After a qualifying period that has lasted 52 weeks, it was time to get the show on the road. A total of 173 players will compete in badminton at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games from Saturday 27 July, until 5 August in the sparkling new Porte de La Chapelle stadium.

In all five disciplines of the sport (singles and doubles in both genders plus mixed doubles), the group stage will be followed by the knockout phase. The seedings are based on the BWF world ranking as of 9 July. The Men's Doubles, Women's Singles, Women's Doubles and Men's Singles competitions took place this afternoon.

Big storylines in the competition

On the first match of the day, He Bing Jiao (CHN) wins against Keisha Fatimah Azzahra (AZE) in two games, while the mixed doubles pairing of Seo Seung Jae / Chae Yu Jung (KOR) are also through.

Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping (CHN), the number two seeds in the mixed doubles, have just won their match against Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai (USA) in two games.

Quite a few top men's singles players have been in action today, most of them enjoying straightforward wins including men's top seed Shi Yuqi (CHN) and current world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA).

One man who did struggle a bit more than usual but managed to eke out a three-game win was Indonesia's Jonatan Christie. No. 3 men's seed picked up his first win of the badminton competition, a 18-21, 21-11, 21-16 over Julien Carraggi at Porte de La Chapelle Arena.

What comes next and the stars to follow

In singles, the winner of each group will advance to the round of 16. In doubles, the top two from each group will advance to the quarter-finals, where they will be drawn again. The five finals will be played over the last four days of a 10-day competition.

Of those who topped the podium three years ago at Tokyo 2020, both individual champions, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Chen Yufei of the People's Republic of China, return to defend their title.

With the retirement of former world No. 1 and world champion Momota Kento and reigning silver medallist Chen Long, the field has levelled beyond Axelsen and Chen. Shi Yuqi has unseated Axelsen as the world's top male, but anyone in the top 10 has a shot at gold.

The same could be said for the women with world number one An Seyoung of the Republic of Korea hungry to dethrone Chen. Also not to be ruled out is Tokyo 2020 runner-up Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei, as well as Rio 2016 gold medallist Carolina Marin,who is proving to be back to her best after suffering two knee injuries. Japan's Yamaguchi Akane will also be a strong contender for gold if she can put her injuries behind her.

On the doubles side, women's and mixed gold medallists Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu and Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping, respectively, have split, while men's champions Lee Yang/Wang Chi-lin are not in the same form of previous Games.