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Indian shuttlers put up encouraging show
The trio of Indian shuttlers may have failed to cross the second round but showed plenty of grit and fighting spirit while going down to higher rated opponents.
The trio of Indian shuttlers, all in their mid twenties, may have failed to even cross the second round in the Olympic Games badminton competition but showed plenty of grit and fighting spirit while going down to higher rated opponents.
National women's champion Aparna Popat and Nikhil Kanetkar bowed out in the second round while Abhinn Shyam Gupta went down after putting up a spirited show in the first round.
Considering that only the top 32 got a chance to go on the hunt for Olympic glory none from the badminton fraternity was under any illusion that the three-member contingent could climb the medal podium.
And their relatively low world rankings did not help either as the shuttlers were pitted against higher ranked opponents from the very beginning, with only Popat having had the luxury of playing a weaker opponent in the opening round.
Popat, ranked 27th in the world, had an easy outing against the lowly Michelle Edwards of South Africa and emerged triumphant 11-6 11-3 to set up a date with fourth seed Mia Audina of Netherlands.
The 26-year-old Indian women's champion was considered to be a rank outsider against the 1996 Atlanta Games Indonesian-born silver medallist but created a flutter when she took the first game after trailing 4-9.
But the Bangalore-based shuttler failed to keep up the momentum and the Indonesian-born Audina had no trouble in taking the next two games, conceding only four points in the bargain.
