Ireland's Nhat Nguyen secured a hard-fought 2-1 win over of Israeli opponent Misha Zilberman in his opening badminton Group P Match at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena on Saturday.
The longest match of the day was a see-saw battle from the off.
Nguyen, competing at his second Olympics, won the first game 21-17. The experienced Zilberman then took the second game 21-19.
However the deciding game saw the 24-year-old Nguyen show great composure to close out the match 21-13.
He returns to action on Monday to face 172-ranked Prince Dehal of Nepal who lost 2-0 earlier Saturday to world number 2 Viktor Axelson of Denmark. Nguyen and Axelson collide on Wednesday.
The group winners progress to the last 16.
