Tanviriyavechakul, while Sharath Kamal suffered a 8-11, 12-14, 11-9, 6-11, 8-11 loss against Romania's Adrian Crisan.

MIRABAI CHANU DISAPPOINTS

Indian weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu produced a disappointing performance and was unable to make an impact in the women's 48kg category at the Riocentro Pavilion 2 arena here.

Competing in Group A, Chanu lifted 82 kilograms in the snatch event, but could not complete any of her lifts in the clean and jerk.

Sopita Tanasan of Thailand won the gold with a total lift of 200 kilograms. This was her maiden Olympic title. Having claimed a fourth place finish in the women's 53kg category at the World Championships last year, Sopita changed her category to the 48kg in her quest to win gold at the Rio Olympics.

Sri Wahyuni Agustiani of Indonesia clinched the silver with 192 kilograms while Japan's Hiromi Miyake (188 kilograms) took the bronze.

SANIA-PRARTHANA BOW OUT   

The Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare went down fighting to Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang of China in the first round of the women's doubles competition at the Olympic Tennis Centre.

Sania and Prarthana gave a good account of themselves before going down 6-7 (6), 7-5, 5-7 in two hours and 44 minutes.

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Rio 2016: Sachin Tendulkar watches rugby as cricket remains outside the pale

THE sight of cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar sitting in the stands on the first morning of the Rio Games rugby competition on Saturday was a reminder that at least one major international sport remains outside the Olympic embrace. 

Accompanied by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, India's greatest sporting icon watched the opening matches of a shortened version of a sport that has some parallels with his own.

Like rugby, the elite level of cricket is largely populated by a handful of former British colonies and the game is widely perceived as unfathomable by many outside that heartland.

Unlike rugby, however, cricket has been slow to take up the chance to return to the Olympic fold since Bach opened up opportunities for new sports to replace those considered unappealing to the younger demographic he wants to attract.

With the return of golf and rugby at the Rio Games, and with baseball and softball set to return in Tokyo in 2020, cricket, and the Indian subcontinent that provides the vast majority of its most fervent fans, represents a final frontier for the IOC.

Barring a fast fading memory of a once dominant hockey team and the odd shooting gold, India's 1.2 billion people have had little to shout about at the Olympics for many a long year.

There are signs, however, that Bach's accompanying Tendulkar to the rugby in Rio was only part of increasing IOC attempts to engage the sport that dominates India, and the country itself.

As recently as Thursday, Nita Ambani, an Indian businesswoman and owner of the Mumbai franchise in the hugely popular Indian Premier League cricket competition, was elected to the IOC.

For World Rugby's chief executive Brett Gosper, whose sport returned to the Olympics for the first time in 92 years on Saturday, the potential benefits for cricket were clear.

"Sachin was here for a whole session, loved it and was interested in rugby’s journey to the Olympics and why that's an interesting prospect, possibly, for cricket," he said.

"If cricket has similar ambitions to rugby, which is to take its footprint out of its comfort zone, then there’s nothing like the Olympics to allow you to do that."

Clashes with an already busy international schedule and a desire to protect its own television deals and tournaments have been behind cricket's reluctance to engage with the Olympics.

The International Cricket Council has, however, indicated that next year it will present a case for inclusion at the 2024 Olympics, with the shorter Twenty20 the most likely format.

While Gosper, whose former IOC vice president father Kevan was also at the rugby on Saturday, was keen to point out what cricket would gain from being in the Games, he was the first to admit that benefits would also flow the other way.

"Of course, cricket would be good for the Olympics too," he said. "It would certainly bring an Indian audience, which is considerable ..."

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Rio 2016: Golden start for Australia on day of records

Hungary's Katinka Hosszu ended her long wait for Olympic victory and Australia captured two gold medals in an exhilarating first day of swimming competition that saw three world records smashed in Rio on Saturday.

Hosszu, five times a world champion but without a medal from three previous Olympics, demolished the world record by 2.07 seconds in the final of the women's 400 metres individual medley.

Australia's women retained their Olympic title by winning the 4x100m freestyle relay in world record time, with sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell swimming the last two stages to overhaul the United States, despite the efforts of Katie Ledecky on the anchor leg.

Mack Horton's victory in the men's 400 freestyle also meant Australia had already doubled their gold medal tally from a disappointing showing four years ago.

The day's record spree began with Britain's Adam Peaty, who broke his own world mark of 57.92 in the heats of the 100 breaststroke when he clocked 57.55.

Tipped to become the first British man to win an Olympic gold since 1988, he then swam 57.62 in the semi-finals.

HUGE QUEUES AND ANGRY FANS MAR THE START OF RIO GAMES

The Rio Olympic Games got off to a shambolic start on Saturday as fans queued for hours at security checkpoints to enter venues, with some missing their events and many athletes competing in front of eerily empty stands.

Games organizers apologized for dropping the ball on the first day of full competition, the morning after a dazzling opening ceremony, as iconic venues such as beach volleyball on the famed Copacabana beach saw only a few hundred spectators.

Outside, lines stretched for several blocks as angry fans stood in full sun, waiting as security staff struggled.

AMERICA SHOOTER VIRGINIA THRASHER WINS FIRST GOLD IN RIO

American shooter Virginia Thrasher has won the first gold medal of the Rio Olympics in the women's 10-meter air rifle.

Thrasher shot 10.5 on her first shot of the final elimination round and smiled after 10.4 on her second shot put her comfortably ahead of China's Li Du. Thrasher had a cumulative score of 208.0 to beat Du, a two-time gold medalist, by a point. China's Siling Yu earned the bronze.

FRENCH GYMNAST SAMIR AIT SUFFERS HORRIFIC INJURY

French gymnast Samir Ait Said's Olympics ended when he severely injured his left leg while vaulting during team preliminaries on Saturday.

Said's leg bent awkwardly as he tried to land, the sound of the injury echoing through the arena.

Said writhed on the ground in agony while medical officials tended to him. He exited on a stretcher to a standing ovation.

The injury came minutes after Germany's Andreas Toba hurt his knee during floor exercise. Toba abandoned his routine and was helped off by trainers but managed to compete on pommel horse before exiting to receive medical attention.

VIETNAM'S HOANG VIHN WINS HIS MAIDEN GOLD IN MEN'S AIR PISTOL

Vietnam's Hoang Xaun Vihn has won his first Olympic gold medal, rallying to beat hometown favorite Felipe Almeida Wu on the final shot of men's 10-meter air pistol.

Wu trailed by as many as 2.3 points, but moved 0.2 ahead of Hoang with a 10.2 on his penultimate shot.

The Brazilian hit 10.1 on his final shot, setting off a raucous chant of "Wu!" from the crowd, but Hoang shot 10.7 to earn gold.

VENUS WILLIAMS LOSES IN 1ST ROUND OF SINGLES

When Venus Williams pushed one last forehand long to lose in the first round for the first time in her record five Olympic singles tournaments, her opponent celebrated as if having claimed a gold medal, dropping down on the green hard court to plant a kiss on the white five-ring logo.

This was clearly a very big deal to Kirsten Flipkens, a Belgian ranked 62nd and only once as far as the semifinals at a Grand Slam event.

Just two points away from winning on four occasions while portions of the crowd turned hostile toward her, the 36-year-old Williams faded as Saturday night's match stretched past 3 hours and she was stunned 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) by Flipkens on Day 1 of tennis at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

KATINKA HOSSZU, HUNGARY'S IRON LADY FINALLY STRIKES GOLD

Five times a world champion but without a single medal from three previous Olympics, Hungary's Katinka Hosszu finally struck gold on Saturday and demolished the 400 metres individual medley world record as well.

The 'Iron Lady' set a mind-boggling pace as she put Ye Shiwen's London 2012 benchmark through the wringer in the Rio pool.

Having threatened to break the mark in the heats, she was a gaping 5.25 seconds under record pace when she entered the final freestyle leg with the crowd roaring her on.

Her finishing time of four minutes, 26.36 seconds, in a gruelling event where swimmers complete successive legs in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, sliced 2.07 seconds off the record.

CAMPBELL SISTERS SHINE AS AUSTRALIA WIN TWO GOLDS IN THE POOL

Australia turned to the best sister act in swimming to hold off an American team anchored by Katie Ledecky.

Give the gold to Cate and Bronte Campbell.

And a world record, too.

The Campbells carried their squad to victory in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay on Saturday night at the Rio Olympics, with little sister Bronte snatching the lead from Dana Vollmer on the third leg and big sister Cate pulling away from Ledecky on the final down-and-back for a time of 3 minutes, 30.65 seconds.

The Aussies broke their own mark of 3:30.98 set two years ago and defended their gold medal from four years ago.

"This one was different because it was expected," Cate Campbell said. "It's always a lot harder to do something when it's expected."

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Rio 2016: Dipa Karmakar ready to take on 'vault of death' today

Dipa Karmakar has already grabbed a piece of history by becoming the first Indian female gymnast to qualify for the 2016 Olympics and will be aiming to reach greater heights today.

Dipa Karmakar, who scripted history by becoming the first Indian female gymnast to qualify for the Rio Olympics, will carry a billion hopes when the women gymnastics events unfold today.

Fighting all odds, the 22-year-old diminutive girl from Tripura had qualified for the Olympics at this very venue in April. She has given her soul into mastering the highly difficult Produnova - a double front somersault vault - and is relying on it for a super show. 

She has done about 1000 repetitions of the move so the key for her would be to do well in the uneven bars, beam and floor exercises.

"I've seen her tremendous hard work and determination. Initially, I was scared when she tried it but her never-say-die attitude makes her confident. We just need to stay focused," her coach Bisweshwar Nandi said.

Dipa does not like to sit back on her laurels and knows well what her focus should be, an Olympic medal to create a gymnastics revolution back home. After all, she has had several firsts.)

Dipa was the first Indian female gymnast to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games (Glasgow 2014) and followed it up with bronze at the Asian Championships in Hiroshima. She also reached the final round of the 2015 World Championships and finished fifth.

Daughter of a weightlifting coach, Dipa won five gold medals at the 2015 National Games in Kerala - in individual all-round, table vault, balancing beam, uneven parallel bars and floor exercises and was one of the top medal winners at the event.

Later in the year, she won a bronze medal at the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Japan.

Dipa, who has been practicing gymnastics since the age of six, had to train extra hard because she had flat feet.

As a 14-year-old, she won the Junior Nationals held in Jalpaiguri. Participating in state, national and international championships, Dipa has so far won 77 medals including 67 gold.

Focused on the sport since the day she saw Ashish Kumar win a medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Dipa trains about eight hours a day in two sessions at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Delhi where she has a special equipment.

Produnova, considered one of the most dangerous vaults in women’s gymnastics, gives the 22-year-old an edge for a shock medal in the event, which she considers a pet event after extensive practice.

Dipa is the third athlete in the world to complete the dangerous vault successfully after Russian Yelena Produnava and Yamilet Pena of Dominican Republic.

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India at Rio Olympics, Highlights: Heartbreaking opening day for India

Day 1 Highlights:

6.45 IST: India's miserable day finally comes to an end!Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare crash out of women's doubles tennis after suffering a 6-7, 7-5, 5-7 loss against China's Shuai Peng and Shaui Zhang in the first round. 

5.51 IST: Weightlifting: Sopita Tanasan bags the gold medal for Thailand in the women's 48kg weightlifting event. Wahyuni Agustiani from Indonesia settles for silver while Hiromi Miyake off Japan gets the bronze medal.

5.40 IST; Meanwhile, Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare have bounced back to win the second set 7-5 against China's Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang in the women's doubles tennis first round. 

5.35 IST: India's day going from bad to worse! Weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu crashes out after failing to lift in clean and jerk in all three attempts in the women's 48kg event.  

5.27 IST: Women's 48kg Weightlifting: India's Saikhom Mirabai Chanu fails to lift 106kg in clean and jerk. PB lift coming up in her final attempt.   

4.53 IST: Tennis, Women's Doubles Round 1: India's Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare lose the first set 6-7 (6) against the Chinese duo of Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang.  

4.16 IST: Table Tennis: The disappointment continues for India as Achanta Sharath Kamal gets knocked out of Rio 2016 after suffering a 8-11, 12-14, 11-9, 6-11, 8-11 loss in the men's singles first round against Romania's Adrian Crisan. With that India's challenge in the TT event comes to an end in both the men's and women's categories.

4.09 IST: Women's weightlifting 48kg: India's Saikhom Mirabai Chanu successfully lifts 82kg on her second attempt  

4.03 IST: Men's Table Tennis: Achantha Sharath Kamal is also in action in his first round match against Adrian Crisan of Romania. Sharath Kamal is trailing 1-2. 

4.00 IST: Tennis: Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare's women's doubles match against China has finally begun.  

1.20 IST: Another Indian crashes out. Soumyajit Ghosh knocked out of Rio Olympics after losing to Thailand's Padasak Tanviriya Vechakul 8-11, 6-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-13 in the first round of men's table tennis.

12.45 IST: Men's Table Tennis, Round 1: Disappointing start for India's Soumyajit Ghosh. He trails Thailand's Padasak Tanviriya Vechakul 8-11, 6-11 at the end of the first two games. Five more to follow.  

12.25 IST: It's a stiff fight between Vietnam's Hoang Vinh andBrazil's Almeida Felipe. Vinh wins it with the last shot. GOLD FOR VIETNAM. 

12:10 ISTJitu Rai eliminated, finishing eighth with score of 78.7. Another disappointing finish from an Indian shooter. In the build-up to the Rio Games, Jitu was a real medal hopeful for India. But again shooting can be a cruel sport. Jitu Rai will return for the 50m event. 

12:08 IST Brazil's Felipe Almeida leading the pack, Jitu at 8th with 68.6. The Indian shooter needs to do some good shooting to avoid elimination 

12:05 IST Bad start from Jitu Rai, 28.9 after three shots. 

23:57 IST  Jitu Rai will be in action shortly at the men's 10m Air Pistol finals. Guys, stay tuned...

India on Day 1 at Rio so far... 

22:52 IST: So, finally some good news for Indian shooting. Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul, the female 10m air rifle shooters disappointed after failing to qualify for the medal round while table tennis hopes Manika Batra and Mouma Das also crashed out after the first round. Meanwhile, Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna crashed out after losing their first round match to Polish pair of Kubot and Matkowski. 

Indian hockey brought some smiles as Rupinder Singh's brace helped the team seal their first Olympic victory in 12 years. 

22:46 IST Jitu Rai qualifies for the finals of 10m Air Pistol event, Gurpreet Singh crashes out placed 20th. Jitu finished 6th with 580 points while Gurpreet was placed 20th with 576 points.

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Rio Olympics 2016: Opening ceremony celebrates Brazil to open Games

The 2016 Olympics have been formally opened with a colourful and pulsating ceremony at Rio's Maracana stadium.

Broadcast to an estimated audience of three billion, it celebrated Brazil's history, culture and natural beauty, before former marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima lit the Olympic cauldron.

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray led the Great Britain team into the arena.

The build-up to Rio 2016 has been played out against a deep recession and political protests in Brazil.

The Games, the first to be held in South America, have also been disrupted by concerns over the Russian doping scandal, the Zika virus and problems with the city's security, infrastructure and venues.

But organisers will hope the focus can now shift to the action in 28 sports, with 207 teams, after the Games of the 31st Olympiad were officially opened.

The cauldron was lit by De Lima, who won bronze for Brazil in the marathon at the 2004 Games after he wasgrappled by a spectator while leading the race.

Football legend Pele had ruled himself out of performing the role saying he was not in

With Brazil's economy struggling, the budget for the opening ceremony was thought to be considerably less than the £30m spent at London 2012.

And while Rio's event did not match the enormous ambition of the ceremony directed by Danny Boyle four years ago, those inside the Maracana were treated to a show that mixed light displays, fireworks, dancing and music.

After an emotional rendition of the Brazilian national anthem, sung and played on acoustic guitar by singer-songwriter Paulinho da Viola, video projections beamed on to the floor of the stadium explored the history of the country.

Starting with images of micro-organisms dividing - representing the beginning of life - the ceremony highlighted the contributions made by the nation's indigenous peoples, by Portuguese explorers, by African slaves and by Japanese immigrants to Brazil's history and culture.

Performers jumped and danced across projections of giant buildings, symbolising the cities of Brazil, while a recreation of a 14-bis biplane - the invention of Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont - drew one of the biggest cheers of the evening as it flew out of the arena.

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