India faced mixed fortunes on the tennis courts with their quest for a coveted gold medal in the Asian Games women's team event thwarted by Chinese Taipei at the Khalifa International stadium.
They suffered more setbacks when the second-seeded mixed doubles combination of Mahesh Bhupathi and Shikha Uberoi and eighth seeded men's singles player Rohan Bopanna were knocked out in the first round.
But to make amends somewhat was the rediscovery of their winning touch by feuding men's doubles combine of Leander Paes and Bhupathi. Then Paes along with Sania Mirza scored a comprehensive victory in the mixed doubles first round that helped the duo sail through to the last 16.
After India were beaten 2-1 by Chinese Taipei in the women's team gold medal contest that ended early this morning, 277th-ranked Bopanna crashed out by losing in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 against unfancied Sun Peng of China, a player ranked more than 400 places below him.
But later, Paes and Bhupathi outclassed their opponents Hui Tung Yu and W L W Wong of Hong Kong 6-0, 6-4 to enter the pre quarter-finals of the men's doubles. In men's singles, Karan Rastogi scored a thumping 6-0, 6-1 win over Dyunbat Baatar of Mongolia to sail into the round of 16.
Paes and Sania downed Yu Hiu Tung and Wong Wing Luen Wayne of Hong Kong 6-0, 6-4 in 54 minutes.
Bhupathi and Shikha, however, surprisingly put up a lacklustre show and were dumped out by the Thai pair of S Ratiwatana and S Viratprasert 6-4, 6-4 in the mixed doubles opening round.
