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Sam Drury
´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport journalist

Image source, Reuters

British pair Ben Lane and Sean Vendy were beaten by Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in a hard-fought match to begin their badminton men's doubles campaign.

Lane and Vendy started superbly, going up 5-0 early as they took the first game 21-19 at Porte de la Chapelle Arena.

But Chia and Soh hit back to win the second 21-16 and force a deciding game.

Both pairs were starting to feel the intensity of the first two games but the momentum was with the Malaysians and they pulled away to take the third 21-11 and seal a crucial win.

Lane and Vendy, who lost every match without winning a game in Tokyo three years ago, will likely have to beat top seeds Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of China in their next match to keep their hopes of progressing from Group A alive.

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Gareth Furlong likes to score from penalty corners and he did just that - twice - on his Olympics debut in Great Britain’s 4-0 pool A win over Spain.

Thanks to his powerful drag flicks, he has scored more than 75 international goals for Wales and has now made his mark with a brace for GB on the biggest stage.

Fellow Welshman Rupert Shipperly also got on the scoresheet with a late goal in a clinical GB performance.

Great Britain's hopes of a medal in the mixed team 10m air rifle are over after Seonaid McIntosh and Michael Bargeron were eliminated at the qualification stage.

The British pair's total of 622.1 after three series saw them finish 26th at Chateauroux Shooting Centre with just the top four teams advancing to the medal matches.

China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao came out on top with 632.2 and will face South Korean duo Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun in the gold medal match.

Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev of Kazakhstan will take on Germany's Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich for the bronze medal.

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Before Tokyo, everything Jade Jones touched at an Olympics turned to gold.

She became Olympic champion as a teenager at London 2012, before winning gold again at Rio 2016.

Gold in Tokyo would have ensured she became Wales' greatest female Olympian and the most successful Olympic taekwondo athlete in history, so it was a seismic shock when she lost in the first round of competition to Refugee Team competitor Kimia Alizadeh.

There was another shock just weeks before this Olympic Games, as the UK Anti-Doping Agency ruled Jones was clear to compete in Paris after provisionally suspending her for failing to provide a urine sample in December 2023.

The 31-year-old successfully argued against the ban after presenting confidential medical records which UKAD concluded showed she bore "no fault or negligence".

The women's -57kg category takes place all in one day, as usual, with Jones hoping to reach the final at 20:39 BST on Thursday, 8 August.

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The Paris Games will be a second Olympics for Britain's undisputed best 1500m swimmer of the last decade, Dan Jervis.

The Resolven product has won medals for Team Wales at the Commonwealth Games - though was cruelly denied a chance to swim for an elusive gold at Birmingham 2022 after contracting Covid-19 close to the event.

He says he struggled with motivation in the aftermath of that disappointment but always felt he had one more Olympics in him. He has been proved right.

"It was a lot harder to get to this Olympics. To get on that podium would be an absolute dream," he said.

The men's 1500m freestyle takes place over the middle weekend of the Olympics, with the final at 17:36 BST on Sunday, 4 August.

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In the three years since Tokyo, Medi Harris has very quickly established herself on the GB swimming team.

She won bronze for Team Wales as a teenager at the 2022 Commonwealth Games before becoming European champion with the GB women's 4x100m freestyle team later that summer.

The 21-year-old, from Porthmadog, picked up silver and bronze at this year's World Championships, but soon afterwards her mum, Ellie, sadly passed away.

Medi had to complete at the Olympic trials within weeks.

She did so admirably and her spot at her first Olympics was secured in the most difficult of circumstances.

"It feels a bit surreal," Harris said. "It's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. With each competition and each team I make, I'm just learning more and more. I know my mum was proud of me no matter what I did."

Harris' Olympic debut should come on Monday, 29 July in the women's 100m backstroke, with relays likely to follow later in that first week - including the women's 4x200m freestyle.

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Kieran Bird swam the race of his life at the 2021 Olympic trials to qualify for his first Games in Tokyo.

The event itself did not go as well, but Bird has shown his class this year with a real return to form.

He has set personal bests in the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle and looks well placed to make a much greater impact at his second Games.

"I'm buzzing. This time I want to go and compete, really give it a go," he said.

"I feel like I've got redemption to do. It's nice to be back on track with where I want to be."

The men's 400m freestyle all takes place on Saturday, 27 July at the La Defense Arena.

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As was the case like in Tokyo, dad-of-two Chris Grube is the oldest Welsh athlete at the Games.

Now 39, Grube has claimed a fifth-place finish at the last two Olympic Games.

But there's a new class for Paris 2024 - the mixed dinghy - which sees a man and a woman team up in the boat.

After thinking Tokyo would mark his farewell from Olympic sailing, Grube partnered with 23-year-old Vita Heathcote late in the Paris cycle and their silver medal at this year's World Championships will leave him hoping he has left his best Olympic appearance for last.

"Olympic sailing has always been the spark for me, ever since I was sailing round Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid) at 10 years old," he said.

"Our potential is huge, especially off the back of the World Championships."

The mixed dinghy event begins in Marseille Marina on Friday, 2 August, with two races a day until the top 10 boats move into the medal races on Wednesday, 7 August, when double points are up for grabs.

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During the last Olympics, Micky Beckett was working on the TV production of the Games, advising TV directors on race narratives.

Since then he's proved he deserves to compete at that level himself.

The west Walian has won European gold, world silver and bronze, as well as silver at the Paris 2024 test event last year.

He has also won the ILCA7 dinghy class at the prestigious Princess Sofia Trophy regatta in Mallorca every year since 2022.

He has a calm, understated presence but he is determined to succeed and has all the ingredients to do something special in Marseille.

"The pressure's there. But I thought, do I want to be an outsider, an underdog - or do I want to go in as favourite? If you go in as favourite, it means you've had that winning experience," he said.

"By winning those medals, that's got me the winning experience which hopefully will stand me in good stead."

The men's dinghy event takes place in Marseille Marina from Thursday, 1 August, with two races a day until the top 10 boats move into the medal races on Tuesday, 6 August, when double points are on offer.