Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and K Srikanth made up for initial disappointment for India by winning their group stage matches in Rio on Thursday. Sainas 21-17, 21-17 win over Brazils Lohaynny Vincente and Sindhus 21-8, 21-9 victory over Hungarys Laura Sarosi, followed by K Srikanths 21-11, 21-17 win over Mexicos Lino Munoz came after both of Indias doubles pairs -- Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, and Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa -- lost their respective matches.Saina, who is seeded fifth, faced a tough challenge from Lohaynne (world rank No. 66). In the first game, cheered on by a vociferous home crowd, the local girl put in a remarkably assured performance. Starting with a service fault to kick off the game, Saina was both errors strewn and a tad lethargic in her movements. She was repeatedly caught off guard by the tall Lohaynny, who has barely ever made an impression on the world stage.Saina, who was playing with her right knee strapped, found herself trailing 13-14 at one stage. Each point won by the Brazilian was met with yelps of appreciation from the crowd and fist pumps from her. The players scrapped to 17-17 before Saina stamped her authority on the contest. She reeled off four straight points and finished the game with a smash.The small pocket of Indian supporters was comforted after Saina won the first game and chants of Saina Saina started to resonate in the arena. In game two, Saina started to move a lot better and raced to an 11-5 lead. Lohaynny used her wingspan to great advantage and after the players flipped sides, she launched a minor comeback. Her vocal supporters lost none of their verve and though Saina kept her nose in front, the Brazilian stayed in the contest.Coach Vimal Kumar watched on impassively even as Lohaynnys coach kept urging his ward on animatedly. Saina pulled away with her greater pedigree clearly on show. The players received an uproarious ovation on completion of the matchSaina will next take on world No. 64 Marija Ulitina on Sunday at 5.25 pm.Sindhu, who is seeded ninth, was never in trouble against Sarosi, who is ranked 68th in the world. She used her long reach to get off to a quick start and led 11-4 at the break in the first set after a couple of powerful smashes.Sarosi struggled to gauge the flight of the shuttle and had a heavy fall in the first set. Sarosi committed a lot of errors and Sindhu took full toll to win the first set in 13 minutes.Sarosi, who struggled with her movement after the fall, began the second set on a better note and levelled the score at 4-4. But Sindhu led 11-6 at the break in the second set. The 21-year-old Indian wrapped up the second game in 14 minutes.Sarosi qualified for the Olympics through a tripartite commission invitation. She had lost in the second round at the qualifying tournament but won a lot of hearts by giving away her footwear to her German opponent whose shoes were broken.Sindhu, who is seeded ninth, will take on world number 19 Michelle Li on Sunday at 7.45 pm.In the mens individual group stage match, K Srikanth displayed good form as he maintained a lead throughout the first game with Mexican Lino Munoz.Munoz started well, taking a lead of 6-5 in the first couple of minutes during the first game. Srikanth, however, took a lead of 10-7 soon after. Munoz seemed to struggle with his movements as Srikanth stretched his lead to 16-8 before winning the game at 21-11 in 16 minutes.The second game started with Srikanth taking a lead at 5-2. Munoz attempted recovery as he leveled the game at 6-6 at one point. The game proved to be a hard-fought one for Srikanth as the Mexican looked in better form than his previous game.With the game at 11-9 with Srikanth in the lead, Munoz scored back-to-back points to lead 12-11. He further extended his lead to 16-13, before Srikanth quicky caught up to level the scores at 16-16. He then went on to finish the game 21-17 in 25 minutes.Srikanth, who is ranked 11th in the world, will next face world number 50, Swedens Henri Hurskainen, on Sunday at 7.10 pm. ?Earlier in the day, the mens pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost 18-21, 13-21 to the second-seeded Indonesian pair of Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan in Group D. The match lasted 32 minutes.Setiawan and Ahsan got off to a good start, taking a 7-3 lead in the first game. Attri and Reddy clawed back by winning three points in a row to make the score 6-7. The Indonesians led 11-8 at the break in the first game. Attri and Reddy then reduced the deficit to 11-12. But the Indonesians soon extended their lead to 19-14 even as the rallies continued to grow longer.Setiawan and Ahsan wrapped up the first game 21-18 in 18 minutes. The Indians, egged on by a raucous crowd, got off to a better start in the second game, trailing 3-4. The Indonesians extended the lead to 9-4 by intelligently mixing up the pace of the game. The Indonesians led 11-6 at the break in the second game.They continued to dominate the game before winning it in 14 minutes. Setiawan had won gold in the mens doubles at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.Before that match, the womens pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 15-21, 10-21 to the top-seeded Japanese pair of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi in Group A.It took Matsutomo and Takahashi just 19 minutes to win the first game, which saw their opponents keep pace with them for the most part. The Japanese pair were even more dominant in the second game, which lasted 16 minutes.In 2012, the Indian pair had lost their opening encounter to Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa -- also from Japan -- and had failed to qualify for the quarterfinals despite winning their subsequent matches in the four-team group.Jwala and Ashwinis next match is against Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek (Netherlands) at 5.30pm (IST) on Friday.This is the first time that India has a mens double pair at the Olympics. The mens draw involves 16 teams which are divided into four groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group progress to the quarterfinals.Reddy and Attri, who are ranked 21st in the world, will face the world number five pair of Wei Hong and Biao Chai in their next match at 7.50pm IST on Friday. Discount Jordan Shoes . -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis was charged Thursday with driving while intoxicated, a day after he was suspended for an NFL substance-abuse policy violation. Cheap Jordans . The Cincinnati Reds remain perfect with their speedy rookie outfielder in the starting lineup. http://www.airjordanoutlet.us/ . -- Three close looks at the bucket, three misses. Jordans Clearacne . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. Air Jordan Store On Sale . Mitch Holmberg added a goal and three assists. Connor Chartier also scored for the Chiefs (3-0-0). Luke Harrison spoiled Garrett Hughsons shutout bid with a power-play goal at 13:17 of the third period. The Spokane goaltender finished with 28 saves, including a Brandon Fushimi penalty shot in the second period that would have tied the game 1-1. LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter arrived for a marathon appeal hearing against a six-year ban from football on Thursday, pledging to accept the verdict of the Court of Arbitration for SportI do hope it will be positive for me, Blatter, sporting a light gray beard, told reporters at around 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) ahead of a closed-door hearing expected to last several hours. He left almost 15 hours later.It was a long day because the cross examination of the witnesses we have brought, the 80-year-old Blatter said as he left the court. It was specially a long day for me because I was the central person.Blatter declined to speculate on the verdict which is expected within several weeks. He could challenge it in a further appeal to Switzerlands supreme court.He denies wrongdoing in authorizing a $2 million payment to former FIFA vice president Michel Platini in 2011. They claimed it was for backdated and uncontracted salary for work Platini did in advising Blatter from 1999 to 2002.The so-called disloyal payment led Blatter to be put under investigation for criminal mismanagement by Swiss federal prosecutors last September. That investigation is ongoing.FIFAs ethics committee judged the $2 million deal was a conflict of interest and initially banned Blatter and Platini for eight years last December. FIFAs appeal committee cut both bans to six years.Platinis appeal to CAS was already judged in May, when Blatter appeared in person as a witness. Platini promised a further appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal after his ban was only cut from six to four years.Platini arrived for Blatters hearing around midday local time to be a witness and left four hours later.I say again the truth and I hope that this time they will listen to us, but I doubt it anyway, Platini said in French.The judging panel in Platinis case noted the absence of any repentance from the former Frrance great.ddddddddddddThe three-member panel for Blatters case is expected to respect the verdict of the separate panel which judged Platini.Blatters comments Thursday suggest he would not pursue a federal case. Federal judges can intervene only if legal process is abused.We are football players, we learned to win but also we learned to lose and it will not be the end of the world, Blatter said outside CAS.A failure to overturn the ban for Blatter would likely end his hope to one day be named FIFA honorary president by its 211 member federations.The case already ended Platinis chance to replace Blatter as FIFA president, and also forced him out of European governing body UEFA.On Sept. 14, UEFA members will elect a successor to replace Platini who had a mandate through March 2019. By imposing a four-year ban, the CAS panel ensured UEFA had to replace Platini, rather than wait for him to return.The disloyal payment emerged last year when Platini was strongly favored to win the election to replace Blatter, who had announced his departure plans after 17 years as president amid pressure from American and Swiss federal investigations of corruption implicating senior FIFA officials.Both men were questioned at FIFA headquarters last September by Swiss investigators who were waiting for them outside an executive committee meeting.During the turmoil in world football, Platinis right-hand man at UEFA, Gianni Infantino, submitted an election candidacy on the entry deadline day and won the vote in February.Arriving at the hearing with his Zurich-based lawyer Lorenz Erni, Blatter said he hoped the CAS panel will understand that the payment made to Platini was really a debt that we had against him.This is a principle, if you have debts you pay them, Blatter said. ' ' '