Kashyap lone saving grace on dismal day for India

LONDON, July 28:
Shuttler Parupalli Kashyap provided the country its lone bright spot on a day of total disappointment for India at the London Olympic Games today as competitions intensified after the grand opening ceremony here.
Barring Kashyap’s one-sided victory in men’s singles, India suffered reverses in badminton, table tennis, shooting, rowing and boxing – the biggest being young medal hopeful Shiva Thapa’s first-round exit in the boxing ring.
Kashyap outclassed Belgium’s Yuhan Tan in straight games, winning 21-14 21-12, in a Group D match that lasted 38 minutes at the Wembley Arena. The 25-year-old world no. 21 takes on Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam in the next match on July 31.
However, India’s hopes of a medal in mixed doubles suffered a setback when V Diju and Jwala Gutta lost their opening group game.
Elsewhere too, the country faced setbacks with the men’s archery team getting eliminated at the pre-quarterfinal stage, woman paddler Ankita Das making her exit without making a ripple and rower Swran Singh coming in fourth in his heats in single sculls, but has a second chance in the repechage.
However, the major disappointment was reserved in the ring when Thapa could not live up to the pre-Games hype and got pounded by his Mexican rival Oscar Valdez 14-9 in the 56 kg class.
Thapa trailed 2-4 in the opening round, made a comeback in the second to clinch it 4-3 only to be punished hard in the final round, which he lost 3-7.
Six other Indians, including Beijing Games bronze medallist Vijender Singh, are set to make their appearances in the Games.
India also made a shaky start to their shooting campaign with Vijay Kumar failing to qualify for the final of the men’s 10m Air Pistol event at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
The 27-year-old Army man from Himachal Pradesh finished a disappointing 31st out of 44 shooters with a score of 570, giving him no chance at all to make the next grade.
There was controversy too, off the field, 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 yesterday.
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 tomorrow.
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.
The Indian trio, who had qualified bottom of the heap at 12th in the rankings round yesterday, were tied with their Japanese rivals at 214 after the regulation four rounds.
But the threesome of Yu Ishizu, Hideki Kikuchi and Takaharu Furukawa edged past the Indians 29-27 in the shoot-off in which the archers shoot alternatively.
The Indians were leading with the last set of three arrows left in the quiver before the Japanese equalised to force a tie-breaker.
The trio will now be seen in action in the individual elimination rounds that will commence on Monday. (PTI)

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