London: India's badminton star Parupalli Kashyap defeated Vietnam's Nguyen in straight sets 21-9, 21-14 and light flyweight boxer Devendro Singh knocked his Honduran opponent in the Round of 32 on day four of the 2012 London Olympics.
Kashyap dominated the major portion of the match by scoring six points in a row in the first set. What turned out to be an execution of a sublime mix of smashes and drop shots, Kashyap stormed his way into the last 16 of the badminton singles competition. Kashyap was in group D and he started off his Olympic campaign by defeating Belgium's Yuhan Tan on Saturday to progress to the next round.
In the mixed doubles, however, Jwala Gutta and V Diju's campaign ended after they lost to South Korea's Jung Eun Ha and Yong Dae Lee 0-2 in a group C match. The South Korean pair defeated the Indian duo 21-15, 21-15 in 24 minutes. Jwala and Viju will now face South Korea's Jung Eun Ha and Yong Dae Lee in a group C match in the mixed doubles.
The Indian archery contingent suffered another setback as Indian archers Jayanta Talukdar and Chekrovolu Swuro exited the London Games in the men's and women's individual event respectively. Talukdar was the first to bow out, losing in straight sets to American Jacob Wukie, who totally outclassed the Indian to win the match 27-22, 29-28. Later, Swuro lost to USA's Jennifer Nichols in the Round of 32 in the women's individual archery event.
There was further disappointment after Garima Chaudhary, India's lone judoka at the London Olympics, was knocked out of the women's 63 kg category elimination round. She was beaten by Japan's Yoshie Ueno by an Ippon in just 1.21 minutes.
Rower Swarn Singh also bowed out after finishing fourth in the quarter-finals. Mandeep Singh and Sandeep Kumar too exited the Games after finishing last, i.e., 6th in the men's doubles sculls.
In 69kg weightlifting, Ravi Kumar also disappointed and took his leave after poor snatch and clean-and-jerk rounds.
The good news for India came later in the evening when boxer Devendro advanced to the round of 16 in their respective events.
Devendro needed just one round to knock out his opponent Bayron Molina of the Honduras and advance to the pre-quarter-finals of the 49 kg light flyweight category. Devendro began aggressively and proved too hot to handle for Molina, following which the referee had to stop the bout, awarding the match to Devendro.
Banerjee's 1/32 Elimination Round in men's individual archery event saw him topple of Jantsan Gantungs of Mongolia 6-0 by winning three sets in a row. However, the jubilation didn't last long as Banerjee lost to Poland's Rafal Dobrowolski in the Round of 16, which ended his Olympics.
Banerjee was in top form against Gantungs hitting a flurry of 10s, including three in the third round. However, he couldn't show the same form in the pre-quarter-finals.
While, archer Tarundeep Rai didn't disappoint and brought his experience into count, as he entered the Round of 16 by beating Juan Carlos Stevens of Cuba.
Tarundeep held his nerves to trail 1-5 and then equalised by winning the fourth and fifth set as he took the encounter into golden shoot-off. In the shoot-off, the Sikkimese archer hit a 9 while his Cuban opponent could only manage a distant 8.
However, the rebel pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the men's doubles event by losing in straight sets to French pair of Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet.
The final result was 6-3, 6-4 in favour of the Frenchmen as they closed out the match in only 77 minutes.
In women's doubles badminton, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa defeated Singapore pair of Lei Yao and Shinta Mulia Sari 21-16, 21-15 but still crashed out of the competition.
At the boxing front in a late event, Indian boxer Manoj Kumar reached the pre-quarterfinals in the 64 kg class with a convincing victory over Serdar Hudayberdiyev of Turkmenistan.
The 25-year-old was in control throughout the bout as he registered an easy 13-7 win. The first round was a tight affair with both fighters being cautious. Manoj, especially looked circumspect as the round ended 2-2.
In the second, though the Indian showed his class landing some hard blows on the Turkmenistan fighter. Manoj had his opponent on the backfoot for most of the round and was the clear winner with judges scoring 7-3 in his favour.
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