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Fancied China shocked
Yang Wei of China competes on the rings during the men's individual all-around artistic gymnastics final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on Thursday. — Reuters
Federer, Williams sisters out
And this too
Too busy to notice medal
No wind, no racing
Games politicians play
Anjali, Avneet eliminated
Elsewhere...
Champions League in December
Bopanna-Qureshi bow out
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Beijing ’08
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Beijing, August 14 As hosts China powered further ahead in the medals' table on the Games' sixth day, there was a rare sour note when a Swedish wrestler threw away his bronze medal away in disgust at the refereeing. "I don't care about this medal," said Ara Abrahamian, pulling the prize off his neck on the podium and dropping it on the mat. Asia's greatest swimmer Kitajima stole the spotlight in the Water Cube from American Michael Phelps with an unprecedented "double-double" in the breaststroke, adding the 200 metres gold to victory in the 100, after wins in both events in Athens 2004. Then hosts China scored a shock 1-2 in the pool. Nineteen-year-old Liu Zige destroyed the world record in the women's 200 butterfly. Compatriot Jiao Liuyang relegated Australian world champion Jessica Schipper to third. There were sweet victories too for Chinese gymnast Yang Wei, who ended eight years of hurt in the men's individual all-round event, and for shooter Du Li, who had broken down in tears after failing to win the first gold of the Games on day one. China even took an unexpected gold in women's archery thanks to Zhang Juan Juan. That ended South Korea's streak of winning every women's Olympic archery gold medal since 1984. Asian nations have won nearly half of the golds so far. Even Mongolia pitched in, taking the first gold medal in its history when Tuvshinbayar Naidan won the 100kg judo. China leads the overall medals' table with 22. America follows on 10 golds - five of those thanks to swimmer Phelps - but will expect to come back strongly when track-and-field events start on Friday. South Korea, Italy and Germany are third with six golds. China's Communist Party newspaper hailed a resurgent Asia's medals' success as proof of historical and economic trends that were overturning "the old disparities" in sports competition. Replacing old Cold War rival Russia as America's main challenger in the Olympics, China came second in Athens 2004 and is mounting a formidable challenge to go one better at home. The world's most populous nation has shown its new wealth, confidence and technological ability with a dazzling opening ceremony, a record Games spending of $43 billion, some architecturally astonishing venues, and meticulous organisation. The Water Cube again saw plenty of excitement. France's Alain Bernard won swimming's blue riband event, the men's 100 freestyle, by a whisker. Stephanie Rice, the glamour girl of Australian swimming, took her third gold of the Games in the 4x200m freestyle relay. In the women's 200m butterfly, China scored a rare gold and silver with their fast-improving swimmers. "I just took it easy," winner Liu said of home pressure, maintaining a Phelps-like calm. "I am always like this." In the men's 200m breaststroke, Kitajima led all the way for his second gold of the Games, and his fourth in all. After becoming the all-time most successful Olympian with 11 career golds, American swimming phenomenon Phelps had a quieter day, sailing through a semi-final in the 200 individual medley. — Reuters
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Beijing, August 14 The unseeded duo Maeda and Suetsuna took advantage of unforced errors by the top-seeded Chinese pair en route to an 8-21, 23-21, 21-14 win at Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium. After they won, both Maeda and Suetsuna bowed deeply in the centre of the court. "This is the biggest win of our lives," Suetsuna said. "They are the Olympic champions so even when we had match point we couldn't take anything for granted." It was the first major setback of the tournament for the host nation which is looking to dominate on home soil after winning three of five gold medals in Athens. "We couldn't focus in the third set," said Yang. "We just made too many unforced errors." Japan's Kumiko Ogura and Reiko Shiota, scheduled to play later today, are sixth in the world rankings and very popular in Japan. Few had expected such a strong showing from Maeda and Suetsuna, who are eighth in the rankings. Earlier, Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei defeated Singapore's Ronald Susilo in the second round of men's singles. Second-seeded Lee, who is bidding for Malaysia's first Olympic gold medal, downed Susilo 21-13, 21-14. "I was nervous at first but got more confidence as the game went on," said Lee, a favourite to win the tournament. Susilo upset Lin in the first round four years ago in Athens but was no match for Lee's powerful smashes today. Top-seeded Lin Dan of China will play his first match later today, taking on unseeded Ng Wei of Hong Kong. South Korea's Lee Hyun-il defeated fifth-seeded Kenneth Jonassen 15-21, 21-14, 21-19 while third-seeded Bao Chunlai of China defeated Guatemala's Kevin Gordon 21-17, 21-16. Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who is seeded sixth, defeated Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand 21-16, 21-14. — AP
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Yao breathes fire in China win
Beijing, August 14 Screaming constantly at his team mates to get him the ball, China's giant centre scored 30 points in a 85-68 Group B win over Angola, preserving their hopes of a spot in the quarter-finals. "I think that's our chemistry," said Yao. "My team mates made a lot of room for me by making a lot of open shots and I needed to do something on the inside." Yao added: "It feels great to win at the Olympics. It's a totally different feeling to win on your home court. But we still have a long road to go." A thunderous slam dunk by Yao gave China a 24-8 lead in the first quarter but Angola stormed back and cut the deficit to just two on a buzzer-beating Eduardo Mingas three to end the half. Fuelled by Yao's energy, the Chinese extended their lead again in the third quarter, Yi Jianlian's breakaway dunk making it 61-47 and reigniting the crowd of 17,000. Spain in q-finals: World champions Spain secured their place in the quarter-finals with a 72-59 Group B victory over Germany helped by 15 points from Toronto Raptors guard Jose Calderon. Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol added 13 in Spain's third straight win. Lithuania upset European champions Russia, the three-times Olympic bronze medallists winning 86-79 in Group A to book their spot in the last eight and leave the Russians at 1-2. — Reuters
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Beijing, August 14 He edged Japan's Kohei Uchimura by 2.6 points. Benoit Caranobe sneaked through almost unnoticed to claim France's first medal in the all-around event for 88 years. ''Today was perfect,'' Yang said. He follows Li Xiaoshuang, who won gold in Atlanta in 1996. Yang's victory ensured China maintained their 100 percent success rate in Beijing after gold medal runs in the team competitions. ''We have been waiting for this all-around gold for eight years. It is really hard,'' China head coach Huang Yubin said. Four years on and the 28-year-old's gold medal hopes again hinged on his bogey apparatus. But this time Yang went into the final rotation with 2.5-point cushion. Requiring to overhaul a score of 12.175, Yang went through the motions in a shaky routine and attempted only one modest release-and-catch manoeuvre before launching into his dismount. The moment he landed on two feet, he knew he was number one and the flag-waving crowd sparked into wild celebrations. — Reuters
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Federer, Williams sisters out
Beijing, August 14 American Serena Williams suffered a shock quarter-final defeat by Russian Elena Dementieva in the women's singles at the Olympic Tennis Centre on Thursday, going down 3-6 6-4 6-3. Double Olympic champion Venus Williams was beaten 7-5, 7-5 by China’s Li Na in the quarterfinal of the women’s singles on Thursday. Venus, the seventh seed, crashed out to an inspired home favourite who immediately offered the victory as a present to the Beijing Olympics.
— Agencies |
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And this too
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French gymnast Benoit Caranobe was so busy having fun in the all-around final on Thursday that he did not even realise he had won an Olympic bronze medal. The 28-year-old went about his business almost unnoticed while all the focus was on Chinese Yang Wei's successful bid for gold and the remarkable comeback by Japan's Kohei Uchimura to snatch silver. While favourites like German Fabian Hambuechen and South Korean Yang Tae-young were fluffing their lines, Caranobe was giving the performance of his life to become the first French gymnast to stand on the all-around podium for 88 years.
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No racing was possible at the Olympic regatta today due to lack of wind, handing organisers a large backlog. Racing had been scheduled to start at 1 pm local time in the 49er, 470, Laser, Laser Radial, windsurfing, Finn and Yngling classes. Four races were lost on Wednesday and 15 on Thursday. Competition officials said reserve days would be used to complete the opening series, which constitute 10 races in all the 11 classes except the 49er class where 15 races are planned. A medal race showdown then takes place between the top 10 in each class where double points are scored. The Finn and Yngling classes have sailed seven races and will come out again to try and complete the series tomorrow, originally planned as a reserve day for both fleets. The medal race for both events will take place on Saturday.
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Bindra gets rousing welcome
New Delhi, August 14 He got a rousing welcome at the Indira Gandhi international airport, where officials of the Sports Ministry, the National Rifle Association of India, the Indian Olympic Association and the Sports Authority of India, his parents and sister, and thousands of his well-wishers had thronged outside the arrival lobby. Abhinav sauntered out immediately after the aircraft landed, showing off the gold medal he had shot in the 10-metre Air Rifle event at the Beijing Olympic Games to become the first Indian ever to win a gold medal in an individual event in the Olympics. With a band in attendance, and security personnel swarming the area, Abhinav got the kind of reception reserved mostly for a head of State. He mounted a podium temporarily erected at the airport and talked to the media briefly before being driven to his family bungalow at Defence Colony in New Delhi. Without having the air of an Olympic champion, Abhinav said, “It was a dream (winning the gold), but I have a long way to go, still”. Since his arrival, Abhinav had been virtually on his toes, being chased by the media, meeting the President, the vice-President, the Prime Minister, the sports minister, and other dignitaries, on Thursday. But he did not complain, and was taken by surprise at the enthusiastic reception he got back home. “I am very happy to be back home, very proud. I didn’t expect such a welcome”, his words virtually getting drowned in the high-decibel celebration around.Though Abhinav has not had much sleep, he remained fresh, enthusiastic and alert, and a playful smile rarely deserted his clean-cut visage. “I haven’t slept for the past five days”, he said softly. Though union minister for youth affairs and sports M.S.Gill could not be present at the airport last night to receive Abhinav as he had to change his plan due to indisposition, Gill tied up the shooter’s all major appointments today, and went around with him when the golden boy met President Pratibha Patil, vice-President Dr Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “You have created history”, Gill told Abhinav when the Olympic champion called on him at his Shastri Bhawan office early today morning. Dr Gill also praised his parents, saying: “You have contributed to his success. You deserve equal applause”. Abhinav was at his modest, cool and quiet best throughout the day, politely, crisply and even monosyllably tackling all kind of questions, bearing with the jostling and pushing, as part and parcel of the duty of a national icon, the greatest-ever sporting hero of India. His doting parents, A.S.Bindra and Babli Bindra, and sister Vidya, accompanied Abhinav where ever he went. He sat sandwiched between his parents at the back of a Volvo station wagon as he made his date with various VVIP appointments. With adulation and media glare pouring in incessantly, Abhinav has also raked in a cash booty on the side, which swelled over Rs 3 crore at the last count and which may be exempted from the tax cut. For, an Indian becoming an Olympic champion is a rarest of rare event.
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Games politicians play
Beijing, August 14 “Politics need not be always about intra or inter-nations, rocked by conflicts, it can be about the national sports federations or the parent national olympic committee,” quipped a senior Indian sports official. And surprisingly his comments had a lot of meat in them as a good amount of energy and time of some of the Indian officials here was spent in “politicking” targeting both the future command of the Indian Olympic Association as well as the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Politics has been an inseparable or rather integral part of Indian sports and our national leaders probably need no certificate from the IOC chief to dabble in their favourite pastime. Not many are happy with the manner in which they have been treated here while friends and relatives of certain key office-bearers got accreditations by overlooking their claims as long standing members of the national olympic committee. While first-ever individual gold in shooting would be good enough for keeping the billion-strong nation occupied for next four years, politicians, including those nursing a grouse or two against the present regime, both in the IOA and the Union Ministry, are using the Chinese capital more for their own “knitting-and-skirting” than the purpose for which the public money has funded their sojourns here. Interestingly, majority of members of the contingent, including top office-bearers and members of their families are seen cheering Indian participants at the venue of their competitions, some others have been left cribbing for they neither got official recognition or accreditation nor did they get tickets - regular or complimentary - to get access to the venues of the events. A couple of officials have been assigned a special task of keeping the IOA members in good mood by distributing among them “whatever tickets are made available to the Indian contingent.” For them, the Beijing trip has been more of a political snub than an “expected jamboree of fun and pleasure”. And interestingly, many of the Congressmen are in this group. Statistically speaking, the Indian olympic family cuts across political affiliations and groups, in packing its contingent with stalwarts of long association with sports. Political alignments do not matter in getting officials named in the contingent. For example, the Indian contingent is richly represented by activists from both the Congress-led UPA and Bharatiya Janta Party-led NDA. Cutting across party lines, there are some common concerns expressed by non-players of the squad. For example, though the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi came as a guest of the Chinese Communist Party, failure of the organisers to invite Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh raised concerns. Similarly, while Sonia Gandhi sat in VVIP enclosure at the opening ceremony, members of her family, including daughter Priyanka and son-in-law R. Vadra, had to share seats with other Indian politicians in a ticketed enclosure.
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Beijing, August 14 Competing at her third Olympic Games, Anjali may have had the air rifle - where she failed earlier in the Games - as her favourite event earlier, but it was the 3-Position that she was concentrating on for she had earned her quota place through it. Yet on the day when it mattered, Anjali was found wanting as she crumbled under pressure. She managed only 571 out of 600, after having shot around 585 for a considerable time before coming here. She shot 191 in prone, 189 in standing and 191 in kneeling which gave her an overall 32nd spot in the qualification round of the event. Her teammate Avneet, making her debut at the Olympics, found herself out of depth as she totalled 552 to finish 42nd. She shot 190 in prone, 183 in standing and 179 in kneeling. The performances were disappointing to say the least. Their Hungarian coach Lazlo Szucsak, summing up the showing, said: "Avneet needs experience and I think she was not prepared enough. Of course, no one expected her to win a medal but she was not in the best shape of her shooting career and it was a very 'okay' sort of performance." Khade, Poseria fizzle out
The Indian challenge in swimming came to an end as neither Virdhawal Khade nor Ankur Poseria could repeat or better their personal best at the Beijing Olympics here today. In the 100m butterfly event, Poseria clocked 54.74 to finish overall 57th, more than one second behind his personal best of 53.68. Khade, on the other hand, timed 22.73 in the heats to finish overall 40th, failing to better his personal best of 22.69s which he recorded at last month's FINA World Youth Championship in Mexico. Coach Nihar Amin said Poseria's lack of experience showed today while Khade was close to repeat his personal best. "Ankur is new and does not have the experience you need to do better in Olympics. So I'm not surprised by his performance.” "Veer, on the other hand, put up a good show and was close to touch his personal best. I'm not too unhappy with his performance," Amin said.
— Agencies |
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Akhil promises I-Day gift
Beijing, August 14 Bubbling with verve and optimism on the eve of his bout against 2007 World Champion Sergey Vodopyanov tomorrow, Akhil said he could not see the medal which Abhinav shot but was waiting to have one dangling across his own neck. "I did not see the medal. We only met in the dinner hall where I congratulated him. Of course, it was very inspiring to see an Indian coming on top in the biggest stage in the world.” "At the most, I could have had a look at it, probably touched it and then returned. But I want a gold medal that would be just mine and would stay with me," the bantamweight boxer told PTI. Akhil is aware that tomorrow's bout would not be a stroll in the park but says it coincides with Independence Day and he would not run short on motivation. "It's a sheer coincidence that my crucial bout coincides with India's Independence Day. I'm someone who's very emotional about my country and I have to rise to the occasion," he said. Akhil insists upstaging the Russian is not just a wishful thinking on his part. "It's quite a possibility. In other events, already a number of world champions and medallists have bitten the dust.” “I just want to continue with the trend," said the boxer from Haryana. Akhil enjoys his role as a senior boxer who often has to help out juniors and the pugilist says he has no problem with that.
— PTI |
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Women's 10,000m final: Preeja Sreedharan Women's heptathlon: Pramila Ganapathy, JJ Shobha, Sushmita Singha Roy Women's discus throw (qualifying round): Harwant Kaur, Krishna Poonia Boxing: 54kg (bantamweight): Akhil Kumar vs Sergey Vodopyanov (Russia) Shooting: 50m rifle prone: Gagan Narang, Sanjeev Rajput. — UNI
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Elsewhere...
New Delhi, August 14 The cash award was shared by 23 players, head coach and six support staff. The Sports Ministry is also expected to announce incentives for the players and the support staff when minister M.S. Gill meets captain Baichung Bhutia and yesterday's hat-trick man Sunil Chhetri. AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi personally met the players this morning, congratulated them for the "historic win" which took the country to 2011 Asian Cup after 24 years, and presented each of them a cheque of Rs 50,000. Head coach Bob Houghton was handed a Rs 1 lakh cheque while the six other support staff (two assistant coaches, one goalkeeper coach, team manager, a doctor and a physio) were also given Rs 50,000 each, which brought the total sum to Rs 15.5 lakh. "The AIFF president congratulated the players, the coach and the support staff for the historic win yesterday. He expressed happiness that India qualified for the elite Asian tournament in 2011 after 1984," an AIFF source said. India defeated defending champions Tajikistan by a 4-1 margin to win their first major title since the Nehru Cup win in August last year at the same venue. — PTI
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Melbourne, August 14 The Twenty20 event will now be played from December 3-10 where eight teams will compete, including squads from South Africa, Australia, Pakistan, England and India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa today said in a joint statement here. The tournament was earlier scheduled to start a day after the ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan got over but the ICC expressed its reservations over the fixture and requested the Governing Council to consider alternative dates for the league. "While the Champions League Twenty20 is a domestic tournament not affected by ICC Event rules, we have agreed to the ICC request as a gesture of goodwill," the statement said. Chairman and commissioner of Indian Premier League and BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi also expressed happiness and said December would be a good time to host the event as the two finalists of the IPL would be available at this time. "We are happy that we were able to find a window during the first week of December for the inaugural edition of the Champions League Twenty20," he said. "There was a gap in between the One-Day Internationals and Tests against the touring England squad and that will enable both the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings to regroup and focus on the inaugural edition of the Champions League Twenty20," he added. — PTI
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Bopanna-Qureshi bow out
Washington, August 14 The unseeded Indo-Pak pair lost 4-6, 4-6 to third seeded duo of Rik De Voest of South Africa and Ashley Fisher of Australia in a little over one-hour contest of the hard court event. The Indo-Pak combine broke their opponents once but dropped their serve twice to surrender the first set. Though they managed to save two breakpoints. It was same story in the second set as they won their only breakpoint but lost two games on their serve to hand the match to the rivals. In singles, qualifier Somdev Devvarman beat American wild card Taylor Dent 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-1 to advance to the second round.
— PTI |
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Yang Wei wiped away eight years of frustration to become only the second Chinese man to capture the all-around gymnastics title at the Olympics on Thursday. 
Greco-Roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian of Sweden refused to receive his bronze medal today as the Beijing Olympics was treated to a raised-fist protest. The Swede, who won the silver in the Athens Olympics last year, grudgingly climbed the podium but stormed off in a huff after receiving his prize, which he left at the centre of the competition mat before stalking off the stage with a raised clenched right fist. Abrahamian thought he had beaten Andrea Minguzzi, the eventual gold medallist in the 84kg division in the semi-finals, but the match was awarded to the Italian. 
Athletics:
