Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal gave India its first-ever medal in Olympic Games badminton when her Chinese opponent withdrew from the bronze medal play-off after injuring her knee. In London yesterday, world no. 2 Xin Wang was leading by a game and 1-0 when she withdrew from the bronze medal contest. She twisted her knee late in the opening game when attempting an acrobatic smash from the rear court. Saina Nehwal became only the second Indian woman after weightlifter Karnam Malleswari to clinch an Olympic medal. Malleswari won a bronze in the 2000 Games in Sydney. It was also the country's 10th individual medal since its first – a bronze – in 1952 by wrestler Kashaba Jadhav and its third in the ongoing Olympics after rifle shooter Gagan Narang's Bronze and pistol marksman Vijay Kumar's Silver.

In Boxing, Laishram Devendro Singh stunned 2008 Beijing Games silver medallist Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia 16-11 to storm into the quarter-finals of the Men's Light-fly weight (49kg) category. However, in the Light Welterweight category, 26-year old Manoj Kumar lost to Thomas Stalker of Great Britain 16-20 in the pre-quarterfinals. In Women's Boxing, five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom begins her campaign today in the 51 category.

In Tennis, India's campaign ended as Leander Paes and Sania Mirza lost to the top seeded pair of Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka from Belarus in straight sets 5-7, 6-7 in the last eight stage match which was spread over two days due to bad light. Mixed Doubles was considered India's best medal bet in tennis.

India's campaign in athletics charted familiar course. Krishna Poonia put in a below-par performance to finish seventh in the women's discus throw event. The 35-year old failed to even come near her personal best effort of 64.76 as she hurled the discus to a distance of 63.62 metres to end her Olympic campaign on a dismal note.

3000 metre steeplechaser Sudha Singh finished 13th out of 15 runners in the first of three semi-final heats. She failed to match the time she had clocked to make the 'B' grade qualification standard for the Olympics.

In the Men's 20 kilometre race walk competition, India's K.T. Irfan finished a creditable 10th with a new national record. He clocked One Hour, 20 minutes, 21 seconds in the race participated by 56 walkers. He bettered the old national record standing in the name of Guremeet Singh. The other two walkers in the fray – Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder Singh – failed to make much of an impression.

Shooter Shagun Chowdhary's campaign also ended on a disappointing note as she failed to qualify for the finals of the women's trap event after finishing 20th out of 22 competitors.

In rowing, the duo of Sandeep Kumar and Manjeet Singh ended up a poor second from last in the men's double sculls race at the Eton Dorney Rowing Centre.

Among other notable events, American Serena Williams clinched her first Olympic Singles Gold medal. In a lop-sided final, she defeated Russia's Maria Sharapova in straight sets 6-0, 6-1. Serena is only the second woman to win a Golden Slam of all four major titles and singles gold in the Olympics, emulating German Steffi Graf. The 30-year old American has also won two doubles Olympic gold medals with sister Venus.

In the Men's Doubles, American Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike won their maiden Olympic Gold Medal. The pair recorded a 6-4, 7-6 victory over French second seeds Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra.

In Badminton, Li Xuerui won the women's singles title. In an all-Chinese final at the Wembley Arena, she beat world champion Wang Yihan 21-15, 21-23, 21-17 in a 78-minute match.

In Women's 100 metres, Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce successfully defended her title. She bagged the Gold clocking 10.75 seconds, which was .03 seconds faster than America's world champion Carmelita Jeter who took the silver. The Bronze also went to Jamaica.