India at Asian Games 2023, Day 1 schedule: Medals at stake in rowing, shooting; Nikhat Zareen faces tough test; semifinal action in cricket

Cricket: Smriti & Co face Bangladesh test

TIME: 6:30 am

The Indian women’s cricket team face a tricky semi-final against Bangladesh. Smriti Mandhana and Co eased past Malaysia in the quarters, after rain interruptions meant they had to bowl just two deliveries before they were sent into the semis on the basis of higher seeding.

Pakistan will take on Sri Lanka in the other semi-final. This sets up the prospect of an India vs Pakistan finale.

Shooting: Women’s 10m air rifle final

TIME: Qualification round starts at 6 am; Individual Final: 9:15 onwards

At the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre, India’s rifle shooters will start their campaign as they look to bounce back from the heartbreak they collectively endured at Tokyo 2020. The Indian air rifle shooters, led by Mehuli Ghosh, will start qualification at 6 am. Mehuli will be joined by Ramita and Ashi Chouksey. Team medal is also at stake should all of them do well in qualification.

Rowing: Five medal finals for Indians

TIME: Starts from 6:30 am

Indian rowers will be in contention in multiple events at Hangzhou: Arjun Jat and Arvind Singh (Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls), Satnam Singh and Parminder Singh (Men’s Double Sculls), Aswathi Babu, Mrunmayee Salgaonkar, Priya Devi and Rukmani (Women’s Four), Babu Lal Yadav and Lekh Ram (men’s pair) and the Men’s Eight team are all in the fray in Final A of their respective events.

Boxing: Not an easy start for Nikhat

TIME: Starts from 11:30 am

In the first round (round of 16) of her weight class, world champion Nikhat Zareen will face off against Nguyen Thi Tam, the Vietnamese boxer who she defeated in the final of the World Championships in New Delhi.

Thi Tam is a two-time Asian Champion, who claimed only the third ever medal by a Vietnamese boxer at the Asiad in Jakarta 2018.

Also, hitting the ring will be Preeti Pawar in 54kg.

Elsewhere, watch out for the volleyball quarterfinal, where Indian men would look to continue their dream run while men’s hockey gets underway as well. Both the football teams have crucial matches as well, as do the table tennis squads.

Here’s which other Indians you can watch on Sunday at Hangzhou at the opening day of the Asian Games:

Hockey (men’s group stage): India vs Uzbekistan (8:45 am)

Volleyball (men’s quarterfinal): India vs Japan (12:00 pm)

Women’s Football: India vs Thailand (1:30 pm)

Men’s Football: India vs Myanmar (5 pm)

Table Tennis (Round of 16): India women vs Thailand (7:30 am), India men vs Kazhakstan (9.30 am)

Tennis (Round 1): Sumit Nagal, Ankita Raina, Karman Thandi (Singles), Mixed Doubles (7:30 am)

Women’s Rugby: India vs Hong Kong (9:30 am), India vs Japan (2:30 pm)

Swimming: Srihari Nataraj and a few others (5pm)

Wushu: Round 1 to finals (6:30 am to 5 pm)

ESports: EA Sports FC Online

Fencing: Men’s foil individual & Women’s epee individual

Sailing: Multiple races through the day

Swimming:

Mathew T G  & Anil Kumar Shylaja – 100m Freestyle (Heat 4&6) – 07:30 am

Utkarsh Patil & Srihari Nataraj – 100m Backstroke (Heat 2&4) – 07:30 am

Shivangi Sarma, Dinidhi Desinghu, Maana Patel, Janhvi Choudhary – 4X100m Freestyle – Heat 2 – 07:30 am

Mathew T G  & Anil Kumar Shylaja – 100m Freestyle – Final (If Qualified) – 5:00 pm

Utkarsh Patil & Srihari Nataraj – 100m Backstroke – Final (If Qualified) – 5:00 pm

Shivangi Sarma, Dinidhi Desinghu, Maana Patel, Janhvi Choudhary – 4X100m Freestyle –– Final (If Qualified) – 5:00 pm

Chess:

Vidit Gujarathi and Arjun Erigaisi.  – Men’s Individual Event (Timings TBD)

Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli – Women’s Individual Event (Timings TBD)

Rowing details:

Kiran & Anshika Bharti  LW2X (Final B) – 06:40 am

Arjun Lal Jat & Arvind Singh – LM2X (Final) – 07:10 am

Parminder Singh & Satnam Singh – M2X (Final) – 08:00 am

Aswathi Pb, Mrunamayee Nilesh S, Thanjam Priya Devi & Rukmani – W4- (Final) – 08:20 am

Lekh Ram and Babulal Yadav – M2- (Final) – 08:40 am

Charanjeet Singh, Du Pande, Naresh Kalwaniya, Neeraj, Neetesh Kumar, Ashish, Bheem Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Punit Kumar – M8+ (Final) – 09:00 am