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Geeta claims historic gold
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Clarke sprints to 100m gold
Gurpreet completes golden double
Australia trounce India 5-2
Crushing wins for Akhil, Amandeep
Somdev, Sania sail into semis
Luck smiles on India and Sudhir Kumar
Games Diary
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Geeta claims historic gold
New Delhi, October 7 Suman Kundu got India its third medal from the competition winning her bronze medal play-off in the 63 kg category. Geeta, from Bhiwani, who had earlier won gold in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship, literally toyed with her Australian opponent Emily Bensted by pinning her down in the second round with still a few seconds left for the bout to end. Geeta was enjoying a whopping lead of 8-1. The Indian grappler controlled the proceedings right from the start and never let her opponent make a comeback. She repeatedly got points employing the flipper tactic, catching the opponent’s leg and trying to pin her down. "I never expected the finals to be such a one-sided affair. I believe my semi-final bout against the Nigerian girl (Lovina Odohi Edwards) was a tougher battle. Comparatively the final was an easy one," an ecstatic Geeta said after her convincing victory. "I was always confident of doing well having won the gold in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship earlier this year," she told mediapersons. The girl, who hails from that part of India which has produced champion boxers like Vijender Singh, Akhil Kumar, informed that her father Mahavir Singh is her coach and she also dedicated her gold winning performance to her father. "My father is a former wrestler. I have learnt the tricks of the game from him. I owe my success to my father," she said. Even Sam Parker, the Aussie wrestling coach was all praise for Indian girl. "She (Geeta) was very good and that’s why she won the bout. But I am happy about my ward (Emily)’s performance," Parker said. — PTI
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Clarke sprints to 100m gold
New Delhi, October 7 Clarke, the only man in the final to have broken the 10-second barrier in the past two years, had enough time to get a look around and confirm his win before bursting into a unique celebration, fast becoming typical with Jamaican sprinters. In the women’s 100m it was Australia’s Sally Pearson who won gold with a timing of 11.28 seconds. Pearson overcame the shock of believing that she had been disqualified for a false start. She was followed by Osayemi Oludamola of Nigeria and Natasha Mayers of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. India’s medal hopes in shot put Om Prakash and Sourabh Vij finished 4th and 5th, while athlete Manjeet failed to qualify for the 400m women’s final. But the lone good news from the track was from Mandeep Kaur, who did make it to the 400m finals to be held tomorrow. |
Gurpreet completes golden double
New Delhi, October 7 In fact shooters from Punjab, including mercurial Abhinav Bindra, Ronjan Sodhi and now Gurpreet Singh, are constantly making the medal tally of the home contingent swell. Gurpreet and Omkar have become the third and fourth Indian shooters after Gagan Narang and Anisa Sayyed to win a gold double in the Games so far. Gurpreet Singh, a markman from Army, had taken to shooting only three years ago. This morning he paired up with Vijay Kumar to win India's first gold medal of the day by creating a new record in the 25 m Rapid Pistol Fire. The duo had a score of 1162 against the old record of 1154. It was India's fourth gold medal in shooting. Hafiz Adhza and Amir Hasan of Malaysia took the silver with a score of 1144 in the 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol while the bronze went to Australian team of David Chapman and Bruce Quick. Later in the day, Gurpreet tamed up with Omkar Singh of Madhya Pradesh to win his second gold in 10 m Air Pistol. Again, they got past the previous Commonwealth Games record of 1154 held by their countrymen Samaresh Jung and Vivek Singh broken. In the 10 m Air Pistol, Nick Baxter and Michael Gauth of England followed Gurpreet and Omkar with a silver medal by returning an aggregate of 1143, far behind their best of 1163. The bronze in the event went to Gai Bin and Lim Swee of Singapore. They returned a score of 1139. For Omkar it was his third medal of the Games as he won a silver and a gold yesterday. Ronjan Sodhi and Asher Noria of India along with K. Jones (ION) had to share the second spot and contend with a silver today in the Trap Individual by returning a score of 186 against Steven watson of Australia who set a new Games Record with a score of 190. Ronjan and Noria had taken a silver in the Trap pairs yesterday. he had blamed some lapses in concentration for missing the gold yesterday. In fact, it was a mixed day for Indian shooters today as Tejaswani Sawant and Lajjawati were disappointing in their performance. While Lajjawati Gauswami qualified for the final in th 50 m Rifle 3 Positions for women, Tejaswani Sawant, who won the World Championship weeks before the start of the Games, failed to make the final round. Lajjawati also finished a poor sixth in the event. With two gold medals and a silver, India's shooting tally has swelled to five gold and four silver medals. Golden Double Gurpreet Singh paired up with Vijay Kumar to win India's first gold medal of the day by creating a new record in the 25 m Rapid Pistol Fire. It was India's fourth gold medal in shooting. Later in the day, Gurpreet tamed up with Omkar Singh of Madhya Pradesh to win his second gold in 10 m Air Pistol |
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Australia trounce India 5-2
New Delhi, October 7 The 5-2 win of the Australians today reminded many in the stands of a similar defeat the Kangaroos had inflicted on India in the last World Cup at the same venue earlier this year. After getting two goals on a platter in the first three minutes of a crucial pool "A" match, Australia survived some anxious moments and five penalty corners to hold on to narrow 2-1 lead at the lemon break. But once the teams changed ends, India virtually gave in, conceding three goals before getting a last minute reprieve through penalty corner conversion by Sandeep Singh. Undeterred by the two early reverses, India did try to stage a come back with some brilliant hockey in the remainder of the first half but missed chances, poor finish and inability to convert penalty corners prevented them from coming out of the "Oz phobia" that virtually marred their play in the second half. Incidentally, it was the second time the two teams have met since hockey was introduced in the games in 1998. In 1998 and today, India lost by identical 2-5 margin. Yesterday, Indian women had lost to the Australians 1-2. Australia looking for the fourth consecutive gold in men's hockey since 1998 could not have asked for a better start. A defence lapse in the seciond minute saw Des Abbot getting past Bharat Chhetri in the Indian goal with a powerful reverse flick. In fact, Australia almost started with a goal in the first minute but skipper Jymie Dwyer's attempt flew yards away from the goal. Before India could recover from the first goal, Trent Mitton made it 2-0 by intercepting a free hit from outside the circle and caught Chhetri in hopeless situation. Playing before a packed stadium, Indian players made a concerted effort to get back into the match. Well coordinated moves by the forward line saw Tushar Khandekar putting Dharamvir Singh (of Chandigarh) in possession who got past experienced Nathan Burgers in the Australian goal with an angular shot from the top of the circle. With score reading 1-2, Indians did try to put their best foot forward by mounting tremendous pressure earning five penalty corners.
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Crushing wins for Akhil, Amandeep
New Delhi, October 7 The bout was preceded by another Indian, Amandeep Singh’s fight in the Light Flyweight (46-49kg) category. Amandeep took on Rwanda’s Haziza Matusi and won 4-0. He started on a sluggish and more cautious note as the opening round failed to yield any points for either pugilist. But the nippy Amandeep landed some well directed blows on Matushi in the second round to take a 3-0 round and overall lead. He then had a little fun in the third round, dropping his guard occasionally, and wrapped up the bout with a 4-0 win. But clearly, it was Akhil who ruled the roost on the day. The Rohtak lad was in his element and after keeping the guard for the first round, which he lead 2-0, he showed his real flair in the next two rounds. He danced, ducked, feigned moves and dropped his guard completely as he opened a 4-0 lead at the end of the second round. The third round was a mere formality, but Akhil was in no mood to let go. Playing to a capacity crowd, he threw punches in a mad rush picking up three back-to-back points. At 7-0, it was game over, but still Akhil had time to mock Qadir as he made him jump all over the place trying to land that elusive point-fetching punch. Tomorrow’s matches will see Jai Bhagwan, Dilbag Singh and then the big one, Olympic medallist Vijender Singh in action. VIjender takes on Kenya’s Dick Ombaka in the middleweight (75kg) category.
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Somdev, Sania sail into semis
New Delhi, October 7 Somdev faced tough resistance from sixth seed Robin Statham of New Zealand before prevailing 6-3, 6-4 in 101 minutes while Sania Mirza disposed of eighth seed Erakovic Maria, also of New Zealand, 6-2, 6-3 in 66 minutes. Later in the afternoon, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had to wage a battle of attrition against Josh Goodal and James Ward of England in 6-2,6-7 (4), 7-6 (4) to enter the men's doubles semi-final. The contest lasted a marathon 143 minutes, with the final set alone consuming 67 minutes. Leander and Mahesh had won the first set rather confortably in 21 minutes, but then the English pair warmed up to drive the top-seeded Indian pair into a corner in the second, which they clinched in 55 minutes, and then almost edged out the hosts, but the Indian Grand Slam champions brought out all their talent and energy to come up trumphs in the decider. The way the Indians fought today, they seem determined to bag as many medals as possible in tennis, which has made its Commonwealth Games debut in Delhi, but will not be there in the 2014 edition at Glasgow. Top seed Somdev Devvarman has had two comfortable matches in the first two rounds, but had to stretch himself to book his berth in the semis. "I am happy to be in the semis. I am happy with closing it down well", he said. Somdev will take on Matt Edben of Australia in the semi-final, whom he had never played before. "He's a very good player. I will have to play well and can't give him too many chances", Devvarman observed. The top Indian singles player was all praise for the crowd. "Delhi is a place where you can play good tennis", he noted. With this win, Somdev took his head-to-head tally against Statham, ranked 353, to 2-0. Somdev had beaten him in 2008 at the Lexington Challenger qualifiers in the USA. Though Somdev got some of his poweful strokes bang on target, Statham kept attacking his backhand using his thundering forehand but the top seed had the same weapon in his armoury too, to effectively retaliate. Twice, Devvarman came back from behind to pocket the opening set although he had the first chance to go ahead. A forehand winner helped him level the scores 2-2 and another one to shoot into a 4-2 lead. He dropped his serve in the seventh game on a forehand error but broke back immediately and then served out the set with an ace to end a 46-minute intense opening set. Statham committed too many unforced effors to help the cause of Devvarman considerably, and out of frustration, the Kiwi banged his racquet on the court and he never recovered from the early setback.
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Luck smiles on India and Sudhir Kumar
New Delhi, October 7 Peter Yukio not only give Nauru its first gold medal of the games but also set new records, both in snatch and total in the event. He cleared 148 kg in snatch, to equal a new record that has been set only a few minutes earlier by Felix Ekpo of Nigeria. Yukio’s total of 333 kg is also a new Commonwealth Games record. Incidentally, Peter Yukio who also holds all three records - snatch (156 kg), 196 kg (clean and jerk) and 350 kg (aggregate) - but came nowhere near them in today’s competition. Performance of Peter Yukio and misfortune of Felix Ekpo apart, the end of competition brought cheers to Indian camp as well as Padma Raju Chitradurga, who after failing to clear 171 kg in his third and last attempt in clean and jerk virtually expected a fourth position.
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Games Diary A newsletter brought out by the Organising Committee for athletes and officials in the Games Village is proving to be a big help for Suresh Kalmadi, who is trying really hard to repair his tarnished reputation. He thinks the media has treated him unfairly by blaming him for everything that went wrong with the Games preparations while denying him any praise for the successful conduct of the Games since they took off. The newsletter, Village News, arrives at the doorstep of athletes early in the morning and carries a write-up from Kalmadi titled ‘from the chairman’s desk’. The newsletter carries the latest on the medal tally, the interviews of the winners and, of course, all the hard work Kalmadi and his team have been putting in to make the Games a grand success. Gold-medallist travels in auto
Renu Bala had every reason to think that she would be treated like a queen after she won a gold for India on Wednesday. Within a few hours, though, the indifferent treatment of the officials, who pull the real strings in our world of sports, brought her face to face with bitter reality. As she decided to head for the Games Village, she realised that nobody had bothered to wait for her and there were no vehicles available. She waited, spoke to officials, but in vain. It was then that she decided that enough was enough and took an auto. When mediapersons contacted team manager for comments, he was as surprised and made all kinds of excuses. Apparently, he too did not care. Energy drinks for foreigners
An overwhelming majority of foreign athletes being taken to referral units suffer from energy burn which they blame on the hot and humid Indian conditions. They are given energy drinks and return to the Games village fit and fine. The athletes are finding it a bit difficult to cope with the muggy Delhi weather which is, however, being regarded very pleasant by most Delhi-ites, who are used to much worse conditions. The joke among doctors is that had the Games been held two months earlier, India, which is at second spot in the medal tally, would have topped the charts with most rivals likely to find it difficult to cope with the extremely hot climate. (Kumar Rakesh. Himani Chandel) |
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New Delhi, October 7
The English diving contingent, including world champion Tom Daley, today gave a thumbs up to the Dr S P Mukherjee Aquatics Complex, saying the diving facilities at the venue are "amazing". "The venues are good. We went to pool last night. The facility looks amazing. We are looking forward for good sports," said Daley. He also denied reports that there were problems with the diving platforms and steps at the competition venue. The 16-year-old English diver, who won 10m platform gold at the World Championships in Rome last year, also looked excited about his stay in the Capital. "We have just arrived. I could not find time to go out and click pictures but yes, I would like to take some. It is amazing out here," Daley said. PTI