India at Olympics Opening Ceremony LIVE: 1824 Drones light up the night Tokyo sky as Olympics pull off a stunner

All the updates, news, photos and reactions from the Olympics Opening Ceremony

Let's Go India!!

Day 1 action begins early tomorrow. Mirabai Chanu in weightlifting, Men's Hockey team, badminton, and shooting team amongst other sports will kick off their Olympic campaign.

Sportskeeda will bring you all the live coverage, latest news and updates from Tokyo. So, until then stay tuned and take care.

Goodnight!!

Olympic Torch

After a montage of the Olympic Torch Relay, the Olympic Torch, carried by NOMURA Tadahiro and YOSHIDA Saori, judo and wrestling Olympic champions respectively, enters the stadium to the accompaniment of Ravel's Boléro.

Naomi Osaka lights up the flame.

The history of pictograms

We currently have a Japanese silent comedy pantomime duo, MASA and Hitoshi, taking us through all 50 sports pictograms being used for the Games.

Olympic Flame enters the Stadium

From the 47 prefectures, the Olympic flame is finally here!!! #Tokyo2020 #Olympics #SeeUsStronger @CignalTV pic.twitter.com/Q0iSQz2kwK
— Gretchen Ho (@gretchenho) July 23, 2021

Olympic Flag and Anthem

The Olympic Flag is now making its entrance into the stadium.
The flagbearers are:
Asia: MOMOTA Kento, JPN, badminton
Oceania: Elena Galiabovitch, AUS, shooting
IOC Refugee Olympic Team: Cyrille Tchatchet II, EOR, weightlifting
Americas: Paula Pareto, ARG, judoAfrica: Mehdi Essadiq, MAR, triathlon
Europa: Paola Ogechi Egonu, ITA, volleyball

The Games are open!

IOC President Bach invites His Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, to declare open the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020."I declare open the Games of Tokyo, celebrating the XXXII Olympiad of the modern era."And with that, fireworks.

IOC President Thomas Bach Motivates Athletes

Here's IOC President Thomas Bach, who is speaking after SEIKO Hashimoto, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee president.

"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."

Mind-Blowing!

Japan pulls off a stunner. Drones form Tokyo 2020 emblem, Up above us in the night sky. 1824 drones used to form the Tokyo Olympics emblem.

Team India Schedule at Tokyo Olympics.

ARCHERY

July 23
5:30 AM: Women's Individual Qualification Rounds (Deepika Kumari)
9:30 AM: Men's Individual Qualification Rounds (Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav, Tarundeep Rai)

July 24
6:00 AM: Mixed Team Eliminations (Jadhav, Deepika Kumari)

July 26
6:00 AM: Men's Team Eliminations (Atanu Das, Pravin Jadhav, Tarundeep Rai)

July 27 to 31
6:00 AM: Men's and Women's Individual Eliminations
1:00 PM: Medal Matches

ATHLETICS

July 30
5:30 AM: Men's 3000m Steeplechase Heats (Avinash Sable)
7:25 AM: Men's 400m Hurdles Round 1 Heats (MP Jabir)
8:10 AM: Women's 100m Round 1 Heats (Dutee Chand)
4:30 PM: Mixed 4x400m Relay Round 1 Heats (Alex Antony, Sarthak Bhambri, Revathi
Veeramani, Subha Venkatesan)

July 31
6:00 AM: Women's Discus Throw Qualification (Seema Punia, Kamalpreet Kaur)
3:40 PM: Men's Long Jump Qualification (M Sreeshankar)
3:45 PM: Women's 100m Semi-Final (Dutee Chand - If qualifies)
6:05 PM: Mixed 4x400m Relay Final (Alex Antony, Sarthak Bhambri, Revathi Veeramani,
Subha Venkatesan - If qualify)

August 1
5:35 PM: Men's 400m Hurdles Semi-Final (MP Jabir - If qualifies)

August 2
6:50 AM: Men's Long Jump Final (M Sreeshankar - if qualifies)
7:00 AM: Women's 200m Round 1 Heats (Dutee Chand)
3:55 PM: Women's 200m Semi-Final (Dutee Chand - If qualifies)
4:30 PM: Women's Discus Throw Final (Seema Punia, Kamalpreet Kaur - If qualifeis)5:45 PM: Men's 3000m Steeplechase Final (Avinash Sable - if qualifies)

August 3
5:50 AM: Women's Javelin Throw Qualification(Annu Rani)
8:50 AM: Men's 400m Hurdles Final (MP Jabir - if qualifies)
3:45 PM: Men's Shot Put Qualification (Tajinder Singh Toor)
6:20 PM: Women's 200m Final — (Dutee Chand - if qualifies)

August 4
5:35 AM: Men's Javelin Throw Qualification (Neeraj Chopra, Shivpal Singh)

August 5
7:35 AM: Men's Shot Put Final (Tajinder Singh Toor - If qualifies)
1:00 PM: Men's 20km Race Walk Final (KT Irfan, Sandeep Kumar, Rahul Rohila)

August 6
2:00 AM: Men's 50km Race Walk Final (Gurpreet Singh)
1:00 PM: Women's 20km Race Walk Final (Bhawna Jat, Priyanka Goswami)
4:55 PM: Men's 4x400m Relay Round 1 Heats (Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, Noah Nirmal Tom,
Muhammed Anas Yahiya)
5:20 PM: Women's Javelin Throw Final (Annu Rani - if qualifies)

August 7
4:30 PM: Men's Javelin Throw Final (Neeraj Chopra, Shivpal Singh - if qualifies)
6:20 PM: Men's 4×400m Relay Final (Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, Noah Nirmal Tom,
Muhammed Anas Yahiya - if qualify)

BADMINTON

July 24
8:50 AM: Men's Doubles Group Stage — Group A (Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty
vs Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin)
9:30 AM: Men's Singles Group Stage — Group D (Sai Praneeth vs Zilberman Misha)

July 25
7:10 AM: Women's Singles Group Stage — Grop J (PV Sindhu vs Polikarpova Ksenia)

July 26 to 29
5:30 AM: All events - Group Stage Matches (PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj
Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty)

July 29
5:30 AM: Men's Doubles Quarter-Finals (Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty - if
qualifies)

July 30
5:30 AM: Women's Singles Quarter-Finals (PV Sindhu - if qualifies)
12:00 PM: Men's Doubles Semi-Finals (Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty - if qualifies)

July 31
5:30 AM: Men's Singles Quarter-Finals (Sai Praneeth - if qualifies)
2:30 PM: Women's Singles Semi-Finals (PV Sindhu - if qualifies)
2:30 PM: Men's Doubles Final (Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty - if qualifies)

August 1
9:30 AM: Men's Singles Semi-Finals — (Sai Praneeth - if qualifies)
5:00 PM: Women's Singles Final (PV Sindhu - if qualifies)

August 2
4:30 PM: Men's Singles Final (Sai Praneeth - if qualifies)

BOXING

July 24
8:00 AM: Women's Welterweight Round of 32 (Lovlina Borgohain)
9:54 AM: Men's Welterweight Round of 32 (Vikas Krishan)

July 25
7:30 AM: Women's Flyweight Round of 32 (Mary Kom)
8:48 AM: Men's Lightweight Round of 32 (Manish Kaushik)

July 26
7:30 AM: Men's Flyweight Round of 32 (Amit Panghal)
9:06 AM: Men's Middleweight Round of 32 (Ashish Kumar)

July 27
7:30 AM: Men's Welterweight Round of 16 (Vikas Krishan - if qualifies)
9:36 AM: Women's Lightweight Round of 32 (Simranjit Kaur)
10:09 AM: Women's Welterweight Round of 32 (Lovlina Borgohain - if qualifies)

July 28
8:00 AM: Women's Middleweight Round of 16 (Pooja Rani)July 29
7:30 AM: Men's Middleweight Round of 16 (Ashish Kumar - if qualifies)
8:33 AM: Men's Super Heavyweight Round of 16 (Satish Kumar)
9:36 AM: Women's Flyweight Round of 16 (Mary Kom - if qualifies)

July 30
7:30 AM: Women's Lightweight Round of 16 (Simranjit Kaur - if qualifies)
July 31 to August 8: All Categories (Final Rounds and Medal Matches — if boxers qualify)

EQUESTRIAN

July 30

5 AM: Eventing Individual Qualifier (Fouaad Mirza)

FENCING

July 26
5:30 AM: Women's Sabre Individual Table of 64 (Bhavani Devi)
4:20 PM: Women's Sabre Individual Medal Matches (Bhavani Devi - if qualifies)

GOLF

July 29-August 1
4:00 AM: Men's Individual Strokeplay (Anirban Lahiri, Udayan Mane)

August 4-7
4:00 AM: Women's Individual Strokeplay (Aditi Ashok)

GYMNASTICS

July 25
6:30 AM: Women's Artistic Gymnastics Qualification (Pranati Nayak)

July 29 to August 3
2:00 PM: Women's Artistic Gymnastics All-Round and Events Finals (Pranati Nayak - if
qualifies)

HOCKEY

July 24
6:30 AM: Men's Pool A — India vs New Zealand
5:15 PM: Women's Pool A — India vs Netherlands

July 25
3:00 PM: Men's Pool A — India vs Australia

July 26
5:45 PM: Women's Pool A — India vs Germany

July 27
6:30 AM: Men's Pool A — India vs Spain

July 28
6:30 AM: Women's Pool A — India vs Great Britain

July 29
6:00 AM: Men's Pool A — India vs Argentina

July 30
8:15 AM: Women's Pool A — India vs Ireland
3:00 PM: Men's Pool A — India vs Japan

July 31
8:45 AM: Women's Pool A — India vs South Africa

August 1
6:00 AM: Men's Quarter-Finals — if qualify

August 2
6:00 AM: Women's Quarter-Finals — if qualify

August 3
7:00 AM: Men's Semi-Finals — if qualify

August 4
7:00 AM: Women's Semi-Finals — if qualify

August 5
7:00 AM: Men's Bronze Medal Match
3:30 PM: Men's Gold Medal Match

August 6
7:00 AM: Women's Bronze Medal Match
3:30 PM: Women's Gold Medal Match

JUDO

July 24
7:30 AM: Women's -48kg Elimination Round of 32 (Sushila Devi)

ROWING

July 24
7:50 AM: Men's lightweight double sculls Heats (Arjun Lal, Arvind Singh)

SAILING

July 25
8:35 AM: Women's Laser Redial - Race 1 (Nethra Kumanan)
11:05 AM: Men's Laser - Race 1 (Vishnu Saravanan)

July 27
11:20 AM: Men's 49er - Race 1 (KC Ganapathy, Varun Thakkar)

SHOOTING

July 24
5:00 AM: Women's 10m Air Rifle Qualification (Elavenil Valarivan, Apurvi Chandela)
7:15 AM: Women's 10m Air Rifle Final (Elavenil Valarivan, Apurvi Chandela - if qualify)
9:30 AM: Men's 10m Air Pistol Qualification (Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma)
12:00 PM: Men's 10m Air Pistol Final (Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma - if qualify)

July 25
5:30 AM: Women's 10m Air Pistol Qualification (Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal)
6:00 AM: Men's Skeet Qualification Day 1 (Angad Bajwa, Mairaj Ahmad Khan)
7:45 AM: Women's 10m Air Pistol Final (Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal - if qualify)
9:30 AM: Men's 10m Air Rifle Qualification (Deepak Kumar, Divyansh Singh Panwar)
12:00 PM: Men's 10m Air Rifle Final (Deepak Kumar, Divyansh Singh Panwar - if qualify)

July 26
6:30 AM: Men's Skeet Qualification Day 2 (Angad Bajwa, Mairaj Ahmad Khan)
12:00 PM: Men's Skeet Final (Angad Bajwa, Mairaj Ahmed Khan - if qualify)

July 27
5:30 AM: 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Qualification (Saurabh Chaudhary/Manu Bhaker &
Abhishek Verma/Yashaswini Singh Deswal)
7:30 AM: 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Bronze Medal Match (Saurabh Chaudhary/Manu
Bhaker & Abhishek Verma/Yashaswini Singh Deswal - if qualify)8:05 AM: 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Gold Medal Match (Saurabh Chaudhary/Manu Bhaker
& Abhishek Verma/Yashaswini Singh Deswal - if qualify)
9:45 AM: 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Qualification (Divyansh Singh Panwar/Elavenil
Valarivan & Deepak Kumar/Anjum Moudgil)
11:45 AM: 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Bronze Medal Match (Divyansh Singh Panwar/Elavenil
Valarivan & Deepak Kumar/Anjum Moudgil - if qualify)
12:20 PM: 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Gold Medal Match (Divyansh Singh Panwar/Elavenil
Valarivan & Deepak Kumar/Anjum Moudgil - if qualify)

July 29
5:30 AM: Women's 25m Pistol Qualification Precision (Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat)
July 30
5:30 AM: Women's 25m Pistol Qualification Rapid (Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat)
11:20 AM: Women's 25m Pistol Final (Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat - if qualify)

July 31
8:30 AM: Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Qualification (Anjum Moudgil, Tejaswini Sawant)
12:30 PM: Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Final (Anjum Moudgil, Tejaswini Sawant - if
qualify)

August 2
8:00 AM: Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Qualification (Sanjeev Rajput, Aishwary Pratap
Singh)
1:20 PM: Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Final (Sanjeev Rajput, Aishwary Pratap Singh - if
qualify)

Time for Olympic oath

The Olympic Oath is now being taken on behalf of the athletes, coaches and judges. For athletes, Ryota Yamagata and Kasumi Ishikawa read the oath.

Japan Enters The Loudest

You Dont Mess With Tonga

Not to be outdone by Tonga, the Vanuatuan flag bearer has also turned heads with his costume...

Team USA is in the house

Team USA enters the stadium as First Lady Jill Biden stands up to cheer them. The team is led by Sue Bird and Eddy Alvarez.

If you can’t go to the #OpeningCeremony, you bring the #OpeningCeremony to you

🇺🇸 @AbbyDahlkemper
🇺🇸 @mPinoe (as @S10Bird) pic.twitter.com/rZxNIohrGz
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) July 23, 2021

Making an Entrance!

If there is an award for the most unique Opening Ceremony outfits, Tuvalu certainly is the frontrunner.

Youngest flagbearer

Syrian Arab Republic's Hend Zaza is the youngest flagbearer. The table tennis player is 12 and carries the flag of her country with Ahmad Saber Hamcho. What an honour!

Remember what you were doing when you were 12?

Syrian table tennis player is making her Olympic debut, the youngest athlete @Tokyo2020 @ittfworld

Read her inspiring story here:https://t.co/x1ghaQ2xQ7
— Olympics (@Olympics) July 20, 2021

Excitement for Olympics

Portugal are *REALLY* excited #Olympics pic.twitter.com/oMEdQmKdZO
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) July 23, 2021

The Hosts Are Ready

Japan will be the last to enter as they are the host nation. They will be led by star wrestler Yui Susaki. She will be competing in 50 kg and is the favourite for the gold medal. Susaki will compete in her hometown, Chiba.

／#今日のチームジャパン 🇯🇵
＼#がんばれニッポン #Tokyo2020 #TEAMJAPAN #オリンピック pic.twitter.com/582MKZEcpd
— 日本オリンピック委員会（JOC） (@Japan_Olympic) July 23, 2021

Just hang in there

The tired volunteers' body language says it all!

Olympic fever in India

PM Narendra Modi was seen enjoying the opening ceremony and cheering for the Indian contingent.

Come, let us all #Cheer4India!

Caught a few glimpses of the @Tokyo2020 Opening Ceremony.

Wishing our dynamic contingent the very best. #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/iYqrrhTgk0
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 23, 2021

What is Refugee Olympic Team

The Refugee Olympic Team was first introduced by the International Olympic Committee for the 2016 Rio Olympics. It is giving an opportunity to those athletes who fled their home countries to compete in their respective sporting events at the Olympics.

"It will send a powerful message of solidarity, resilience and hope to the world. You are an integral part of our Olympic community, and we welcome you with open arms," Thomas Bach had said earlier on the Refugee Olympic Team.

29 athletes in the Refugee Olympic Team will compete in 12 events - swimming, wrestling, athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, judo, karate, taekwondo, shooting, and weightlifting.

The dazzle

Who doesn't love fireworks?

A visual spectacle lights up the night Tokyo sky as the Opening Ceremony is in progress at the National Stadium.

All smiles

The Indian contingent takes a picture after their march. The smiles on their faces say it all.

They and the fans have been waiting for this for five long years and it is an extremely proud moment for the Indians to walk into the stadium after overcoming all the adversities caused the pandemic.

We hope the smiles remain throughout the tournament!

Stiil Getting Goosebumps!

After waiting for five years, the Indian contingent returned to the Olympics. It is India's largest-ever team at the Olympics, which include multiple world No.1's and serious medal contenders.

The team was led by Men's Hockey team captain Manpreet Singh and Boxing legend Mary Kom.

A matter of great pride for the entire nation as the Indian Contingent marches by at the Opening Ceremony of #Tokyo2020 #Cheer4India #Olympics @PMOIndia | @ianuragthakur | @NisithPramanik | @WeAreTeamIndia | @YASMinistry | @PIB_India | @ddsportschannel | @AkashvaniAIR pic.twitter.com/nudSzpZ8c3
— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) July 23, 2021

The Olympics are finally underway

Despite a year-long delay, the Olympics have finally been kicked off. The Indian contingent at this year's games has braved great challenges and prepared in the midst of a pandemic to make their way to the center stage.

A matter of great pride for the entire nation as the Indian Contingent marches by at the Opening Ceremony of #Tokyo2020 #Cheer4India #Olympics @PMOIndia | @ianuragthakur | @NisithPramanik | @WeAreTeamIndia | @YASMinistry | @PIB_India | @ddsportschannel | @AkashvaniAIR pic.twitter.com/nudSzpZ8c3
— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) July 23, 2021

FUN FACT for Gaming Enthusiasts

If you are a big gamer, then you might recognise some of the background music being played to accompany the contingent. The musics are from popular games.

Pita Taufatofua is here!

The Tongan athlete does it again.

After his 2016 Summer Olympics oiled and the shirtless video went viral, Taufatofua does an encore in Tokyo.

Manpreet and Mary Kom lead the charge
The Indian contingent making its way through the Parade of Nations

In bad taste

As the Indian athletes, led by Manpreet Singh and Mary Kom, walked in, the telecast went onto a split-screen setup. Half of the screen showed the athletes and the other half showed Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.

The official Indian broadcasting rights for the Olympics belong to Sony Sports Network.

This angered many fans, as they got to see their sporting stars on the grandest stage after 5 long years.

We have compiled some reactions for you in the link below!

"Why take half the screen?": Upset fans slam broadcaster for showing Anurag Thakur during India Olympics opening ceremony

The contingent from China walks in

The People's Republic of China's contingent walks through the parade. The nation will be represented by 406 athletes who will compete in 30 sports.

Fun fact

France, Great Britain, Greece and Switzerland are the only nations to have participated at all Olympic Games since 1896.

No Bolt at Tokyo Olympics

The contingent from Jamaica made their way through the Parade of Nations. This year they were missing the familiar figure of Usain Bolt, who has won 8 gold medals at Olympics.

Athletes from 206 countries will be taking part at the Tokyo Olympics.

Athletes from all participating nations continue to march on during the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony of the 32nd Summer Olympic Games.

Fun fact

The background music being played while athletes make their way during the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony is from various Japanese video games. Some of the songs have been used in games designed by companies like SEGA, Capcom and Square Enix.

The Great Britain contingent

Great Britain makes their way in the parade. They will participate in their 29th Olympic Games. They are the only nation to win a gold medal at every sport in the modern Olympics.

The contingents from Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Uruguay follow.

The Indian contingent is here

The Indian athletes led by flag bearers Manpreet Singh and Mary Kom are here at the Parade of Nations. India will have a 127 member contingent at this year's Summer Games and will compete across 18 sports.

Contingents from across the globe continue to make their way through the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony. As a safety measure, all athletes participating in the parade are wearing masks.

The next contingents from Argentina, Aruba, Albania and Armenia make their way.