But what makes 2016 different is that the country is sending “the largest contingent of female athletes any nation has ever sent to an Olympic games”, according to SB Nation.
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The first gold medal of the Games will be awarded to the victor of the women’s 10m air rifle event.
Even though they have the rest day on August 6 and when men’s team eliminations will be done, the archers have opted to miss out the historic march past of the athletes in the Games.
Success in shooting will be key to India’s hopes of surpassing London Olympics’ six-medal haul, and the performance of Jitu and Bindra would be crucial to achieve that aim, while the likes of Gagan Narang, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Heena Sidhu and Apurvi Chandela can also fetch India medals.
However, Lochte didn’t qualify to defend that gold this year and the 200m will be his only chance to swim for individual gold in 2016. It would mark the last time that Phelps wouldn’t contribute to the U.S.’ medal count at an Olympic Games. She will forego this year’s singles event for the 3-meter synchronized springboard team.
Jitu is the reigning 50m air pistol champion at the ISSF World Cup and the favourite to repeat Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal feat of Beijing 2008.
The unidentified Greek competitor’s A sample tested positive for banned substances in a pre-Games test also conducted in July in Athens and the athlete has left the Olympic village.
Women’s doubles World No.1 Sania and Bopanna complement each other perfectly when it comes to style of play and could give a tough time to their opponents on their day. Australia remained in second place on the medal table, capturing 15 medals: seven gold, five silver and three bronze.
The US women’s tennis players are making headlines for similar reasons. It doesn’t matter if we get gold or not. Among those will be Dipa Karmakar, a woman gymnast, the first for India.
Now, they’ll face Colombia in their final Group G matchup before the quarterfinals begin on Friday, Aug. 12. “We will catch it (opening ceremony) on TV”, Indian chief archery coach Dharmendra Tiwari told PTI on the sidelines of their last practice session at Sambodromo here today. India will also have three golfers-two men and a woman-vying for top honors in a sport that has returned to the Olympics after 112 years.
“We got a great head start in the U.S. because of the support they had in their schools and their colleges growing up”, said Scott Blackmun, CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
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Team USA fell short of the men’s gymnastics podium at the Olympics once again, finishing fifth in the team competition Monday in Rio.
