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Sania settles for Bronze
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Wrestlers begin with two bronze medals
New Zealand in India
Gambhir up for the challenge
Women archers win maiden team medal
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In the other semifinal, China's Peng Shui shocked top seed Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan 7-6 (6) 3-6 6-2 to advance to the gold medal match against Amanmuradova. Both the losing semifinalists, Sania and Date-Krumm, won bronze medals as there is no play-off for third place. Sania committed five double faults when she was serving for the first set at 5-4. Later she led 6-2 in the tie-break before it became 6-6 before she finally clinched it 9-7. The set lasted 74 minutes and drained the Indian. In the second set, the hard-serving Uzbek broke her for a 4-3 lead and then surged to take it 6-3. The decisive break in the final set, that went with serve, came in the 10th game when Sania muffed three forehands to be down 0-40. She tried to get out of the situation with an inside-out forehand to finish a rally but only ended up putting the ball into the tram-lines and lost the set and the match. Sania, looking glum, said later that her rival was the better player on the day. "We played for an hour and 45 minutes and it could have gone either way. She was the better player on the day. Her main strength is her serves which she mixes up well," Sania, ranked 166th on the women's circuit, said. Sania did not agree that the five double faults she served, including four in the opening game, made a difference to the result. PTI
Somdev charges into semis
The incident happened when Somdev was up 3-0 in the second set after having wrapped up the first with the help of two breaks of serve in 50 minutes. He was down 0-40 on his serve when he hit an easy overhead kill only to see the umpire ask for a replay of the point. The umpire wanted the point to be replayed as even before the winning shot had been essayed by the Indian player, a ball boy rolled a ball on to the court. Miffed Somdev argued with the chair official, forced Shu on to the court before it was finally decided to replay the point and the Indian dropped the serve promptly. The Tripura lad later slammed the incident and said he had never been involved in any such case. |
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Wrestlers begin with two bronze medals
While CWG gold medallist Ravinder defeated Muhammad Aliansyah of Indonesia 9-3 in the repechage to bag the bronze, Rana got the better of Sutep Oomchompoo of Thailand 4-2 to register his name in the medals tally. In the 60kg category, Ravinder had won his first round bout against Nurbakyt Tengizbayev of Kazakhstan earlier in the day before losing to Jung Jihyun of South Korea 0-3 in the semifinals. Rana beat Turkmenistan's Yazgeldy Kadyrov 3-0 in the 66kg quarterfinals before going down to Saeid Abdvali of Iran in the semifinals. However, it turned out to be a disappointing day for another CWG gold-medallist, Rajender Kumar as he crashed out of the men's Greco-Roman 55kg wrestling competition after losing to Li Shujin of China in the first round. Boxers secure two more bronze The impressive show of the Indian pugilists continued at the Asian Games as Vikas Krishan and Manpreet Singh assured themselves of bronze medals in the men's ring and Preeti Beniwal scored a dominating win on the debut day of women's boxing in the mega sports event today. Relying on his solid defence, Vikas outsmarted Korea's Kim Chol Song 4-2 in the men's 60kg category to make his way into the semifinals. Manpreet on the other hand just about managed to beat his Chinese rival Maimaiti Zaifula 6-4 in the men's 91kg quarter-final bout. Early in the day, Preeti gave India a rousing start in women's boxing by advancing to the 60kg quarter-finals with a thumping 8-2 win over Mongolia's Erdene Suvd Oyungerel. Vikas, who took the ring first in the evening session, fought with impressive gameplan and did not concede points till the third and final round. PTI
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New Zealand in India
Nagpur, November 21 Sehwag's lack of footwork infuriates pundits. His knack of timing the ball and consistently finding the gaps excites the fans. At any rate, his batting makes for exciting viewing. And exciting viewing it surely was, his knock of 74 at the Jamtha Stadium here on Sunday. India, in their first innings, ended the second day at 292 for 2, with Tendulkar not out on 57 and Dravid unbeaten on 69. But, the first hour on Sunday morning belonged to Ishant Sharma. He rocked the Kiwis by sending back Brendon McCullum in only the fourth over of the morning and followed it up by clean bowling debutant Andy McKay. In ten overs this morning, India wrapped up the three remaining New Zealand wickets, packing them off for 193. Ishant, playing his first Test of this series, ended with 4 for 43, which was the best effort on the Indian bowling sheet. After that the show belonged to Sehwag, with Gautam Gambhir being the relatively silent partner. The Indian openers put on 113 for the first wicket in 23 overs. During this period Sehwag was at his dominating best, playing rousing shots at will and leaving the Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori entirely clueless. What Sehwag lacks in footwork, he more than makes up for with superb reflexes, great sense of ball timing and a remarkably quick eye. He is unafraid of playing in the air, his sense of finding the gaps is extraordinary, he middles almost everything and has tremendous faith in his ability. In short, he is quite a package. And, this package was on view today in its full range. Sehwag scored 74 from 73 balls with 12 fours and a six. It wasn't a very big knock in terms of score, but Sehwag emphasized his presence and set the tone. A thing he usually does at the start of most innings. In his own way, Gautam Gambhir played extremely well too. He scored 78 from 127 balls. But, their 113 run opening partnership, was dominated by Sehwag. Gambhir, who was named stand-in captain of the Indian one-day team yesterday, played fluently and understood his role of allowing Sehwag to be the dominant partner. After the openers fell, it was the turn of seasoned pros - Tendulkar and Dravid - to seize control. Both played sedately-without ever being as dominating as Sehwag-and have provided a solid base from which India can launch a big first innings score tomorrow. Unlike Sehwag, who follows no rule book, Dravid's batting seems something straight out of a coaching manual. And, he played some real copybook shots today. A straight drive just below the sight screen being the pick. On the other end, Tim Southee tried some short-pitched bowling at Tendulkar. Twice, Southee even hit Tendulkar on his glove and the body. But, the experienced bastman was always in control and brought up his half-century from 117 balls with seven fours. He finished the day unbeaten on 57. Before the start of this Test, Daniel Vettori had stated that a big one from Tendulkar was perhaps around the corner. Seems there was a prophetic ring to those words. Scoreboard New Zealand 1st Innings (overnight 148-7) McIntosh b Sreesanth 4 Guptill c Dhoni b Sreesanth 6 Taylor lbw b Ishant 20 Ryder c Raina b Harbhajan 59 Williamson c Sehwag b Ojha 0 Vettori b Ishant 3 Hopkins c Raina b Ojha 7 McCullum c Dhoni b Ishant 40 Southee c Sehwag b Ojha 38 McKay b Sharma 5 Martin not out 2 Extras (b-1, lb-5, nb-3) 9 Total (all out, 66.3 overs) 193 Bowling: Sreesanth 12-4-28-2, Sharma 18-4-43-4, Ojha 19.3-2-57-3, Harbhajan 17-2-59-1. India 1st Innings Gambhir c Taylor b Southee 78 Sehwag c & b Vettori 74 Dravid not out 69 Tendulkar not out 57 Extras (b-8, lb-3, w-2, nb-1) 14 Total (2 wickets; 82 overs) 292 Bowling: Martin 13-0-58-0, Southee 13-3-41-1, McKay 18-5-47-0, Vettori 30-3-101-1, Williamson 3-0-18-0, Guptill 5-0-16-0.
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Gambhir up for the challenge
Nagpur, November 21 "I think captaincy is an instinct thing. You cannot plan in advance. It's how you react to the situations which the match throws up. For me, having already led the Delhi Ranji Trophy team and also the Delhi Daredevils team in the IPL, will be a big help. I have seen ups and downs as a captain. So, I think I should be fine," explained Gambhir. On the team's showing in this Test, the Indian opener feels that the home team has a very good chance of winning this one. "I think a lead of around 300 will be nice. We can then win the game from there," he said. The Indian team members are also excited about the fact that Sachin has a good chance of getting to his 50th Test hundred here. "Yes, he has already gotten past his half-century and is looking good. I think he can get it tomorrow. That will be great," said Gambhir. Gambhir was also effusive in his praise for Sehwag. "The way he plays is truly awesome. I don't think anybody in the world today, except Sehwag, plays the same way in all three forms of the game. He backs his game and gets runs at such a quick pace that it really helps the team in terms of having time to finish off matches. He is an impact player. Personally for me as well he has been a big help. He always encourages me whenever I'm short of runs. Like he really encouraged me at Hyderabad," said Gambhir. On his own knock of 78 today, Gambhir said, "I have been short of cricket and needed to spend time in the middle. I'm disappointed that I could not carry on and get a hundred. But it's been a nice knock and it's good for my confidence going into the one-day series against New Zealand and then to South Africa."
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Women archers win maiden team medal
In a pioneering effort the Indian women archers won their maiden team medal, a bronze, after losing a thrilling semifinal battle to World and Olympic Champions South Korea which was decided by a shootout at the Aoti range here today. The trio of Deepika Kumari, a gold medal winner in last month's Commonwealth Games, Dola Banerjee and Rimil Buriuly lost the tense semifinal shootout to the Koreans 26-29 after being level on points (221 each) in the four regulations sets. Later in the bronze medal play-off the Indian women's threesome subdued a strong challenge from Chinese Taipei 218-217 to clinch a historic first team medal in the bow and arrow game in the Games' history. The Indian women rattled the Koreans with their never-say-die attitude and matched them arrow for arrow and even led the world champions at one stage before falling by the wayside finally. In the semis, the Koreans won the opener 56-54 only for the Indians to clinch the next 56-54 and then led the favourites by two points by clinching the third set 57-55. However, the Indian women failed to apply the knock-out punch and lost the fourth set 54-56 to lead to the tie-break after both teams were level at 221 points each. In the shootout, the more experienced Koreans, shot 9, 10 and 10 while the Indians replied with 9, 8 and 9 and lost the battle. The Indians, however, denied there was any extra pressure on them. "There was no pressure. We were shooting normally and confidently," said teenaged archer Deepika. "This is the first time we won a medal in these Games and it is a great morale booster," she said, adding, she hoped to do well in the individual events that follow on November 23. Dola said that after today's fight, the Koreans would not take her and other Indians lightly. "I don't think that in future the Koreans will ever take us lightly. We played as well as they did, but luck was not with us. But this is not an excuse," said India's best-known woman archer. Team manager Gunjan Abrol praised the trio of women archers for their brilliant show against the mighty Koreans and said it was a narrow miss for the final place. "We were distinctly unlucky to miss a place in the finals. Our archers shot brilliantly against the world champions and had them on the run. But finally it turned out to be a case of so near yet so far," he said. "It is virtually a World Cup with powerhouses Korea, China and Japan taking part here. I think it is a great achievement," he added. The Indians began today with easy victories over Vietnam (225-152) and then edged past North Korea 214-202 in the quarter finals with score reading 54-54, 51-50, 53-44 and 56-54 in the four sets to reach the semis. In the match for the bronze medal, India overcame Chinese Taipei by a single point 218-217. Rimil notched up 74 while Deepika and Dola got identical 72. PTI
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Guangzhou, November 21
Guangzhou, November 21
Somdev Devvarman stormed into the semifinals to assure India of at least a bronze but Karan Rastogi went down fighting to top seed Denis Istomin in the eventful men's singles tennis quarterfinals of the Asian Games here today. Second seed Somdev, ranked 106 on the ATP circuit, fought back from 1-4 down in the opening set to complete a 6-4, 6-4 drubbing of lowly ranked Chinese rival Zhang Ze in one hour and 51 minute during which he called tournament director Chen Shu of China to court one to settle a controversial ruling by umpire I M Chahoo of Korea.
