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China in shock as Liu limps out |
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Lin ensures gold bonanza
Corporate India winning gold at Olympics
India-Lanka ODI series
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And this too We're only just getting going: British cycling coach Britain's cycling coach Dan Hunt issued a stark warning to the competition after scooping five Olympic gold medals: "We're only just getting going." Their latest triumph came on Monday when the men's team pursuit squad shattered the world record they had set only the day before. After dominating the world championships, British riders have been scintillating in the Beijing velodrome. They have failed to land a medal in just one of the seven events contested so far and won gold in five. With sprint world champion Chris Hoy, pursuit ace Bradley Wiggins and two-times world champion Victoria Pendleton, they are certainly not short of ammunition. "We've got a young dynamic team and we haven't even started yet. We're only just getting going," he said, looking forward with relish to their home Games in London in 2012. Julie does it for Mauritius
Mike wants 'to be like Mike' When Michael Phelps was a boy growing up in Baltimore, a popular television advert of the time featured basketball star Michael Jordan together with the slogan "I want to be like Mike". Now, when children all across the USA are saying they want to be "like Mike", they mean Phelps after the swimming star rewrote the record books here at the Beijing Olympics by winning eight golds. But, despite his success, there remains a schoolboy sports fan lurking inside Phelps that still reveres Jordan. "Growing up, I always remember the 'I want to be like Mike' ads with Jordan. "It's an amazing feeling," he also told reporters here on Monday. "One of the people I've always wanted to meet in person is Jordan. I've never met him. What he did in the sport of basketball, is what I am trying to do in the sport of swimming. He completely changed the sport of basketball." Only 10 say they are gay: survey Only 10 of the 10,500 athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics are openly gay, according to a study by a gay website. Some gay athletes fear that coming out would bring disapproval from fans and team mates, others worry about the damage to endorsements, Outsports.com said. Unwarranted media attention could also detract from their performances, it added. Nine of the gay athletes named by Outsports were lesbians and their sports ranged from fencing to cycling. Just one, Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, was a man. Outsports said this must be way short of the real figure and argued that a more accurate estimate could even reach 1,000. ''For all we know, there is a gay rower or badminton player somewhere known as gay within his or her sport but not in a larger public context,'' it said.
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Athletics: Women’s long jump: Anju Bobby George Table tennis: Men's singles: Achanta Sharath Kamal vs Alfredo Carneros (Spain) Wrestling: 60 kg free style: Yogeshwar Dutt vs Baurzhan Orazgaliyev (Kazakhstan). — UNI
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China in shock as Liu limps out
Beijing, August 18 The painful departure of the country's most popular sportsman and main hope for a track gold from a packed Bird's Nest stadium cast a huge shadow over an otherwise magnificent Games for China. The hosts lead the medals table with a seemingly unbeatable 37 golds, with the USA way behind with 20. Jamaica stayed in the limelight, with Usain Bolt breezing through two rounds of the 200 metres in his quest to be the first man to win the Olympic sprint double since Carl Lewis in 1984. The hosts of the 2012 Games, Britain, picked up another gold — their 12th — in cycling to regain third place in the medals table and chalk up with their strongest showing since 1920. But it was Liu's sad story that dominated attention. After a false start in his first-round heat, the man whose face adorns billboards across China clutched his leg and walked off the track. Fans looked stunned, some wept openly. "Liu was very, very upset," said athletics head coach Feng Shuyong of the tendon injury that compounded a hamstring problem. "He would not have withdrawn unless the pain was intolerable." The 25-year-old Liu was more than just China's best hope for track gold, he was also the country's best-known sportsman, surpassing even NBA basketball player Yao Ming. His personal coach for 12 years, Sun Haiping, wept, as did some Chinese journalists. Liu became his country's first male Olympic track champion in Athens 2004 and was China's best chance for an athletics gold in Beijing though he faced a stiff rival in Cuba's Dayron Robles. Such was the weight of national expectation on Liu that he had not even been allowed to drive a car for fear of injury in a carefully closeted buildup to the Beijing Games. Sports officials had warned failure to win gold in Beijing would render his Athens win "meaningless", according to his coach, and some Chinese fans reacted in anger. "Afraid of Robles, so fake an injury?," one comment read on online portal Sina. "Play your role of a coward and people around the world will look down upon you." As the dust settled, though, anger seemed to give way to sympathy for Liu and the incredible pressure he had been under. "Everyone was crying, my mother, my father, my cousin and my friends around me," read a comment on the Reuters blog. "Liu Xiang became the symbol of new China ... even 10 more gold medals would not compensate for the loss of this gold." Before Liu's sad drama, "Lightning" Bolt again performed for the cameras as he emerged for the first round of his signature event, wearing golden shoes with "Beijing 200m" on them. Bolt barely broke sweat as he strode through two rounds of the 200m, keeping some juice in the tank for Wednesday's final. It is China, though, that is emerging as the new superpower of sport -- perhaps an inevitable trend given that the 1.3 billion population represent a fifth of humanity and a formidable Soviet-style sports system is geared to maximising medals. Ten days in, the hosts look untouchable even for perennial medal-league winners the USA, who have 20. China came second in Athens, taking 32 golds to America's 36. Swimming phenomenon Phelps was resting on Monday and looking forward to going home to his family, friends and his dog in Baltimore after his record eight golds at one Games. — Reuters
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Lin ensures gold bonanza
Beijing, August 18 Chinese coach Li Yongbo said he was satisfied with the haul despite the formidable team, who dominate the world rankings, gunning for a clean sweep but falling short in the men's and mixed doubles. Lin, the star of the team and known as Super Dan to his legion of fans, kept his notorious fiery temper in check to clinch the men's singles crown over Malaysian second seed Lee Chong Wei with a superb display of power and skill. The world number one and back-to-back world champion declared after Sunday's win that more was to come, with no plans for retirement. "I have a lot more things to achieve besides the world championships and the Olympic Games," the 24-year-old Lin said. China's veteran of the sport Zhang Ning played through injury to defend her Athens crown against teammate and world number one Xie Xingfang, the girlfriend of Lin Dan -- who are regarded in China as the golden couple. Zhang broke down in tears after becoming the oldest player to win the title at 33, an achievement coach Li hailed as a miracle. "It is really a miracle for Zhang Ning to retain the Olympic gold. Her entrance to the Beijing Olympic Games was even in doubt two months ago," Li told Chinese reporters. "Maybe this is the beauty of the Olympiad." While Li, who drills his charges with military precision, also applauded the women's doubles pair for their gold, he said some of his younger shuttlers had not lived up to expectations. Indonesia also enjoyed success, clinching the country's first gold at these Games, on the eve of Sunday's independence day, through world champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan. The world number ones sizzled in Beijing, demolishing all in their path including China's second seeds in the final, and extending Indonesia's dominance of the men's doubles to three Olympics, since badminton was introduced at the 1992 Games. Indonesia also threw up the surprise of the tournament, softly spoken Maria Kristin Yulianti, who, ranked just 21 in the world, took down some of the tournament's top seeds to clinch bronze for her country. But Indonesia's hopes in the men's singles were dashed early when defending Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, suffering the lingering effects of dengue fever, crashed out in the first round. Their top male shuttler Sony Dwi Kuncoro followed in the quarter-finals. South Korea also took home gold, Lee Hyojung and Lee Yongdae winning the mixed doubles by pulling off a stunning upset over Indonesian world champions Liliyana Natsir and Nova Widianto.
— AFP |
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‘Lightning’ Bolt to strike again?
Beijing, August 18 If the Jamaican sprint hero shows the same form in Wednesday's 200m final, he could probably pause long enough for chips and a drink too, Bolt giving a new spin to the term "fast food" with his 100m pre-race meal. Bolt will chase a golden double at the Bird's Nest on the eve of his 22nd birthday. Not since Carl Lewis in 1984 has anyone swept the 100 and 200 in the same Olympics. Bolt would join a list that also includes Soviet sprinter Valeriy Borzov in 1972, Canada's Percy Williams in 1928 and Americans Bobby Morrow in 1956, Jesse Owens in 1936, Eddie Tolan in 1932, Ralph Craig in 1912 and Archie Hahn in 1904. Bolt's victory, breaking his own world record to win in 9.69 seconds, was the first for Jamaica in the Olympic 100 final. But should Bolt win the 200, he would follow in the footsteps of another Jamaican legend, 1976 Olympic champion Don Quarrie. "I'm hoping I made the country proud and I hope to make them proud again in the 200," Bolt said. American Michael Johnson set the 200m world record of 19.32 seconds at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics on his way to a 200-400 double.
— AFP
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HOME RUN
Beijing, August 18 Akhil, who was one win away from ensuring India's first Olympic medal in boxing, went into all out offensive unleashing a flurry of punches right from the word go but ran into the nearly impeccable defence and lost the bout 3-10 against the unheralded Moldovan. The bantamweight Moldovan boxer never lowered his guard and earned all his points through stray counterattacks, coming out of his defensive shell. After the first two rounds saw the two boxers tied at 2-2, Veaceslav surged into a decisive lead of 6-2 by landing all his punches bang on target. On the other hand, Akhil could only manage to reduce the margin of loss by scoring just one more point in the fourth and final round but it was too little and too late for the Indian. Having beaten the World Champion Sergey Vodopyanov of Russia to reach the quarterfinals, Akhil surprisingly just did not have any answer to the Moldovan's strategy of all-out defence punctuated by counter-aggression. With Akhil out of the competition, India's medal hopes rest on flyweight boxer Jitender Kumar and Vijender in featherweight when they walk in the ring on Wednesday to appear in their quarterfinal bouts. Neha out in round 1
Neha Aggarwal's Olympic debut lasted precisely 34 minutes as India's lone woman paddler in Beijing began with a bang before running out of steam to crash out with a first round defeat here today. The Delhi teen, playing an opponent almost twice her age, lost 12-10, 8-11, 11-13, 8-11 and 4-11 to Chinese-born Australian Jiang Fang Lay to bid goodbye to Beijing. Having lost her previous two matches against the 35-year-old Australian, Neha looked determined to settle scores this time and went neck-and-neck in the first game till they were levelled at 8-8. The Indian soon broke loose, much to the surprise of the Australian, to pocket the game in five minutes and go one up in the match. In the second game too, Neha looked sharp as she raced to a 4-2 lead before her opponent turned the table and eventually overtook her. Suddenly, Lay was attacking more and Neha could not withstand the onslaught and surrendered the game. The third game followed the same script with Neha leading 10-8 before the Australian came from behind to grab the game and go 2-1 up in the match. Clearly struggling with the deceptive returns of her Australian opponent, Neha once again lost momentum in the fourth game and from 8-8, she could not stop the Australian from taking the next three points and running away with the game and the match. It was all over for Neha in the fourth game as the Australian had taken an unassailable 3-1 lead by then, but she had to play the fifth game only for formalities and Lay virtually ambled her way to win the game 11-4. Renjith finishes 35th among 37
There was no end to the misery of Indian athletes and an off-colour Renjith Maheswary only added to the gloom by finishing last in an 18-man triple jump Group B qualification round and 35th overall in the Olympics here today. Renjith, who holds the national record of 17.04m, leapt 15.77m in his first attempt and could not better that mark in his subsequent two efforts to finish a lowly 35th in the 37-jumper competition. This was a dismal show by the 22-year-old jumper who had become the first Indian to reach the 17m mark when he cleared 17.04m in the Guwahati-leg of Asian Grand Prix in June 2007 to qualify for Beijing. He repeated the feat next month in the Asian Track and Field meet in Amman even though it was wind-aided. With top 12 jumpers each from Group A and B qualifying for the final round, Renjith began with 15.77 and leapt 15.51 in his third, with a botched attempt in between. Renjith had cleared 16.42m in the Inter-Railway meet in 2005, 16.54m at the Doha Asian Games and 16.72 in the 2007 Federation Cup in Kolkata before peaking in Guwahati in June 2007 to win an Olympic B qualifying norm.
— PTI |
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Not end of road, says Akhil’s father Rohtak, August 18 As regards his son’s performance in today’s fight, he said Akhil fought well, but his rival put up a good defence, which tilted the balance in the latter’s favour. He, however, asserted that his family were proud of Akhil’s achievement. “Qualifying for the Olympics and reaching up to the quarterfinal round by defeating reigning champions and other world-class players is no mean achievement in itself,” maintained Shiv Bhagwan, an employee at the district prison, and added that his son had reached this level only due to his hard work and dedication for the game. Earlier, a number of Akhil’s friends, relatives and neighbours assembled at his house to watch his quarterfinal bout. A pall of gloom descended on the house as the result was declared. Akhil’s parents were also upset in the beginning, but they soon regained their composure and interacted with mediapersons. Reminding one of the Tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh’s inspiring words, they observed that they were hopeful of Olympic medals as their two sons - Jitender and Vijender - were still in the fray. |
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Corporate India winning gold at Olympics India’s medal bondage may not be as strong as is of the corporate image its top young professionals hold in some of the 12 major
multinational sponsors of the Olympic movement. Two of the major sponsors - Coca Cola and Lenovo - have them heading their special Olympic marketing campaigns besides China Daily, the only English daily circulated at Olympic venues, putting Indians at helm of affairs in projecting an objective
view of contemporary China before the world. If Kevin Tresslar, an alumnus of union capiutal’s St Stephens College, is the director, Sports, Entertainment and Marketing of Coca Cola, Deepak Advani is the senior vice-president and chief marketing officer of Lenovo, the company that is providing information technology (computer terminals and laptops) support to the Games. Then you have journalists of Indian origin like Ravi S. Narasimhan, Pankaj Adhikari, Debashish Roy Chowdhary, O.P. Rana and T.R. Ramakrishnanan, associated with the production of only English daily of substance, the China Daily. Abhinav Bindra may have given a new identity to Indians in Olympic sports by winning the country’s first ever individual Olympic gold, but young corporate executives like Kevin Tresslar and Deepak Advani have given a new vibrant and young India a new worldwide identity as corporate leaders. “I am not suggesting we are extra or more intelligent than rest of the world, but it certainly is recognition of a strong and merit-based education system we have in India,” says Kevin Tresslar, who, being an army officer’s son, passed out in Economics from St Stephens College, Delhi, in 1987. After working in Mumbai and Kolkata, he moved to Saudi Arabia and has been in the global headquarters of Coca Cola since 2004. Now he is the main man looking after Olympics and sports for Coca Cola. Kevin had earlier worked in Lowe Lintas and Unilever Business. Deepak Advani is a graduate in Sciences. After a bachelors’ degree in computer sciences from Ichinghan, he moved to Wright State for Masters in Computer engineering and followed it up with Masters in Business Administration from Wharton School of Business. Both Kevin and Deepak are icons of young successful Indian corporates who have made it to the top with their sheer hardwork, talent and effort. Needless to say, Kevin’s immediate business opponent, Pepsi, has also an India as CEO, Indra K. Nooi. Intriguingly, while Coca Cola has decided to continue its 80-year-old association with Olympic Games for another 12 years, till 2020, Lenovo, may be ending its association with this great sporting event, held every four years, after the Beijing Olympic Games. “Olympic movement has so much in common with our ideology,” says Kevin Tressler ruling out any change in its policy tiwards sponsorship of the Olympic Games. “We both subscribe to the same values of fairplay, integrity, friendship and wellbeing of the humanity. While we have presence in 200-odd nations, Olympic movement is represented by almost same number of nations,” he adds. But other sponsors are not finding the Olympic Games as remunerative any more. Besides Lenovo, Johnson & Johnson and Manulife may not be there in London 2012. Even Kodak, another major sponsor, is contemplating to pull out from the Games. Sponsors apart, it is the Indian journalistic fraternity which has been in the instant recognition list by the Chinese government, with many holding key positions in English newspapers. The example of China Daily that has only Indians overseeing the production of the daily newspaper is there for everyone to see. |
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Elsewhere... Dambulla, August 18 The wispy Mendis not only finished with three for 21 in his nine overs, but enabled Muttiah Muralitharan to collect cheap wickets. The answer to both is a calculated assault, not a senseless slog. The crisis set on Sunday when Virender Sehwag, the only Indian to record a three figure innings against Mendis, was declared unfit for Monday’s match. He is now out of the series. Thereafter, India opted to bat on a pitch with a tinge of green - a choice captain Mahendra Dhoni later conceded was a mistake. The fact is, most Indian batsmen got starts, but squandered the advantage. Gautam Gambhir, on whose experience and success in the Test series the tourists counted, was bowled second ball by an off-cutter from the crafty Chaminda Vaas. Soon, Nuwan Kulasekara, who seamed the ball in to a right-hander and away from a left-hander in a lively spell, trapped debutante Virat Kohli lbw on the back foot and was gifted an uppish cover drive by Suresh Raina. Both batsmen had previously shown patience to see off the shine. In a dramatic over, Yuvraj Singh, the otherwise talented Chandigarh left-hander survived a close call for lbw, straight drove the next for six, before being bowled off an inside edge. He played for a googly whereas it was actually a top spinner. Irfan Pathan was unfortunate to be adjudged lbw off an inside edge - he departed the scene with a sarcastic smile. But for the tail, India would have struggled to reach 125 from 87 for seven Sehwag ruled out of ODI series Virender Sehwag was today ruled out of the one-day series against Sri Lanka owing to his ankle injury team manager Sanjay Desai said.
— PTI Scoreboard India Gambhir b Vaas 0 Kohli lbw Kulasekera 12 Raina c Silva b Kulasekera 17 Yuvraj b Mendis 23 Rohit Sharma c J’wardene b Thushara 19 Dhoni c Jayawardene b Mendis 6 I. Pathan lbw Murali 7 Harbhajan c S’kkara b Murali 12 Zaheer c Thushara b Murali 12 Ojha not out 16 M. Patel b Mendis 15 Extras (b-2, lb-2, w-3) 7 Total (all out, 46 overs) 146 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-23, 3-36, 4-73, 5-75, 6-87, 7-87, 8-107, 9-117, 10-146. Bowling: Vaas 9-0-34-1, Kulasekera 7-0-23-2, Thushara 6-0-18-1, Mendis 9-4-21-3, Muralitharan 10-2-37-3, Jayasuriya 5-1-9-0. Sri Lanka Jayasuriya c Pathan b Munaf 10 Sangakkara c & b Munaf 19 M. Jayawardene not out 61 Kapugedera not out 45 Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-5) 12 Total (2 wkts, 34.5 overs) 147 Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-45 Bowling: Munaf 9-0-32-2, Zaheer 7-1-24-0, I.Pathan 7-0-35-0, Harbhajan 4-0-18-0, Ojha 3-0-9-0, Rohit Sharma 2.5-0-11-0, Raina 2-0-11-0. Player of the match: A. Mendis (Sri Lanka).
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India-Lanka ODI series
India’s campaign to regain lost Test honour by winning the one-day series against Sri Lanka started on the wrong note with a resounding defeat by eight wickets. The Indians had lost two of their most potent batsmen in this form of the game, even before a ball had been bowled. Sachin Tendulkar who played such a big role in the win over the world champions Australia earlier in the year, had to go home after injuring himself in the third and final Test, and Virender Sehwag who can take any attack by the scruff of its neck and make it capitulate, also looks like being out for the series with a twisted ankle. These are the kind of blows that can upset and demoralise any team, and India did seem to be playing as if in a daze. In any form of the game but especially in the shorter format, the opening overs are crucial, and it is here that India lost the game when both the openers were back in the pavilion without too many runs on the scoreboard. Gambhir, who has been consistency personified in the last few months was gone to the canny Vaas within two deliveries, and Kohli who has hardly opened the batting anywhere, looked completely out of sorts in that position. The thinking behind it may be right since it allows the young man plenty of overs to settle down, and also has him batting against the new ball which comes onto the bat, rather than playing the spinners who weaved their magic over even more experienced batsmen than him. Even Yuvraj and Dhoni had little clue to the spin of Mendis, and but for the tail-end spray by Munaf and Ojha, India would have been dismissed for an even more embarrassing score. One of the best things that Shane Warne has done for Indian cricket is to make Munaf hungry to give his best all the time. It was as skipper of Rajasthan Royals that Warne in a one to one with the temperamental bowler explained what international cricket is about, and how it is a huge honour to represent one's country and not to take it for granted. Munaf looks a changed man and a charged one as well and that is good news for Indian cricket. There were never any doubts about his bowling ability for he has the McGrath like persisting line and length, that lets very little margin for the batsmen. It was just his attitude and approach to other aspects of his cricket that needed to change, and that seems to be the case after Warne's influence. Munaf's bowling was the only shining light in the Indian effort which needs to be lifted enormously if they intend to exact revenge for the loss of the Test series.
— PMG |
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Beijing, August 18
Boxer Bruno Julie secured the first Olympic medal for Mauritius in any sport on Monday. The 20-year-old Julie, who had attracted attention by medalling in several international tournaments, outpointed Venezuelan Hector Manzanilla Rangel in the quarter-finals to make sure of at least a bronze medal. Julie thrilled the crowd at Beijing's Workers' Gymnasium by winning a 13-9 decision after a lively bout, with the two fighters furiously trading blows in the centre of the ring. Winning a first medal at the Olympics for the Indian Ocean island, situated off the coast of southeastern Africa, should have made him a happy man, but he was not satisfied. "I'm very experienced and I knew I would win," he said. "We had said with my coach that we wanted to win the title and we are going to."
"His achievements are just beyond description, and the whole world recognises his ability. I have great respect for him. We are both athletes, but I'm also a fan of his. Being able to stand on the same podium as Phelps ...was indeed a great joy for me.
