Paris, July 26 (IANS) India’s ace shuttler P.V Sindhu shared her excitement of being the flag-bearer of the country in the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony on Friday and said it is “one of the greatest honours” of her life. Sindhu is one of the two flag-bearers of the country along with experienced table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal for the historic event along the river Seine in Paris. Taking to X, Sindhu also posted pictures of herself in a tricolour-inspired saree for the glittery ceremony.

“Paris 2024, flag bearer—one of the greatest honours of my life to hold our country’s flag in front of millions,” Sindhu wrote on X, hours before the Opening Ceremony in Paris.

The duo will lead 78 sportspersons and officials from 12 disciplines in the iconic first-ever outdoor Opening Ceremony in the history of the Games.

In the unique ceremony, thousands of Olympic athletes will travel on around 100 boats, cruising along the Seine and passing by some of Paris’ most iconic landmarks, including the Notre Dame, Pont des Arts and Pont Neuf.

India has sent a contingent of 117 sportspersons to Paris for the 2024 Olympics, aiming to surpass the historic seven medals won at the previous edition in Tokyo. Indian athletes will compete in 16 out of the 32 sports featured in this edition of the Olympic Games.

As many members of the Contingent have competitions on Saturday morning, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has been respectful of their decision to prioritise preparation and not take part in the Opening Ceremony.

Among those who have been exempted from participating in the Parade include rower Balraj Panwar, who has his race on Saturday morning, members of the air rifle and air pistol shooting teams, who have their events on Saturday, too have decided to skip the opening ceremony.

India will be opening its campaign in shooting, badminton, tennis, rowing, archery and hockey on the first day of competitions on Saturday.

Meanwhile, members of the athletics, weightlifting and wrestling squads are yet to reach Paris and therefore will miss the opening ceremony. All others who have made themselves available will be part of the Parade.

–IANS

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Pallekele (Sri Lanka), July 26 (IANS) Ahead of starting the T20I series against Sri Lanka on Saturday, India captain Suryakumar Yadav glowingly spoke about his working relationship with new head coach Gautam Gambhir, saying his bonding with him has always been special.

Suryakumar pipped fast-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya for the leadership role after Rohit Sharma retired from the format post India’s T20 World Cup triumph in June. Gambhir and Suryakumar go a long way – the duo were captain and vice-captain respectively at the Kolkata Knight Riders from 2014 to 2017.

“Our bond has always been special. From 2014 till now, it has been exactly 10 years. In 2018, I joined another (IPL) franchise and he joined another franchise. But we used to talk regularly about the game. When he used to play with another team, I used to play with him. We used to discuss the game to see if we could do better in that match.”

“The learning has been going on since six years when I was not with him. This bond is always special. We have talked a lot, but not so much. But he knows my body language. When I see his body language, I know what he wants to say to me, and what I want to say to him.”

“When I say no, he understands what he wants and what I want. So, this bond is very special between coach and captain. I am very excited for this journey ahead of me,” said Suryakumar in the pre-series press conference.

Talking about the learnings he received from Rohit in captaincy, Suryakumar spoke affirmatively. “I always think that what I have learned from Rohit Sharma, is he was always like a leader on the ground and off the field.”

“He was not like a captain. There is a lot of difference in both. There was a leader who was standing in the middle of the group, and he showed people the way, how to play this T20 cricket and how to win the tournament.”

Speaking on how India will find replacements for Rohit, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja in the format, Suryakumar explained, “It will be difficult to fill the shoes, but obviously people have practiced so much, new players have come, they are already doing well when they play franchise cricket.”

“And the matches they played for India; they have done very well in that too. So, I have a lot of trust in those three, who have just come in their place, that they will do well.”

Suryakumar signed off by saying that he’s changed a lot after his role as Mumbai captain ended in 2015 on a sour note, following complaints of abusive language from team-mates, and that being India’s captain won’t lead to any downturn in his batting returns in T20Is.

“A lot of things have changed since then. I am a different person now. I have got married and I have learned a lot from other captains. I will take the team forward in my own style. Our brand of cricket remains the same.”

“What the captaincy has done is it has given me new responsibility and I am looking forward to the challenge. The same train will continue. Only the engine has changed. The bogies (train carriages) are the same.”

“I don’t think my batting style will change, as such. There will be pressure, but the pressure is always there, otherwise there’s no fun in playing. I’m going to play the way I’ve been playing so far. Nothing will change.”

“It’s better for me, in fact, because I can tell the team openly what brand of cricket, we have to play in T20s going forward. I’ll enjoy it more and can probably pass on the pressure on to others and enjoy my game.”

–IANS

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Paris, July 26 (IANS) The much-awaited Paris Olympics will commence on Saturday after the opening ceremony extravaganza along the Seine River on Friday. Indian athletes will be in action on the first day of the quadrennial event in seven sports disciplines including hockey, shooting and badminton.

As per the schedule for Saturday (July 27), Indian rower Balraj Panwar will compete in the men’s single sculls (Heat 1) at 12:30 pm IST.

In shooting, Elavenil Valarivan & Sandeep Singh, Arjun Babuta & Ramita Jindal will compete in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification at 12:30 PM followed by 10m Air Pistol Men’s Qualification, in which Arjun Singh Cheema and Sarabjot Singh will be in action.

Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan will also start their campaign on Saturday with 10m Air Pistol Women’s Qualification at 4 pm.

In tennis, Rohan Bopanna and Sriram Balaji will take on the French pair of Fabian Reboul and Edouard Roger Vasselin in the men’s doubles first-round match at 3:30 pm.

In badminton, Lakshya Sen will be up against Kevin Gua Cordon in the men’s singles group stage match at 7:10 pm.

In the men’s doubles category, India’s top pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will lock horns with France’s Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar in their opening match at 8:30 pm.

In the women’s doubles category, Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto will play against the Korean pair of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong in their first group stage match at 11:50 pm.

Harmeet Desai will start his campaign against Jordan’s Yaman Zaid Jor Abo in the men’s singles table tennis event in the preliminary round at 7:15 pm.

After the historic bronze finish in Tokyo Olympics, the Indian men’s hockey team will aim to change the colour of their medal as they start their journey against New Zealand in a Pool B match at 9 pm (IST).

In boxing, Preeti Pawar will be up against Vietnam’s Vo Thi Kim Anh in the women’s 54kg rund of 32 clash at 11:40 pm.

Where and how to watch the Olympics action in India:

Paris Olympics 2024 action will be broadcast on Sports 18-1 SD, Sports 18-1 HD, Sports 18-2 and Sports 18-3 channels, while the live streaming will be available for free on JioCinema.

–IANS

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Pallekele (Sri Lanka), July 26 (IANS) In the past few years, India’s tour of Sri Lanka has generally been low-key affairs. But this time around, the script has changed as India brace themselves up for the start of a new era when they take on Sri Lanka in the opening match of the three-match T20I series here on Saturday.

Following their T20 World Cup triumph in June, India saw Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja retire from the format on a high, while Rahul Dravid and his formidable coaching staff (barring T. Dilip) also bid adieu. Now under a new captain in Suryakumar Yadav and a new head coach in Gautam Gambhir, India are formally kick-starting their next era.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka are also venturing into a new era, with Charith Asalanka as captain and Sanath Jayasuriya being the interim coach. Though they lost Dushmantha Chameera and Nuwan Thushara before the start of the series, Asitha Fernando and Dilshan Madushanka are also capable of doing good things as fast bowlers.

The firm focus of this short series will be on Suryakumar the captain, who has led India in seven matches in an interim capacity previously. But with him pipping Hardik Pandya to be India’s new T20I captain, all eyes will be on how Suryakumar shuffles his bowlers, tactic calls, and how he marshals the team in an under-pressure situation.

It was only three years ago that Suryakumar made his T20I debut and his rise in the format has been rapid -– so much so that he topped world rankings and is now being given the chance to lead the side and continue its successful run.

“Every player’s dream is to represent India, to do good for India. So that was my first dream. When it is going well, then gradually you think how you can win India in a big tournament, you can win matches.”

“Then another goal comes that if you ever become the captain of India, then it remains in your dream that if you become the captain, then how will you win India after playing against good teams? So this is also another dream that has come true. And it feels good,” said Suryakumar in a pre-series press conference.

With Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal set to continue as openers, it will be interesting to see who all make up the rest of the top-order and middle-order, especially in the finishers’ role, which will give clarity into Suryakumar’s leadership style and Gambhir’s coaching vision for this Indian team which also has Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate as assistant coaches.

For Sri Lanka, an extremely disappointing group-stage exit in the T20 World Cup meant leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga resigned from the top job just six months into the role. His replacement Asalanka recently captained the Jaffna Kings 2024 Lanka Premier League title.

Asalanka was always regarded as a future captain, considering he led Sri Lanka in the U19 World Cup in 2016, captained his alma mater in his younger days at Galle, and led the senior team in two T20Is against Bangladesh earlier this year.

His main challenge now is to get Sri Lanka in the right direction, with the right set of personnel. With both teams led by new captains and coaches, it means that this time the India-Sri Lanka series can’t be taken lightly due to its various subplots, which is a great change from previous years.

Squads:

India (from): Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammad Siraj.

Sri Lanka (from): Pathum Nissanka, Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Avishka Fernando, Charith Asalanka (captain), Kamindu Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Binura Fernando, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka.

The match starts at 7 pm IST on Sony Sports Network.

–IANS

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Paris, July 26 (IANS) PV Sindhu and Achanta Sharath Kamal will, as the two flagbearers, lead 78 sportspersons and officials from 12 disciplines, whose teams are in France, that will be part of the Indian component of the Athletes’ Parade in the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Olympic Games here on Friday.

As many members of the Contingent have competitions on Saturday morning, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has been respectful of their decision to prioritise preparation and not take part in the Opening Ceremony.

Among those who have been exempted from participating in the Parade include rower Balraj Panwar, who has his race on Saturday morning, members of the air rifle and air pistol teams, who have their events on Saturday, too have decided to skip the opening ceremony.

India will be opening its campaign in shooting, badminton, table tennis, rowing, archery and hockey on the first day of competitions on Saturday.

Meanwhile, members of the athletics, weightlifting and wrestling squads are yet to reach Paris and therefore miss the opening ceremony. All others who have made themselves available will be part of the Parade.

Prominent athletes from the 12 disciplines that will be part of the Parade of the Nations during the opening ceremony are:

Archery: Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai; Badminton: PV Sindhu; Boxing: Lovlina Borgohain; Equestrian: Anush Agarwalla; Golf: Shubhankar Sharma; Hockey: Krishan Pathak, Nilakanta Sharma and Jugraj Singh; Judo: Tulika Mann; Sailing: Vishnu Saravanan and Nethra Kumanan; Shooting: Anjum Moudgil, Sift Kaur Samra, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Anish; Swimming: Srihari Nataraj, Dhinidhi Desinghu; Table Tennis: Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra and Tennis: Rohan Bopanna, Sumit Nagal and Sriram Balaji.

The fans will be in a position to witness a unique moment in Olympic history at the Opening Ceremony, which is set to be held along the Seine on Friday evening.

The Opening Ceremony promises to be unforgettable, with athlete barges floating down the river starting at the Austerlitz Bridge. They will pass under historic bridges and by iconic landmarks such as Notre Dame and the Louvre, as well as Olympic Games venues including the Esplanade des Invalides and the Grand Palais.

Almost 100 boats carrying an estimated 10,500 athletes will float along the Seine during the parade. The larger of the 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) represented in the parade will have boats to themselves, while the smaller ones will share boats.

–IANS

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