Athens: Shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's silver medal and the heroic performances of athletes Anju Bobby George, K M Binu and J J Shobha were the only heart-warming moments in yet another Indian Olympic campaign, which not only went awry but was also hit by a shameful doping scandal.

Rathore turned out to be the only medal winner in what was described as the "best ever" contingent before it left the shores of a country, which only had three individual medals in the history of the Games.

Although the Indian Olympic Association had talked about the athletes winning "a few medals" in the Games, which returned to the place of its birth, only Rathore and Anju had any realistic chance of standing on the podium.

Both of them did the country proud with their show, though the lissome Kerala athlete could not win a medal.

The star tennis duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi came at sniffing distance of winning a medal in the men's doubles event but were subdued by the brilliance of a Croatian pair that took the bronze after a marathon battle that lasted close to four hours.

And barring the exploits of a handful of athletes, it was the familiar tale of the Indians getting knocked off in the first or second rounds in each of the 14 disciplines they competed.