London, Aug 4 (IANS): Army shooter Vijay Kumar made India proud by winning a welcome silver medal at the London Olympics here Friday, hours before boxer Vikas Krishan was controversially eliminated from the competition.
Five hours after Vikas was declared winner in his 69 kg pre-quarterfinal bout, the sport's governing body overturned the decision and awarded it to his American opponent Errol Spence.
In badminton, women's shuttler Saina Nehwal remained in contention for a bronze despite losing out to her top-rated Chinese rival Wang Yihan, while women's discus thrower Krishna Poonia made the final as India had their brightest day at the Games and doubled its medals tally to two - one silver and one bronze - both coming from the ranges.
At Wimbledon, the mixed doubles pair of Leander Paes and Sania Mirza were down 5-7, 2-3 against the top seeded Belarusian pair of Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi when bad light and rain stopped their quarterfinal match. It will resume Saturday.
Vijay Kumar, a junior commissioned officer (JCO), finished second in the men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol to give the country its second medal from the Games after marksman Gagan Narang opened India's tally Monday by shooting a bronze in men's 10m air rifle competition at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
He ensured a finish on the podium scoring 30 in the final after Cuba's Leuris Pupo gave his country its first gold of the Olympics by carding 34.
His performance more than compensated for a poor show from Narang, who failed to make it to the final after taking the 18th slot in the qualifiers.
Kumar thus became the second Indian after double trap shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to win an individual Olympic silver medal. Rathore achieved his feat in 2004 Athens Games.
"There was lot of pressure on me but I stuck to my plans and came out well. This medal means such a lot to me. It has been my dream to win an Olympic medal. This is the highest you can get," said an elated Kumar.
Kumar's success came after Joydip Karmakar finished tantalisingly close to a medal in the men's 50 metres rifle prone, finishing fourth amongst the eight-man field.
Earlier in the day, Saina's dream of an Olympic gold was shattered when she lost to a superior Wang in the women's singles semifinals. The Indian will now play another Chinese, Wang Xin in the bronze play-off Saturday.
Saina, the first Indian shuttler to play in an Olympic semifinal, could not match the class of the reigning world champion. The 13-21, 13-21 defeat was her sixth straight loss to Wang, who remains the only Chinese the Hyderabadi has never beaten.
It was heart break for pugilist Vikas. The competition jury of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) ruled on an American protest Friday night that Vikas committed nine holding fouls in the third and last round alone and also that the Indian had intentionally spit out his mouth guard in the second round.
The mouthpiece incident, AIBA felt, invites a deduction of four points and that meant the 13-11 decision in Vikas's favour went for a toss and the American is through to the quarterfinals.
The Indians fared poorly in hockey and swimming and had a mixed luck on the opening day of the track and field competition.
India's sole woman triple jumper Mayookha Johny crashed out with a 22nd place finish overall and 13th in group B.
Male shot putter Om Prakash Singh also faltered in the qualification round finishing 10th in group B with a best of 19.86m.
However, Poonia brought the smile back in the Indian camp by reaching the final by hurling the disc to a distance of 63.54m.
On the hockey turf, a jittery India crashed to a 2-5 defeat against Germany for their third straight reverse in Group B of the Olympic men's clash to bow out of medal contention.
India's lone swimmer at the Games, Ullalmath Gagan, caused no ripples in the pool as he fell by the wayside in the 1,500-m freestyle heat. He ended up seventh and last in Heat 1, clocking six minutes 31.14 seconds.