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Yogi’s twister gets him a gold
Gowda makes a golden throw |
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Bolt calls report nonsense, editor stands by it
Indian expats make their presence felt
Quick notes
Have to rethink our four-bowler strategy: Dhoni
Tiwary sets up India A’s title date with home team
It feels a weight has been lifted: Cook
Proteas pay tribute to Kallis
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Yogi’s twister gets him a gold
Yogeshwar Dutt comes off the mat. He’s just won. He’s exhausted, he’s breathless, sweat is dripping off his body. Yet, he retains his equanimity and his politeness — he arms akimbo, he stands there, trying to get his breath back.
Yogeshwar put up a performance of beautiful and perfect wrestling today – he won his second straight gold medal by beating Canada’s Jevon Balfour without conceding a point. His tactic was the deadly twister he used all day — turning his opponent over and over. He won his bouts with amazing ease to reach the final. It left you breathless. It left him breathless, too. India’s 65kg freestyle superstar won with much to spare, but each time he came off the mat, it was clear that the wins weren’t effortless. Each time he stopped by for a brief chat, he stood there silent, taking deep breaths, replenishing his reservoir of energy. His moves were stunning. His speed was bewildering. His strength was immense. Once he got his man, there was no escape.
Two years ago at the London Olympic Games, Yogeshwar had sealed his bronze medal with a great move — the Indian wrestling community calls it ‘phe-t-le’. This involves taking the legs of your opponent in a vice-like grip and twisting his body round and round on the flat — it works a bit like a typhoon, but horizontally, on the mat. It’s a very high-percentage move — the back of the opponent touches the mat many times, and each turn wins you points. “Yes, it’s a favourite move of mine,” recalling that it was this move that won him the bronze medal at London 2012. “I’ve worked hard to perfect this move.” Yogeshwar gave the same treatment to his first three opponents today – Ukraine-born Alex Gadkov of Scotland in the round of 16; Gareth Jones, also of Scotland, in the quarterfinal; and Chamara Perera of Sri Lanka in the semifinals. The wins over Gladkov and Jones came through ‘Great Superiority’ — a difference of six points, the loser having won no points at all. He beat the Sri Lankan by a ‘fall’, the most impressive of all wins. Yogeshwar wasn’t crowing over his easy wins – he said it was tougher than it looked. “You have to put in a great deal of effort,” he said in between deep, lungfuls of breath. “Then there’s this great strain and pressure on the muscles. It’s tough work!”
He said this move has become a signature move for him — “Even the fighters of the other teams are now familiar with it,” he says. He did agree that the competition was not the toughest in the world. “The final will be tougher, you know,” he said. “It’s against a Canadian fighter, and that will be a bigger challenge.” In the final Balfour, a rising 19-year-old, came through a tough fight to beat Terry van Rensburg of South Africa in the semifinals. Balfour had trailed 0-6 at half-time but came back strongly. “It’s never happened before,” he said. “I either win 11-0 or lose 0-11 – this was very unusual. But I’m getting more experienced now, that helps when you’re down and must fight back.” That doesn’t happen too much against Yogeshwar. Babita wins gold
Babita Kumari Phogat, keeping her promise to her sister Geeta Phogat, won a gold, India’s fourth in the wrestling event in the tournament, when she beat Canada’s Brittanee Laverdure in the final of the women’s 55kg event. Babita put up a very dominant performance to get the better of the Canadian 9-2. The Indian built up a big lead through push-outs and touch-downs, and though Brittanee tried very hard in the final 30 seconds, she was unable to bridge the gap. This was the second gold for the family in this CWG — Babita’s cousin Vinesh had won the gold in the 48kg category two days ago. Babita’s sister Geeta, who won a gold medal at Delhi four years ago, isn’t here due to an injury. “I wanted to make up for that, I wanted to win a gold medal,” said Babita later. “In fact, before the final, I had talked with her and she told me that I must win gold, because that would make her very happy.” “Also, I'd won silver four years ago, so I was determined to go back home with a better medal this time," said the Haryana girl. Babita also wanted to make up for a bad day yesterday, when India lost four finals in the men’s and women’s events. “We came close to winning four gold medals yesterday but missed all of them — I’m so happy that I was able to win India’s fourth gold here,” she added. Geetika wins silver, Pawan takes bronze
Geetika Jhakar, India's third wrestler in the final on Thursday, failed to repeat the golden effort of her compatriots. The Haryana girl, in the 63kg category, lost 7-0 to Danielle Lappage of Canada. The Canadian dominated the fight from the outset, giving Geetika little chance to stage a comeback. In the 86-kg category, Pawan Kumar beat Pakistan's Muhammad Imam in a thrilling bout to clinch a bronze medal. Dipa wins bronze
n Indian artistic gymnast Dipa Karmakar clinched the women's vault bronze in the final of the Commonwealth Games Thursday. Agartala-born Dipa got the bronze with an average score of 14.366. England's Claudia Fragapane won the gold with an average score of 14.633 while Canada's Elsabeth Black took home the silver with 14.433 at the SSE Hydro. |
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Gowda makes a golden throw Glasgow, July 31 He did everything he could to prepare. That included contesting here with a different brand shoe on each foot – “Quite a comical sight, but that was the best grip I could get in this rain!” – and going to a sports psychologist, Marc Strickland, to make sure that he was ready. The shoes helped. Strickland helped with breathing and visualisation exercise to get him ready. Vikas was ready here tonight – winning gold to improve on the silver medal he won in New Delhi CWG four years ago. Gowda’s best throw of the night, 63.64 metres, was well clear of 63.32m by Apostolos Parellis of Cyprus, while Jason Morgan of Jamaica finished third with his best of 62.34m. Gowda was the best qualifier for the final yesterday. Tonight was wet and a bit cold, and he began with a throw of 60.63m, following up with 62.09m on his second attempt; it was the third attempt that won him his gold at 63.64m. Parellis had taken the lead with his throw of 63.32m on his second attempt; the Mysore-born Indian, who turned 31 earlier in July, bettered that with his third and was never overtaken after that. Gowda later said that this was a dream come true for him. He said he wasn’t throwing so well in the beginning of the year, and he needed to refocus. “This is an event I’d marked in my calendar, and this is my first event in six weeks because I wanted so much to focus on this,” he said. The rain wasn’t very strong, he said, but it turned out to be a big challenge. “We do prepare for these conditions,” he said. “It was worse than I thought… It wasn’t raining that hard, but sometimes a little drizzle can be worse than a downpour. Three years ago, at the Asian Championship, it was raining very hard… With that experience, I knew what to do. This is what we practise for.” Gowda’s best is 66.28m; his qualifying throw was 64.32m yesterday. He was delighted that despite the tougher conditions since yesterday, he didn’t drop too much. There are two ways rain affects his sport. “Two things – you need to have a firm base, you can’t have a slippery base, that can cause injuries,” he said. “Second, if your grip on the disc is not firm, it’s going to slip off. There are a lot of different things going on.” “I slept very well last night, though the last one month has been difficult,” he added. Gowda had finished eighth at the London Olympics two years ago – the field was very competitive, and he remembers that that was the farthest eighth-place distance for any Olympics final ever. Gold here has taken a weight off his shoulders – Gowda now wants to get stronger for the Olympic Games..
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India beat SA 5-2, make semis
Glasgow, July 31 India got down to business right at the start, earning first penalty corner in the third minute. Drag-flicker
V.R. Raghunath made no mistake in converting the opportunity to open the account for the 2010 silver
medallists. India kept the pressure on and in the ninth minute Rupinder Pal Singh was successful in converting another penalty corner to make it
2-0. Ramandeep Singh then extended the lead to 3-0 in the 22nd minute by scoring a field goal. Four minutes later, India scored another through forward
S.V. Sunil. South Africa came out in a different gear in the second half and scored two quick goals. But India ddn’t allow them any more goals. Manpreet Singh completed the tally by scoring fifth goal in 58th minute. PTI
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Laughing, fighting Viju is a changed man
Glasgow, July 31 This is legalised violence — our man Vijender Singh is a veteran of the sport, and remains quite good at it. Last night, Vijender didn’t have to strain too much when he came up against Trinidad and Tobago’s Aaron Prince in their 75kg weight category quarterfinal. Well, it did seem that Vijender didn’t have to strain himself too much —but he said no, it wasn’t as simple as it looked. “It was not that simple,” he said with a sheepish grin. Vijender has been known to be a very wily, calculating and cautious fighter — he waits and watches, keeps the opponent away with his sharp left, and then charges late. That was how he has always boxed. But yesterday, it seemed that he was being a bit injudicious — two of the three judges gave him the first round, but one ruled against him, and he took some punishment in the second. Vijender, champion that he is, knew what to do. He reacted quickly, coming up with at least one 1-2-3 combination that stung Prince. In the final round, he seemed to be taunting Prince — he put his guard down, grinned and stuck out his tongue at his opponent. This was quite uncharacteristic – perhaps it was strategy, perhaps Vijender was trying to provoke Prince, make him lose his mind, his wits, to finally knock him down. The emergence of the new, aggressive Vijender has been caused by the change in the rules of the sport. He was a waiter and a watcher – now he’s a prime aggressor. “I cannot afford to sit back and wait, under this new system,” said Vijender. Inevitable, the local media was keen to know about his future in acting. He was asked if he’s worried about getting scars on his face, now that boxers are required to fight without protective gear. “When I am in the ring I don’t have the time to think about my looks,” he laughed. “I have to guard my face, obviously… But that’s also an advantage I guess. I won’t take a hit.” He also said that Prince was tougher than he expected. “I thought it would be easy for me. But in the ring you get to know the potential of your opponent,” the Haryana lad said. “He was powerful and moving well. I gauged his strength and tactics in the first and in the next two rounds I knew what I needed to do.” “I am new to this points system. My coaches are saying that I need to attack. When you attack, sometimes you lower your guard. Against Prince I wanted to corner him and it’s easy if the opponent is hitting you to find an opening.” “I am aiming for gold,” said Vijender, who will take on Connor Coyle of Northern Ireland in the semifinal.
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Bolt calls report nonsense, editor stands by it
Glasgow, July 31 “I'm waking up to this nonsense,” Bolt tweeted. "Journalist please don't create lies to make headlines". However, the Times' Scottish editor, Angus Macleod, says he had full confidence in Gibbons. "We stand by this story 100 percent," he said. “We have utter confidence in this story." Reports here suggest that the Times were considering whether to publish a full transcript of the interview. — Agencies |
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Indian expats make their presence felt
Glasgow, July 31 But Gill’s victory was met with distress and dissatisfaction in the Indian wrestling camp here.
That’s because Arjun Gill wrestles for Canada, and he beat an Indian wrestler, Satywart Kadian, in the final of the 97kg freestyle class. Sport remains war without the guns, and the movement of people across the globe has made things more interesting for the casual fan in sorting out the combatants – they can see an Olga Butkevych competing for England or a Jaswant Shergill for England or a Xin Yan for Canada. Many of the Commonwealth nations have a shared history, accompanied by a migration of people, essentially driven by economic reasons. Thus, you’re likely to see an Asian-or-African-heritage athlete contesting for, say, Australia; the reverse is very unlikely. There are African-heritage athletes in all larger teams; there are a number of people with roots in the former USSR competing for England or Australia or Canada. Table tennis teams of the bigger nations here have Asian heritage contestants — Canada have Eugene Wang Zhen, Australia have Heming Hu and Xin Yan, for instance. Arjun Gill is one of the several Indian-heritage athletes competing at Glasgow. Just after he beat Kadian in the final, he was asked a rather discomfiting and unfair question – what would he do if he was invited to wrestle for India? “I’ll turn it down, naturally,” answered the tall and frighteningly strong Gill, who happens to be the gentlest person you could hope to meet. He uses the respectful suffix ‘ji’ with every answer, politely takes out his gold medal to display it or be photographed with it at every request – that was how he was brought up, he says. Gill, 22, was born in the small city of Quesnel in British Columbia. “Isde naal fight hoyi si, oh jit gaya si,” Gill tells about his previous encounter with Kadian, speaking in slightly accented but perfectly intelligible Punjabi. “Hatthan de naal mehnat kitti usde baad – I worked hard to get more strength into my arms.” Gill’s father Paramjit Gill, Punjab-born, used to be a weightlifter who won medals for Canada in the Commonwealth and Pan-American Games. “He was from Chak Balwa village in Punjab,” says Arjun Gill, though he’s never been there and knows very little about Punjab. “My naani is still there in Punjab,” says Gill, who started wrestling at age 12. He now lives in Surrey and says there are four-five clubs where several Indian-origin wrestlers train. “It’s a large Indian wrestling community over there,” he says. There’s a protégé of Paramjit Gill who’s representing Canada here – Parminder Phangura, the giant 140kg weightlifter. “I was also born in Quesnel, though I do have relatives back in Punjab,” says Phangura, who was spotted and mentored by Paramjit Gill. Jaswant Shergill, 21, was born and lives in Birmingham. He’s one of the rising stars of British weightlifting and has roots in Moga. “My parents were born in Punjab, and my father used to be a weightlifter in his time,” he says. “Dad introduced me to the sport when I was 12.” Shergill says there is family back in Moga, but he’s yet to visit India. There’s one Kaur in the Australia team – Rupinder Kaur, 29, born in Patiala. Rupinder moved to Australia seven years ago. Judo was her sport in school and she did well in it at the national level back home. “Then my coach suggested that I should take up wrestling,” she says. “I was successful at the national level, though this is the first time I’m representing Australia. That’s because I didn’t have my permanent Australian residency before." There are five Sikhs in the Kenyan shooting team – three of them are from the same family: Nairobi-born Satiender Singh Sehmi (60) is joined by his son Gulraj (24) and daughter Preeyam Kaur Sehmi (28). Gurupreet Singh Dhanjal and Shaminderpal Singh Madhar are the other three Sikhs in the team. Fiji’s team contains Ratish Lal and Arun Kumar, both in action here in the lawn bowls event. Malaysian squads are traditionally very multicultural – the bulk of the athletes are of Malay and Chinese origin, but there are some athletes of Indian ethnicity in their squads, too. There is Jaya Raman Selvakumar, the 52kg boxer who was born in Negeri Sembilan; Baljit Singh Charun, a familiar figure for Indian hockey fans, was born in Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysians also have Nauraj Singh Randhawa, the 22-year-old high-jumper who was born in Selangor. There used to be greater representation of Indian-origin athletes in Malaysian squads, say Malaysian journalists. “Sadly, though, things have changed now – because of Bollywood movies!” says a Malaysian sports journalist. “These movies influenced the youth in a bad way – many young men are getting into crime because crime is glamorised in Indian movies. Many more young men got into sports earlier, but the numbers have fallen drastically.” Arjun Gill has the best result among the Indian expat athletes – crime clearly doesn’t hold great attraction for him. |
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Sharath Kamal, Amalraj shine
Indian table tennis players had a decent outing in the Commonwealth Games today with Achanta Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj winning their respective mixed doubles third round matches before pairing up to win in men's doubles as well. Kamal and Shamini Kumaresan defeated Malaysian combo of Ying Ho and Chee Feng Leong 11-5 11-8 11-8 in the third round. Amalraj and Madhurika Patkar too made it to the next round after beating Dexter St Louis and Reann Chung of Trinidad and Tobago 11-4 11-9 9-11 11-4. In men's doubles, Sharath and Amalraj thrashed Simasiku Kalaluka and Friday Ng'andu of Zambia 3-0 (11-6 11-4 11-3). In women's singles, Manika Batra thrashed New Zealand's Annie Yang 11-5 11-3 11-6 11-6, while Madhurika Patkar defeated Sri Lanka's Ishara Madurangi 12-10 11-9 11-6 and Shamini Kumaresan eked out a 11-3 6-11 11-4 9-11 11-9 8-11 11-7 win over Ganiat Ogundele of Nigeria. Annu Rani nowhere near her best javelin mark
India's Annu Rani failed to reproduce her best in the javelin event for women and finished eighth in a field of 12, measuring a distance of 56.37 metres here at Hampden Park on Wednesday night. The gold went to Kim Mickle of Australia with 65.96
metres, leaving silver medallist South African Sunette Viljoen, who reached 63.19, a fair distance behind. Another Australian Kelsey-Lee Roberts claimed bronze, recording 62. Rani began with a 55.23-metre effort and her second throw proved to be her best for the evening. Her next was a disastrous 50.35 and the 21-year-old Meerut girl could not recover from the setback, and her fourth was 52.71, fifth was a no throw and her last effort was
54.52. Shuttler Kashyap reaches CWG quarters
Indian shuttlers Parupalli
Kashyap, R.M.V. Gurusaidutt and P.C. Thulasi won their respective Round of 16 matches to enter the quarter-finals of the Commonwealth Games here Thursday. Men's singles second seed Kashyap needed only 24 minutes to move past Australia's Jeff Tho 21-7, 21-8 while fifth seed Gurusaidutt beat Andrew D'Souza 21-13, 21-9 in 27 minutes at the Emirates Arena. Later Thulasi defeated Canadian Rachel Honderich 21-12, 21-7 to move into the last eight. Australia suspends coach for Pearson comment
The Australian athletics camp is in turmoil with head coach Eric Hollingsworth suspended and likely to be sent home from the Commonwealth Games over his public spat with 100 meters hurdles star Sally Pearson. According to the Daily Telegraph, Athletics Australia has acted quickly to dismiss Hollingsworth after he released a statement criticizing Pearson on the eve of her 100 meters hurdles title
defence. Hollingsworth is said to have acted without the consent of his federation, and for them, the timing and context of the statement was sufficient reason to sack him. — Agencies |
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Moeen spins doom for India
Southampton, July 31 Spinner Moeen took six for 67, the first five-wicket haul of his Test career, and India crumbled to 178 all out in their second innings on the final morning of the match. England took the six wickets they needed to secure a first Test win since they beat Australia at Durham last August, ending a dismal run of 10 matches without victory. "It was a bit of a scramble for the souvenir stumps at the end as it was some people's first win and I want them to remember that," England captain Alastair Cook said at the presentation ceremony. "But the senior players stood up as well, the team was fantastic from one to 11,” he added. "Moeen Ali's bowling has come on leaps and bounds this summer, he's fronted up to the responsibility, worked really hard and responded well. Getting six wickets to win the game, you couldn't ask for more." Moeen dismissed Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami in the space of 12 balls, before he aptly took the final scalp of Pankaj Singh to complete figures of six for 67. Earlier in the morning, James Anderson, who on Friday faces a hearing into his part in an altercation with Jadeja at Trent Bridge, had got England off to the perfect start by dismissing Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. India batsman Ajinkya Rahane played with composure to reach his second half-century of the match, but his unbeaten 52 was in vain as England maintained the dominance they had shown over the first four days. Man-of-the-match Anderson drew Sharma into a faint edge through to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler before dismissing Dhoni in similar fashion with a ball that nipped away from the right-hander. Cook made a crucial bowling change, by introducing Moeen who bowled Jadeja with a full-length delivery before inducing Kumar, who has three half-centuries in the series, to edge on to his pad and the ball looped up to Anderson at gully. Moeen continued to bamboozle the Indian batsmen and he bowled Shami and Singh to wrap up a deserved victory for the hosts. The fourth Test begins at Old Trafford, Manchester on August 7. — Reuters Scoreboard England 1st innings 569/7 Man of the Match: James Anderson
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Have to rethink our four-bowler strategy: Dhoni
Southampton, July 31 Asked about the decision to go with four bowlers in the third Test, Dhoni said: "The reason for using four bowlers is that we never used the fifth. We just used him for 10 and 8 overs. With Shikhar and Vijay and Rohit around we thought we could do it.” "But it's the bowling we need to improve and hit the top of off stump. We will have to think about the four-bowler strategy. We can say the extra batsman didn't score, but then again the extra bowler didn't pick up wickets. So we have to discuss a lot and decide on the basis of the pitch." Part-time off-spinner Moeen Ali's six-wicket haul saw India bundle out for 178 in the second innings and Dhoni said his batsmen should have been more positive. "I don't think we played good cricket. We played the fast bowlers well. Moeen (Ali) bowled well, but we also allowed him to bowl well.” “He bowled good lines and the ball will turn; there is some wear on the wicket and we should have been more positive. There were quite a few soft dismissals during the phase where Jinx (Ajinkya Rahane) got out in the first innings and a couple of other wickets that fell. The last session yesterday, we lost too many wickets. We could have looked at the Test today a different way without that." Asked about debutant fast bowler Pankaj Singh, Dhoni said: "In this pitch, he bowled the right length. He could have gotten three wickets but it just didn't go his way. Shami and Bhuvi bowled well too. When it comes to talent, we are good. Mentally, we have to back ourselves because cricket is about runs and wickets." — PTI Ishant ruled out of fourth Test
Fast bowler Ishant Sharma will miss the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford as he is still recuperating from an ankle injury, India skipper MS Dhoni said today. Ishant had returned with a career-best figures of seven for 74 to guide India to a 95-run win in the second Test at Lord's, but he missed the second Test after picking up an injury in his left ankle. "We will have to discuss the matter but as of now he won't be available for the next Test," Dhoni said. |
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Tiwary sets up India A’s title date with home team
Darwin (Australia), July 31 Australia's middle-order crumbled as Tiwary took a career-best 5/34 to bundle out the hosts for 228 runs. Ambati Rayudu (77), Kedar Jadhav (52) and Sanju Samson (49 not out) then made significant contributions as India A overhauled the target with 13 balls to spare. The two teams will clash again in the final on Saturday. Brief Scores: Australia ‘A’: 228 in 49.4 overs (Stoinis 58, Hughes 58; Tiwary 5/34); India ‘A’: 231/5 in 47.5 overs (Rayudu 77, Jadhav 52). — PTI
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It feels a weight has been lifted: Cook
Southampton, July 31 Desperately short of runs and heavily criticised for his leadership in the humiliating second Test defeat, Cook made 95 and 70 not out as England won the third match. "I was so pleased that under the amount of pressure I was under on the first day that I was able to get a good score," Cook said. "I don't know what people are going to say but it certainly feels a weight has been lifted compared to if I didn't get any runs. The criticism was scoring runs and we've won and the guys that were questioned before the Test match really delivered. It's been a great week for us." Cook narrowly missed out on his 26th Test century but he did pass David Gower to become England's third-highest run-scorer in Tests. — Reuters
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Johannesburg, July 31 Proteas Test captain, Hashim Amla, said: "Jacques was a one in 50 years cricketer who had a huge influence on so many Proteas players over a 20-year period. You appreciate the magnitude of the cricketer not only when you look at his record but also when you play alongside him.” South African spinner Robin Peterson also lavished praise on Kallis. "People were entertained by Jacques on the field and statistically he is the greatest South African cricketer ever. What we were able to see as players however was the man behind all the records. The aura in the change room, the calming influence on other players and the wonderfully subtle sense of humour, often in tight situations," he said. "Most of us playing franchise cricket in South Africa aspire to playing for the Proteas and most have a player we want to be like," added Stephen Cook, provincial franchise Highveld Lions captain. — PTI
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Yogeshwar Dutt comes off the mat. He’s just won. He’s exhausted, he’s breathless, sweat is dripping off his body. Yet, he retains his equanimity.
Glasgow,
July 31
Arjun Gill won a wrestling gold yesterday – ordinarily, an Arjun Gill winning gold would delight the Indian wrestling coaches and fans, especially in Punjab.
But Gill’s victory was met with distress and dissatisfaction in the Indian wrestling camp here.
That’s because Arjun Gill wrestles for Canada, and he beat an Indian wrestler, Satywart Kadian, in the final of the 97kg freestyle class.
Stanford (USA):