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World Athletics Championship
China Masters fiasco |
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First Bronze Anniversary
Stuart belittles Oz
New Zealand Tour of Sri Lanka
Hry Guv hands out Bhima Awards Bhima awardees during the award ceremony at Haryana Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh on Friday. Tribune photo: Parvesh Chauhan
Rohtak needs boxing center: Jitender
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World Athletics Championship  Shatters own 200m WR
Walker win 400m hurdles
Berlin, August 21 One year exactly after he posted 19.30 seconds at the Beijing Olympics to beat Michael Johnson’s “untouchable” 19.32 from the Atlanta Games, he sliced another 11 hundredths of a second off just as he did in Sunday's 100 when he ran 9.58. Bolt, who turns 23 on Saturday, is now the world record holder and world and Olympic champion in both sprints - something no other athlete has achieved. “I was trying, I was dying,” he said. “It wasn’t a good race I can say but it was a fast one.” Jamaica’s gold rush continued in the women’s 400 hurdles when Olympic champion Melaine Walker ran the second-fastest time ever - 52.42 seconds - to take the island’s tally to five. Ryan Brathwaite of Barbados won the 110 hurdles in a blanket finish with the first three divided by one hundredth of a second. Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic went some way to making up for her Olympic disappointment when she retained the women's high jump title with a leap of 2.04 metres, while Trey Hardee survived a gruelling 12-hour second day to win the decathlon. Bolt said he had been working on his start and the evidence was there for all to see as within half a dozen of his galloping strides he had run down Panama's Alonso Edward, who went on to finish second in 19.81. “Unbelievable - a ridiculous race. The bend is unbelievable,” said former record-holder Johnson while commentating for the BBC. “No one has ever run a bend like this and probably never will.” — Reuters
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China Masters fiasco
New Delhi, August 21 While the BAI insists the fault is on the shuttlers’ part since they forgot to remind the federation, players like V Diju laid the blame squarely on the administrators. “We had informed the BAI around 3-4 months back that we want to participate in all the Super Series this year but the Association forgot to sent the entries for the China Masters on time. It is clearly a mistake on their part,” Diju said. “I am really disappointed because our ranking will go down after missing this event. Now it becomes difficult for us to qualify for the World Super Series Masters, for which we would have to do really well in the next two competitions,” Diju said. BAI president VK Verma, however, maintained that the onus was on the players to inform the association. “The players competing in any tournament are supposed to send us their entries by email to Girish Natu, who is responsible for sending the entries to the BWF. In this case, Girish and coach Pullela Gopichand confirmed to me that the players themselves sent the entries one day late, that is on August 12,” Verma said. “BAI sent the entries immediately but the BWF (Badminton World Federation) rejected that. The BAI cannot send the entries on its own because if a player fails to turn up, then there will be a fine of $250. “I don’t want to go into why the players were late in informing us. If they forgot or they were preoccupied with the world championship, I don’t know,” he added. Diju, however, insisted that the players were not supposed to inform the BAI before every tournament. “We are not supposed to inform them before each and every tournament that we want to participate. It’s only if a player cannot participate that he or she should should inform the BAI. China Masters and Japan Masters are back-to-back. They forgot to sent the entries for the former but they sent for the latter,” Diju added. Interestingly, top shuttler Saina Nehwal felt it was a collective fault which resulted in the goof-up. “It is everyone’s fault actually. Everyone was busy with the World Championship and forgot about the deadline. The players also didn’t sent it on time and even the BAI didn’t inform us,” she said. — PTI
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First Bronze Anniversary
New Delhi, August 21 “It’s amazing, a year has passed since I won the Olympic medal and what a year it has been. I still remember the days in Beijing very clearly, it’s just like yesterday. Winning the Olympic bronze medal was the start of a new life for me. Everything changed after that medal,” the 23-year-old middle weight (75kg) boxer said. “I lost the (semifinal) bout. It would have been nice to have won and ensured that India’s first Olympic medal in boxing was gold,” the Khel Ratna awardee added. “But I am proud of what I achieved and the fact that it made such a difference to Indian boxing gives me immense happiness.” The road to Olympics was a bumpy one for Vijender as he had failed to qualify for the event in his first two attempts and was battling a nagging back problem going into the third and final qualifying tournament. Vijender’s last shot at Olympic qualification was at the second Asian Qualifiers in Kazakhstan. Perhaps marking a start of the good times that followed, Vijender didn’t just qualify, he won a gold medal. A couple of months before Beijing, he pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career by beating Athens Olympics gold medalist B Artayev in the President’s Cup to clinch India’s maiden medal — a bronze — in the tournament. — PTI
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Stuart belittles Oz
London, August 21 Broad, the fifth bowler used by captain Andrew Strauss, responded with five for 37 as Australia collapsed to 160 all out after tea in reply to England's first innings 332. Off-spinner Graeme Swann proved an able lieutenant with four for 38, taking all his wickets after he was switched to the Pavilion end. England must win to regain the Ashes.
Australia openers Shane Watson and Simon Katich weathered some fierce bowling by Andrew Flintoff in his final test to take their team to 73 for no wicket after 75 minutes had been lost to rain either side of lunch. Broad then proved the man for the moment, cutting the ball both ways off a pitch giving assistance to speed and spin. He started by trapping Watson lbw for 34 with the final delivery of his first over. Ricky Ponting got off the mark with an inside edge which rocketed past his off-stump to the boundary. He played and missed at the next delivery, a leg-cutter which climbed past the bat. The Australia skipper, who had looked distinctly uncomfortable, dragged the final ball of Broad's third over on to his stumps and was out for eight. Michael Hussey followed for a duck from the third delivery of Broad's next over, lbw for no score, and Australia's best batsman in the series Michael Clarke made only three before he drove Broad low to Jonathan Trott at short cover. Clarke's dismissal gave Broad three wickets for no runs off nine balls. Swann took over as the England enforcer, dismissing Marcus North lbw for eight with a ball which television replays indicated had come off the inside edge. The spinner followed up with the wickets of Katich, snapped up at short-leg for 50, and Mitchell Johnson (11), smartly caught off an outside edge by keeper Matt Prior. Stuart Clark became Swann's fourth victim, caught by Alastair Cook at short-leg from a ball which seemed to have evaded bat and glove and Flintoff completed the rout by bowling Hilfenhaus for six. — Reuters Scoreboard (overnight 307-8) Broad c Ponting b Hilfenhaus 37 Anderson lbw b Hilfenhaus 0 Harmison not out 12 Extras (b-12, lb-5, w-3, nb-18) 38 Total: (all out; 90.5 overs) 332 Fall of wicket: 1-12, 2-114, 3-176, 4-181, 5-229, 6-247, 7-268, 8-307, 9-308. Bowling: Hilfenhaus 21.5-5-71-3, Siddle 21-6-75-4, Clark 14-5-41-0, Johnson 15-0-69-2, North 14-3-33-0, Watson 5-0-26-0. Australia (1st innings) Watson lbw b Broad 34 Katich c Cook b Swann 50 Ponting b Broad 8 Hussey lbw b Broad 0 Clarke c Trott b Broad 3 North lbw b Swann 8 Haddin b Broad 1 Johnson c Prior b Swann 11 Siddle not out 26 Clark c Cook b Swann 6 Hilfenhaus b Flintoff 6 Extras: (lb-5, nb-1, b-1) 7 Total: (all out; 52.5 overs) 160 Fall of wickets: 1-73, 2-85, 3-89, 4-93, 5-108, 6-109, 7-111, 8-131, 9-143. Bowling: Anderson 9-3-29-0, Flintoff 13.5-4-35-1, Swann 14-3-38-4, Harmison 4-1-15-0, Broad 12-1-37-5.
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New Zealand Tour of Sri Lanka
Galle, August 21 Flynn was acrobatically caught by a diving Mahela Jayawardene at slip off seamer Nuwan Kulasekara. Martin Guptill survived with Ross Taylor on eight not out. Sri Lanka powered their way to 259 for four from just 49 overs having earlier bowled New Zealand for 299 after 35 minutes of play in Bref Scores: Sri Lanka (1st innings) 452 New Zealand (1st innings) 299; McIntosh 69, Muralitharan 4-42. Sri Lanka (2nd
inninngs) 259- 4 dec; Dilshan 123*, O’Brien 1-45 New Zealand (2nd innings) 30-1.
Guptill 17*. — Reuters |
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Hry Guv hands out Bhima Awards
Chandigarh, August 21 Speaking at the occasion, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda increased the prize money for awardees from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, with immediate effect. He also increased the diet money for the sportspersons from Rs 100 to Rs 150. Apart from the six Bhima awardees, 21 other sportspersons were also given cash awards, with the total prize money distributed amounting to Rs. 31.42 lakhs. On the occasion, Hooda also announced the state’s new sports policy, which has been approved by the Assembly, on the day it was dissolved. The Governor Jagannath Pahadia, while giving away the awards said, “The sportspersons of Haryana have made a name for their state and the country not only at the national but also international level. I hope Haryana will become number one in the field of sports as the state has made unprecedented progress in all fields of development.” “There is no dearth of sporting talent in Haryana and we are committed to improve the standard of various sports by providing incentives and concessions to sportspersons,” the CM said amid a lew of various other announcements. He also informed that 171 sports stadiums had been constructed at the block level and soon coaches would also be appointed in these stadiums. Kiran Choudhry, Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Haryana, welcomed the new sports policy and said, “It will prove as a boon for all the sportspersons of Haryana.” Bhima Award: Vivek Singh-Shooting (Gurgaon), Saroj Sihag-Athletics (Hisar), Amit Kumar-Wrestling (Rohtak), Sunil Kumar-Boxing (Bhiwani), Virender Singh-Judo (Rohtak) and under handicapped quota Sukhbir Singh-Paralympics;National Swimming (Bhiwani). Others: Sukhbir Singh, Vikas Kumar-Kabaddi (Bhiwani), Suresh Kumar-Kabaddi (Hisar), Naveen Kumar-Kabaddi (Rohtak), Kumari Babita and Sunil-Wrestling and Boxing, respectively (Bhiwani), Sunita and Parmila-Kabaddi (Rohtak), Suresh Kumar (Panipat)and Sudesh Kumari (Jind)-Wrestling, Vijender Singh-Boxing (Bhiwani ), Sandeep (Sonipat) and Paramjeet (Bhiwani)-Wrestling, Manjeet Singh-Boxing (Bhiwani), Hardeep Singh and Krishna Punia-Judo and athletics, respectively (Hisar), Kumari N Rathi-Wrestling (Faridabad), Jitender Kumar-Boxing (Bhiwani), Kumari Pooja Dhanda-Judo (Hisar), Dilbag Singh (Bhiwani) Manoj Kumar
(Kaithal)-Boxing.
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Rohtak needs boxing center: Jitender
Chandigarh, August 21 For Olympian Jitender Kumar, who was also awarded Rs 50,000 cash at the function, seeing a boxing facility come up is a dream. “I keep visiting Rohtak frequently, and it is unfortunate that a place that has produced a fine boxer like Akhil Kumar, does not have the right facilities for training. There are so many people, especially in that area who have been inspired by the Olympics success, and would like to take up boxing, but going away from home becomes a hindrance. At a time when the government is putting in so much effort to improve the ground level sports, they should be able to see the feasibility of a boxing center in the area.” For boxing coach Surender Dangi, the one dream that has stayed on with him over the past decade has been to see a sports centre coming up in and around Rohtak, incidentally the CM’s home turf. “There are so many colleges, and a university too, in the city. There is also an abundance of youngsters who want to be in involved in sports. So in short the raw material is there, but we need a sports center that would aid their transition into fine products. The likes of Akhil and Virender Singh (boxing and judo, respectively) have shown that there is a lot of promise in the region, but now all they need is a proper set up”, says Dangi. Speaking to The Tribune, the sports minister Kiran Chaudhary said, “We are looking at the development of sports all over the state and any good and feasible opportunity will definitely be looked into.” Keeping an eye on the brilliant track record of this Haryana government in promoting sports, there is room for optimism, and probably a boxing centre too.
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It’s not everyday that an athlete emerges champion even in defeat. On August 22, 2008 Vijender Singh did just that when he lost his semifinal bout at the Beijing Olympics but the bronze medal that he settled for was the first that any Indian boxer had managed in the world’s biggest sporting event. He completes a “life-changing” year since that feat tomorrow but Vijender says it is just like yesterday for him.
London, August 21
Chandigarh, August 21
