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Missing the party
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Games Diary
IOC chief Jacques Rogge to be present at CWG opening ceremony
India and its ‘global’ presence
Zaheer keeps India in the hunt
Watson plays down Ponting-Zaheer spat
Chhattisgarh girls, R’sthan boys win finals
Rooney out for Sunderland trip
India beat Pak in kabaddi
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Missing the party
New Delhi, October 1 Tennis greats like Samantha Stusor of Australia - the French Open finalist, Andy Murray - Australian Open finalist, Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) - former Wimbledon and US Open champion, and Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) - former Australian Open champion have for various reasons decided not to participate in the Delhi Games. Their absence may have snatched some of the sheen from the tennis competition of the games but at the same time may come as a blessing in disguise for the home team that may be hoping for a rich harvest of medals. Besides ever green Leander Paes and his doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi, India also have medal hopes in young Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Burman in men’s section and Sania Mirza in women’s section. It will be track and field that has witnessed maximum withdrawals. Though Usain Bolt had announced his decision to skip the Delhi games, a couple of months ago, other Jamaican athletes to withdraw from the games are Asafa Powell, the current sprint queen of the games. Besides Asafa, the current Olympic champion in 100 metres, Shelly-Ann Fraser is also from Jamaica. She, too, is not participating. In 400 m run for women, England’s Christine Churuogu, winner of gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, has also decided to stay back home. In the middle distance running, the competition will be without Caster Semanya of South Africa. She is the current 800 m champion. In the men’s section, David Rudhiska of Kenya, the current World record holder, too, has decided to skip Delhi. South Africa’s Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, world champion in 800 m, will also be conspicuous by his absence. In the tough 1500m race, Asbel Kiprop of Kenya, too, will be missed. He is the current Olympic champion. In the long distance running, Linet Masai of Kenya, who holds the gold in 10,000 m run, too, will be missing. World record holder in marathon for women, Paula Radcliffe of England, is also not coming here. In the track events, Dani Samvets of Australia, world champion in Discus throw, also decided against travelling to Delhi for the games. Phillips Idomu (England), world triple jump champion, will also miss the action in Delhi. Likewise Jessica Enis, also of England and the current heptathlon champion, decided against participation in the games. Dani Samvets absence may give India’s Punia fair chance to be on the podium in the discus throw event. In cycling, major stars to be missed include Cadet Evans (Australia) - 2009 World road race champion; Victoria Pendleton (England) - World and Olympic champion; Chris Hoye (Scotland) - multiple world and Olympic champion; Geraint Thomas (Wales) - gold medal winner in Olympic team pursuit; and Grey Henderson - 2002 Commonwealth games champion. Also missing in the swimming pool action would be Stephanie Rice of Australia, a triple Olympic gold medal winner. In gymnastics, Phillipe Rizzo (Australia) - a former world champion, and Beth Tweddle (England), also a world champion, will miss the action in Delhi. Besides these 25 top stars, several others, too, have decided to skip the games citing security, personal and health reasons. In spite of these withdrawals, competitions are expected to be fierce and touch in swimming, track and field, boxing, wrestling and hockey.
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Now, get CWG updates on cellphones
Sports lovers across the nation and abroad, who could not make it to the Commonwealth Games venues to see the action, will now be able to access CWG updates on their cellphones. Zoomi, a mobile application that will provide latest information on the Games has recently launched its services. From information on participating Commonwealth nations to photographs and records of previous games to details about Delhi and India to the latest and breaking news, the application would have it all in a rich visual format. The application has been developed by Smile of India, a knowledge services firm headquartered in Ahmedabad in partnership with KPMG, a leading professional services firm. Her figure and his tattoo
Many athletes in the Games Village are a favourite of photo journalists for reasons others than sports. Numerous female athletes have caught photographers’ fancy for their statuesque built and gorgeous figures and are inundated with requests for offering one pose or another; not that most of them seem to mind. Several male athletes, especially wrestlers, have pressed the right button for the shutterbugs with their tattoos. Quite a few have full body work. Conservative Indian athletes are not really given to them but their foreign counterparts are in love with tattoos. An English wrestler told some journalists that tattoos could affect their rivals psychologically as they added to their aggression. Vuvuzela flying off
The “irritating” noise of thousands of vuvuzela going off together during the FIFA world cup this year in South Africa had prompted many to demand a ban on this plastic horn’s entry in stadiums. So the CWG Organising Committee’s decision to sell this “instrument from hell”, as a critic had termed it, as a merchandise to popularise the Games had raised many eyebrows. It seems, however, that this is one rare decision which has worked so far. It is not only among the most selling CWG products but has also given a distinctive feel to the event. Athletes, mostly Africans, could be seen blowing it in the village, much to the amusement of many others. It is said that the legitimacy, which this unique instrument was missing, has been rendered to it by the Games with one and all, including Sports Minister MS Gill and OC president Suresh Kalmadi, playing it. Enjoying Ayodhya heat
The Ayodhya issue and the heat it has been generating might have made governments a bit jittery but CWG organisers are more than happy. News reports damning the Games and their handlers have been principal news items in dailies and channels for weeks. But they have now mostly disappeared as the short media attention has now shifted to the mandir-masjid controversy. A senior Organising Committee member said he got some sound sleep after a long period as he used to wait restlessly for newspapers “to see what new scandal they have broken”. A buffalo for Sushil
If not the organisers, Delhi Kushti Sangh has pitched in with something substantial to ensure that India’s wrestlers deliver their best in the Games starting from October 3. The sangh has gifted India’s most famous wrestler, Sushil Kumar, a buffalo, keeping in mind the importance of milk for wrestlers. “Milk is an important food ingredient for any wrestler,” said Kumar, who is happy with what he called a unique gift. The members of the sangh said they were confident of Kumar winning a gold medal in the CWG and he would have support of the whole country. Kumar, a bronze medalist in Beijing Olympics, said he drinks three to four litres of milk everyday. (Kumar Rakesh, Himani Chandel, Jyoti Rai) |
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IOC chief Jacques Rogge to be present at CWG opening ceremony Prabhjot Singh Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 1 He will attend the opening ceremony that promises to be a glimpse of transformed India since it held the 1982 Asian games. Though the Commonwealth Games are at best one fourth of the size of the Olympics, they will give the world of sports an opportunity to assess and analyze Indian capabilities. Though China, Brazil, Russia and South Africa are being clubbed with India as the new emerging economic powers of the world, many still believe that India is way behind the other four. For India successful conduct of the Games may well be an opportunity to dispel all misgivings about its abilities and capacities. It may also be a part of its long term strategy to showcase its special emergence as an economic power on lines of Beijing that successfully held the 2008 Olympic Games and Brazil that will hold the 2014 FIFA World Cup. South Africa has proven its credentials with the successful FIFA World Cup early this year. There has been no doubt that ‘The Brand India’ was being sold well to the world till controversies over corruption, delays, inefficiency and mismanagements of the Commonwealth Games started hitting newspaper headlines world over. The Western media did not allow the opportunity to go waste and started painting India as a nation that refuses to shed its inefficiency and corruption. The western media tirade against India reminded many of the similar vicious campaign launched against China months before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Stories about deliberate attempts to conceal poor hutments and poverty zones by building walls around them and the pollution in Beijing were played up. Some athletes, as they did now, decided to stay away from the games quoting pollution and security concerns as reasons for their decision. And when the American contingent arrived in Beijing, some athletes had masks on their faces. Later, all those critics had to eat their words and described Beijing as the best ever Olympic Games host city. Incidentally, after heaping severe criticism upon India, most of Western and advanced nations have suddenly started finding preparations, including the Games Village and venues of competition In New Delhi of the world standard. Criticism has started dying down giving India a new identity in the world of sports. It is what India has been intending to get on its road to becoming host to the 2020 Olympic Games. Supporting India are the countries that have seen its economic growth after liberalisation of its policies in early 90s. There has been the romantic notion taking hold among the likes of the International Olympic Committee and FIFA that they can be agents for bold global change and movement by opening up new areas of the world to the world’s greatest sporting events. That was certainly the rationale behind awarding the 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics to China and Brazil, respectively, and the 2010 and 2014 World Cups to South Africa and Brazil. And next in the line is India, awaiting its turn to hold both these events in the coming decade. India is keen that this deal should not stop here India may not have been as successful in showcasing its modern, new industrial and IT and BT face to the world through the Commonwealth games as it intended to. Its gradual emergence as a new sporting power is well recognised. From a nation that used to end without a medal between 1984 and 1992 in the Olympic games, has got its way back into the medal tally even after losing its traditional hold on a hockey medal from 1928 till 1972 . Now India gets medals in individual events, starting from tennis - Bronze for Leander Paes in 1996 at Atlanta to country’s first individual gold to Abhinav Bindra in Beijing - has shown its meteoric rise. On Monday when competition starts, India will be in the hunt to finish among the top three. If one looks back at India’s participation in Commonwealth Games, it started with a blank in 1954 and got its first Gold of the games in Cardiff in 1958. In the 2002 games, it had a rich tally of 30 gold, 22 silver and 17 bronze medals. It went down a bit because of exclusion of wrestling event in 2006, it came down to 22 gold, 17 silver and 10 bronze. Now shooting, boxing, wrestling, tennis and badminton have Indian players who are ranked in the world. Burying aside the controversies of the past few months, Indians are hoping for a memorable fortnight of the Games ahead. It may take away the criticism and help salvage national pride.
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India and its ‘global’ presence
New Delhi, October 1 Canada has brought six players and 10 officials of Indian origin in its squad. The most prominent among English athletes is shooter Parag Patel, who won a gold and silver in the 2006 Melbourne Games. Parag Patel, an ENT specialist competes in open full bore pair and individual events. In the pairs, he in partnership with Glyn Barret had won the Gold in the last edition of the Games. In the individual section, he ended with a silver. At 25,
Parag, who has his mother from India and father from Uganda, hopes to continue with his Gold performance here as well. Other medallist from previous Commonwealth Games has been Gurbinder
Cheema, a weightlifter. Though he lost the battle for bronze because of heavier body weight in the 2006 Melbourne Games with a total lift of 330 kg, he had won a bronze in the 2002 edition of the Games in Manchester. Incidentally, Gurbinder Cheema’s father, Gian Singh
Cheema, is not only his coach, but also a prominent weightlifter of yesteryear. He represented England in the 1978 Commonwealth Games in weightlifting and finished fourth in the 90 kg category. Besides Parag Patel, 43-year-old Iqbal Ubhi will also don England colours in shooting. He will be making his debut in the 60m air pistol and centre fire pistol events. Jagroop
Bhullar, though a Canadian, has qualified to represent England in the wrestling competition because of his mother. Twenty-five-year-old
Bhullar, a graduate in Criminology from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, has been the winner of best Canadian University athlete. He competes in 92 kg category. |
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Zaheer keeps India in the hunt
Mohali, October 1 He started off with a reasonable opening spell in which he got the key scalp of stubborn opener Simon Katich after Ricky Ponting chose to bat first. After brief spells in between in which he kept the batsmen guessing with his variations, he returned to bowl an inspired spell towards the fag end of the day. This was the time when the Australians, riding on the back of a solid display by opener Shane Watson and skipper Ricky Ponting, were heading firmly towards a big total. Zaheer brought jubilation to the Indian camp ending Mike Hussey’s tentative stay of at the crease with a gem of a delivery that found him plumb in front of the wicket. Hussey’s unconvincing 104-minute stay at the wicket fetched him 17 runs. Immediately thereafter, he got rid of M North in a dismissal that was somewhat freakish. The delivery, which was left by the batsman believing it well outside the off-stump came, darted in to have a faint brush with the leg-stump bail. It took an unsuspecting Zaheer a while to realise that the bail had been dislodged. North failed to open his account. Zaheer’s inspired spell (4-2-3-2) saw the visitors lose whatever solidity they had gained after some good batting in two early sessions of the day. Tim Paine survived some testing moments while facing Zaheer to stay unbeaten. Harbhajan earlier triggered the slide having Michael Clarke caught by Rahul Dravid in the slips as the Australia, sitting pretty at 172 for two at one stage, slumped to 224 for 5 at close. Watson finished the day unbeaten on 101. Keeping his company at close was Paine, who is yet to get off the mark. Watson, the burly all rounder, made most of the twin reprieves (at 0 and 37) he got off Zaheer and Ojha to post his second Test century and his first against the hosts to keep the visitors’ hopes alive. Barring these two blemishes, Watson was authoritative while driving through the off-side cordon and smart while accumulating runs in the square leg area. Watson is relishing his Indian sojourn thoroughly. This is his third three-figure knock of the tour. In the tour opener against the Board President’s XI at Chandigarh, Watson warmed up for the two-Test series with impressive centuries in both the innings. Ponting was more enterprising and played beautifully. He looked set to play a big knock until he was done in by a smart piece of fielding by Suresh Raina. Raina’s hit the target on the run, finding Ponting just short of the crease. Ponting scored 124-ball 71. Scoreboard Australia (1st innings): Watson batting 101 Katich lbw b Zaheer 6 Ponting run out 71 Clarke c Dravid b Harbhajan 14 Hussey lbw b Zaheer 17 Paine batting 1 Extras (LB-4, NB-10) 14 Total (for 5 wkts, 90 overs) 224 Bowling: Zaheer 16-4-45-3, Sharma 7.4-1-49-0, Ojha 31-12-39-0, Harbhajan 29-6-69-1, Sehwag 6.2-0-18-0.
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Watson plays down Ponting-Zaheer spat
Mohali, October 1 Notably, after being run out Ricky returned while saying something to Zaheer Khan and showed his bat. Zaheer too signalled him to go out. Watson also added that as a captain Ricky knew that there was no need to be involved unnecessarily in such issues but if someone steps out of line, he was not one to take that lightly. On his brilliant batting show, the opener said it was nice to have ton in the opening Test. “I think that the game is even at this moment. We will look forward to having a big partnership tomorrow to mount pressure on the hosts,” said Watson adding that his knock was special as it had come on different conditions. Watson also praised for Zaheer Khan, who produced a top class spell at the fag end of the day to put some breaks on Aussie innings. “Zaheer Khan bowled very well. He is a very skillful bowler with the ability of reversing the ball. You have got to give him credit,” said Watson. However, Watson was of the view that Ishant Sharma’s injury was a blow to the Indian bowling attack. Meanwhile, Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha termed Ishant’s injury as bad news for India. Ishant had left the field midway due to injury while his over was in progress. “At the moment I have no idea about the kind of injury. He has gone for a scan,” said Ojha.
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Newport, October 1 Organisers had been confident the weather would improve by the early afternoon but heavy rain continued to lash the Twenty Ten layout, ruling out any chance of an immediate resumption. A further announcement said that they remained hopeful of a Friday resumption but that a decision would not be made until at least 1500 GMT. Large pools of water had formed on the fairways and greens earlier in the day, forcing the first suspension of play at a Ryder Cup since the 1997 edition at Valderrama, Spain. “This morning it was pretty rough,” European Tour chief referee John Paramor said. "It deteriorated to such an extent that I contacted both captains and said: 'Gentlemen, what do you think?' "At that stage, the first group had just teed off six. But by then it was clear that conditions were not improving so everyone came to the agreement to suspend play.” With the opening matches almost certain not to finish on Friday, the opening foursomes will now spill over into Saturday when Ryder Cup's meteorologist Mike McClellan said better weather was expected. “It appears we are going to have some decent dry weather during the day but then more rain on Saturday night that continues into Sunday morning,” McClellan told Reuters. "Monday looks pretty good but I think the biggest issue we are going to have to deal with, as far as suspension or anything like that, will be a possible fog delay on Saturday morning." — Reuters
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Chhattisgarh girls, R’sthan boys win finals
Kangra, October 1 Rajasthan boys, who were the last year champions, today retained the championship and defeated Chhattisgarh boys in the final of the national championship last evening, by 54-40. Mahipal of Rajasthan scored 28 points and gave a victory to his team. Om Jaswal of Chhattisgarh boys scored 14 points but could not help the team to win the championship. Rajasthan played a well coordinated game and managed to retain the title. — OC
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Rooney out for Sunderland trip n Striker Wayne Rooney will miss Manchester United's trip to Sunderland on Saturday (1400 GMT) after failing to recover from an ankle injury. "Wayne trained yesterday (Thursday) and wants to play of course," manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday. “But I've got to take the view that this ankle injury has been niggling for quite a while and (he) has kept on playing with it. Now we have identified that, we have to be dead sure we are doing the right thing for him." n Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will leave it as late as Saturday morning before deciding whether to play captain Cesc Fabregas for their trip to Chelsea on Sunday (1500). The Spain midfielder has been out with a hamstring injury since the 1-1 draw with Sunderland on Sept. 18. “I don't know (about Cesc)," Wenger told the club's website (www.arsenal.com). “It looks a 50/50 but a 50/50 balancing on the negative side. I will find out on Saturday morning.” n Chelsea hope to have Frank Lampard back in action after the forthcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers, assistant manager Ray Wilkins told reporters on Friday. “He’s recovered from the hernia but in the meantime while he was training to get back he's just got a slight groin strain and it's just given him more problems than he anticipated,” Wilkins said. "I think after the international break we'd expect to see Frank there or thereabouts.” Wilkins also expects to have Yossi Benayoun, Jose Bosingwa and Salomon Kalou available for the trip to Aston Villa on October 16. n Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson is facing a left back dilemma ahead of Sunday's match against Blackpool at Anfield (1400). Paul Konchesky, Fabio Aurelio and Daniel Agger were already nursing injuries before youngster Martin Kelly hurt his knee in Thursday's goalless Europa League draw with Utrecht. “Kelly has got a slight problem with his knee so that could be another left back out for us,” Hodgson told the club’s website (www.liverpoolfc.tv). "I don't know how bad that is so we'll have to wait and see.” n Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp is playing a waiting game on the fitness of captain Ledley King ahead of Saturday's match against Aston Villa (1400). The defender played the full 90 minutes of Wednesday's Champions League victory over Twente Enschede. "We should know by the end of training whether or not Ledley will be available," Redknapp told reporters on Friday. "Other than that we're not too bad, we've the same players out as we had on Wednesday. William Gallas isn't ready and neither is Younes Kaboul and the longer-term injuries are still out.” — Reuters
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India beat Pak in kabaddi
Solan, October 1 President of the Indian Circle Kabaddi Association Yashpal Aggrawal, vice-president Rajinder Rana, general secretary of Pakistan Amateur Circle Kabaddi Association Mohammed Sarvan Bhatt were present. Dr Bindal said kabaddi was essentially a rural sport but the international recognition which it had earned had helped the sport grow and it was not just being played in the South Asian region, but would also gain popularity across the world. Welcoming the Pakistani players, he said India and Pakistan were the part of the same continent and such sport activities help strengthen the bonds of brotherhood between the two nations. He said such events encourage sportsmen. Rajinder Rana while addressing sportsmen said looking at the enthusiasm among sports lovers an Asia Cup could be organised in the state in the near future. He said with a view to encouraging this sport in the state, district-level teams would be selected. Association’s general secretary Prof OP Sharma said both teams had received a rousing welcome from the local people and this had encouraged both teams. Bhatt while said such tournaments would help foster a spirit of brotherhood among the two nations. Officials of the district administration, including deputy commissioner AS Rathode, MLAs and other prominent people of the town were among those who were present.
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will miss some of the greats in track and field, tennis, cycling and gymnastics as the competitions get under way on Monday in the 10-day Commonwealth Games.
Tennis greats like Samantha Stusor of Australia - the French Open finalist, Andy Murray - Australian Open finalist, Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) - former Wimbledon and US Open champion, and Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) - former Australian Open champion have for various reasons decided not to participate in the Delhi Games.
Sports lovers across the nation and abroad, who could not make it to the Commonwealth Games venues to see the action, will now be able to access CWG updates on their
cellphones. Zoomi, a mobile application that will provide latest information on the Games has recently launched its services.
ing day
Mohali, October 1
New Delhi: