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Double delight for Indian rowers
Vijay shoots bronze, Narang flops
Four Indians in squash quarters
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Medal hope Saina makes shock exit
Khan brings India into medal hunt
Forget about the pitch and just play
on
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Double delight for Indian rowers
Guangzhou, November 18 Anil Kumar, Saji Thomas, Ranjit Singh and Jenil Krishnan won silver in the men's four, completing the distance of 2000m in 6:16.79, behind China (6:06.40). Uzbekistan won the bronze in 6:22.70. In the men's lightweight four event final, the Indian quartet of Lokesh Kumar, Manjeet Singh, Rajesh Kumar Yadav and Satish Joshi finished second clocking 6:13.32, behind Japan who came home in 6:10.14. Hong Kong got the bronze, clocking 6:14.84. Men's four team member Jenil Krishnan picked up his third consecutive medal in the Asian Games after grabbing a bronze in 2002 Busan Games and silver in 2006 Doha Games. "We wanted to go for the gold and tried really hard but the Chinese were too good. They pulled away after 750m," said Krishnan. Lightweight four team member Lokesh said he felt very proud to win the medal. "I am feeling so proud. Never felt better. I was nervous at the beginning but eventually overcame it," Lokesh said. Team coach Ismail Baig said all the rowers have been preparing hard for the Games, adding that a gold is expected tomorrow from Bajrang Lal Thakar in the men's singles sculls, in which he secured silver four years ago. "They have made tremendous improvement. I expect a gold from Bajrang Lal," he said. All the medal winning rowers belong to various army divisions and three of the lightweight team members are from Artillery Centre, Hyderabad. The three other Indian teams in action at the International Rowing Centre in Baiyun district failed to make a wave. The women's four team of Monalisa Khumanthem, Rameshwori Devi, Tababi Devi and Shruti Kamath finished a disappointing fifth clocking 7:08.85. In the men's sculls finals also, Indians failed to finish at the podium. The doubles sculls pair of Anil Mehroliya and Devender Khandwal finished sixth, clocking 6:49.34 while Sandeep Kumar and Shokender Tomar were fifth out of six competing pairs in lightweight double sculls in 6:42.23. On the last day of the competition tomorrow, Indian rowers would be participating in men's singles sculls, women's pair, women's lightweight quadruple and men's eight events. Bajrang Lal, the current Asian champion in single sculls, faces a big threat from Chinese Taipei's Wang Ming Hui in a final that is open with all six starters capable of clinching the gold. Hosts China are favoured to win four out of the remaining seven rowing finals tomorrow with Tang Bin all set to win the women's single sculls. The Chinese rowers are also expected to clinch the men's 8 title in which India hope to spring a surprise. — PTI
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Vijay shoots bronze, Narang flops
Guangzhou, November 18 Vijay was in the hunt for a silver medal but he settled for the bronze with a total score of 583. This is his second bronze in the Asian Games after his third position finish in the 10m air pistol. Meanwhile, other Indian shooters apart from Vijay, shot way below the mark and the team finished fifth with a total aggregate of 1726 behind champions China (1743), South Korea (1742), North Korea (1734) and Vietnam (1731). Vijay's medal today was the first shooting medal in four days for the country, after the marksmen and women raised big hopes on the first two days with a haul of two silver and two bronze medals. Narang, who gave the country big hopes on the opening day of the competitions with a double silver haul (individual and team) in the men's 10m air rifle event, disappointed again in the 50m range. He, though qualified for the final but went off the boil to finish fourth with 1162, a point behind bronze medal winner Zhu Qinan of China. Narang too misfired in the final with a shocking 8.3 with his eighth shot that clearly cost him a medal. His 10.6 with the last shot made no difference. Teammates Imran Hasan Khan (1150) and Sanjeev Rajput (1146), the country's best 3-position shooter, were totally off colour and the team too suffered to finish 4th with an overall aggregate of 3458. The gold, silver and bronze went to South Korea (3489), Kazakhstan (3478) and China (3471). But the bizarre story of the day was the accidental firing of his pistol by another shooter. Harpreet Singh in the men’s centre fire event, after he was going great guns with a perfect 40 score in the dueling round and his zero mark cost the team a sure medal in the event. According to chief coach Sunny Thomas this was a bizarre happening as Harpreet was the third Indian shooter in this competition to have fired a blank. — PTI
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Four Indians in squash quarters
Guangzhou, November 18 The duo of Saurav Ghosal and Siddharth Suchde won their respective second round matches in the men’s event, while Chennai girls Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa thrashed their rivals with identical 3-0 scorelines to make it to the last-eight stage of the individual events. In the women’s event, Pallikal, the 19-year-old world number 36, scored a comfortable 3-0 (11-4, 12-10, 11-1) victory over Gu Jinyue of China in just 23 minutes, while national champion Joshana blew away Aribado Jemyca of Philippines 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 in 19 minutes. Siddharth Suchde scripted a win over Hong Kong’s Wai Siu Lau 9-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-4 while Ghosal made short work of Ammar Altemimi from Kuwait, registering a facile 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 victor , in just 32 minutes. — PTI |
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Medal hope Saina makes shock exit
Guangzhou, November 18 World number three Saina lost 8-21, 21-8, 19-18 to last edition's silver medallist and world number 12 Yip Pui Yin in the fiercely fought quarterfinal, which lasted 46 minutes. Saina was carrying millions of Indian hopes as all of her compatriots had already crashed of their respective events early in the day. At Beijing Olympics also Saina had lost at the same quarterfinal stage. Early in the day, men's singles player Aravind Bhat and mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju also crashed out. Bhat lost 19-21, 12-21 to world number sixth Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand in his second round encounter at the Tianhe Gymnasium here. Jwala Gutta and V Diju further plunged the Indian camp in dismay as t he Indian pair lost 21-17, 13-21, 16-21 against the Korean combination in a 36-minute match. — PTI |
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Khan brings India into medal hunt
Guangzhou, November 18 Khan’s superb display, that also equaled the best round for the day, helped India make a big leap in the team event from ninth overnight to third at the end of the day. Khan, a former Faldo Series Asia winner who is soon to turn professional, came up with his sub-par round after carding 71 in the first round for an overall two-day aggregate of five-under, which set him up firmly in the hung for the individual medal. “I played with more confidence today. I hit the ball and everything was perfect. Our team got to seven-under today. We had a meeting yesterday after the round and gave some advice to each other. That’s why we improved today,” Khan said after bringing himself and India into medal contention. Team manager S Shanthakumaran praised Khan for his mental toughness and said he can even have a shot at the gold. — PTI |
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Forget about the pitch and just play
on
Nagpur, November 18 This is exactly what India have done in this series as the first two Test matches meandered to draws. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has criticised the pitches in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, pacers bowlers Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth have pilloried these tracks and spinners Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha have castigated these ‘sleeping beauties’ even further. “The curator of these pitches should be given a contract to construct national highways,” has been the tongue-in-cheek observation of Harbhajan. “A result cannot be achieved on such dead wickets,” Dhoni has remarked. While these pitches-in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad-have not been exactly lively, a closer look reveals that they do not deserve such vehement criticism. If these pitches have been as dead as a graveyard, how come the Kiwi bowlers Daniel Vettori and Chris Martin have extracted life out of them? So far in this series, Kiwi skipper (and lead spinner) Vettori has claimed 11 wickets at a strike rate of 77. In contrast, India’s main spinner (now main batsman) Harbhajan has just managed six wickets at a strike rate of 97. Both have bowled on the same surface. When Sreesanth and Zaheer could not do any damage in Ahmedabad, on the same pitch 36-year-old veteran pace bowler Chris Martin rattled the much-vaunted Indian batting order and reduced them to 15 for 5. So, to categorically condemn these pitches will be going too far. The Indian bowlers will have to share some blame as well. They have been largely listless and unimpressive. Things could change in Nagpur though. The pitch at the picturesque VCA Stadium in Jamtha (on the outskirts of the city) has a reputation of producing results. This will be the third Test on this venue and both the earlier games here have witnessed a lively pitch. The first Test here in 2008 (Sourav Ganguly’s last Test) saw the home team beating Australia and the second one in February this year ended in a win for visitors South Africa, with paceman Dale Steyn tormenting the Indian batsmen. Praveen Hingnikar, the curator here at Nagpur, sounded quite optimistic going into the decider. “Two Tests here have given results and I’m quite confident that this one will also give us a result,” he said. While the New Zealand team had a full net session here this morning, the Indians chose to rest. There was a steady shower for about half-an-hour in the afternoon and the Indian players stayed put at the hotel. There, Harbhajan agreed that the bowlers will have to go all out in the final Test. “Now Zaheer will be missing for this Test and that puts extra responsibility on us bowlers. I’m quite happy with the way I have been bowling and hopefully I will get some bounce from the pitch here. My batting has been very good in this series so far, but I’m looking forward to taking wickets in this Test,” said Bhajji. (Zaheer Khan has been ruled out of the decider with a groin strain and Ishant Sharma is likely to come into the team in his place). It’s time for the Indian unit to forget about the state of the pitch and turn in a performance that underscores their position as the top Test team in the world. Kiwis name ODI squad
New Delhi: New Zealand on Thursday announced their 15-man squad for the five-match one-day international series with India, which gets underway in Guwahati on November 28. Scott Styris returns to bolster the side after missing out on the Bangladesh series through injury, while Martin Guptill and Gareth Hopkins stay on. Also returning is Jamie How, while fast bowler Hamish Bennett misses out through injury. Batsman Shanan Stewart, who had a disastrous series in Bangladesh, has also been left out. The squad: Daniel Vettori (capt), Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey, Kane Williamson. — TNS |
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Indian rowers clinched two silver medals from five events they competed in today, to bring some cheer to the medal-hungry contingent on the sixth day of competitions here at the 16th Asian Games. The silver medals were bagged by men's four and lightweight four teams.
Vijay Kumar secured his second bronze medal in pistol shooting but Commonwealth Games rifle wielding hero Gagan Narang completely flopped, to leave the much-heralded Indian shooting squad with a meagre tally of two silver and three bronze at the end of the rifle and pistol events in the Asian Games, here today.
Whenever a Test fails to produce a result, there is a common tendency to exaggerate the importance of the pitch. This role of the pitch gets further enhanced if the matches are being played in the sub-continent, where traditionally the track is supposed to break up and assist the spinners. Whenever this does not happen, the pitch emerges as the chief culprit with all and sundry hurling scorn at it.
