Setbacks continued to haunt India in their quest to break open the medal chest in the Olympic Games here with shuttler P V Sindhu being the sole bright spot in yet another disappointing day today.
Sindhu, a two-time world championship bronze medal winner, opened her women's singles campaign on a winning note in Group M with a facile straight-game win in 27 minutes over unheralded Hungarian rival Laura Sarosi, ranked a lowly 64 in the world.
The ninth seed spanked her Hungarian opponent 21-8 21-9 in a Group M match that lasted for 27 minutes and is set to play against Glasgow Commonwealth Games champion Li Michelle of Canada on August 14 to complete the preliminary group engagements.
However, her compatriots Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost their women's doubles league opener by losing 15-21 10-21 to the World No.1 Japanese pair of Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsumoto in Group A.
Men's doubles duo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost 18-21 13-21 to World No.2 Indonesian duo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan to make it a poor opening day in badminton.
There were more setbacks on day 6 of competitions in archery, boxing and men's hockey to dampen the Indian spirits.
Young boxer Shiva Thapa (56kg) bowed out of the Olympic Games after being out-punched by fourth-seeded Cuban Robeisy Ramirez in the opening round here today.
The 22-year-old, competing in his second Olympics, lost 0-3 in a one-sided contest in which he also ended up sustaining a cut above his left eye.
The Indian boxing challenge is now limited to Vikas Krishan (75kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) both of whom have advanced to the pre-quarterfinals.
India's campaign in women's archery came to an abrupt end with the elimination of Deepika Kumari and L Bombayla Devi at the pre-quarter final stage of the eliminations while the men's hockey team missed chances galore before losing to The Netherlands 1-2 in Group B.
Both Deepika and Bombayla Devi bowed out after being found wanting in pressure-cooker atmosphere.
Deepika, the young exponent from Jharkhand who was in her second Games, and third-time Olympian Bombayla were knocked out without putting up much of a fight in their pre-quarterfinal elimination matches.
Deepika was up against World No.2 Tan Ya-Ting of Chinese Taipei, and was blanked 6-0 -- losing in straight sets -- while Bombayla lost 2-6 to World No.18 Alejandra Valencia of Mexico, after winning the second set.
Both the archers were guilty of letting their nerves get the better of them.
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