India’s men’s and women’s hockey teams will begin their campaigns on Saturday. While Manpreet Singh and Co. take on New Zealand in a Group A match early in the morning, the women’s team face tough opponents in the Netherlands in the evening.
Going by form and current ranking, the men start as favourites against New Zealand as after 2016 Rio Olympics, the Manpreet Singh-led side has beaten the Black Sticks eight times out of the 11 encounters between the two sides.
But India’s chief coach Graham Reid has asked his men to stay on guard and take one match a time in pursuit of the podium finish here.
“New Zealand never give up. This attitude of theirs makes them dangerous opponents,” said Reid.
Former India player Viren Rasquinha, the other day, sounded bullish on the team’s chances of winning a medal after 41 years.
“This is the best chance for a medal. Our last chance was in Sydney Olympic Games when we missed out on a place in the semi-finals. This team has improved consistently and beaten all the top teams over the last Olympic cycle,” he said during an interaction facilitated by Sony.
The women’s team, led by Rani Rampal, have improved by leaps and bounds in the last five years.
“Rani is a great leader and a lot relies on her shoulder. She has to inspire the entire forward line. She cannot do it alone,” Rasquinha said.
Badminton battles
All eyes will be on the highly skilled Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma in the men’s 10m air pistol event. But before that, the fate of Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan — in the women’s 10m air rifle event — will be decided. A good outing for either of them means India will win its first medal in the Tokyo Games.
In badminton, men’s singles player B. Sai Praneeth and the pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will be in action. The 13th-seeded Praneeth will hope to make a dream Olympic debut when he begins his campaign against Isreal’s Misha Zilberman, ranked 47th.
In men’s doubles, Chirag and Satwik will go up against Chinese Taipei’s world No. 3 Lee Yang and Wang Chi Lin.
PV Sindhu begins her quest to bring the elusive gold medal on Sunday.
In weightlifting, a lot of hope will be on Mirabai Chanu, a favourite to win a medal in the 49-kg category.
