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| Monday, September 18, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Inspired India down Argentina 3-0
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Drug scandal, tragedy, new records
at Games
South Africa shock Brazil Hakimuddin sinks without a trace Australia, China win in
women’s hockey Romanian lifters expelled Khorkina sparkles in qualifiers Samaranch’s wife dead Grenades create panic Paddlers cut a sorry figure Sultan finishes joint 26th Indian judoka goes down fighting Rowers finish at bottom
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Inspired India down Argentina 3-0 SYDNEY, Sept 17 (PTI) — An inspired India began their Olympic hockey campaign with an emphatic 3-0 win over Argentina in their opening group B encounter and broke the jinx that had been bedevilling them for a long time. The eight-time champions owed a lot for the exhilarating performance to left winger Sameer Dad, who scored a brace of goals, and custodian Jude Menezes, who saved at least as many goals as his team scored. Stalwart right winger Mukesh Kumar accounted for the remaining goal scored by his team. Dad gave India the lead in the 25th minute. Following a stiff penalty-corner essay by full-back Dilip Tirkey which rose waist-high off Argentinian goalkeeper Pablo Moreira’s boot, slammed the ball with a reverse swing of his stick high into the far corner of the net. The Indians increased the lead just before the breather when mercurial forward Dhanraj Pillay gave a pass to Baljit Dhillon who sent it forward from the 25-yard-line for Mukesh Kumar to slot in an angular shot past Moreira. India completed the rout 10 minutes from the end when Dad hammered home a Dhillon cross from the right. It took the Indians about 10 minutes to find their bearings. Their first real chance at the goal came when Dad’s free-hit from the right went to half back Mohd Riaz whose try rose over the bar off Mukesh Kumar’s stick. Frustration began creeping into the Argentinian ranks by this time and they started indulging in rough play. In the 21st minute Argentina’s German Orozoo was shown the yellow card by umpire Rudy Wolter of Germany. Later Carlos Retegui was also ordered to cool his heels temporarily by Malaysian umpire Amarjit Singh for bringing down Dhillon on the left flank. The Indian pressure continued. Spearhead Pillay was blocked by Argentina’s Pellegrino and Dad scored their first goal off the resultant penalty corner award, their first one. Mukesh Kumar’s opportunistic strike seconds before the half time was another big morale booster for the Indians for the rest of the match. On change of ends, the Argentines tried to claw their way back into the match and in a matter of only eight minutes forced four penalty-corners, but Menezes rose up to the occasion to block all the shots in brilliant style. In between the spate of penalty corners earned by Argentina, the Indians wasted one while another combined move between Ramandeep and Pillay ended with Mukesh Kumar driving straight to Argentina’s goalkeeper Moreira. Mukesh also shot wide another cross from the right by fellow-veteran Pillay. The Argentinians were getting desperate and the hard-working Lombi was given temporary marching orders by umpire Wolter for charging at Dinesh Nayak. And then came India’s final goal when the ideally placed Dad shot home the cross from Dhillon. It was then the turn of the Indians to waste two penalty-corners. Dinesh Thakur was also temporarily suspended by Walter for dangerous play before the South Americans earned their last three penalty corner awards, the final one coming with just four seconds of play left. Menezes had blocked Lombi’s shot brilliantly off the penultimate award. Australia
trounce Poland Unfancied Poland,s surprise qualifiers for the Olympics showed no sign of nervousness as they took on one of the strongest teams in the world. Australia were leading 1-0 at the half time. Playing before a
partisan crowd, the Australians tried all sorts of tricks
to dominate the game, but the Poles were unmoved. They
just crowded the defence and tested the Australian
patience. The former world champions attacked from all
sides as they could not get the breakthrough easily.
Polish goalkeeper Marcin Pobuta denied time and again the
chance to the Australian forwards to penetrate. |
Dutch duo, Dolan set new records SYDNEY, Sept 17 (AFP) — Inge de Bruijn, inspired by compatriot Pieter van den Hoogenband’s world record semi-final swim, captured the 100m butterfly Olympic gold medal today in a world record of her own. The Dutch duo were joined in their record-setting exploits by American Tom Dolan, who broke his own six-year-old world mark to win his second straight Olympic 400m medley gold. “I saw Pieter’s race, and I went totally bananas,” said de Bruijn, who lowered the 100m fly world record for the third time this year with her time of 56.61. “I had a lot of adrenaline flowing through my body. I need that when I race so I can be mentally strong.” Van den Hoogenband trespassed on Australian swimming fans’ sacred ground, snatching the 200m freestyle world record from Ian Thorpe in the first semifinal with a time of 1:45.35. Thorpe, who had twice lowered the world mark — to 1:45.51 — at the Australian trials here in May, was proved less than invincible for the first time in these games when he failed by two-hundredths of a second to get the record back in the second semifinals. “I was surprised, I didn’t expect to swim so fast,” said van den hoogenband, who earlier in the day had despaired of challenging Thorpe for the gold medal in tomorrow’s final. “I wanted to break 1:46.” His euphoria certainly didn’t cause him to revise his evaluation of Thorpe, who lowered the world record in winning the 400m free gold last night and then anchored Australia’s world record-setting 4x100m freestyle relay. “It’ll be a great final, but I don’t think the world record will last that long,” van den Hoogenband said. “Hopefully one day.” De Bruijn was more optimistic on his behalf. “He went so smooth,” she said. “If he can remain calm, I think he can do a good job against Thorpe tomorrow.” Dolan brought the world record tally for the first two days of Olympic swimming to eight with his 4:11.76 — more than two seconds ahead of silver medallist Erik Vendt of the USA. Canada’s Curtis Myden who won bronze in both the 200m and 400m medleys four years ago in Atlanta came third. “It’s amazing, so much better than ’96,” said Dolan, who battled back from career-threatening knee surgery in May of 1999. While Dolan was savouring Olympic success the second time around, de Bruijn was getting her first taste of Games gold. She found it took away the sourness of the doping insinuations that have greeted her spree of eight world records this year leading up to the Games. “Right now I’m above all those accusations,” the beaming 27-year-old said. “It doesn’t matter to me anymore because I’ve got the gold medal.” American Jenny Thompson couldn’t say the same. The US great, whose six olympic gold medals have all come in relays, failed in her first chance at these Games to close out her Olympic career with an individual gold. Thompson finished a disappointing fifth and now has only the 100m freestyle — in which she’ll also face world record-holder de Bruijn — to pursue her quest. Slovakia’s Martina Moravcova shocked herself by taking silver in the fly in 57.97. This time last year she was undergoing surgery to treat the debilitating thyroid condition Grave’s Disease. “I was out of the water for three months,” Moravcova said. “After such a setback, I felt a bit of an outsider.” Third place went to Dara Torres of the USA, whose decision to vie for a place on her fourth Olympic team after a seven-year layoff has already paid off in a relay gold and individual bronze. De Bruijn’s Dutch coach Jacco Verhaeren gloried in the “unforgettable evening for the Netherlands.” Domenico Fiorvanti made it a great day for Italy, too, capturing his country’s first Olympic swimming gold ever in the men’s 100m breaststroke. The two-time defending
European champion won in an Olympic record of 1:00.46,
ahead of American Ed Moses and world record-holder Roman
Sludnov of Russia. The breaststroke was the sixth
swimming final of the Games and the first not to produce
a world record. American Brooke Bennett couldn’t
have been happier if her 400m freestyle gold had come
with a world record. |
Drug scandal, tragedy, new records at Games SYDNEY, Sept 17 (AFP) — Three more world records tumbled in Sydney’s Olympic pool today as both the Americans and Dutch staked their claim to what was becoming known as Australian wunderkind Ian Thorpe’s “golden pond”. The wins shuffled the medals table and put the USA on top with a total of 11 medals, four of them gold. But even as the Olympics gathered steam in the second full day of competition there were drug scandals and tragedies underlying the triumphs. The day opened on a sombre note with news of the death of International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch’s wife just hours before he could arrive at her bedside. IOC Senior Vice-President Dick Pound said a memorial mass would be held in Sydney which members of the Olympic family and others could attend. But the IOC quickly moved on with the business of running the Olympics and by the time competition was getting under way again after lunch it was facing another drug scandal with news the entire Romanian weightlifting team was thrown out for doping offences. Soon enough though the attention was again on the swimming pool emerging as possibly the fastest in Olympic history. Dutch swimmers Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn began the assault on the record books by posting back-to-back world records, de Bruijn using hers to claim the gold medal in the 100m butterfly. Van den Hoogenband swam his record in the first semi-final of the men’s 200m freestyle and then watched Ian Thorpe come close to breaking it in the second, which drew humble predictions from the Dutchman. “It’ll be a great final, but I don’t think the world record will last that long,” van den Hoogenband said. “Hopefully one day.” Americans Tom Dolan and Brooke Bennett followed the Dutch treat by winning the men’s 400m individual medley and the women’s 400m freestyle, Dolan breaking his own six-year-old world record in the process. Domenico Fioravanti also added Italy’s first gold medal ever in the pool by taking the men’s 100m breaststroke final. So again and again it all came back to the pool where five other world records were broken on the first night of competition yesterday. “It’s a fast pool, you just go out and take advantage of it,” offered US backstroker Lenny Krayzelburg by way of explanation. Europeans dominated the cycling track Sunday, but it was French star Arnaud Tournant who stole the limelight. A day after the favourite missed out on a 1,000m time trial medal, he took the podium at the Dunc Gray Velodrome alongside teammates Laurent Gane and Florian Rousseau after outpacing Britain for gold in the Olympic sprint, a debut event. But it was the 1,000m world record holder’s reaction to the victory that served as a magnet for the cameras — he broke down in tears. Japan’s early stranglehold on the judo was snapped as Cuba’s Legna Verdecia won the women’s under-52kg title and Huseyin Ozkan of Turkey won the men’s under-66kg gold. There was another poignant scene as the triathlon completed its thrilling debut at the Olympics, when courageous Canadian Simon Whitfield bounced back from a crash in the bike leg to win a golden sprint showdown that featured none of the big-name favourites. “I felt great getting back up and did what I had to do — I yelled something at someone but it wasn’t a huge drama,” beamed the patriotic whitfield. As Whitfield celebrated, Jamaican sprint legend Merlene Ottey appeared set to get her wish to run in the individual 100m after a leading Jamaican athletics official told AFP the 40-year-old two-time world 200m champion would run at the expense of national champion Peta Gaye Dowdie. But the hopes of four-time Olympic sprint silver medallist Frankie Fredericks of ever winning gold emotionally collapsed when the Namibian withdrew because of an Achilles tendon injury. An ankle injury also forced Morocco’s world 5,000m champion Salah Hissou out of the Olympics. But Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong blew away the field in a time trial in France, showing no ill-effects from a fractured vertebra he suffered last month and confirming he will race in Sydney, where he is the favourite in the road time trial. Bulgaria’s Izabela Dragneva took her place in history as the winner of the first women’s weighlifting gold at an Olympic Games when she claimed the 48kg category while number two US softball pitcher Lori Harrigan threw the first solo no-hitter in Olympic history. British rower Steve Redgrave’s quest for a record fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal began smoothly, as the British coxless four cruised through their heat at the head of the pack, dealing a psychological blow to Australia’s “oarsome foursome”. But games host Australia still continued with its bid to gather more medals than any other other nation on a per capita basis. Already it has won nine, including three gold medals, the latest of which came today thanks to a car radio salesman wielding a shotgun. Reigning Olympic and world champion Michael Diamond staged a commanding victory in the men’s trap and then dedicated it to his father, who taught him to shoot but died before he could see his son win his second Oympic gold. “I was thinking of
my father and just wishing he could be here. It’s my
first major event without him and I thought ‘bugger
it’, he didn’t teach me for 20 years for me to
fail at such a big event.” |
Boxing: Suresh tastes defeat SYDNEY, Sept 17 (UNI) — Olympic debutant Indian pugilist S. Suresh Singh went down in the first round of the 48 kg category but not before putting up a good fight against a technically superior Korean opponent, Kim Ki Suk, at the exhibition hall today. After keeping pace with his Korean opponent for the first two rounds, Suresh slowed down in the third. Far outscored by then, even a fightback in the fourth could not help him get back into contention. The 19-year-old Indian lost 5-9 on points at the end of the four-round bout. The Indian matched the Korean blow by blow in the first (2-2) and second rounds (3-3). But in the third round Kim, turned the heat on Suresh who melted into the background. The Korean was credited with five points and Suresh none and this made all the difference to the total (8-3). In the fourth and final round, Suresh fought back hard and tried to narrow the points gap, but Kim was far ahead. Suresh won the round 2-1 but the bout was lost (9-5). President of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation Ashok Kumar Mattoo said: “It is surprising that suddenly a boxer should get so many points in a single round. That made the difference. Otherwise Suresh fought well.” The Manipur Sports Minister had visited Suresh yesterday and given him and three other Manipuri sportspersons Rs two lakh each for making it to the Olympics and promised more if they won medals at the Games. Suresh, silver medallist from the Seoul Cup in Korea, had qualified for the Olympics with a bronze medal in the first qualification event at Bangkok. India has three other
boxers in the fray. While Jitender Kumar goes into the
ring tomorrow Gurcharan Singh and Dingko Singh will
follow suit in the next few days. |
South Africa shock Brazil BRISBANE, Sept 17 (AFP) — South Africa produced a major upset, shocking Brazil 3-1, to draw level on points with the South Americans in group D of the Olympic men’s football tournament here today. Substitute Siyabonga Nomvethe, who missed a string of chances in last Thursday’s defeat at the hands of Japan, rose to power the South Africans ahead in the 74th minute from fellow replacement Steve Lekoela’s cross. And Lekoela sealed victory two minutes from time, rolling the ball into an empty net after Brazilian goalkeeper Helton could only parry a shot from Daniel Matsau — another substitute. The result means both sides have three points from two games. Japan, who Brazil meet in their final group match on Wednesday, have six points after two wins out of two. South Africa have an easier-looking fixture against Slovakia, who have lost both of their games so far. Only the top two sides advance to the quarterfinals. The game exploded into life when Manchester United mid-fielder Quinton Fortune curled a free-kick into the top corner in the ninth minute to put the South Africans ahead. CANBERRA: Japan moved to the top of group D after an impressive 2-1 win over Slovakia. Second half goals from Roma midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata and Junichi Inamoto secured the three points that ensured the Japanese will go into their final group game against Brazil needing only a draw to secure a place in the quarterfinals. Andrej Porazik pulled one back for the Slovaks to ensure a tense final seven minutes but the win was no more than an impressive Japan deserved. The performance by Philippe Troussier’s squad underlined their credentials as serious medal contenders. Japan are the only Asian team ever to have won an Olympic football medal, bagging bronze at the 1968 Mexico games. The lively Shunsuke Nakamura, Japan’s outstanding player on the night, set up Nakata for Japan’s first by skipping away from his markers on the left flank in the 67th minute. His pinpoint cross found
Nakata unmarked eight yards out and the Roma midfielder
met it with a powerful diving header that gave Slovak
goalkeeper Martin Lipcak no chance. |
Hakimuddin sinks without a trace SYDNEY, Sept 17 (UNI) — Four times national champion Shabbir Habibulla Hakimuddin swam into wilderness failing to qualify in the first heat of 200m freestyle swimming competition of the 27th Olympic Games here today. Pusan Asian Championship bronze medallist Hakimuddin clocked 1:58.35 secs to finish fourth in a group of five men. Oleg Tsvetkovskiy of Uzbekistan was first with 1:54.93 secs (26.88, 29.21, 29.32, 29.52). He timed 27.54, 29.36, 30.52 and 30.93 in four laps (total 1:58.35). The Indian was 3.42 secs behind the leader whereas Mahmoud Elwany of Egypt was second with 1:55.19 secs (26.90, 28.60, 29.78, 29.91). The 21-year-old engineering college student from Bangalore had come closest to the qualifying mark in the 200m freestyle event by clocking 1:56.11 in Pusan clipping 2.22 seconds off his own national record. The qualifying mark for the Olympics stood at 1:55.32. Hakimuddin had qualified as every country was given one free entry in both men’s and women’s events. He has been the national champion for the past four years in the event. However, Hakimuddin was aware of his limitations and candidly admitted before the start of the competition that he had no chance of winning a medal. He was here to gain valuable experience which would help him in improving his performance. “It was great
feeling to be in the Olympics. Simply
awe-inspiring,’’ he said. |
Australia, China win in women’s hockey SYDNEY, Sept 17 (AFP) — Defending champions and hot favourites Australia received a wake-up call from Britain before sweating their way to a narrow 2-1 win in the Olympic women’s hockey here today. Both camps then hit out at the umpires and the technical officials on the sidelines, saying inconsistency in supervision had ruined the game. The British, who had a third penalty corner turned down after the final hooter went off, were livid, but said they would not protest. “There have been 250 complaints I know of over the years, and none of them have been upheld,” Britain’s manager Jon Royce said. “There’s no point lodging a protest. “But it’s sad that such a good game had to end in controversy.” Australian coach Ric Charlesworth was equally critical of the officials. “We scored a fair goal in the first half that was disallowed,” he said. “There were a few penalty corners given against us, but the same offence was not penalised at the other end.” “People have a right to know why this is being done. If the players and coaches don’t know how the rules will be interpreted, how will the crowd know.” “It’s a pity the technical people were frozen,” Charlesworth said. “I am really not happy at the way the game was conducted.” China, meanwhile, made an astonishing Olympic debut, scoring a 2-1 win over the Netherlands, one of the favourites for the women’s title. Yang Huiping converted a penalty corner in each half to give the Chinese their biggest win ever. Margje Teeuwen reduced the margin for the Dutch one minute before the end, but it came too late to prevent defeat in the group B game. The Dutch women were fancied to repeat their gold medal success at Los Angeles in 1984 after winning the Champions Trophy at home in Amstelveen in June. The Chinese, novices by comparison, finished 11th out of 12 at the last World Cup two years ago and took fifth place in the Olympic qualifiers at Milton Keynes, England in April. Atlanta silver-medallists South Korea, who lost to Argentina yesterday, suffered another setback when they were held to a goal-less draw by Spain. With just a solitary point from two matches in group A, the Koreans must defeat Australia and Britain to stay in contention for the medal pool round. Germany, held to a 1-1 draw by New Zealand in their first group B match, came from behind to defeat newcomers South Africa 2-1 in the last game of the day. Both teams were locked 1-1 at half-time as Germany’s Fanny Rinne equalised Marilyn Agliotti’s goal. Britta Becker scooped the match-winner soon after the break following a penalty corner. Australia, backed by a full house of 15,000 at the State Hockey Centre which included Prime Minister John Howard, needed all the guile that has made them the world’s best hockey team to overcome their plucky British rivals. Australia went ahead in the 18th minute through Nikki Hudson, but were then denied another goal till the breather. The British girls raised their game in the second half and were rewarded with a penalty corner goal by Denise Marston-Smith. The Aussies, however, took the lead again four minutes later when Katrina Powell swooped on a loose ball and pushed home. Both Australia and
Britain were awarded seven corners each, indicating the
close tussle through the game. |
Romanian lifters expelled SYDNEY, Sept 17 (Reuters) — The Romanian weightlifting team were thrown out of the Sydney Olympics today in a black day for the team and the sport. The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) expelled the team from the Games and cancelled all their results so far in the competition because three Romanians had tested positive in the space of a calendar year. “We have asked the Romanian team to withdraw. The ban is immediate and the team will take no further part in the Games,” IWF general-secretary Tamas Ajan told Reuters. In further bad news for a sport which has been haunted by doping scandals, the IWF said Norwegian weightlifter Stian Grimseth had been suspended after failing a doping test this month. Two more athletes face possible expulsion from the Olympic village as a result of random tests carried out by the world anti-doping agency (WADA). “Overall there are nine problematic cases,” International Olympic Committee Director-General Francois Carrard told a news conference. “out of the nine, two of them are in the athletes’ village.” The cases have been passed to the international federations of the sports involved who must now decide whether to impose sanctions. Romania’s expulsion follows positive tests for Traian Ciharean and Adrian Mateas on Friday. A third Romanian Razvan Ilie tested positive in May. “Something stinks about this”. The IWF advised the Romanian team their four remaining lifters cannot now take part in the Games. The results of Adrian Jigau, who finished seventh in the under-56 kg final on Sunday, have been cancelled. Romanian officials reacted with dismay to the news. “Something stinks about this,” said coach Niku Vlad. “We’ve put a lawyer in charge of the situation.” The Taiwanese team, which has also had three positives within a year, escaped expulsion through a technicality. Mr Ajan said two women who had returned positive tests had been tested by the national federation only. The third positive, former world junior medallist Chen Po-Pu, was expelled from the Games last Wednesday after a positive test for the anabolic steroid methandienone. He was the first athlete to be sent home from Sydney. Mr Ajan said the IWF was the only federation which insisted on testing all its athletes before Olympic competition. “At these Games
that means a total of 257 competitors, men and
women,” he said. |
Khorkina sparkles in qualifiers SYDNEY, Sept 17 (AFP) — Svetlana Khorkina assured herself a starring role in Sydney Olympics women’s gymnastics here today leading all-around qualifiers and sparking Russia to the highest qualifying scores as a team showdown looms. The sultry 21-year-old Russian and former Playboy pin-up girl scored 39.005 points to lead 36 all-around qualifiers for Thursday’s final, with Romanian Andreea Raducan second at 38.717 and Romania’s Simona Amanar third at 38.700. “Her performance is clean, reliable, artistic and elastic,” said Russian team manager Leonid Arkaev. “She is a great performer.” European all-around champion Khorkina also put herself in position to win medals on the vault, floor exercise and uneven bars. She is the reigning world, Olympic and European bars champion and led bar qualifiers here with a 9.850. Russia paced team qualifying with 154.630, .639 better than the reigning world team champion Romanians with China third at 153.388 in advance of Tuesday’s team duel. “It will be a tense, strenuous atmosphere,” Arkaev said. “I feel we did all we could in certain areas, but not everything. There were small errors, jumps off the floor, slips like that, little mistakes. “But that’s what determines medals.” A final qualifying session was scheduled today, but there was little hope anyone in the workout would threaten the positions of the Russian and Romanian world and Olympic stars preparing to duel once more for Olympic gold. Khorkina did not speak with reporters and Elena Zamolodtchiko walked from the arena in tears after placing seventh overall but fourth among the Russians, meaning the woman who placed third in last year’s world all-round cannot compete for the all-round crown. The six highest-scoring nations advance to Tuesday’s team finals, the top 36 individuals advance to Thursday’s all-round final and the top eight in each discipline reach apparatus finals, which start next Sunday. Qualifying scores do not carry over. But no nation may have more than three women in the all-round final or more than two in any apparatus final. Romania served notice they will be hard to beat. World all-round champion Maria Olaru led balance beam qualifiers with a 9.787. Simona Amanar, second on the floor at the 1996 Olympics and 1999 worlds, led floor qualifiers at 9.800 with Khorkina second at 9.762. Andreea Raducan, the reigning Olympic floor champion, paced vault qualifiers at 9.743 with Khorkina second at 9.731. Raducan was also third in floor qualifying. China’s tumbling teen titans fared well also, although a left knee injury on the vault left veteran Kui Yuanyuan questionable for the upcoming showdowns. Chinese 17-year-old
world balance beam champion Ling Jie was fourth in her
speciality with a score of 9.762 but second only to
Khorkina on the bars at 9.812. “The prepapration we
did went quite well,” Chinese assistant coach Lu
Shanzhen said. “We were ready for the more difficult
jumps. Today we are very happy about that.” |
Samaranch’s wife dead BARCELONA, Sept 17 (Reuters) — Ms Maria Teresa Salisachs, wife of International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch, died at her home in Barcelona yesterday, Spanish state radio reported. She was 69. Mr Samaranch left the Sydney Olympics earlier yesterday to fly home after learning that the condition of his wife, who had been ill for several months, had worsened. “His wife has been sick lately and he is concerned,’’ IOC Director General Francois Carrard said in Sydney earlier. Mr Samaranch’s duties at the Games have been taken over by Canada’s IOC Vice-President, Mr Dick Pound. Mr Carrard did not give details about the illness of Ms Maria Teresa, saying it was a private matter. But he said the IOC President hoped to return to the Games. “It is a difficult moment for him and his family,’’ Mr Carrard said. “He intends to come back.’’ Mr Samaranch made a
speech at Friday’s opening ceremony. After
announcing that his wife was ill, he asked Australian
swimming great Dawn Fraser to take her seat beside him in
the stand. |
Grenades create panic SYDNEY, Sept (AFP) — A pair of hand grenades found in a parcel at Sydney Airport’s mail centre today sparked the first security scare of the Olympics before the weapons were found to be harmless souvenirs. The mail centre was evacuated and the police, bomb squad and army personnel were sent to the scene when workers discovered the grenades in an outbound package during a routine check. But police said the World War II era grenades were inspected and found to be inert memorabilia. No further action would be taken as it was not an offence to send such items through the post, a police spokeswoman said. Security arrangements
for the Olympic Games have gone smoothly so far, with
threats of protests from Aboriginal activists and
anti-globalisation campaigners failing to materialise. |
Paddlers cut a sorry figure SYDNEY, Sept 17 (PTI) — The Indian challenge in table tennis at the Olympic Games here failed to gather momentum today with both Chetan Baboor and Poulomi Ghatak losing their preliminary round singles matches. Ghatak, the lone Indian in the women’s event, lost 21-14, 21-17, 21-16 in straight games to Veronika Pavlovich of Bulgaria. The 17-year-old class X student from Calcutta never really had a chance in the match as Pavlovich settled the matter in just 29 minutes. Earlier in the day, Baboor went down to Petr Korbel of the Czech Republic in the men’s preliminary league match after taking the first game rather comfortably. The India No 1 lost 21-13, 17-21, 16-21, 14-21 as Korbel found his touch from 15-all in the second game and never looked back. This was the second
setback for Baboor, who partnering national champion S.
Raman, went out of medals reckoning in the men’s
doubles too. |
India’s schedule today SYDNEY, Sept 17 (UNI) — The schedule for India at the Olympics here tomorrow. (All timings IST) Shooting: Abhinav Bindra (men’s 10m air rifle qualification) =330; men’s 10m air rifle final =900 Swimming: Nisha Millet (women’s 200m freestyle heats) =0430 Table Tennis: Chetan Baboor vs Peter Jackson(men’s singles) =0430-0730 Boxing: Jitender Kumar vs Orr Donald Grant (men 75 kg) =0730-1030 Badminton: Gopi Chand vs V. Druzchenkov (men’s preliminaries) =900 Weightlifting:
Sanamacha Chanu (women’s 53 kg) =900. |
India at a glance SYDNEY, Sept 17 (PTI)— Summary of Indian performance at the Olympic Games here today. Men’s hockey: India beat Argentina 3-0 in their opening match with Sameer Dad scoring a brace and Mukesh slotting one in. Shooting: Men’s trap — Anwar Sultan scores 108 out of 125, finishes at joint 26th position after a modest 45 out of 50 on the second day. Rowing: Men’s coxless pair — Indian duo of Kasam Khan and Inderpal Singh finish last in their heats clocking a poor 7 min 9.94 seconds. Swimming: S. Hakimuddin finishes fourth in the men’s 200m freestyle heats clocking 1min 58.35 sec. Table tennis: Chetan Baboor loses to Petr Korbel of the Czech Republic in four games in the men’s preliminary round match. In women’s preliminaries, Poulomi Ghatak goes down to Veronika Pavlovich of Bulgaria in straight games. Boxing: Lightfly Suresh Singh loses to Kim Ki-Suk of Korea on points (9-5) in the 48kg category. Judo: Borjeshwari devi
won two bouts to move to the third round but failed to
make it to the medals bracket. |
Medal tally SYDNEY Sept 17 (AFP) — The medal tally on the second day of the Sydney Olympic Games today (given in the following order: Country, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Total). USA 4 5 2 11 Australia 3 2 4 9 France 3 1 1 5 Japan 2 2 0 4 Germany 1 3 1 5 Great Britain 1 2 0 3 China 1 1 4 6 Bulgaria 1 1 1 3 Italy 1 1 1 3 Russia 1 1 1 3 Switzerland 1 1 1 3 Netherlands 1 1 0 2 Canada 1 0 1 2 Cuba 1 0 1 2 Croatia 1 0 0 1 Hungary 1 0 0 1 Turkey 1 0 0 1 Ukraine 1 0 0 1 South Korea 0 2 1 3 Greece 0 1 0 1 Slovakia 0 1 0 1 Yugoslavia 0 1 0 1 Belarus 0 0 1 1 Belgium 0 0 1 1 Brazil 0 0 1 1 Costa Rica 0 0 1 1 Czech Republic 0 0 1 1 Indonesia 0 0 1 1 Kyrgyzstan 0 0 1 1 North Korea 0 0 1 1 Romania 0 0 1 1 Sweden 0 0 1 1 |
Sultan finishes joint 26th SYDNEY, Sept 17 (PTI) — Indian marksman Anwar Sultan shot 45 birds out of 50 on the final day of the men’s trap event to finish joint 26th with three others in the trap event at the Olympic Games shooting range here today. Anwar Sultan followed his miserable first day score of 63/75 with an improved 45 today to tally an aggregate of 108 off 125 to force a four-way tie for the 26th place in the 41-player field. Sultan tied with Francisco Boza (Peru), Peter Boden (Britain) and Joao Rebelo (Portugal). Sultan, who won the quota place to Olympics by virtue of his silver medal winning performance in the Asian Shooting Championships in Langkawi (Malaysia) in January, was well below his best of 119/125. The 38-year-old Anwar had achieved 119 at the Langkawi Championships and even an identical effort here would have seen him entering the final of the trap event. Six marksmen who had
scores of 115 plus out of 125 qualified for the final,
which was won by Michael Diamond of Australia. |
Indian judoka goes down fighting SYDNEY, Sept 17 (UNI)
— India’s lone entry in Olympic judo, Lourembm
Brojeshori Devi today went down fighting after winning
the first two bouts against fancied Liu Yuxiang of China
in 52 kg category.The 19-year-old Manipuri girl won her
first two bouts against Arijana Jaha of Bosnia
Herzogovina and Ulrike Kaiser of Liechtenstein. Because
of her win in two bouts, she was given a chance to face
Ioana Maria Dinea of Romania. But the Romanian girl ended
the Indian judoka’s challenge. The Central Reserve
Police Force employee had qualified for the Olympics as
she had a fifth position in the Asian meet in Osaka in
May. A second spot at a meet in Vietnam last month which
she narrowly lost to a Japanese, had boosted her morale. |
Rowers finish at bottom SYDNEY, Sept 17 (PTI) — Indian rowers Kasam Khan and Inderpal Singh ended up at the bottom of the five-boat heat one in the men’s coxless pairs event today at the Olympic Games. The Indians, bronze medallists at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, crossed the finish line in 7 minutes 9.94 seconds as compared to the heat’s winners France (6:44.80), second-placers Italy (6:48.26) and Croatia (6:52.57). Argentina, who came fourth in 6:55.57, also failed to make the grade today. Yugoslavia, South Africa
and the USA took the 1-2-3 positions in the second heat
while Britain, hosts Australia and Canada ended up in the
top three positions in the third heat |
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