Hopes are high from Indian shuttlers at the 2016 Olympics as seven of them gear up to battle it out with the world’s top players for a medal. The hopes go much higher from these athletes as India’s chances of securing a medal at the Rio Olympics are going down everyday. Indian shuttlers had a mixed day at the Rio 2016 Olympics as singles players Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth made a assuring start to their campaign, but the women’s doubles duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa and the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy bowed out of the competition.

Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth on a role in Olympics

Saina Nehwal, who is hoping to improve on her bronze medal winning performance from the 2012 London Olympics, was put through the grinder by Brazilian Lohaynny Vicente. She countered off a spirited challenge from World no 73, 21-17 21-17 in a match that lasted 39 minutes. Saina will face World no 61 Maria Ulitina of Ukraine in a Group G match.

Srikanth started his Olympic campaign in superb fashion as well, breezing past Lino Muzon in straight games. The only Indian to qualify in the men’s singles event, Srikanth won 21-11, 21-17 in 41 minutes. He will play his next match against Henri Hurskainen of Sweden.

PV Sindhu put up a show for the spectators as she destroyed Lauri Sarosi of Hungary. The Hungarian tried to make a comeback in the second game scoring early points. But she fell short to Sindhu’s sharp play. The two-time World Championship bronze medallist outplayed World no 64 Sarosi 21-8 21-9 in under half an hour. Ninth seed Sindhu will clash with Glasgow Commonwealth Games champion Li Michelle of Canada in Group M to complete the preliminary group engagements.

Doubles disaster

The doubles campaign was off to a disastrous start, both men’s and women’s teams lost their opening matches.

Jwala and Ashwini lost to the World number one Japanese pair of Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsumoto. The Japanese duo took advantage of multiple unforced errors by the Indians while dominating throughout the match. On the other hand, Manu and Sumeeth lost to World no two Indonesian duo Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. They went neck-to-neck till the middle of the first game, after which it became a one way ride for the Indonesians.