The Indian Olympic contingent, hoping for a medal from tennis, had a rude shock as it was handed a tough draw for the competition which gets underway Monday.

Both Sania Mirza in women’s singles and men’s doubles pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, despite being seeded, would come up against tough opponents early in the competition.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are trying to be fourth-time lucky in the Olympic Games.

“We had a very good work-out. The preparation has been great. Both of us reached the semifinals of Cincinnatti. We would have trained in Los Angeles only if we had not done well in the last tournament.

Beijing, Aug. 7: Roger Federer’s Indian cheerleaders are entitled to feel betrayed. My young Swiss co-passenger on the flight to Beijing didn’t seem to have an inkling that India was taking part in the Olympics.

“Oh, you are from India!” she said, and was even more surprised to learn that Dhyan Chand’s country had been making it to the Games for 80 years.

Carrying the hopes of a billion people is a ‘privilege’ for Sania Mirza and the Hyderabadi tennis ace vows to give everything it needs to bring home an individual Olympic medal, a feat only four Indians have managed since independence.

Stockholm: Form continued to elude Sania Mirza and the Indian ace crashed out of the Nordea Nordic Light Open with a gruelling three-set loss to Czech Iveta Benesova in the second round.

In an over two-hour contest, Benesova rallied to beat the sixth- seeded Sania 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday.