Athens: The fast dwindling Indian hopes in the Olympic games continued their downward spiral unhindered with the elimination of archer Majhi Sawaiyan from the men's individual competition at the Panathinaiko Stadium today (Aug 16, 2004).

Army-man Majhi, who had finished 22nd in the ranking rounds held before the competition, was beaten quite convincingly by American Vic Wunderle, a two-time world junior champion, 145-128 in the first round of the event.

It was a disappointing start to the proceedings in the same arena which saw India's women archers Reena Kumari and Sumangala Sharma advancing to the second round in convincing fashion yesterday (Aug 16, 2004).

With Majhi's departure, India's hopes in the individual events lay with Tarundeep Rai and Satyadev Prasad who were scheduled to start their campaign later in the day.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, India's medal hopes in the tennis event, were set to commence their quest today in the men's doubles event and were keen to recapture their golden touch of 1999 when they captured the French and Wimbledon titles besides reaching the finals of the other two Grand Slams too - Australian and US Opens.

Sailors Manav Shroff and Sumit Patel will start their endeavour in the 49er class in the yachting competition while marksmen Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang (10-m air rifle) and shuttlers Nikhil Kanetkar and Abhinn Shyam Gupta too are slated to take their plunge in the Games during the day.