Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi brought some smiles to the faces of the Indian contingent on Monday by breezing through their opening round encounter against Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish of the United States in the Olympic men's doubles tennis on Monday.
The 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 victory posted by the 'Indian Express', striving to attain the heights which brought them two Grand Slam titles five years ago, was just the tonic needed to brighten up the Indian camp which has seen reverses on most fronts over the first two days of competition.
The Lee-Hesh combine now awaits a potentially high-octane pre-quarterfinal encounter against Wimbledon singles champion and world number one, Roger Federer and his Swiss doubles partner Yves Allegro for a place in the last eight.
The Swiss duo got past Poland's Mariusz Fyrstnberg and Marcin Mathowski in the first round.
However, the third day started on a dismal note for India with the elimination from the individual men's archery event of armyman Majhi Sawaiyan at the Panathinaiko Stadium.
Majhi, who finished 22nd in the ranking rounds held before the competition, was beaten quite convincingly by American Vic Wunderle, a two-time world junior champion, 145-128 in the first round of the event.
{{/usCountry}}Majhi, who finished 22nd in the ranking rounds held before the competition, was beaten quite convincingly by American Vic Wunderle, a two-time world junior champion, 145-128 in the first round of the event.
{{/usCountry}}It was a disappointing start to the proceedings from the same arena which saw India's women archers Reena Kumari and Sumangala Sharma advancing to the second round in convincing fashion on Sunday.
With Majhi's departure, India's hopes in the individual events now rest on Tarundeep Rai and Satyadev Prasad who were scheduled to start their campaign later in the day.
Sailors Manav Shroff and Sumit Patel have commenced their endeavour in the 49er class in the yachting competition while marksmen Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang (10-m air rifle) and shuttlers Nikhil Kanetkar and Abhinn Shyam Gupta too are slated to take their plunge in the Games during the day.