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Pinki gets bronze and gains a fan
Sardar suspended for semis clash
Wrestlers going from strength to strength
Five-Test series already taking a toll on Indian bowlers
Anderson, Jadeja cleared by ICC
Ali's ‘Fight of the Century’ gloves sell for nearly $400,000
Seema throws silver in India’s kitty
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‘I’d love to have academy in India’
“Keep a seat for me with you brother, we’ll have a chat,” says Amir Khan. It’s not always that a boxing rockstar urges you to reserve a seat for him next to you. But Amir Khan, the Bolton-born pugilist, an Olympics medallist at age 17, is a rather surprising individual in person, very un-rockstar in his behaviour. His appearance is sharp and groomed, sports a diamond-studded watch and a couple of amulets on his wrists, and is clearly the real deal. But he’s also friendly and garrulous, a good listener and a very respectful man. Khan, who has been in the British media for all the wrong reasons in the recent times — specifically, there has been a controversy over his alleged infidelity — said one should not believe the “sensationalist media of this country”. Khan wanted to be ringside to watch Pinki Rani Jangra, the Indian 51kg boxer, because he was curious to see the girl who had beaten Mary Kom in the trials. Excerpts from an interview:
Tell us a bit about your interest in Indian boxing? I’m very keen to watch boxing bouts, I’ve been coming here (boxing venue) regularly. I met your fighter yesterday, Vijender. Very nice guy, and a very fine boxer too. We had a good chat about how his career is going. He’s a very exciting boxer to watch and I’m a big fan. I met the Indian boxing coach, Gurbax Singh Sandhu, in the London Olympics. I’m a big fan of Indian boxing. What I like about Indian boxers is that they’ve improved their style, their skills. It’s up to the fighters to be disciplined, and they’re very disciplined as a country. They’ve improved, they’ve brought in different coaches from all over the world. That’s what I love about it, because it shows they’re really serious about the sport of boxing. You have plans to come to India, I believe. A friend of mine, Raj Kundra, has launched a mixed martial arts fighting league, the Super Fight League. I’ve been invited numerous times to come there and show my support for it. I think boxing too needs something like that in India. Maybe some day we’d come there and start promoting the sport there. There is a lot of talent there, it’s not being used. It’s the same with Pakistan, where there’s a lot of talent but no facilities. One thing about India is that there are facilities there, and they’re making use of what they’ve got. You have a boxing academy here, any plans to set up something in India? Yes, I’ve been invited to Delhi, I’ve been asked by Abhay Singh Chautala to open a boxing academy in north India. So that’s something we’re going to look into as it’s something I’d love to do. I’m opening academies in Pakistan, a couple there. I’ve got an academy in England, and if I open one in India, who knows, it could lead to a three-nation tournament! I had a good meeting with Chautala in Dubai, he invited me to come to India to have a look at the set-up. You’re an inspiration, especially to a very large number of Asian heritage people. How do you view that? I try my best, I do what I have to do. I’m highly motivated with my sport of boxing. I’m very lucky to be in that position where I have so much love and prayers from people from all over the world. Some of the countries I’ve been to, I never knew that they’d know about boxing, about Amir Khan. So that only motivates me to go out and do more. If I can pass on my advice and experience to them, I’d love to do that. Pray for me, that’s what I need. You’ve been in some controversies in the recent times? Yes, but you really must not believe the media here. People do make mistakes, but the media here sensationalises everything - for instance, if I buy a nice big car with my own money, they play it up in a negative way. It’s not fair. Have you heard of the Indian actor Aamir Khan? Yeah, I’ve heard of him but I’ve never met him. I’d love to, because he’s on the top of the acting profession, he’s the best in his profession. And with me on top of my sport of boxing, it would be good to have the two best in their careers to meet up! What do you think of the new rules due to which male boxers now fight without protective headgear? I think that rule should be changed back to what it was, especially because in tournaments such as this one, boxers have to fight so many bouts in a week’s time. The risk of injury is so high without helmets. So if a good boxer gets hurt, if gets a cut in the first bout, he would be out. That’s not fair, I think. Your flight with boxing legend Floyd Mayweather was set up for September. Why was it cancelled? Yes, I had to cancel it because it was just before the month of Ramazan, which just got over. I could not have been ready for a fight in September. I’ll have another fight in December (Robert Guerrero or Devon Alexander), and hopefully, we’d have the Mayweather fight in May 2015, hopefully. |
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Pinki gets bronze and gains a fan
Glasgow, August 1 Former world champion Amir Khan had settled down to watch this match with great interest. Pinki had beaten Mary Kom in the Indian trials. Khan knows about Mary Kom, and he was curious to see the conqueror of the mighty Mary take on Michaela Walsh of the Northern Ireland in the semifinals. At the end of the bout, Khan gave his verdict: “I thought she did well, I thought she won, actually!” Pinki lost to Michaela through a split decision — two judges gave the bout to Michaela, one gave both boxers equal points. Pinki seemed to dominate the first round and did well for most of the second; she is some three inches shorter than Michaela, but she made up for that with her aggression and speed. The Irishwoman was strong and perhaps better in the third, but was that enough to win her the bout? Boxing bouts can be very controversial; opinion is usually divided very sharply across national lines. Indian observers would believe that Pinki did not lose; Irish observers are likely to believe that their girl was the clear winner. Khan, perhaps being kind to the Indian girl, conveyed his wishes to Pinki: “Just tell her that she was very good, fought very well.” Pinki herself was crestfallen after her loss, but refused to blame it on any external factor, like luck or a possible bias of the judges towards a boxer from Great Britain. “She is a tall girl and that helps,” she said. “I worked hard to negate that strength by being aggressive and fast.” “I have to try to work on the mistakes I made and rectify them,” she said. Khan’s praise cheered her a bit. “I know about him, he’s a great boxer,” she said. “I take it as a very big compliment.” Sarita in finalThoubal village, Manipur and all of India must celebrate Laishram Sarita Devi — she would return to India with at least a silver medal. The happiest is likely to be little Tumthil, Sarita's son. Sarita hasn't seen him for four months; but when they chat over the phone or meet up through video-chats, Tumthil manages to cheer and encourage mamma. "Mamma kya karegi?? Mamma jeetegi!" Tumthil tells Sarita Devi. Mamma won, and mamma came off the ring laughing and joking. Sarita faced Maria Machongua of Mozambique in the semifinal of the women's 60kg boxing category here tonight. It soon became obvious that Sarita was the far superior boxer —her 21-year-old opponent was unable to match her power and speed. In the second round, the onslaught continued — the girl from Mozambique seemed to be intimidated, and it got worse when Sarita landed powerful rights on her. This round too went to the Indian unanimously. Maria fought well towards the end of the second round, landing a strong right flush on the face of the Indian pugilist — but that was one rare point for her. In the third round, Sarita had Maria on her knees; in the fourth, she had Maria on the ropes. Maria was becoming inactive and defensive — she seemed to have given up. Maria attacked right at the end, but ended up taking more punishment, including a huge right that seemed to rattle her. At one point, Maria grabbed Sarita in a clinch — that made the Indian laugh. "I found it funny, she was holding me and I was unable to box!" said Sarita. She just could not stop laughing well after the round was over. "Back home, they're watching and cheering for me," she said of her son and husband Thoiba Singh.
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Sardar suspended for semis clash
Glasgow, August 1 Sardar, who has already been reprimanded for dangerous play against an Austrlian player, received a yellow card in Friday’s pool A match against South Africa — which India won 5-2 — and the jury originally slapped him a two-match suspension as it was his second offence of the tournament. After an appeal by the Indian team management, the appeal jury reduced the suspension to one match. The appeal jury held a hearing to consider Sardar’s latest disciplinary lapse, for which he was sent to the sinbin for 10 minutes. Team coach MK Kaushik said it was an unintentional tackle and since he had already been reprimanded, Sardar received the supsension. "It was an unintentional tackle for which Sardar got the yellow card. Since he had already been reprimanded, he received a two-match suspension. But after we appealed it was reduced to one match," he said. Hockey India secretary general Narinder Batra said the team was satisfied with the one-match suspension and would not appeal further. "Sardar committed an offence and we are satisfied with the one-match suspension. We are not going to appeal further," he said. A two-match suspension would have ruled Sardar out of either the final or bronze-medal match too. "He (Sardar) has already been reprimanded on Wednesday over an incident during India’s match against Australia on Tuesday. Sardar was deemed to have been guilty of ‘inappropriate physical conduct" after Australia’s Eddie Ockenden was hit in the face," the organisers said. — PTI
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Sindhu, Kashyap enter into semifinals
Leading Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and P.V. Sindhu entered the semifinals of the Commonwealth Games in their respective categories here on Friday. In the absence of top seed Saina Nehwal, No.2 seed Sindhu routed New Zealand’s Anna Rankin in straight games in the women’s singles quarter-finals to enter the last four in her first appearance at the Games. World No.11 Sindhu notched up a comfortable 21-10, 21-9 win in 24 minutes and will take on Canadian fourth seed Michelle Li in the semis. Earlier, men’s singles second seed Kashyap also had an easy 21-13, 21-14 victory in 38 minutes to proceed to the semis. The World No.22 had clinched the bronze four years ago in New Delhi. The Indian women hockey team defeated hosts Scotland 2-1 in the 5-6 position classification match to end fifth at the Commonwealth Games here on Friday. While the first half showcased great defensive skills along with counter-attacks by India, it was only in the second half that the forwards, denting the opponent’s semicircle, finally scored and won. India drew the first blood through Anupama Barla in the 53rd minute. Scotland struck back just two minutes later to level the score but India re-took the lead in the 57th minute when Poonam Rani made it 2-1. Santoshi gets silver, Swati bronze
The Indian duo Santoshi Matsa and Swati Singh have been awarded silver and bronze medal, respectvely, after Nigeria teenager Chika Amalaha (in women's 53kg) has been stripped of her weightlifting gold medal, failing a doping test. Amalaha was Nigeria's first gold medal winner in Glasgow, equalling the Games snatch record of 82kg with her first attempt before lifting 85kg on her third. Her combined total of 196kg was also a Games record, and according to the International Weightlifting Federation she was the youngest women to win a weightlifting title in Games history. Gymnast Ashish disappoints, ends campaign after fall
India’s Ashish Kumar falls on his back during the vault final in Glasgow on Friday. PTI
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Wrestlers going from strength to strength
Thirteen of the 14 Indian freestyle wrestlers in action here won medals — in the 2010 CWG in New Delhi, the count was 12, though then India won one more gold.
The absence of the Greco Roman wrestling competition from this year’s event, though, meant that India’s overall medal count at the Delhi CWG (19, including 12 freestyle medals and 7 Greco Roman style medals) could not be matched here. When they left India, the wrestlers and the coaches had said that they were confident of winning medals in all their events. They did pretty well, led by the fantastic duo of Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar. “Our aim was to win all gold medals in the freestyle events,” says Sushil about the men’s team. “We did well overall, though if we had been favoured by luck, the men could have won at least two medals more.” It was no surprise to anyone when, at the end of the wrestling events yesterday, Sushil came up to the media gallery at the venue to thank the journalists — “for your support,” he said. Sushil’s humility is something that can’t be highlighted enough; he’s arguably India’s greatest living sportsperson, and yet so gentle, so humble. “We must not change, we must remain rooted to ground,” says Sushil. Sushil and Yogeshwar have set the standard in this regard — the rest of the wrestlers follow their lead. Changing times
Six years ago, when Sushil won the bronze in the Beijing Olympics, there was no physiotherapist with the team. Two years ago in the London Olympics, they had taken one physiotherapist along. At the CWG, with a greater number of wrestlers to look after, the team has two physios. That’s progress, and that has been made possible due to the exploits of Sushil and Yogeshwar and the newer breed of wrestlers. Much has changed since the time Vinod Kumar last wrestled for India. Vinod is now the chief national coach, and he reminisces fondly about how wrestling underwent a change in the last few years. He chortles when he talks about how much milk and ghee they used to consume in their time. “Their use has reduced now,” says Vinod, who has been coaching since 1994. “The times have changed. The belief then was that consuming milk and ghee would give us strength!” Now Indian wrestlers are in step with the rest of the world. “We’ve been exposed to the latest techniques, we’ve seen how the physios and doctors from abroad prepare their wrestlers,” he says. “We train abroad and have realised that it’s very important to use food supplements.” Vinod was himself a very promising junior wrestler, winning medals as a junior in the 1980s. “In 1982, before the Asian Games, the coach used to give us vitamin tablets,” he says with a chuckle. “I used to be a 48kg wrestler then, and was younger than the others in the camp. Kartar ji and Satpal ji, senior wrestlers, would hand me the vitamin tablets, asking me to throw them away. They would say — ‘These are useless, we’ll have proper diet, milk and ghee. How can these pills help?’” Wrestling has become much tougher, quicker since those days. “We could win bouts then because it was a slower sport then. If we consume too much milk and ghee now, we’ll fail,” he declares. The process has become much more scientific. Every three months, they get the samples of the wrestlers analysed, to find whether various elements — vitamins, calcium, protein, etc — in their body are balanced well. They’re very careful about ensuring that the wrestlers don’t consume banned substances even through accident. The supplements are brought from the US — from reputed and safe sources. Coaches like Vinod act as mentors of the wrestlers. “Sometimes, we overhear our boys discussing an opponent with awe,” he says. “Later, we try to bring positivity in their minds… We tell them ‘You have two hands and feet like the opponent, you can beat anyone, as Sushil and Yogeshwar did!’” In his time, mere participation in the Olympics was thought to be a great achievement. “No one used to ask us if we’d bring back medals! Now we want and expect to win medals,” he says. “In the London Olympics, India won two medals,” he adds. “We want to do better in Rio de Janeiro. I can’t declare that we’d win 10 medals, that would be going too far… But we’d try to win four-five there.” Non Evans of Wales lost to Geeta Phogat in the CWG in 2010, and she’s here as an expert on TV. “I’m not surprised that Indian wrestlers, men and women, did so well,” she says. “I was especially impressed with Vinesh. I think if India remains on the right track, their wrestlers will perform better and better in bigger tournaments.” Vinod, Sushil, Yogeshwar and the other in the Indian camp agree heartily.
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Five-Test series already taking a toll on Indian bowlers
Southampton, August 1 Away from all the action, on the balcony above the change rooms, sat two dejected men. Ishant Sharma, in his blue training shirt, staring down at his teammates, stroking his chin in deep thought and adjacent to him sat Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in his whites, bare feet resting on the railing, staring at the sky. Last week, the pair had been instrumental in a memorable win at the home of cricket. On Thursday afternoon, they looked fatigued and jaded. In a space of just three weeks, Kumar had bowled 125 overs while Ishant had broken down after bowling 85 overs in two weeks. The last time Ishant had bowled that many overs in two weeks was in New Zealand over six months ago. In between, the lack of four-day cricket and lack of bowling has clearly taken its toll on the bowler. Kumar, playing his seventh Test, never had to bowl as many overs in a short span even at the Ranji Trophy level. Ishant was missed severely, as India simply cannot just replicate a bowler of his style. Pankaj Singh, the debutant, looked impressive at times but his average bowling speed had dropped by 4km/h on Day 2. Kumar, who bowled at an average speed of over 80mph at Lord's, was consistently below the 80mph mark since the second session on Day 1. Mohammed Shami, the third man of the pace battery, is the greatest concern. While Kumar and Ishant have at least managed to play over 50 first class games, Shami is yet to toil in domestic cricket, having played only 15 first class matches. In the England camp, the endurance and the experience of playing two five-Test match series in the past 12 months is now proving to be a distinct advantage. Dhoni defended his four-man bowling strategy, stating that the fifth bowler had only managed to bowl 8-10 overs; but had Dhoni managed his fifth bowler better in the first two Tests, they would not be as worn-out on the first morning of the third Test. Eventually, the fatigue kicked in and this allowed England to draw level. With the last two Test matches scheduled back-to-back, how the Indian bowlers are managed could well decide the fate of the series. Ojha gets call-up
Wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha has got his maiden Test call-up in place of the injured Wriddhiman Saha for the Old Trafford Test against England starting on August 7. "Wriddhiman Saha is injured and will soon return to India," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said. "Ojha will replace him as the back-up wicketkeeper." |
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Anderson, Jadeja cleared by ICC
London, August 1 The Judicial Commissioner Gordon Lewis reached his decisions following a six-hour hearing, which took place via video-conference and put an end to the suspense surrounding the fate of the two players. “His Honor Gordon Lewis AM, the Judicial Commissioner, has found both England?s James Anderson and Ravidra Jadeja of India not guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct," ICC said. Witnesses, including some Indian and English players, provided evidence and were cross-examined by the respective legal counsels. The ECB and Anderson were represented in the hearings by Nick De Marco while Adam Lewis QC represented Jadeja. The hearings were also attended by the two team managers, the ECB's Paul Downton, the BCCI's Sundar Raman and MV Sridhar, the ICC's General Manager (Cricket), Geoff Allardice. — Reuters
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Ali's ‘Fight of the Century’ gloves sell for nearly $400,000
London, August 1 An anonymous bidder bought the gloves for $388,375 at the auction run by Texas-based Heritage Auctions at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland. Heritage previously auctioned a set of gloves Ali wore to claim his first World Championship in 1964 for $836,500. The Fight of the Century was the first of three fights between Ali and Frazier during the 1970s. — Reuters
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Seema throws silver in India’s kitty Glasgow, August 1 She doesn't have a sponsor. She was supported by the Mittal Champions Trust (MCT) earlier, now that the MCT has been closed down, it's a bit of a struggle. The shoes she wore here at the Commonwealth Games were bought four months ago. “I'd been saving them because I wanted to use them in this competition,” she says. She used them well here tonight — she won a silver by hurling the disc to a distance of 61.61m, behind Australia's Dani Samuels who sent it flying to 64.88m for a gold. Krishna Poonia, the other Indian in the fray, finished fifth with a throw of 57.84m. Seema, a silver medallist at the 2006 Melbourne CWG and a bronze medallist in the Delhi CWG, has been working hard over the last few months. After two CWG medals, Seema wanted to take the next big step. She'd started training with coach Tony Ciarelli before the 2012 Olympics, and she's benefitted from working with him over the last few months, too. Seema, five-feet-eleven, has a career best throw of 64.84m. The big step in her career, she says, was possible because of the support of the MCT. “It was due to the MCT that I was able to go from a 50m thrower to an over 60m thrower.” More crucial was the support she got from MCT when she hit by a shoulder injury. “It was only due to MCT — and specifically, Manisha Malhotra who headed MCT operations — that I was able to recover,” says the big, soft-spoken lady from Sonepat. Malhotra went to the extent of hosting Seema at her own home in Mumbai and getting her treated by the famous physiotherapist, Heath Matthews, at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital.
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Glasgow, August 1
London, August 1
Glasgow, August 1
In a huge jolt to Indian men’s hockey team’s chances in the Commonwealth Games, captain Sardar Singh has been suspended for the semifinal match against New Zealand on Saturday following his second dangerous offence of the tournament.
Indian women hockey team finishes fifth
Indian gymnast Ashish Kumar’s campaign ended on a disappointing note as he finished last in the men’s vault final due to a fall on the mat here today. Ashish had won silver in vault and bronze in floor event in the Delhi CWG. Ashish, who had finished sixth in the floor event final yesterday, ended his campaign on a faulty note after he failed to land on his feet in his second vault. He scored a decent 14.333 in his first vault but landed flat on the mat on his back while trying for a somersault in the air. - Agencies
Indian wrestling is in a good place — the number has gone up since Delhi 2010, which is impressive because back then they had benefitted from excellent support from the home fans in Delhi.