India opened its medal tally at the London Olympics 2012 with Gagan Narang winning the bronze on Monday in the 10-meter air rifle shooting event.
The win has been accompanied by several setbacks, though, since the Olympics opened on Friday. The men's doubles tennis team of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna faced a crushing straight sets defeat Tuesday, which also saw the ouster of the badminton mixed doubles team of Jwala Gutta and V. Diju from the competition. The men's field hockey team lost to the Netherlands (3-2) on Monday and will be playing New Zealand in a preliminary round match Wednesday.
Here's an update on the rest of India's Olympic athletes:
Another Indian star shooter, Abhinav Bindra, who won a gold at the Beijing Olympics, ended his London stint on a disappointing note on Monday, failing to advance in his only event, the 10-meter air rifle. His compatriot Mr . Narang stays in the competition with the 50-meter rifle prone event on Friday and the 50-meter rifle 3 positions on Aug. 6.
Saina Nehwal, ranked fourth in the world by the Badminton World Federation, is a strong contender for a medal in the women's badminton singles. She will look to set her Olympic record straight this year, having been eliminated in the quarterfinals in the last Olympics.
Ms. Nehwal won her group-stage match Monday against Lianne Tan of Belgium, booking a place in the 16-player elimination round.
In tennis, the men's doubles team of Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan are still in the running even as the women's doubles team of Sania Mirza and Rushmi Chakravarthi crashed out in the first round.
The second-round match between Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan and the second-seeded French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra, has been postponed to Wednesday.
Mr. Paes will pair with Ms. Mirza in the mixed doubles event.
< p>In boxing, India's medal hopes are being kept alive by Vijender Singh (middleweight category) and Jai Bhagwan (lightweight category), both of whom qualified for the round of 16. Mr. Singh was a bronze medalist at the last Olympics. Both Mr. Singh and Mr. Bhagwan will face their opponents on Thursday.However, Shiva Thapa, another boxer, ended up with a first-round exit on Saturday in his Olympic debut.
Mary Kom, a five-time women's boxing world champion from Manipur, India, will fight her first match on Aug. 5 in the flyweight category. This is the first time women's boxing is part of the Olympics.
In archery, India is out of the competition in the men's and women's team events, but Deepika Kumari continues to be one of the leading contenders for a medal in the singles event. Ms. Kumari, who is ranked No. 1 by the World Archery Federation, will compete against England's Amy Oliver on Wednesday.
This year's flag bearer for the Indian contingent, the wrestler Sushil Kumar, will bear the weight of a billion expectations when he enters the ring in the 66-kilogram freestyle wrestling event on Aug. 12, the final day of the London Olympics. Mr. Kumar had bagged the bronze at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in the same event.
