Hockey campaign begins with a win for India at Paris . / X/@FIH_Hockey

Wins in badminton, table tennis, and hockey lifted spirits in the Indian camp on the first day of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, following a shaky start in shooting.

With a penalty stroke goal in the 59th minute, India rallied from a 1-0 deficit to beat New Zealand 3-2. New Zealand made India work hard on a day that witnessed some vantage hockey, with Australia  recording a solitary goal win over Argentina while Belgium defeated Ireland 2-0. A huge 1-8 defeat at the hands of World Cup champions Germany, it was a heartbreak for the home team. The Netherlands put everything into its game to snuff out a spirited challenge from South Africa. The Dutch won 5-3.

India started well but the Kiwis not only had answer to every move initiated by the Tokyo Games bronze medallists but also took the lead from the first penalty it forced in the 8th minute. It was Sam Lane who surprised veteran Indian custodian PR Sreejesh with a low flick on his right.

New Zealand missed consolidating the lead with a bad miss in the 10th minute. India had to wait till the 24th minute to get its first penalty corner. It was from the second that Mandeep managed to get past the Kiwi goalkeeper Dimnic Dixon. Kiwis contested the award through a video referral. The decision of the ground umpire was upheld to bring the teams at par.

Early in the second half, India took the lead when Sumit managed to sneak the ball past both Dominic and other Kiwi defenders after a melee. Again, the Kiwis asked for a video referral but met with no success. As Indian players were playing to keep their 2-1 lead intact, it was Simon Child who surprised the Indian defence by making no mistake from a loose rebound after Sam Lane’s penalty corner flick had been blocked by Sreejesh. As the teams were locked 2-2, desperation of Indian players was apparent as they went all out to score a match winner.

Their efforts bore fruit. In the 58th minute, they forced a couple of penalty corners that saw Harmanpreet getting a defender on the goal line stopping the ball bodily. From the first, field umpire awarded a stroke but on second thoughts changed it to a penalty corner. Once again, Harmanpreet’s flick caught defenders bringing in their bodies to play to concede a penalty stroke. This time the award was not contested. Harmanpreet dutifully beat Dominc in the Kiwi goal to the great cheer of Indian fans in the stand. India played out the last two minutes to give its campaign for a medal in hockey a winning start.

India's Day 1 wins

Rain at the start of an event, they say, is a good omen. Though some of the events, especially tennis, had to be shifted to July 28, most of the competitions started on a schedule after a boisterous opening ceremony on July 26.

India’s hopes of starting the day with a medal round finish in shooting suffered a setback when both Sarabjot Singh  and Arjun Cheema had a mixed qualifying round. Arjuna, who was placed fourth after third round, however, had a lapse of concentration in the fourth round and slumped to 12th position while his teammate Sarabjot had an excellent  fourth round with a perfect score of 100. Sarabjit just missed qualifying for the finals with an aggregate of  577 to end ninth with first eight qualifying for the medal round. Arjuna finished 18th with a score of 574.

Manu Bhaker brought some cheers to Indian camp by finishing third in the qualifying round. She will now compete in the medal round tomorrow in her favourite event (10 m Air Rifle). She totaled 580 to finish behind Major Veronika (582) and Ye Jin Ho (582). Other Indian shooter, Rhythm Sangwan, finished 15th with a score of 573.

In badminton, India’s medal hopeful in men’s singles, Lakshya Sen, made a winning start with a straight  21-8, 22-20 win over Kevin Cordon while the world champions doubles pair of Ranki Reddy and Shetty also had a comfortable 21-17, 21-14 win over the local pair of Coryee and Labar.

In Table Tennis, Harmeet Desai also won his opening group match against Jordan’s Abo Yaman Zaid 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 and 11-5. 

In Rowing (single sculls), Balraj Panwar failed to advance finishing fourth in the heats. He, however, stands a chance of moving up through repechage.

Indian American Kanak Jha

Kanak Jha, who is of Indian origin and representing US for the third consecutive time in Olympic Games, also made a winning start in the group matches. He defeated Vladislav Ursu (MDA) 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 and 11-3.

The US started its medal campaign with a silver in diving while China moved to the top of the table with two gold medals on the first day.