India's Dinesh Kumar bowed out of the opening round of the light heavyweight (81 kg) category in the boxing competition at Beijing on Saturday.

Algeria's Abdelhafid Benchabla beat the Indian pugilist 23-3 without breaking into much of a sweat.

Benchabla, who won the bronze in Warsaw earlier this year, was impressive throughout and didn't give the Indian any leeway.

India's Vijender Singh made a winning start in the middleweight (75 kg) category in the boxing competition on Saturday.

The pugilist had a comfortable 13-2 win over Badou JG Jack of the Gambia.

The amateur boxer, who has picked up medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, and tournaments in Germany, Baku, Karachi and Scotland, was one of the few Indians to do well in an otherwise disappointing day.

Saina Nehwal made an impressive start at the women's singles at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday.

The Indian, ranked 15th, beat world no. 30 Ella Diehl Karachkova in straight sets 21-9, 21-8 in the opening round.

The 18-year-old will now lock horns with world No. 27 Griga Larisa of Ukraine.

If Saina manages to book her place in the pre-quarterfinals, she in all probability she will run into World No.6 Chen Wang of Hong Kong against whom the Indian has lost both the previous two encounters.

Michael Phelps safely cleared the first hurdle in his quest to win eight gold medals on Saturday when he broke his Olympic record to qualify fastest for the 400 meters individual medley final.

The American cruised through his heat in four minutes 07.82 seconds, wiping 0.44 seconds off the Olympic record he set to win the gold medal in Athens four years ago.

Hungarian Laszlo Cseh, who finished third behind Phelps at Athens then won the world title in Montreal a year later when Phelps skipped the event, was second fastest in 4:09.26.

Italian Luca Marin was third in 4:10.22 while American Ryan Lochte, who looms as the one of the biggest dangers to Phelps' bid to win an unprecedented eight goals, was fourth in 4:10.33.

Phelps' time was the third fastest and just 2.57 outside the world record of 4:05.25 he set at the U.S. trials six weeks ago to book his place in Sunday's final.

Clean shaven but not wearing a full bodysuit, he was under world record pace halfway through the backstroke leg but eased down over the final freestyle leg to conserve his energy for the final.

Romania's Alina Dumitru broke through for Olympic judo gold, beating Cuba's Yanet Bermoy in the 48-kg final in Beijing on Saturday.

The quadruple European champion won emphatically, throwing Bermoy for ippon to score an automatic victory.

Argentina's Paula Pareto took bronze in controversial fashion after referees over-ruled a waza ari awarded to her North Korean opponent Pak Ok-song, and gave it to her instead.

Double Olympic champion Ryoko Tani clinched the second bronze, throwing Russia's Lyudmila Bogdanova for ippon.

Facing flak from all quarters for allowing Sania Mirza and Sunitha Rao in casuals at the Olympic opening ceremony, IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said it was Chef de Mission K Murugan's decision to allow them to participate after the duo expressed desire to be part of the contingent but had no time to change.

Kalmadi said both the tennis players had just returned from a long practice session and did not have enough time to deck up in the official saree for Friday night's march past, and hence turned out in casuals.

"Murugan was in two minds whether to leave them out or allow them in casuals. They had just returned from practice and wanted to go. Personally, their practice was more important for me than attending the ceremony. I'm happy they still wanted to go. Murugan was bit confused and he finally allowed them to attend the ceremony in casuals," Kalmadi told reporters in Beijing.

"We had kept sarees for all women athletes and it just happened that they didn't have time to change," he added.

Spain's Samuel Sanchez won the first Olympic cycling gold medal event on Saturday, beating out Italy's Davide Rebellin after a grueling 245-km road race from the Forbidden City in ancient Beijing to the Great Wall.

Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland took the bronze after the three sprinted on the final uphill portion of the course to make it to the podium.

Sanchez and Rebellin, who celebrated his 37th birthday with a silver medal, were part of a lead group in the final kilometers and Cancellara launched an attack to escape the peloton and join the leaders for the final sprint.

The Indian trio of L Bombayla Devi, Dola Banerjee and Pranitha Vardhineni did enough to ensure that the women's team, courtesy a sixth place finish in the ranking rounds, got a bye in the first round of the Olympic archery event on Saturday.

Bombayla (637), Dola (633) and Pranitha (627) placed 22nd, 31st and 37th respectively in the ranking round and their aggregated tally of 1897 helped India finish among the top six teams, which got a bye.

The team will take on hosts China (1916), who finished third, straight in the quarter-finals.

In the individual section on Tuesday, in-form Bombayla will face lowly Iwona Marcinkiewicz of Poland, who finished 43rd with a score of 620, while the experienced Dola takes on Marie-Pier Beaudet (628) of Canada, who finished 34th.

The youngest of the lot, Pranitha, will have a tough task to get past Australian Jane Waller, who scored 634 on Saturday to finish 28th.

Defending Olympic champion Park Sung-hyun's record-tying effort highlighted South Korea's dominance on the opening day of women's archery competition.

Park's score of 673 in the individual ranking round equaled the Olympic record, set by Lina Herasymenko of the Ukraine in 1996.

Park set the still-standing world record of 682 in the same round in 2004.

South Korean Yun Ok-hee, who holds the world No 1 ranking, was second with a score of 667, while teammate Joo Hyun-jung followed with a score of 664.

Bajranglal Takhar entered the quarter-finals of the men’s singles sculls rowing in Beijing on Saturday.

The Indian rower placed third in the heats after registering a timing of 7 minutes,39.91 seconds over 2000m, which placed him 15.97 seconds behind the leader Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic.

Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania is second.

Ivo Karlovic of Croatia withdrew from the Olympics because of a stomach illness today, less than two weeks after his upset of top-ranked Roger Federer at the Cincinnati Masters.

Fellow-Croatian Ivan Ljubicic also pulled out of the singles due to back trouble. He still plans to play doubles in the tournament, which begins on Suday.

Karlovic, seeded 14th, was replaced in the draw by Yu Xinyuan of China. Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic becomes the No 17 seed and takes Karlovic's place in the draw.

Yu will face Berdych in the first round.

Ljubicic was replaced by Devin Mullings of the Bahamas.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain replaced Lindsay Davenport of the United States, who withdrew from singles Friday because of a lingering knee injury.

China's Pang Wei won the Olympic gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol on Saturday, hours after compatriot Du Li had crumbled under home pressure in the women's 10m air rifle event.

Pang, the 2006 world champion and the pre-Olympics favourite, won with a score of 688.2. He built on a comfortable lead secured in the qualification round earlier and was never threatened. He bowed as the big crowd cheered his victory.

Jin Jong-oh of South Korea won the silver medal ahead of Kim Jong Su of North Korea.

India's Manavjit Singh Sandhu is placed 12th while Mansher Singh was at 21 after the first round qualification in the men's Trap shooting event in Beijing on Saturday.

Mansher squandered a brilliant start, scoring 25 and 24 in the first two rounds, before a score of 20 in the third saw him fall out of the top-20.

Sandhu had scores of 23, 23 and 24.

The top six ranked shooters of the qualification rounds will advance to the final. The two remaining qualification rounds begin at 0900 IST on Sunday, with the final round beginning at 1230 IST.

Earlier, Indian shooters began on a false note, with Anjali Bhagwat, Avneet Kaur and Samresh Jung failing to qualify for the finals of their respective events.

Samresh Jung failed to qualify for the final in the 10m air pistol event on Saturday.

The Indian shooter had scores of 92, 95, 96, 98, 96, 93 for an average of 9.500, which placed him 42nd in a field of 48 shooters.

Indian judoka Tombi Khumujam Devi's Beijing Olympics campaign lasted only two-and-a-half minutes as she was knocked out in the preliminary round of the women's 48kg event on Saturday.

The Manipuri judoka was outmaneuvered by Ana Hormigo of Portugal at the USTB Gymnasium.

European champions Italy beat four-times Olympic gold winners Russia 3-1 in the opening game of women's volleyball on Saturday to give themselves a strong chance of progressing from pool B.

The Italians, ranked second in the world, looked sharp as they won the first set 25-20 but Russia, coached by Italian Giovanni Caprara, powered back in the second which they took 25-17.

A bubbly Italian team regrouped though and with Serena Ortolani (16 spikes) and Nadia Centoni (15) aggressive and middle-blocker Simona Gioli in command they crushed the Russians 25-16 in the third set and then clinched victory in the fourth by two points.

Ekaterina Gamova top-scored for the Russians with 13 spikes.

World number one ranked Brazil open their campaign in pool B against Algeria later Saturday.

Weightlifter Chen Xiexia set an Olympic record to win China's first gold medal of the Olympics in the women's 48kg class on Saturday, ensuring a sparkling start to the Games for the host.

Amid shouts of "Go China!" from the crowd, Chen snatched 95kg and lifted 117kg for the clean and jerk, clinching gold with a total of 212kg.

Chen was greeted by huge cheers from the crowd inside the weightlifting hall, marking her home advantage but also the enormous pressure she faced as one of the first medal contenders in this year's Games.

Turkey's Sibel Ozkan lifted a total of 199kg to win silver and Taiwanese lifter Chen Wei-Ling lifted 196kg to take bronze.

Chinese shooter Du Li had been a favorite to grab the first gold for her country in the 10m air rifle contest on Saturday morning, but failed to win a medal.

Touted as India's best bets for a medal at the Olympics, Indian shooters started off on a disappointing note with Anjali Bhagwat and Avneet Kaur Sidhu failing to make the finals of the 10m air-rifle event on Saturday.

While Anjali ended 29th in qualifying and Avneet finished further down at 39th.

Anjali shot a total of 393/400 and Avneet scored 389/400.

Czech Katerina Emmons, a bronze medallist from Athens 2004, created Olympic records in both qualifying and final rounds to clinch the gold medal.

In qualifying, she shot a perfect 400/400, and followed it up with a 103.5 which aggregated her score to 503.5 eclipsing the previous record of 502 set by China's Du Li at Athens.

The silver went to Russian Lioubov Galkina (502.1) while the bronze was won by Croatia's Snjezana Pejacic (500.9).

Greek Olympic sprinter Tassos Gousis has failed a doping test, state television reported on Friday.

State television said the 29-year-old, who was due to compete in the 200 metres in Beijing, tested positive during tests conducted by the Greek anti-doping agency ESKAN before the team left for training in Japan.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee was not available for comment when contacted by Reuters in Beijing. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it was unaware of the report.

The IOC is responsible for doping controls from July 27 until the end of the Games on August 24.

The sporting action at the Olympics starts on Saturday following Friday's opening ceremony.

A Chinese man attacked two U.S. tourists, killing one, and a Chinese tour guide on Saturday in a rare attack on foreigners in Beijing, site of the 2008 Olympic Games.

Tang Yongming, 47, from the eastern city of Hangzhou, jumped to his death from the second storey of popular tourist spot the Drum Tower after the incident, Xinhua news agency cited a Beijing city government spokesman as saying.

Xinhua did not give a motive for the attack.

Beijing has been quiet in the run-up to the Summer Games, with security tight across the capital and thousands of security officials patrolling Games venues and streets.

Olympics head Jacques Rogge congratulated China on Friday for a "dream come true" by hosting the Games and urged athletes to shun doping.

"For a long time, China has dreamed of opening its doors and inviting the world's athletes to Beijing for the Olympic Games," Rogge, head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said in a speech at the Games' opening at the Bird's Nest stadium.

"Tonight that dream comes true. Congratulations, Beijing!"

Embarrassed by doping scandals in Athens four years ago, Rogge's IOC has raised the bar for Beijing with more and tougher tests for the 10,500 athletes taking part from 204 countries.

Nobody has tested positive so far in China, though about 20 athletes were kicked off national teams in advance over doping.

"Dear athletes, remember that you are the role models for the youth of the world," Rogge said. "Reject doping and cheating ... Make us proud of your achievements and your conduct."

Steering well clear of the politics and rights criticisms that have dogged China's build-up to the Olympics, Rogge offered a message of solidarity to its 1.3 billion people.

"As one world, we grieved with you over the tragic earthquake in Sichuan Province. We were moved by the great courage and solidarity of the Chinese people," he said of the May quake that killed at least 70,000 people.

"May these Olympic Games bring you joy, hope and pride ... You have chosen as the theme of these Games 'One World One Dream'. That is what we are tonight."

Rogge gave special thanks to the hundreds of thousands of Chinese volunteers, mainly students, who are shepherding visitors round the city. "Beijing, you are a host to the present and a gateway to the future. Thank you!" he added.

Following the end of the four-hour ceremony that won rave reviews from media around the world, Rogge said the show was spectacular and fitting for a great Games to follow.

"This iconic stadium is one of the world's new wonders," he said. "It was a fitting setting for an amazing opening ceremony.

"That was spectacular. Tonight, the world was able to join in a magnificent tribute to the athletes and the Olympic spirit. It was an unforgettable and moving ceremony that celebrated the imagination, originality and energy of the Beijing Games."

Swimmer Michael Phelps plunges into his quest for an unprecedented eight golds on Saturday after China dazzled the world at the Olympics' opening ceremony.

With competition starting in 18 sports, seven gold medals are up for grabs on the first full sporting day of the Games after a run-up dominated by political criticism of China.

Hoping to overtake the United States after its second place finish in the 2004 Athens medal table, China had a great chance of winning the first gold with Du Li in the 10-metre air rifle.

Doping again reared its head when Greek media reported on Friday that sprinter Tassos Gousis had failed a test days before he was due to compete in Beijing. Olympic authorities have been urging international federations to stamp out cheats.

But most attention is on 23-year-old Phelps who will try out Beijing's shimmering new Water Cube aquatics centre for his heat in the 400 metres individual medley: the first of 17 starts in nine days as he tries to better Mark Spitz's seven golds in 1972.

That would make him the most titled Olympian in history.

"I'm here having fun," said Phelps, who lowered the 400 metres medley world record for the seventh time in June but had fellow American Ryan Lochte less than a second behind.

China opened the Olympics on Friday night with a glittering ceremony that celebrated its ancient history but also demonstrated its modern image and emerging superpower status.

Riding an economic boom, the Communist government of the world's most populous nation has spent $43 billion on the Games.

About 80 world leaders, including President George W. Bush whose fellow Americans are increasingly nervous of China's global clout, joined 91,000 spectators in the spectacular Bird's Nest stadium for an opening show of fireworks, drums and dance.

"Friends have come from afar, how happy we are!" the performers chanted in a Confucian saying. Euphoric crowds carried on partying through the night after the ceremony.

As well as drawing admiration, however, the Games have been a catalyst for China's critics around the world and have demonstrated the government's intolerance for dissent.

PROTESTS

Despite a 100,000-strong force of troops and police in Beijing, small groups of foreign protesters have shouted or unveiled banners in the street this week about Tibet, abortion and religious freedom.

Three demonstrators who unfurled a Tibetan flag by the Bird's Nest on Friday night were detained within seconds by police.

Chinese rule in the Himalayan region has been the most contentious issue for Beijing before the Olympics.

There was no Olympics joy either for internal critics.

Many dissidents were under house arrest, while others had fled to distant provinces or been taken on enforced "holidays" by state security minders, human rights groups and activists said.

Beijing hopes the world will now focus on sport.

The capital's smog remains of deep concern for athletes. Skies have been hazy with pollution all week despite China implementing a $18 billion clean-up before the Games.

Boxing is also due to start on Saturday. Traditional power Cuba, who won five golds in Athens 2004, have been weakened by a string of defections of top fighters and face a stiff field.

Head coach Pedro Roque was confident though: "We have enough boxers for one, two or three teams."

Cyclists will be the first endurance athletes to test the impact of Beijing's pollution and heat in the men's road race winding from the ancient Forbidden City to the hilly Great Wall.

"This is the toughest course I have ever seen at a tournament event," said Netherlands coach Egon Kessel.

All eyes on the judo mat will focus on Japan's Ryoko Tani: the celebrity and super-mum wants a third straight Olympics gold.

Though centred in Beijing, the Games will stretch more than 2,000 km, with equestrian events in Hong Kong, soccer dotted around China and yachting in the eastern city of Qingdao.

Record crowds are sure to cheer on the athletes, with 7 million tickets sold guaranteeing capacity audiences -- a stark contrast to Athens when some sports played out to empty stands.

Excitement and nationalism have reached fever pitch, while visitors to China have been lavished with smiles, presents and attention on literally every street corner.