After a year-long delay, Tokyo 2020 is finally upon us, and the Indian contingent is raring to go in their bid for Olympic glory. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will witness India send a 228-member strong contingent.

India’s Olympic contingent at Tokyo features more than 120 participants who will be involved in 18 sporting disciplines. As many as 20 participants will be seen in the opening ceremony with the rest allowed to skip in view of precautions pertaining to COVID-19. Indian men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh and boxing legend MC Mary Kom will be the flag bearers in the opening ceremony.

The draws for judo, boxing and tennis at the Tokyo Olympics were announced on Thursday, July 22, with the Indian athletes learning their opponent for the first round. On Friday, July 23, ace Indian archer Deepika Kumari ended ninth in the Women's Individual Ranking Round. She will face Bhutan's Karma Bhu in the first round of women's archery individual event. The men's contingent, on the other hand, endured difficult outings with neither of them managing to finish inside top 30.

July 23, 8:18 PM: Naomi Osaka lights the cauldron

Four-time Grand Slam singles champion Naomi Osaka lights Tokyo 2020 cauldron with Olympic flame.

July 23, 8:00 PM: Tokyo 2020 Olympics is officially open now

July 23, 7:48 PM: Olympic flag brought on, passed on to essential workers of Tokyo

July 23, 7:44 PM: Emperor Naruhito declares 32nd Olympic Games open

IOC President Bach invites His Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, to declare open the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

"I declare open the Games of Tokyo, celebrating the XXXII Olympiad of the modern era."

July 23, 7:40 PM: 'Faster, Higher, Stronger & Together' - the new Olympic motto

July 23, 7:30 PM: IOC President Thomas Bach addresses dignitaries and the athletes

"Today is a moment of hope.

"Let us cherish this moment, because finally we are here, all together. Athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, living under one roof together in the Olympic Village.

"This is the unifying power of sport.

"We can only be all together here because of you, our gracious hosts – the Japanese people, to whom we would like to express all our appreciation and support."

July 23, 7:20 PM: Drones form Olympic emblem

1824 drones are being used to form the Tokyo 2020 Olympics emblem.

July 23, 7:10 PM: The Olympic oath is being taken

For the athletes, YAMAGATA Ryota (athletics) and ISHIKAWA Kasumi (table tennis) read the oath.

July 23, 7:02 PM: Hosts Japan in the house

Team Japan has entered the Olympic Stadium to the loudest applause as they complete the parade of athletes at the opening ceremony of Tokyo 2020.

July 23, 7:01 PM: Host nation of 2024 Summer Games, France make their entry

July 23, 7:00 PM: Team USA enters the Parade of Nations

Led by four-time Olympic basketball champion Sue Bird and Winter Olympic medallist Eddy Alvarez, Team USA has joined the opening ceremony march in Tokyo.

July 23, 6:55 PM: Tuvalu contingent makes a stylish entry

Led by flagbearers Matie Stanley (Athletics) and Karalo Hepoiteloto Maibuca (Athletics), the Tuvalu contingent entered the Olympic Stadium in amazing outfits.

July 23, 6:40 PM: Tonga's Pita Taufatofua goes shirtless again!

Pita Taufatofua, who became a global sensation for representing Tonga as a flag bearer while marching shirtless and oiled-up during the Rio 2016 Olympics, has once again been spotted shirtless in the opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympics.

July 23, 6:20 PM: Amazing Opening Ceremony outfits on display

Which one did you like the most?

July 23, 6:10 PM: Hosts Japan ready to enter Olympic Stadium

July 23, 5:24 PM: Refugee Olympic Team enters the Parade of Nations

Led by flagbearers Yusra Mardini and Tachlowini Gabriyesos, the Refugee Olympic Team will compete in the Summer Games for just the second time in history.

July 23, 5:22 PM: Indian contingent enters Olympic Stadium

Legendary boxer MC Mary Kom and men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh lead the Indian contingent as they enter the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.

July 23, 5:14 PM: Greece starts the Parade of Athletes

The Greek contingent leads out marching order for Parade of Nations. Interestingly, the Parade of Nations is taking place in the alphabetical order of Japanese alphabets.

July 23, 5:06 PM: Olympic Laurel awarded to Muhammad Yunus

The IOC has honoured Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh with the Olympic Laurel award at Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony.

July 23, 4:30 PM: Tokyo 2020 Olympics kicks off with opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics has officially begun with a video dating back to 2013 when the capital city of Tokyo was first awarded the Summer Games of 2020.

The theme of the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony is 'Moving Forward'

July 23, 11:30 AM: Archers Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai disappoint

The Indian trio of Pravin Jadhav, Atanu Das and Tarundeep Rai has finished 31st, 35th and 37th respectively in the Men's Individual Ranking Round. All of them had a disappointing start as they went outside the top 10 by the second round itself. By the end of round 4, Atanu had slipped to 29th and Jadhav to 30th. Round 5, however, saw Jadhav taking a leap above Atanu on the back of more 10s.

By the stroke of half-time, Jadhav was 30th, Atanu was 31st and Tarundeep was 45th.

Round 2 of the second period saw Atanu gaining momentum. By the end of it, he was 26th with 440 points after 48 arrows and Jadhav was 30th with 438 points. While the Indian archers continued with their inconsistency, 17-year-old Kim Je Deok of Korea was putting on some brilliant results. 

After 72 arrows, the Indian trio finished outside the top 30. Korea dominated the proceedings with Kim Je Deok finishing at the top. Brady Ellison of the USA finished second and Oh Jin-Hyek of South Korea finished third.

Men's individual draw - first round:

  • Pravin Jadhav vs Galsan Bazarzhapov (ROC)
  • Atanu Das vs Deng Yu-Cheng (TPE)
  • Tarundeep Rai vs Oleksii Hunbin (UKR)

If the Indian archers do succeed from the first round, Atanu Das will face 3rd seeded Oh Jin-Hyek of Korea while Pravin Jadhav will pit against 2nd seed Brady Ellison.

In the men's team event, India ended with a total score of 1961 and finished 9th in the standings. Note that the qualifying rounds are used to seed the athletes and the nations of individual and team events. 

The men's team will take on Kazakhstan in the first round, and if they progress, a stern Korean test will be awaiting them in the quarter-finals.

In the mixed-team event, India finished 9th with 1319 points. The pair of Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav will take on Chinese Taipei in the round of 16 on Saturday, July 24. If they win, they are likely to face Korea in the quarter-final.

July 23, 8:20 AM: Deepika Kumari to face Bhutan's Karma Bhu

World no. 1 archer, Deepika Kumari had a disappointing start as she finished ninth in the women's individual ranking round on Friday. The 27-year-old started off by hitting 56 in round 1, 55 in round 2 and by the end of round 3, she found herself tied at the 10th spot. Out of possible 180, she had scored 167. 

Meanwhile, South Korea's An San lead the charge with a score of 174 after round 3.

Deepika quickly recovered from a faulty start by getting a decent score in the first round of the second half but couldn't hold on to her fourth spot. The topsy-turvy competition saw her slipping down to 8th after she hit 53 in round 2. By the end of round 6 of the second period, Deepika had accumulated 663 points as she finished ninth.

“The performance was good and bad, a little in between I would say. I want to show my best performance here, and I’ll shoot it 100% in the next round. It’s good [to be here] but, at the same time, I just want to succeed,” she was quoted by World Archery.

An San finished at the top with 680 points while her compatriots Minhee Jang (677) and Chaeyoung Kang (675) completed the top-three spots.

Deepika Kumari will now face Bhutan's Karma Bhu in the Round of 64 of women's archery individual event on July 27. Karma, who is the first female archer from her country, finished with a score of 616 (personal best) in the ranking rounds. 

July 22, 9:35 PM: Judo draw out for lone Indian

India's sole representative in Judo will be Shushila Devi Likmabam, who competes in the women's 48kg category, has been drawn against London Olympics bronze medallist and two-time European champion Éva Csernoviczki from Hungary.

The 26-year-old Manipur judoka, who had won the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, had qualified for Tokyo 2020 using a continental quota.

July 22, 9:35 PM: Four Indian boxers get first-round byes in draw

Led by London Olympics bronze medallist MC Mary Kom, India's boxing contingent carries huge hopes from the country after a brilliant showing at the Asian Olympics qualifiers.  India will have nine boxers competing for Olympics medals in Tokyo, who start their campaign on July 29.  

Indian boxing matches in the women's category

Mary Kom vs Miguelina Hernandez (flyweight 51kg)

Simranjit Kaur - first-round bye (lightweight 60kg)

Lovlina Borgohain - first-round bye (welterweight 69kg)

Pooja Rani vs Ichrak Chaib (middleweight 75kg)

Indian boxing matches in the men's category

Amit Panghal - first-round bye (flyweight 52kg)

Manish Kaushik vs Luke McCormack (lightweight 63kg)

Vikas Krishan vs Okazawa Quincy Mensah (welterweight 69kg)

Ashish Kumar vs Tuoheta Erbieke (middleweight 75kg)

Satish Kumar - first-round bye (super heavyweight +91kg 

July 22, 9:35 PM: Tennis draw sees challenge for Indians

India will have representatives in only two disciplines in Tennis. While Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina will be competing in the women's doubles, Sumit Nagal will be competing in the men's singles event. A win for Nagal in the first round could see the Indian face second-seeded Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

Sania Mirza/ Ankita Raina vs Liudmyla Kichenok/ Nadiia Kichenok - women's doubles first-round

Sumit Nagal vs Denis Istomin - men's singles first-round

Stay tuned to this space for all the latest updates about the Indian contingent in Tokyo as well as record-breaking feats.

Featured photo: Twitter/Olympics