Athens, August 14
Preliminary round win in men's table tennis and women's badminton notwithstanding, India's attempts to win medal got off to a dismal start in the 28th Olympics here today.

The winning stars were shuttler Aparna Popat, who made the last 16 grade, defeating Edwards Michelle of South Africa.

Sharath Kamal Achanta, too, made a winning start in the men's singles in table tennis. But all other Indian competitors either fell by wayside or were out of medal contention on the first day of competitions here.

In the 48 kg class, weightlifter Kunjarani Devi could finish only fifth with a lift of 190kg (82.5, 107.5). Turkey's Nurcan Taylan outmuscled Li Zhuo of China with a world record lift of 97.5kg in the snatch and 112.5kg in the clean and jerk for a world record total of 210kg to take gold.

In the light heavyweight 81kg category, Jitender Kumar lost to Sydney bronze medallist Andriy Fedchuk of Ukraine as the referee stopped the contest in the second round.

The most disappointing performance came from shooters, where except for Suma Shirur, all others failed to live up to expectations. Though she finished in the top 10, taking the eighth position, it was not enough to bring any joy to the Indian camp, which expected a much better start.

Other Indians in fray today also virtually ran out of competitions in rowing (men's single sculls), women's table tennis and men's judo (60kg).

The first shock came in women's 10 metre air rifle qualification where Anjali Bhagwat finished a poor 20th with an individual score of 393. Suma Shirur with a clean record in the third round returned an impressive score of 396, just a slot short of the previous Olympic record. But in the final she could not improve her standing and finished last.

In the men's trap qualification Indian challenge started fading early with Manavjit Singh Sandhu returning a poor card of 22 in the first round. Mansher Singh did better with a clean slate in the first round but ended the day with a score of 69 while Manavjit recovered and stood ahead of him with a score of 71.