India launch its Olympic campaign in the badminton on Saturday with Aparna Popat taking on a relatively easy opponent in Michelle Edwards of South Africa in the first round of the women's singles at the Goudi Olympic Hall.
Popat, currently ranked 27th in the world, should find the going quite easy against her opponent, ranked 64th, and move into the second, where she could clash with fourth seed Mia Audina of the Netherlands.
Mia will face Nigella Saunders of Jamaica in her opening match.
Popat, who got a direct entry when the initial list was declared on May 1, had a few days to acclimatize to the conditions in the ancient city, and was quite optimistic of overcoming her first hurdle.
Popat participated in the Sydney Olympics but lost in the opening round to Kelly Morgan of Wales.
Apart from Popat, the two other Indians in the fray -- Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Nikhil Kanetkar -- had a few practice sessions in Athens under the supervision of coach Vimal Kumar but it appears extremely unlikely that they will make an impact in the competition.
Both Kanetkar and Gupta begin their men's singles campaign on Saturday. While the 25-year-old southpaw Kanetkar, ranked 49th in the world, will lock horns with Sergio Llopis of Spain, Gupta will take on strong contender Park Tae Sang of Korea in their opening rounds.
