Commonwealth and national champion Achanta Sharath Kamal turned in a smart display to defeat Boudjadja Mohamed in the first round of the men's singles table tennis competition at the Athens Games on Saturday.
Kamal, who was watched by former national champ and coach Kamlesh Mehta, won 11-4, 12-10, 11-6, 11 - 13, 11-7 in 21 minutes.
The Indian, ranked 49th in the tournament, will now take on 25th-ranked Chak Lai Ko of Hong Kong.
But India suffered a reverse in the women's singles, when 51st-ranked Mouma Das lost in the first round to No. 43 Nanthana Komwong of Thailand 6-11, 7-11, 3-11, 10-12.
Kamal went on the offensive right from the word go, taking the first game with relative ease.
Though his opponent gathered some momentum in the second game, the Indian held his own and looked like running away with the tie after taking a 3-0 lead.
Boudjadja delayed the inevitable by taking the fourth game, but Kamal kept his cool to rally in the fifth and take the tie.
Das was rendered helpless by the aggressive top spins of the Thai paddler and before she could gather her composure she was down by three sets.
The 20-year-old Indian did put up a good fight in the fourth game but the more experienced Komwong ensured that there were no last minutes hiccups in setting up a meeting with Nicole Struse of Germany in the second round.
According to the format of the championship, the top 16 seeds receive a bye till the round of 32 while the next 16 players get a first round bye.
