After the Ghana episode in football, it was the turn of women's hockey to have its share of controversy as World Cup winners China failed to turn up on time for their opening fixture at the Games, forcing the organisers to cancel the match on the opening day of the tournament.

China, who were scheduled to reach Hyderabad on Wednesday, were pitted against Nigeria on Thursday, but they failed to turn up.

According to officials, China will now arrive on Friday morning and play their first match against African minnows Kenya two hours later.

They blamed the delay in arrival to some "flight problems in Singapore".

"China are coming tomorrow and play their match on the day itself. All the problems arose due to some problems in Singapore. The Chinese team could not get the flight to India," an official said.

Ghana's failure to report on time had resulted in football tournament starting a day later. The country is yet to report for the Games.