Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap started his Olympic campaign in style, getting the better of Belgium's Yuhan Tan in straight games in a Group D match in London on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Hyderabadi took just 38 minutes to see off Tan 21-14, 21-12 at the Wembley Arena.
Kashyap was in command from the onset and won the first game in just 21 minutes.
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Trailing at the start, the Belgium showed signs of a fight back but couldn't match the pace and guile of Kashyap, who played some breathtaking drop shots and smashes.
Kashyap, ranked 21 in the world, was on the money in the second game as well, as he raced to a 6-2 lead in no time. But the left-handed Belgium put up some resistance and reduced the deficit, Undeterred the rampaging Indian stayed ahead at 11-7.
There was a stutter towards the end as Kashyap lost five consecutive game points, but the lone Indian representative in the men's singles at the Games finished off the job at 21-14 in barely 14 minutes when Yuhan played an attempted backhand into the net.
Kashyap plays Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam in his next match on July 31.
Meanwhile, the pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju went down to Indonesia's Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in their opening group match.
Jwala-Diju lost 16-21, 12-21 in 25 minutes.
The Indians are now up against the Danish combination of Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl in their next match on Sunday.
The top two teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals.
Jwala admitted that things did not 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," she said after the match.
The Hyderabad girl said more than being in awe of their opponents, it was more about the opposition dictating terms from the word 'go'.
"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."
Diju said they paid the price for being too defensive 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."
