Guangzhou, November 16
India opened a new page in its Asian Games history with Ashish Kumar clinching the first-ever medal in gymnastics while Virdhawal Khade broke the swimming medal drought after 24 years as the contingent added three bronze to its kitty in an otherwise dismal fourth day of competitions here today.

Ashish Kumar made the country's first foray into the gymnastics medals podium with a bronze in the men's floor event but disappointing performances in other disciplines resulted in India slipping to the ninth position in the medals table.

The 19-year-old Khade also scripted history as he became the first Indian swimmer in 24 years to clinch an Asian Games medal by notching up a bronze in the men's 50 m butterfly event. Harika Dronavalli also clinched a bronze in the women's individual chess.

With the addition of three bronze medals to the kitty, India's medals tally rose to one gold, four silver and six bronze. India had finished tenth on the medal's tally in the Doha Asian Games in 2006 with ten gold, 17 silver and 26 bronze medals.

But the failure to win any gold medal meant that India could not maintain their seventh position on the medal rostrum, going down by two places.

The Chinese juggernaut continued to roll on as the hosts maintained their position atop the medals table with a whopping tally of 75-26-27 while South Korea (22-17-25) and Japan (15-34-28) were in the second and third position respectively.

Pugilist Suranjoy Singh also provided some spark to punch his way into pre-quarter finals while the shooters came a cropper for the second successive day.

Suranjoy gave a resounding start to the team's boxing campaign by entering the fly weight (52kg) pre-quarters with a thumping win over Thailand's Chatchai Butdee but the script turned out to be quite different at the other venues where the shooters, shuttlers, lifters, men's football team and the women's hockey team came up with dismal performances.

Indian shooters drew a blank for the second successive day after they failed to qualify for the final round of the women's 25m pistol individual event and finished a lowly seventh in the team competition.

The women's hockey team were handed a 0-3 thrashing by Japan in their second game while the paddlers endured another disappointing day with only the men's doubles pair of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Subhajit Saha progressing to the pre-quarterfinals.

The day clearly belonged to two youngsters — Ashish Kumar and Khade — for their feats in gymnastics and swimming.

Khade, who topped his heat by clocking 24.56sec, finished third in the 50m butterfly finals with a timing of 24.31sec, thus ensuring that India did not draw a blank from the pool.

Khazan Singh was the last Indian swimmer to win a medal at the Asian Games when he clinched the 100m freestyle silver in the 1986 Seoul edition.

In football, India suffered a 0-5 drubbing at the hands of title contenders Japan to crash out of the tournament after qualifying to the knock-out phase of the Asian Games for the first time in 28 years.

India, who made it to the round of 16 after defeating Singapore 4-1 in their last group match, were no match to their formidable opponents who have won all their earlier matches and have not conceded any goal so far in the tournament.

After bagging two silver and as many bronze medals, the shooters, who provided India with the golden touch in the CWG, put up a flop show and left everyone wondering what has gone wrong with them The women's 25m pistol — individual and team — was the only shooting event which featured Indians today but much to the dislike of the fans there was disappointment in store.

Rahi Sarnobat finished 10th in the individual qualifiers with a score of 577 after managing 286 in precision and 291 in rapid, while Annu Raj Singh came 18th at 574 (288+286) and Anisa Sayyed 26th with a tally of 566 (282+284).

The trio could not make much of an impact in the team event as well, finishing seventh with 1717 points after combining for 856 in precision and 290 in rapid.

In boxing, The 24-year-old Suranjoy, who has won an astonishing seven international gold medals since April 2009, thrashed Butdee 7-2 in his and India's opening bout at the Foshan Gymnasium here.

Fresh from his seventh international gold at last month's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Suranjoy was as usual sharp in his movement and dodged his rival's attempted attacks craftily. Suranjoy will now be up against Juseong Kim of Korea who got the better of Kazakhstan's Miras Zakhupov 5-3 in his opening bout. — PTI

Hyderabad, November 16
Brendon McCullum notched up his best-ever Test score of 225 to ensure that the second Test between India and New Zealand ended in a draw at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here today.

Thanks to McCullum's brilliant knock, New Zealand declared at 448 for 8 after 135 overs, during the tea break, leaving India to chase 327 runs off 30 overs (15 overs plus 15 mandatory overs). The match ended after India made 68 for no loss in 17 overs, after 57 minutes of batting. New Zealand, No. 8 on the ICC rankings, thus held the top-ranked India to another draw, the fourth consecutive time in recent years.

Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag used India's brief second innings for some batting practice and Sehwag launched into a vicious attack on the Kiwi bowlers, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor in particular, to knock in 54 off as many balls with six fours and one six. Gambhir could only stand and stare as Sehwag blazed away.

Man of the Match McCullum, however, was the hero of the match. Resuming at 124, he and the young Kane Williamson (batting 12 overnight) treated the Indian bowlers with disdain to keep the scoreboard ticking and by lunch they had taken the score to 339/4.

They added 102 runs with McCullum unbeaten on 171 and Williamson on 66 as the Kiwi second innings lead swelled to 217. The new ball was taken as soon as it was due in the morning, 12 minutes after the start, but New Zealand did not lower their guard or slow the momentum. McCullum had come to the crease with the visitors 122 runs in the arrears after the first innings and played a memorable knock to dash India's hopes of a victory.

After Williamson's exit, McCullum and Daniel Vettori collected 20 runs off the next four overs to show the direction in which the Test was headed for. McCullum was given a reprieve by Cheteshwar Pujara when on 148, dropping him off Harbhajan, at forward short leg.

Scoreboard

New Zealand 1st Innings: 350

India 1st Innings: 472

New Zealand 2nd Innings: (overnight 237 for 4)

McIntosh c Pujara b Ojha 49

McCullum c Raina b Sreesanth 225

Guptill c Dhoni b Ojha 18

Taylor b Sreesanth 7

Ryder c Dhoni b Raina 20

Williamson lbw Harbhajan 69

Vettori c Dravid b Raina 23

Hopkins not out 11

Southee b Sreesanth 11

Arnel not out 1

Extras: 14

Total: (for 8 wickets decl) 448

Bowling: Zaheer 7.3-1-21-0, Sreesanth 27-5-121-3, Ojha 47.3-14-137-2, Harbhajan 38-3-117-1, Tendulkar 2-0-7-0, Raina 13-2-38-2.

India 2nd innings:

Gambhir not out 14

Sehwag not out 54

Total: (for no loss) 68

Bowling: Southee 4-0-11-0, Arnel 5-1-11-0, Guptill 5-0-33-0, Taylor 3-0-13-0. 

Galle, November 16
West Indies opener Chris Gayle made the joint 12th highest Test score with a magnificent 333 on day two of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. The Windies had begun the day on 362-2 with Gayle unbeaten on 219.

He passed his previous best of 317, but fell to Ajantha Mendis after matching the 333 set by Graham Gooch in 1990.

The tourists declared on 580-9 and Sri Lanka lost Tillakaratne Dilshan for a second ball duck before reaching stumps 526 runs adrift at 54-1.

Gayle first made a triple century with 317 against South Africa at Antigua in 2005, and is only the fourth man to achieve the feat twice in Test history, after Sir Donald Bradman, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag.

The all-time individual Test batting record is held by former West Indies great Lara - for the second time. Lara hit 375 against England at the Antigua Recreation Ground in 1994, overtaking the previous record of 365 not out, held by Windies legend Garry Sobers since 1958.

Australia's Matthew Hayden flayed a weak Zimbabwe side for 380 in 2003, but six months later Lara reclaimed his record with an unbeaten 400 against England on the same ground as his 375. — Reuters

New Delhi, November 16
The Indian cricket board has sent a circular to the state associations that all domestic cricketers intending to play in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League will have to come through their respective state association. In all likelihood, the BCCI will introduce a 'token system' for the domestic players. The clause will be applicable for those first-class cricketers who won't be up for auctions for the next edition.

In fact, a senior office-bearer of a state association admitted to having received a circular in this regard. "We have received a circular a few days back that players who are registered with a particular state association need to inform about their availability through their respective parent bodies," the official said today. "In fact the letter states that there will be a particular format for application which needs to be followed. The application needs an attestation from the state body after which a token with a registration number will be issued. Only then can a franchise start dealing with any particular cricketer," the official informed.

Incidentally, the BCCI has had the same approach for the overseas players also where their availability needs to be routed through their country's cricket board. The officials of state bodies feel that this system may just reduce the growing influence that agents have on players if not totally diminish it. It has also been learnt that the IPL governing council will ask the six old franchises to submit the names of the players whom they would like to retain by December 6. — PTI 

Mumbai, November 16
idst indications that the investors group of the Kochi IPL team is not too keen in running the franchisee, the IPL Governing Council is likely to take a call on scrapping the team during its meeting at the Bandra Kurla Complex here tomorrow. The BCCI last month gave a 30-day notice to the Kochi IPL consortium to sort out its internal differences and get its ownership structure in order. However, the investor group of the consortium has reportedly not come to an understanding with the promoters Rendezvous Sports World Private Limited and is likely to request the BCCI to let them withdraw from the franchisee.

This is also likely to pave the way for the Cricket Board to have a discussion on inviting tenders for a new franchisee, which will ensure that at least eight franchisees participate in the next edition of the IPL. When contacted, a Governing Council member, however, said a decision on the Kochi issue would be taken only after the end of the 30-day notice period. "The franchisee has been given a 30-day notice. A decision cannot be taken before that," the member said.

The BCCI had last month terminated its contract with the Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals franchisees alleging that they had violated the contractual agreement and changed their share-holding pattern without informing the Cricket Board. Among other issues that may crop up during the meeting are setting of a reserve price for the players and their agreements, deciding on the time-frame of the transfer window for the next edition of IPL, taking a decision on floating tenders for rest of the world television rights, global internet and mobile rights. Besides, the minutes of the previous Governing Council meeting held on September 27, October 10 and 27 are also likely to be finalised during this meeting. — PTI 

Hyderabad, November 16
India spinner Harbhajan Singh might have struck back-to-back hundred in the last two Tests against New Zealand but captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today said he did not want to put pressure on the spinner by calling him an all-rounder. "Bhajji is still a specialist bowler, who can bat. I don't want to give him a tag of an all-rounder and put pressure on him," said Dhoni at the post-match presentation after the second Test ended in a draw here at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium. "But his batting surely gives us a cushion of having five bowlers in the team. It is good sign for our batting department," he added.

Harbhajan Singh, who saved the first Test at Ahmedabad against New Zealand by scoring a crucial hundred in the second innings, besides a half-century in the first essay, continued his fabulous run with the bat in the second Test as well. During the Hyderabad Test here, Harbhajan came up with a fine 111 not out in the first innings to give India a healthy lead against the Black Caps. India had a great chance of winning this Test as New Zealand started the final day only 115 runs ahead with six wickets in hand, but the hosts failed to take early wickets and conceded the advantage.

McCullum was also all praise for Kane Williamson, with whom he shared a valuable 124-run stand for the fifth wicket that saw New Zealand cruise through the opening session. "Kane took all the pressure off and played aggressive brand of cricket. He has been outstanding in the last two Test matches," said McCullum. Skipper Vettori also heaped praise on the batters. "I am extremely pleased with the top-order batting. It has taken away the pressure from us. Today, McCullum and Williamson set up the rest of the day for us," said Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori.

The two teams now head to the final Test in Nagpur and India would be desperate for a victory to avoid being held at home by their lesser-ranked opponents. "The wicket at Nagpur assess the bowlers and specially the spinners. So, I am hoping to get a result in the last match," said Dhoni. Vettori said, "It is a one-off Test now and we would be putting our best foot forward." — PTI

Gurdaspur, November 16
Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) gymnastic team was placed third in the All India Inter University Gymnastics championship which concluded at Patiala recently.

The GNDU team comprised of Sarbjit Kaur, Kanika Sharma and Mandeep Kaur, all students of local Pt Mohan Lal S.D College for Women. The institution has a knack of producing international sportswomen with the most prominent sports personality of the Institution being international gymnast Samita Sharma, who was also the coach of the GNDU gymnastic team.

Sarbjit Kaur was a member of the Punjab team that won the first position in the Federation Cup held as a trial event for the Commonwealth games at New Delhi. Kanika Sharma and Mandeep Kaur were part of the Gurdaspur contingent that won a gold medal in the gymnastic event of the Punjab women’s sports festival which concluded at Patiala last week.

The College Principal Neelam Sethi felicitated the team members and Coach Samita Sharma.

BRIEFLY

Harika wins bronze in women’s individual chess
Guangzhou: India's Harika Dronavalli clinched the bronze medal in the women's individual chess at the Asian Games, here today. Chinese top seed Hou Yifan won the gold, while compatriot Zhao Xue got the silver. Harika, with five wins, three draws and one loss, scored 6.5 points to grab the third spot. Grand Master Yifan won eight rounds and drew one to score 8.5 points. And Xue, also a grandmaster, won seven matches, drew one and lost one to finish with 7.5 points. Meanwhile, another Indian women's player Tania Sachdev could earn only 5.5 points with five wins, one draw and three losses, to finish on sixth position. — PTI

Bomiljit wins bronze in wushu
Guangzhou: Indian wushu players had a good day in office at the Asian Games with Bimoljit Singh Mayanglambam winning the bronze and Sandhyarani Devi Wangkhem assuring India of at least a silver in the men's and women's Sanshou 60kg events respectively here today. Bimoljit lost his semifinal bout to Mohsen Mohammadseifi of Iran 0-2, but still bagged a bronze for the country at the Nansha Gymnasium here. The 27-year-old Indian had knocked out Valasith Bouapha of Laos in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinal. Sandhyarani Devi Wangkhem, meanwhile, beat Paloy Barckkham of Lao 2-0 in the semifinals of the women's sanshou 60 kg event to assure India for a silver. She will next face Azadpour Khadijeh of Iran in the summit clash. The Indian had beaten Moria Manalu 2-0 in the quarterfinals yesterday. — PTI

Indian cagers reach quarters
Guangzhou: India spanked Vietnam 3-0 in their final group B preliminary match to advance to the quarterfinals of the men's volleyball event of the Asian Games at the Pharmaceutical Stadium here today. India staved off the late challenge from Vietnam to notch up a 25-20, 25-16, 25-23 victory to rise to the second spot in Group B, which is headed by defending champions South Korea. India had started their campaign with a 3-1 win over Kazakhstan, before losing 0-3 to South Korea in their last two encounters in the preliminary stage. — PTI

Free beer for Australians
Sydney: An Australian brewery will provide a free beer for every adult in the country if the Australian cricket team wins the Ashes test series against England starting this month. Team sponsor Carlton and United Breweries announced the promotion in Sydney on Tuesday at a launch attended by captain Ricky Ponting. If Australia wins back the Ashes, the brewery will print vouchers in five Australian newspapers which can be redeemed for a bottle of its beer.The promotion could cost the brewer as much as 20 million Australian dollars. The first test begins at Brisbane on November 25, with the final test in January. England has not won a series in Australia for 24 years, but has won its past two home Ashes series. — AP