We must admit that we were in awe of the opening ceremony; there was much of the sardonic “British” brand of comedy which had us all in splits; for God’s sake, they made us believe that the Queen parachuted on to the venue along with James Bond. But finally, when the Indian contingent came marching onto the stadium, we all felt proud.

It was certainly inspiring to watch a team, humbled by the ministrations of a so called “3^rd world” upbringing, to meet their dreams end at London. Nevertheless, if perfection had been attainable on earth, we could have asked for a much better experience at the opening ceremony, but surely we cannot; in the same spirit we must accept the highs and lows, of the performance, of our Indian contingent.

We have qualified for 13 sports in total; here is a look at the results so far:

One of India’s sporting geniuses, Dhanraj Pillai, alleged that India has a chance to win in badminton, tennis and shooting. In table tennis we must not discourage the two players that India sponsored, especially after young Soumyajit Ghosh's debut appearance had proved to be a memorable one. Unfortunately, both Soumyajit Ghosh and Ankita Das have been defeated at the hands of North Korea and Spain, respectively.

The doubles team for badminton did not come forth with a strong game; the pair, of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa, has lost their first game against Japan, while the mixed doubles team, of Jwala Gutta and V Diju, has already lost two games. Yet, Sania Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap have started off well with quick wins in their respective single matches.

The situation is similar for the archery squad, after the women’s archery team failed to perform; blaming the weather for their arrows wavering off target, but there is much that can be expected from the Deeepika Kumari in the individual event. It seems that we are not being able to take aim in these games, for the women’s shooting duo, Heena Sidhu and Annu Raj Singh have also bowed out of the games.

Though, not mentioned by Mr. Pillai, we are certain that India will put up a good show in Hockey, for the men in blue cannot be ignored, at a game that was invented by Indians. So, keep your fingers crossed for the India vs. Holland hockey match.