Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, who are touted as India's best bet for a tennis medal in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, have been seeded fourth and will be up against the Australian duo of Samantha Stosur and John Peers in their opening mixed doubles match at the Games.
The pair clinched an Olympics berth on the weight of their doubles rankings in the top 10 on June 6. Currently, Sania is world No. 1 and Bopanna is ranked No. 15.
If they get past the Australian duo, the Indians could lock horns with either the Spanish team of David Ferrer and Carla Suarez Navarro or Romania's Florin Mergea and Monica Niculescu in the quarter-finals.
The top billing has been given to France's Caroline Garcia and Nicolas Mahut.
Four years ago in London, Sania, partnering Leander Paes, made it to the mixed doubles quarter-finals. However, at the Rio Games so far, Indian tennis players are yet to impress and have suffered first round defeats in men's and women's doubles events.
Sania will be playing in her third Olympics and has the doubles experience of 37 titles, which include six Grand Slam trophies.
With medals at the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games also in her kitty, Bopanna -- playing his second Olympics -- couldn't have asked for a better partner to launch a serious medal challenge in Rio.
Venus Williams will play her mixed-doubles alongside Indian-American Rajeev Ram.
Image: Sania and Bopanna discus tactics
Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for IPTL 2014
