London: India’s mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju lost their opening group league match against Indonesian pair pair of Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in straight games but Parupalli Kashyap started off on a winning note in men’s singles defeating Yuhan Tan of Belgium.
While Kashyap warded off Tan’s challenge with a 21-14, 21-12 victory in only 38 minutes, the crack pair of Jwala-Diju looked rusty and were comprehensively beaten by the All-England Champion Indonesian pair 16-21, 12-21 in a 27-minute encounter at the Wembley Arena, here on Saturday.
Kashyap’s experience of having played Tan twice this year came in handy as he was well prepared for the outing and it reflected in his approach today.
“I’ve played Tan twice this year, therefore I was ready for his game. I wanted to open up but then it’s my first match so I was a bit nervous,” Kashyap said.
Kashyap next plays against Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam, next Tuesday.
“It’s the next match that will decide my progress in the competition. But I am pleased to win this one, of course.”
The pair of Jwala-Diju might have been unlucky to be pitted in a strong group but they can still move into the knock-out stage privided they win their next two encounters against Denmark and South Korea.
They next play the Danish pair of Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl on Sunday.
Jwala did admit that things certainly didn’t go as per plan.
“I was pretty prepared but things didn’t work out according to plan. But you know, it’s the first day and the first match. I just need to focus on tomorrow,” Jwala said after the match.
“I think I was pretty good. I really don’t know what happened. I never feared them. We’ve beaten them before but we do need to be more attacking. We were playing the game that they wanted us to,” Jwala explained.
She seemed pretty upset that she has to play two matches on the same day.
“It’s pretty shocking for it to happen at the Olympics – such a big event. I have to play my second match today so of course it will affect me,” she said of the women’s doubles match played later on Saturday.
Diju said they paid the price for being too defensive today and will have to quickly rectify their mistakes before the second group match.
“In this match, we were playing defensively – we will be more attacking tomorrow against the Danish pair.”
Mixed results for paddlers
Young Soumyajit Ghosh’s maiden appearance at the Olympics proved to be a memorable one as he advanced to the second round of the table tennis event after Ankita Das bowed out in the London Games.
The 19-year-old Ghosh prevailed over Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi 11-9 14-12 7-11 12-10 5-11 12-0 (4-2) in a closely contested men’s singles first round match.
There was however disappointment in store in the women’s section as Ankita lost 1-4 to Spain’s Sara Ramirez. (Agencies)