By Rohith Nair
PARIS (Reuters) – The action continues at the Olympics on Wednesday in Paris where athletics, wrestling, skateboarding and boxing continue while taekwondo and weightlifting get under way.
There will be 21 medals up for grabs with the bulk of them being given out in athletics.
EL BAKKALI V GIRMA IN STEEPLECHASE
Morocco’s Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali will fight to maintain his supremacy in the 3,000 metres steeplechase final.
He followed up his Tokyo title with a pair of world golds but faces a stiff challenge from Ethiopian world record holder Lamecha Girma at the Stade de France.
Matthew Hudson-Smith wants to become the first Briton in a century to win Olympic gold in the 400 and will battle with the United States’ Quincy Hall in the final.
GOAT IN THE BOAT
New Zealand paddler Lisa Carrington, known back home as the “GOAT in the boat” (Greatest Of All Time) and her country’s most successful Olympian, gets her quest for an individual kayak sprint gold under way at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
ALEKSANYAN SEEKS FOURTH MEDAL
Armenia’s Artur Aleksanyan already owns Olympic medals of every colour and the face of the men’s Greco-Roman 97kg weight class will be eyeing a second gold when he hits the mat.
In Greco-Roman 77kg, top seed Nao Kusaka of Japan seems to be peaking at the right time and will be the favourite.
In the women’s 50kg freestyle, Yui Susaki can only hope to win a bronze after India’s Vinesh Phogat ended her title defence in a major upset.
PALMER TAKES ON US TRIO
Australia’s Keegan Palmer aims to become the first back-to-back gold medallist in Park skateboarding but faces competition from the American trio of world number one Tate Carew, Gavin Bottger and Tom Schaar at the iconic Place de la Concorde.
YU-TING SEEKS SPOT IN BOXING FINAL
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Khyzhniak takes on Kazakh Nurbek Oralbay in the men’s light heavyweight boxing final, while Frenchman Sofiane Oumiha comes up against Cuba’s Erislandy Alvarez in his quest for lightweight gold.
Taiwan boxer Lin Yu-ting, who along with Algerian Imane Khelif has been in the spotlight over a gender dispute at the Paris Games, is in action in a featherweight semi-final.
U.S. DOUBLE IN GOLF?
The women’s Olympic golf competition starts at Le Golf National, with world number one Nelly Korda heading a 60-strong field as she tries to defend her Tokyo title and complete a U.S. sweep after Scottie Scheffler won the men’s tournament.
SAILING
Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti of Italy will go into the mixed multihull medal race with Argentina’s Mateo Ajdalani and Eugenia Bosco hot on their heels, while consistent crews from New Zealand and Britain are also in the medals mix.
The mixed dinghy crews are also poised to go down to the wire in their medal race, with leaders Austria trying to hold off challenges from Spain, Japan and Sweden.
FIRST MEDAL IN SPEED CLIMBING
Olympic medals will be awarded in speed climbing for the first time ever with the women’s final. Although the sport debuted in Tokyo, the speed discipline was split from the combined boulder and lead events for the Paris Games.
Poland’s world record holder Aleksandra Miroslaw is well-placed and will hope to repeat her performance from the elimination stage.
LEBRUN BROTHERS
Led by the host nation’s favourite brothers, Felix and Alexis Lebrun, France will face strong opponents Brazil in the men’s table tennis team quarter-finals.
Hugo Calderano, who leads Brazil, will have another chance to redeem himself in his second battle with Felix having lost to the Frenchman in the singles bronze medal match.
China’s women’s team will be challenged by Taiwan.
CHINA FAVOURITES IN ARTISTIC SWIMMING
China will look to win their first gold in team artistic swimming in the acrobatic routine. With the absence of Russia, who have won every gold since 2000, the door is open for China to take top spot on the podium.
REDUCED NUMBER IN WEIGHTLIFTING
Olympic weightlifting has been revamped to make the sport more competitive as it kicks off in Paris with a reduced number of competitors and categories.
The men’s and women’s events will be held at the Paris Expo where gold medals are up for grabs in the 61kg and 49kg categories, with American Hampton Morris and China’s defending champion Hou Zhihui the main contenders respectively.
TAEKWONDO
Thailand’s women’s champion Panipak Wongpattanakit, who gave her country their first-ever gold in the sport in Tokyo, will aim to bring a second medal home when the competition kicks off with the men’s and women’s flyweight categories.
Italy’s Dell Aquila, gold medallist in Tokyo, is among the best medal hopes for his country, who have three athletes that qualified. The 18-year-old Omar Ismail will be the first Palestinian to compete in taekwondo at an Olympics.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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