Rower Panwar moves to repechage round

Balraj Panwar, India’s lone rower in the Olympics, moved to the repechage round after finishing fourth in his heat in the men’s singles scull competition. The 25-year-old came up with a time of 7:07.11 to finish behind New Zealand’s Thomas Mackintosh (6:55.92), Stefanos Ntouskos (7:01.79) and Abdelkhalek Elbanna (7:05.06). The top-three in each heat qualify for the quarterfinals. In repechages, Panwar will have a second chance to advance to the semifinals or finals.

Djokovic, Alcaraz, Swiatek start with wins

Men’s top seed Novak Djokovic began his fifth Olympics with an emphatic victory over Australia’s Matthew Ebden after women’s favourite Iga Swiatek launched her bid for gold with a straight sets win at a rain-drenched Roland Garros. Serbia’s Djokovic, chasing the Olympics title that has proved so elusive during a career that has earned him 24 Grand Slam titles, sauntered to a 6-0 6-1 win. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz beat Lebanese Hady Habib 6-3 6-1. Poland’s Swiatek opened proceedings under the closed Court Philippe Chatrier with a 6-2 7-5 win against Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu.