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Foursome strikes gold
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India vent pent-up frustration on Taipei
China stun Pakistan
Archers bow out
Squash: Saurav in semis, Joshna out
Sailor Rajesh wins bronze
Wushu: Bimoljit in semis
Hooda lauds Haryana medal winners
Rana is best sportsperson
Punjab gain two points from drawn tie
Punjab take 321-run lead
AIFF signs MoU with German football body
Jeev rises to 45th spot
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Doha, December 12 The women’s quartet of Sati Geetha, Pinki Pramanik, K Chitra and Manjeet Kaur brought India’s first gold in track and field by clocking 3 minutes, 32.95 seconds, ahead of Kazakhstan (3:33.86) and China (3:33.92). Joseph Abraham, Binu Mathew, Bhupinder Singh and T Aboo Backer fetched the silver in the men’s 4x400m relay by clocking 3m:06.65s. Saudi Arabians claimed the gold in 3:05.31, while Sri Lanka stood third in 3:06.97. Earlier, Sinimole Paulose won the bronze in the women’s 1500m. The 23-year-old Sinimole took the third spot behind gold winner Maryam Jamal Yusuf of Bahrain and silver medallist Yuriko Kobayashi of Japan in 4 minutes, 15.09 seconds. Sinimole, the 23-year old Kerala runner, finished third with a time of 4:15.09 in a race which was won by favourite Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain (4:08.63), while Yurik Kobayashi of Japan took the Silver in 4:14.96. Sinimole had earlier finished fifth in 800m race in which she had clocked her personal best of 2:03.76. This evening, she, however, could not match her 1500m best of 4:14.7 which she had timed at Colombo earlier this year. Sinimole ran a technical race. She paced herself well and in the last round got herself among the medal winners and managed to pip Vietnam’s Thanh Hang Troung for the bronze. Another Indian, OP Jaisha, whose name was entered for this event, did not take part in it.
Meanwhile, India’s medal hopes in women’s 4x100m relay were shattered when the quartet of Jyothi Manjunath, Deepthi Jose, Nidhi and Poonam Tomar clocked season’s best of 46.29 only to finish fifth. The Indians lost the medal because of their technical fault. They had a false start and were warned and that effected their next start which was bit late and that made all the difference. Chinese athletes took the gold with a season-best timing of 44.33, followed by Japan (44.67) and Chinese Taipei (45.86). In women’s pole vault, VS Surekha finished sixth among seven athletes with a below-par performance as she could only clear 3.80. Surekha's personal best is 4.08 but this evening she failed all in her three efforts to clear the 4.00m mark. China won the gold through Gao Shtuying (4.30) in the event, followed by Malaysia’s Samsu Roslinda (4.30) and Japan;s Ikuko Mishikori (4.15). In men’s 5000m race, the Indian duo of Sunil Kumar and Surender Kumar Singh clocked personal best timings but yet finished fifth and sixth, respectively, among 13 runners. Sunil returned 13:58.80 while Surender Kumar Singh clocked 13.59.05. Qatar’s James Kwalia Kurui Kurui took the gold in 13:38.90, followed by M Salem Jawher of Bahrain (13:41.10) and Sultan Khamis Zaman of Qatar (13:45.91). Manjeet to get cash awards
Chandigarh: The Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, and the Director-General of Police, Mr S.S. Virk, today congratulated Manjeet Kaur who helped India win their first athletics gold in the Doha Asian Games. Manjeet, a member of the quartet that won the gold in the 4x400 m relay, works in Punjab Police. While the Chief Minister announced a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh for Manjeet, the Punjab DGP promised Rs 1 lakh to be given to her on her return from Doha. Manjeet was also a part of the Indian quartet that created a national record during the Athens Olympic Games.
— PTI, TNS
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Tennis treble on the cards
Doha, December 12 Twenty-year-old Sania scripted a sensational upset win over top seed Li Na of China 6-2, 6-2 and set up a title clash with another Chinese, Jie Zheng, at the Khalifa International stadium. Paes and Bhupathi then steamrolled their way into the doubles final with a facile 6-2, 6-4 victory over the Filipino pair of Cecil Mamiit and Frederick Taino. Later, Sania combined with Paes to knockout China's Xinyuan Yu and Tiantian Sun 6-3 2-6 6-1 and book their berth in the mixed-doubles final again Satoshi Iwabuchi and Aiko Morigami of Japan. Beating Na, who became the first Chinese woman to reach Wimbledon quarterfinals this year, has a lot of significance for Sania. On the only occasion the two had met before, in the final of the Asian Tennis Championships in Tashkent in 2004, Na had conquered the Hyderabadi lass to confirm a wild card entry into the Australian Open main draw the following January. But Na improved her ranking in the subsequent weeks to earn a direct entry into the year’s first Grand Slam, and the wild card was passed on to Sania. The rest is history. “I knew I had to attack her strong forehand. I had to keep the momentum in the second set because a ranked player like Na could fight back any time. I had played her once earlier but had lost. It was a big match, one of the better matches I have played,” said Sania who has not conceded a set in Doha so far. Sania’s opponent in the final, Zheng, thrashed Japan’s third seeded Aiko Nakamura 6-3 6-2 in the other semifinal. Paes and Bhupathi had no difficulty in brushing aside the challenge of the fifth seeded Philippines pair as they took quick control of the contest by breaking them in the first and seventh games to wrap up the first set without much ado. In the second set, the Indians broke their rivals in the fifth and seventh games but allowed the match to stretch a little longer by failing to hold serve in the eighth game. They will now take on the second-seeded Ratiwatane brothers, Sonchat and Sanchai, in the final. The Thai pair prevailed over Korea’s Jun Woong Sun and Kim Sun Young 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals.
— PTI
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India vent pent-up frustration on Taipei
Doha, December 12 For the Indians who led 3-1 at half time, the scorers were, apart from Raghunath, Rajpal Singh, Shivendra Singh (two each), Tushar Khandekar, Tejbir Singh and Adam Sinclair (one each). For the losers, Fan Kuo Heng scored the consolation goal. Earlier, Malaysia beat Bangladesh 6-1 and now the Busan bronze medallists will face former champion India for the fifth place on Thursday. India, playing in the classification match of the tournament for the first time in the history of the Games, made a sluggish start and it took them 20 minutes to open their account. The Indians huffed and puffed in the first 35 minutes as they found it hard to convert penalty corners with either V. S. Vinay unable to stop the ball properly or Dilip Tirkey persisting with his direct cracks which failed to beat the goalkeeper. It was only in the 20th minute when Tirkey allowed Raghunath to take the drag flick that India opened the score with the Bangalore-based youngster sending the ball home (1-0). Seven minutes later, Raghunath again converted a penalty corner to make it 2-0 but the Indians were jolted when, against the run of the play, Chinese Taipei reduced the margin through Fan Kuo Heng who took advantage of a lax Indian defence to send the ball in the cage in the 30th minute (1-2). The rattled Indians retaliated and just on the breather managed to fire their third goal — this time Shivendra Singh scoring of a penalty corner (3-1). However, the second session saw India going flat on the offensive and they struck in the fourth minute with Tejbir Singh making no mistake as he intercepted a cross and sent the ball in the cage (4-1). That was followed by a 10 minutes slump followed with the Indians being unable to score before Shivendra ended that lull as he scored his second, and team’s fifth, goal and after that the Indians just bombarded the rival defence. The continuing attacks led to the collapse of the Chinese Taipei citadel and they conceded seven goals in a space of 15 minutes. Raghunath converted two more penalty corners in the 54th and 55th minutes to take his goal tally to four and team’s to seven and then Rajpal converted a stroke which was awarded after a goalmouth melee following a penalty corner (8-1). Four more goals came with Rajpal (63rd), Raghunath (66), Adam Sinclair (67th) and Tushar Khandekar (69th) scoring to complete the tally. The Indians took time to realise that they were playing for the classification match and pulled up their socks only in the second session to emerge authentic winners. However, even in this match, the Indians muffed chances and the forwards initially found it hard to get past the crowded defence as they tried to go for solo efforts. But after realising the futility of their attempts, they reverted back and started playing collectively and the result was there for all to see.
— UNI
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Doha, December 12 China, who had shocked India 3-2 earlier in the tournament, accounted for Pakistan in the semifinals, thus sending both former champions scurrying for cover and putting their Beijing Olympics berths uncertain. The Pakistanis got 10 penalty corners but failed to convert any, while the Chinese got two and made use of both of them. Both teams were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation time, with Pakistan scoring through Rehan Butt and China equalising through Yu Yang. The Chinese sealed the fate of the Pakistanis when Fenghui converted a penalty corner in extra time, triggering off scenes of wild celebrations on the Chinese bench. — UNI
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Archers bow out
Doha, December 12 Both the Indian archers won their first rounds but could not match their quarterfinal opponents in skill and concentration as the team finished their individual events without a single medal on a wind-swept day at the range. Talukdar, billed as a medal prospect before leaving for Doha, lost to China's Wang Gang 102-108 and Champia went down to Japan's Wakino Tomakazu by a 98-102 margin. The Chinese archer was in devastating form as he fired four perfect 10's in the first round in which he had an impressive scoreline of 10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 9 for a score of 58. His performance dipped a little in the second round in which he could manage a score of 50. Talukdar, who won a gold medal in the world championships in Porec, managed decent scores of 52 and 50 in the two rounds but his effort was not enough to pose a threat to Wang. "Wind always affect archers. Sometimes it is an advantage, sometimes a disadvanatge. Today it did not help me,"
Talukdar said. Champia paid the price for a poor first round score of 45 in another quarter final match but his Japanese rival himself was not in great form. Champia put up an improved performance in the second round but it was still not good enough to carry him to the semi-finals. "My performance was not good. It is difficult to have control in such windy conditions," he said. "For the team event, we will try to win. We have many good players in the team and we know the conditions. We will not repeat the same mistakes," Champia added. The Indians could not fetch any medals in the individual women's section with Reena Kumari losing in the quarter finals and ace archer Dola Banerjee being shut out in the bronze medal play off. The team events will be held tomorrow. Earlier, in the morning, Talukdar prevailed over Mongolia's Baatarjav Dambadonbog 98-93 to move into the quarter finals while Champia got the better of Manuja Kodikara of Sri Lanka 89-79.
— PTI
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Squash: Saurav in semis, Joshna out
Doha, December 12 Reigning national champion Saurav beat Ritwik 9-4, 9-0, 6-9, 9-7 to book his berth in the last-four stage, while Wing Yin Chiu of Hong Kong blanked Joshna 9-3, 9-1, 9-2 in the women’s quarterfinals at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. In the all-India quarterfinal beteen Ritwik and Sourav, one had to go and it turned out to be the former who crashed out with a 1-3 defeat in one hour and three minutes. World number 44 Ritwik struggled right from the beginning against his younger compatriot, who is ranked five rungs below him. Saurav, on the other hand, seemed to have worked out Ritwik and the latter, the country’s highest ranked player with six Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour titles against his name, never looked intimidating. Ritwik was slow in his movement and lost the first set 4-9. Some expected it to jolt him out of the inertia but Ritwik remained off-colour and Saurav’s domination could be gauged from the 9-0 scoreline in the second set. Pushed to the brink, Ritwik finally showed glimpse of his class and put up an improved show with some drop shots at crucial junctures to win the third set 9-6 and keep the match alive. The fourth set turned out to be a see-saw battle before Saurav, first Indian ever to win the coveted British Junior Open U-19 Squash title, outran his senior compatriot to win the set 9-7 and seal the issue. On the other hand, much was expected from world number 42 Joshna and her training in Egypt had further raised the expectations. But all came to a naught today with the Chennai girl faltering against her opponent from Hong Kong. Nimble-footed Wing dominated the proceedings and mixed her shots well to outplay Joshna and the Indian could garner only six points in the entire match, which lasted just 17 minutes. — UNI
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Sailor Rajesh wins bronze
Doha, December 12 The 33-year-old Choudhary finished level on points with second-placed Koh Seng Leong of Singapore with equal net penalty points, but Seng took the silver on the basis of finishing first in three of the 12-race competition as compared to the Indian’s two. Choudhary, affiliated to Mumbai’s Army Yachting Node and recipient of the Vishist Seva Medal, came fourth in the last race held today, to finish behind China’s gold medal winner Xu Lijia (31 net) and Leong. Choudhary, who had won the bronze in the 2002 games at Busan and silver in 2004 Asian championships, finished 5th, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 2rd, 4th, 3rd, 6th (discarded), 1st, 5th and 4th in his 12 races. There were more medals in offing in sailing, with the Indians entering the semifinals of the newly introduced match racing event in the Beneteau 7.5 keel boat contest.
— PTI
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Doha, December 12 Bimoljit made a remarkable come back after losing the first round to earn a 2-1 verdict against Won To Song of North Korea. The Indian lost the first set 1-3 but whipped his opponent 4-0 and 5-0 in the second and third rounds. To the ignominy of the North Korean, he was adjudged fall off by the judges. Earlier, India suffered a setback as Naresh lost to Khwanyuen Chanthra of Thailand in the quarterfinal of men’s 52kg category. In a hard-fought match, Naresh won the first round to take an early lead before his Thai opponent caught up with him by bagging the second and Chanthra then dealt a knock-out blow to seal the issue. Handball eves finish 8th
India finished eighth in the women’s handball competition after suffering a 20-43 defeat against Thailand in the Asian Games here today. The Indian eves, seeking to make some impression in the last match, did not have the defensive skills to counter the Thailand players in a placement 7-8 match at the Al Gharrafa Indoor Hall. Thailand had taken a comfortable 25-9 lead by the half time and consolidated their position in the second half as well to throughly outplay the Indians. Flop show in sepak takraw
There seems no end to India’s woes in sepak takraw as the team showed no signs of improvement and continued with their Games here today. The men’s doubles team received a thrashing from Thailand in the league match. The Indian pair of Surjit Singh and Kiran Kumar were drubbed 11-21, 12-21 in a group-B league match at the Al Sadd Indoor Hall. After this defeat, India were lying at the bottom of the table having failed to secure a single point so far.
— PTI, UNI
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Hooda lauds Haryana medal winners
Chandigarh, December 12 The players are Geetika Jakhar of Hisar district (silver medal in wrestling), Shweta Chaudhary of Faridabad district (silver in rifle shooting) and Krishna Punia from Hisar (bronze in discus throw). The Indian kabaddi team, which won the gold medal at Doha, also included five players from Haryana. The Chief Minister had earlier complimented them for their performance. The state government has a policy to give Rs 10 lakh in cash to those winning a gold medal, Rs 7 lakh to the winner of silver and Rs 5 lakh to the winner of bronze in Asian Games. Bhiwani (OC):
The District administration has honoured two players — Sukhbir and Vikas — of the Indian kabaddi team, for bringing laurels by winning the gold medal in the Asian Games at Doha, at a felicitation function held at local panchayat bhawan today. The players are residents of Adampur Dadhi village of this district. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mohinder Kumar, gave both the players an award of Rs 11,000 each, commendation letters, shawl and mementoes.
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Rana is best sportsperson New Delhi, December 12 The enfant terrible of Indian shooting became the first ever sportsperson from the country to bag the coveted honour and would now fly back to Doha to receive the honour personally. The award would be bestowed to him during the games’ closing ceremony on December 15, Rana told PTI here. The original pin-up boy of Indian shooting, Rana had won the first shooting gold medal for the country 12 years ago at the Hiroshima Asiad. “I am very happy and I will be going to Doha to personally accept the award,” the 30-year-old gushed after receiving the news from the National Rifle Association of India.
— PTI
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Nicky Boje retires
Johannesburg, December 12 “I have decided to retire from international cricket immediately,” the left-arm spinner, who was recalled for the first Test against India, said in a statement. “I am accordingly unavailable to form part of the Proteas squad for this season,” added the former Protea vice-captain. A veteran of 43 Tests and 115 ODIs, Boje is sought by the Delhi Police for his alleged involvement in the 2000 match-fixing scandal which rocked the cricketing world. Fearing arrest, he refused to tour India after his name came into the spotlight along with the then South African captain Hansie Cronje and opener Herschelle Gibbs. Boje did not give any specific reason for his sudden decision and said that he wanted to continue in domestic cricket. “I wish my former teammates in the Proteas side the very best for the future and Im confident that the team has a very bright future” he added.
— UNI
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Punjab gain two points from drawn tie
Mohali, December 12 Resuming from their overnight score of 272, Mumbai were propped up by Mazumdar, who continued to bat in the same vein as yesterday. He remained rock solid at one end, even though wickets kept tumbling at the other end. Unperturbed, he went about his task in a workmanlike manner. Showing exemplary power of concentration, Mazumdar completed his century. In Mundeep Mangela, the No. 11 batsman, he found a partner willing to stand at the wicket and score runs. Mangela showed enough spunk in the company of the skipper. It was this stand which took Mumbai within sniffing distance of Punjab’s total. However, Mazumdar was unfortunate to be run out by Amanpreet, leaving his team five runs short of the rival score. The dismissal signalled the end of his 493-minute marathon stay. His knock was studded with nine hits to the fence. Mangela’s unbeaten stay at the wicket fetched him 23 runs. For Punjab, debutant Amanpreet was the most impressive bowler and finished the match with a haul of four wickets. Ishan Malhotra also scalped four wickets. With the first-innings lead and the resultant two points, Punjab now have four points from three games, while Mumbai have yet to open their account after two games. Scoreboard
Punjab (1st innings) 353 Mumbai (1st innings) Kukreja c Dharmani Mane c Gupta Thakkar c Kaul Mazumdar run out 119 Sharma c Ricky Power c Dharmani Mota Dharmani Samant c Dharmani Kulkarni c Dharmani Hazare c Gupta Mungela not out 23 Extras (lb-12, w-2, nb-7) 21 Total
(all out) 348 Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-56, 3-85, 4-135, 5-139, 6-272, 7-292, 8-301, 9-302. Bowling: Gagandeep 24-6-54-0, Uniyal 27-5-70-1, Malhotra 31-5-91-4, Amanpreet 35.5-10-72-4, Rajesh 10-1-37-0, Mongia 4-1-12-0. Punjab (2nd innings) Ravneet lbw Hazare 10 Goel c Mane b Mota 16 Gupta run out 17 Kaul not out 23 Uniyal not out 35 Extra (1b-1, w-5, nb-6) 12 Total (3 wkts) 113 Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-45, 3-56. Bowling: Hazare 9-5-15-1, Mungela 9-0-25-0, Mota 10-2-30-1, Powar 12-3-21-0, Sharma 3-1-5-0, Thakkar 2-0-2-0, Kulkarni 3-0-14-0.
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Punjab take 321-run lead
Patiala, December 12 Overnight 154 for two, Punjab sent the Karnataka bowlers on a leather hunt. Skipper Mandeep Singh missed his century by a whisker when he was out on 98 off 171 balls. His innings contained 12 fours. Arjun Kumar scored 56 which contained seven boundaries and Vishal Thind too scored a fluent half-century (53) hitting seven boundaries. Karnataka were all out for a paltry 67 yesterday. Punjab has thus taken a lead of 321 and virtually entered the final of the championship.
— UNI
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AIFF signs MoU with German football body
New Delhi, December 12 Chief Operating Officer Holgor Hieronymous, who signed the MoU on behalf of DFL, called it “the first step” to reaching out to Asia in spreading German brand of football, but AIFF Secretary-General Alberto Colaco said it would be a major step towards transforming a semi-professional league to a full-fledged one. “We are happy to have signed this MoU and we hope that it would greatly help in transforming a semi-professional league to a professional one in India,” said Mr Colaco, who signed the MoU on behalf of the AIFF. Five representatives of DFL gave a presentation yesterday on the various aspects of cooperation and the AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi gave the nod to sign the MoU, Mr Colaco said.
— UNI
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Jeev rises to 45th spot
New Delhi, December 12 The in-form Indian, who booked a berth in next April’s US Masters after winning back-to-back titles in Japan Tour, is third on the Asian list with 2.60 average points. Jyoti Randhawa is the next Indian in the top 100 at the 82nd spot with 1.71 average points. The defending champion at the Volvo Masters of Asia, Shiv Kapur (0.98) is at the 175th position, followed by Gaurav Ghei (0.81) at the 213th spot. The US-based Arjun Atwal, who failed to regain his full playing rights on the PGA Tour after a poor performance in the Qualifying School, was way down at the 261st position with 0.66 average points. At the top, Tiger Woods continues to be world number one with 20.85 average points.
— UNI
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In video: India at the Asian Games. (
