Zeenews.com
London, July 28: Shuttler Parupalli Kashyap and paddler Soumyajit Ghosh triumphed for India on an otherwise dismal day for India on the first day of competitions at the London Olympic Games here on Saturday.
Kashyap provided the bright spot for India in badminton with a comfortable straight-game first round victory in men's singles to make up for the poor show of mixed doubles pair V Diju and Jwala Gutta who lost their opening group game.
Soumyajit Ghosh kept India's table tennis challenge alive as he moved into the second round of the main draw while an error-prone Ankita Das made a first round exit in the women's single event.
The 19-year-old Ghosh, playing in his first Olympics, beat Brazilian Gustavo Tsuboi 4-2 (11-9, 14-12, 7-11, 12-10, 5-11, 12-10) in a keen contest that lasted nearly 40 minutes.
Ghosh showed his attacking prowess and began in style by winning the first two games. But Tsuboi came back strongly to take the third game at 11-7 when Ghosh gave away some easy points.
Earlier, Ankita Das made a mess of her match against Spain's Sara Ramirez to exit in the first round. The Indian teenager made far too many mistakes against the Spaniard and yet managed to win a game off her in a match that lasted 30 minutes in the round of 128.
Elsewhere too, the country faced setbacks with the men's archery team getting eliminated at the pre-quarterfinal stage and woman paddler Ankita Das making her exit without making a ripple.
Rower Swran Singh also came fourth in his heats in single sculls but has a second chance in the repechage.
There was controversy too with the Indian contingent expressing its outrage over the presence of an unauthorised mystery woman wearing a red shirt and blue trouser stealing the limelight alongside flag bearer Sushil Kumar at the march past during the glittering opening ceremony on Friday.
The day began on an uninspiring note when Diju and Jwala, a settled pair hunting for a medal, were beaten in straight games 16-21 12-21 by Indonesia's Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in under half an hour in their opening Group C match.
The Indians are still in the hunt for a medal and will take on the Danish combination of Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl in their next match on Sunday.
The archery venue the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground also failed to provide cheer for the second day running when the men's team of Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai were knocked out after losing to Japan in a tense pre-quarterfinal shoot-off.