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Shuttle to stardom
‘Shuttlers will win more medals than they won in Delhi’
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Ishant bowls India to historic victory
Glasgow tales
Government assures help to Dutee Chand
Rory McIlroy sits on the edge of a bunker as he holds the Claret Jug after winning the British Open in Hoylake on Sunday.
Reuters
Matter of fact
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Shuttle to stardom
New Delhi, July 21 The medal, apart from its obvious importance, had a massive significance in the larger scheme of things too —it helped India push past England to finish second in the overall medal tally behind Australia. Four years later, as the Indian shuttlers get ready to take the center court at the newly-built Emirates Arena at Glasgow, looking to better their home heroics, there’s something not quite right. It’s of course the absence of India’s most famous shuttler who had to pull out because of the blisters on her feet. In Saina’s absence, the Indian hope of clinching five badminton medals has suffered a massive jolt. They had won four medals in the previous edition, including two gold medals. “I’m really disappointed to miss out. I wanted to go and defend my medal, but there’s too little time left to get fit and prepare,” said the World No 7. Saina’s exit has provided P V Sindhu, the other golden girl of the Indian badminton, an opportunity to rise to the occasion and replicate Saina’s success at the Glasgow Games. Saina would have entered the event as the tournament’s No. 1 seed — both individually and in team competitions. But with her withdrawal, Sindhu and Scotland’s Kristy Gilmour will be seeded No. 1 and 2, respectively. After becoming the first Indian woman shuttler to win a medal (bronze) at the World Championships in Guangzhou last year, Sindhu would be looking to build on that success. She has a realistic chance of winning a gold medal but she needs to be more consistent and better fitness level. She also needs to be vigilant against tricky players like Gilmour, who has beaten her in the past, and Malaysia’s Wong Mew Choo - the wife of legendary Lee Chong Wei. “This is my first CWG and I’m really looking forward to it. If I play well, nothing is impossible,” Sindhu said. In men’s singles’ competition, Parupalli Kashyap is seeded second and will be eager to break Malaysia’s stranglehold on the singles gold medal - they have won it six times on the trot since 1990. Kashyap, the bronze medallist in 2010, will hope to emulate the gold medal-winning feat of his predecessors Prakash Padukone (1978) and Syed Modi (1982). The other Indian seeds are Srikant Kidambi (4) and Guru Sai Dutt (5). Both are capable of finishing at the podium; a favourable draw will enhance their chances. The road to success, however, wouldn’t be easy as feisty Chong Wei Feng leads Malaysian challenge as the No.1 seed in the absence of Chong Wei. Other serious contenders are Singapore’s Derek Wong, Malaysia’s Daren Liew and Scotland’s Kieran Merrilees. Another medal prospect for India is the 2010 CWG gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa. The two should be able to retain their gold, but the Indian pair is likely to face tough competition from 2010 CWG runners-up Shinta Mulia Sari/Yao Lei of Singapore, who are top seed, Malaysia’s Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei (2) and England’s Gabrielle Adcock/Lauren Smith (4). In the men’s doubles event, India’s Pranaav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar seem to be the weakest link in the squad and are unlikely to cross even the first hurdle. They are yet to notch up any major win outside India. In the mixed team event, India have been ranked third. The country has an outside chance to win a medal, but defending champions Malaysia and second seed England will pose serious questions.
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‘Shuttlers will win more medals than they won in Delhi’
New Delhi, July 21 India won 4 medals in the last edition of the Games. Will they be able to match it in Glasgow? I am looking at 5-6 medals from the Glasgow Games. We have a good chance of winning a gold and silver in the men’s singles competition, one gold in the women’s singles, one gold or silver in the women’s doubles competition and another medal in the team championships. Was Saina right to pull out of the CWG, keeping the World Championship and Asian Games in mind? Saina did the right thing. The competition at the CWG isn’t as good as in the World Championship and the Asian Games. Saina has not done well in these two tournaments. She could have won gold at the CWG, but other two events are much more important for her. It was a wise decision and we have to respect that. Saina’s withdrawal has provided a golden opportunity to Sindhu to win a medal? Yes, of course! I don’t see any player providing tough competition to her. I am expecting gold from her. There are tricky opponents from Singapore, Canada and Scotland, but I don’t see any major challenge to her. Sindhu has matured, she showed her fighting spirit at the Uber Cup Finals. How do you look at the medal chances of our women’s doubles pair of Jwala/Ashwini? I am expecting them to defend their title, or at least a silver medal. They have been playing together for a while and did well in Japan and Indonesia Open. They won bronze in the Asian Championships in April this year. For me, they are back as a pair. What about our chances in the men’s singles event? I see our male shuttlers winning a gold and silver in the singles competition. Kashyap, Srikanth, Gurusaidutt all have a chance to finish on the podium. Lee Chong Wei has pulled out of the competition, so our main contenders are two Malaysians — Chong Wei Feng and Daren Liew and England’s Rajiv Ouseph. However, Kashyap needs to be more consistent with his performance. The men’s doubles team is the weakest link? Why can’t we produce a world-class men’s doubles team? This is a major area of concern for us. We have not been able to develop certain skills required for the doubles competition. We need special attention in this area. We are only talking but not doing enough to identify the talent and groom these players from a young age of 15-16.We need specialized experts to develop the doubles level. |
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Glasgow yet to warm up to the party
At first sight, Glasgow underwhelms. It’s Monday morning, just two days to go for its biggest party, but where is everybody? Except for the stray banker type rushing off with big strides, the streets seem deserted —has the norovirus bug, causing great devastation in the Games Village in the form of sickness and diarrhoea, driven everyone out?
We go to investigate at the Queen’s Street Railway Station – but there is much surer sign of life there. There is also the larger than life figure of Sardar Singh, the Indian hockey team captain, entering the station. He’s accompanied by his most precious possession... So perhaps he’s escaping the dreaded Glasgow norovirus? With a laugh, Sardar Singh says no, he’s not going anywhere, and that Glasgow is in no danger of being depopulated. He says that preparations for the hockey tournament are going very well, and that he intends to hang around and try his best. His most precious possession, a pretty girl, nods. She’s his wife-to-be, Ashpal Kaur Bhogal, a British citizen and ace hockey player herself. “It’s not going to be easy,” Sardar Singh says about the possibility of winning a medal. “Need to make sure we reach the semifinals.” Ashpal hasn’t been able to make the England team and is accompanying Sardar as a morale-booster. There’s greater sign of life at the Commonwealth Games Village – a large number of youngsters, dressed in tartan skirts and kilts, are raising quite a din as a prelude to the ceremony of raising the flags of Jamaica, Singapore, Tonga and St Lucia. It’s an impressive ceremony, which was performed for the Indian contingent yesterday. The wild cheers and excitement of the young performers contrasting with the solemn bearing of the uniformed men from the Army, Navy and the Air Force who are raising the flags. Among those watching the show are the Indian team coaches – Jude Felix and MK Kaushik. Kaushik says the team has been practising hard. “The competition is tough, so we really can’t promise anything,” he says. “We’ve been practising, but the occasional rain has been causing some problem.” Elsewhere, chief coach Terry Walsh says that it’s imperative to first ensure that the team reaches the semifinals, and only then look further. “Our first objective is to get sufficient points to go into the semifinals,” Walsh says. “While our rhythm and skill execution have been of very good quality, our penalty corner conversion will be a key component in the whole process. Rupinder Pal Singh is overcoming a minimal adductor tweak and VR Raghunath has been executing very efficiently. Of course, the key is match situation conversions.” There are strong hockey teams in the Glasgow CWG – including Australia, England and New Zealand. A hockey medal cheers Indian sports fans like nothing else – a gold would be possible only if the norovirus scares away the Australians from Glasgow. Not happening, though. |
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Ishant bowls India to historic victory
London, July 21 India’s second victory at the home of cricket and first since 1986 continued England’s miserable year after series defeats by Australia and Sri Lanka.
Resuming at 105 for four in pursuit of 319, Joe Root and Moeen Ali survived until the final ball before lunch when the latter fell to Sharma. The willowy right-armer claimed four more wickets after the break as England’s batsmen capitulated in the face of India’s short-pitched barrage and were bowled out for 223, putting the visitors 1-0 up in the five-match series. Sharma finished with career-best figures of 7-74, including five wickets in 33 balls. Root and Moeen had earlier given hope of an unlikely home victory, having come together with England in trouble at 72 for four midway through Sunday’s evening session. They added a further 68 runs on Monday morning before Moeen, who batted for a day to nearly save the second Test against Sri Lanka at Headingley last month, fell last to a brute of a delivery from Sharma which forced him to fend off to Cheteshwar Pujara at short leg. Root and Prior came out after lunch bristling with intent, hitting 20 runs in the first two overs after play resumed as Mohammed Shami and Sharma offered a procession of short balls. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s plan paid dividends shortly afterwards, however, when Prior, who has endured a poor run both behind the stumps and with the bat, hooked Sharma to Vijay at deep mid-wicket for 12. Ben Stokes completed a pair in the match, mis-hitting Sharma to Pujara at mid-on and Root went the same over for 66, caught by Stuart Binny after another poor hook shot. Sharma claimed his fifth victim of the day and seventh of the innings when he had Stuart Broad caught down the legside by Dhoni. James Anderson was last to fall, run out by Ravindra Jadeja. The third Test starts in Southampton on Sunday. — Reuters India 1st innings 295 Robson lbw b Jadeja 7 Cook c Dhoni b Sharma 22 Ballance c Dhoni b Shami 27 Bell b Sharma 1 Root c Binny b Sharma 66 Ali c Pujara b Sharma 39 Prior c Vijay b Sharma 12 Stokes c Pujara b Sharma 0 Broad c Dhoni b Sharma 8 Plunkett not out 7 Anderson run out (Jadeja) 2 Extras: (b 13, lb 16, w 1, nb 2) 32 Kumar 16-7-21-0 Shami 11-3-33-1 Sharma 23-6-74-7 Jadeja 32.2-7-53-1 Vijay 4-1-11-0 Dhawan 2-0-2-0 "It was a memorable win for us because not many players have played Test cricket in England. But their approach was brilliant, it was a fantastic performance. We learnt from the 2011 series that it is important to stay in the game till the third day, because then our spinners come into the
game."— MS Dhoni, India captain
"I think all these wickets are not for me, they are only for the captain. He told me you are tall enough, you have to try the
bouncer." —Ishant Sharma, man of the match
"I’m trying my heart out to turn this around. First and foremost, I have to start scoring runs. The recent past hasn’t been kind to me, but I have won some games as captain as well. There is a group of players desperate to win for England. But it will take a lot of determination to turn this
around." — Alastair Cook, England captain
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The Guns and the Games
Separatist feeling is rife among Glaswegians, especially the native Scots - the referendum to decide whether Scotland would break away from the United Kingdom is less than two months away. However, it's the most peaceful kind of separatist feeling you can imagine - the last thing on the mind of the armed men and women securing the venues are dangerous Scotsmen determined at violent sabotage. "We need to be very careful these days… There are crazy people of all kinds," says a security man, who is a Christian of Pakistani origin. "But there is no threat perception due to the vote on the future of Scotland." He dismisses the mere notion of violent separatism in Scotland; he's more worried about the situation in Pakistan, and mentions the attack on a Peshawar church last September, in which over 125 people were killed. Four years ago, during the Delhi Commonwealth Games, the fearsome automatic guns of the Indian security men had freaked out journalists from some Commonwealth Nations; they said they'd never seen cops with guns in their lives - a police whistle was the most destructive weapon used by their cops. Glasgow isn't taking any chances, like Delhi - they've got men with ferocious automatic guns, finger resting on the trigger, at every venue here. The entrance to the venues is secured through a joint operation by the British Navy, Air Force and Army. The last group includes a fair sprinkling of Nepali Gorkhas, whose faces light up at the sight of a neighbour from India. In 2012, the Olympic Games had been a massive publicity disaster for the security firm G4S, due to the lack of adequately trained personnel. To close the breach, the nation's armed forces were called in. Sanjay, a Gorkha soldier, says with a twinkle in his eyes: "This time we got the warning in advance, so here we are!"
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Government assures help to Dutee Chand
The government today assured all possible help to sprinter Dutee Chand to participate in future sports events after the athlete from Odisha was last week excluded from the Indian team for the Commonwealth Games on the ground of high androgen level.
“This is a very sensitive question. I assure the august House that our government will extend all possible help to this player to participate in future events,” Union Sports Minister Sarbnanda Sonowal told Lok Sabha. He was responding after senior BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab raised the issue during zero hour. He asked the government to seek a reply from both the Sports Authority of India and Athletic Federation of India as to why only she was put to test. He also appealed to the government to take steps so that Dutee could overcome the androgen level and resume her career. Dutee was born in a poor weaver family in 1996 and became a U-18 national champion in 2012. — PTI |
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The man of the hour
HOYLAKE, July 21 McIlroy is one of that rare breed who always seemed destined for greatness and his two-shot win at Royal Liverpool on Sunday meant that, at 25, he became the third youngest player in the modern era to land three of the four major championships. He enjoyed a glittering career as a teenager, reaching the top of the world amateur rankings, before bursting on to the senior stage with a superb opening 68 in the 2007 British Open. McIlroy then finished third in his second event as a professional, at the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, before capturing his first European Tour win at the 2009 Dubai Desert Classic, aged 19. More big victories followed, including the 2011 US Open and the US PGA Championship in 2012 when he soared to the top of the world rankings and finished top of the money lists on both sides of the Atlantic. He then suffered a serious dip in form after signing a new big-money club deal with Nike last year, was involved in a series of off-the-course wrangles and it needed an important win over Adam Scott at the Australian Open in December to get him back on track. “I never had doubts,” McIlroy said. “You can’t doubt your own ability, all I had to do was look back at some of the great tournaments that I played. The ability was still there. It was just trying to find a way to make it come out again.” McIlroy admitted to being “brain dead” when he failed to qualify for the last two rounds of the 2013 British Open. “Missing the cut at Muirfield last year was a very low point,” he said. “I had never missed a cut at the Open before. I said to myself I’ll try to never make that happen again. It’s been huge what a difference a year makes, I guess.” McIlroy confirmed his renaissance as a top-notch player by winning the European Tour’s flagship event in May, the PGA Championship, in the same tumultuous week that he ended his engagement to former world number one tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. “It’s turned into a great year,” he said. “The win at Wentworth was huge and now getting my third major is a huge step in the right direction.” — Reuters Nicklaus, Woods hail McIlroy’s victory
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Matter of fact India's Olympic silver medallist pistol shooter Vijay Kumar will be the flag-bearer for the country during the opening ceremony of 2014 Commonwealth Games, scheduled to take place on Wednesday. "Vijay Kumar has been named as the flag bearer for Indian contigent at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games," Chef-de-Mission of the Indian contingent, Raj Singh said. London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt has been kept as a reserve. Sports Secretary Ajit M Saran, IOA president N Ramachandran and IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta today visisted the Indian contingent at the Games village and interacted with the athletes.
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It was a pleasant Wednesday afternoon. Saina Nehwal, the Indian badminton queen, was scheduled to take on Malaysia’s Mee Choo Wong.
Ishant Sharma claimed seven wickets to bowl India to a 95-run victory over England in the second Test at Lord’s on Monday, their first overseas win since 2011.
India’s second victory at the home of cricket and first since 1986 continued England’s miserable year after series defeats by Australia and Sri Lanka.
Resuming at 105 for four in pursuit of 319, Joe Root and Moeen Ali survived until the final ball before lunch when the latter fell to Sharma.
Separatist feeling is rife among Glaswegians, especially the native Scots - the referendum to decide whether Scotland would break away from the United Kingdom is less than two months away. However, it's the most peaceful kind of separatist feeling you can imagine - the last thing on the mind of the armed men and women securing the venues are dangerous Scotsmen determined at violent sabotage. "We need to be very careful these days… There are crazy people of all kinds," says a security man, who is a Christian of Pakistani origin.
India's Olympic silver medallist pistol shooter Vijay Kumar will be the flag-bearer for the country during the opening ceremony of 2014 Commonwealth Games, scheduled to take place on Wednesday. "Vijay Kumar has been named as the flag bearer for Indian contigent at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games," Chef-de-Mission of the Indian contingent, Raj Singh said. London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt has been kept as a reserve. Sports Secretary Ajit M Saran, IOA president N Ramachandran and IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta today visisted the Indian contingent at the Games village and interacted with the athletes.
Badminton Squad
Steven Gerrard retires from England duty