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Jitu, the man with the golden gun
With a hard-earned bronze medal, Shweta gets India off the blocks
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Gopi, Vimal in Saina’s corner, but who’s the coach?
Quick notes
Miller, Patel blunt the Tridents
Sania-Cara defends Tokyo Open title
Marsh pulls off a scorcher
world kabaddi league
Arsenal shake off midweek blues
Lewis secures Singapore pole
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Jitu, the man with the golden gun
Shooting makes your life crazy. You've got to still your nerves and deaden your heartbeat. You've got to check the flow of the blood in the veins. The very breath that sustains the shooter is his enemy — they breathe with caution so that no tremors are transmitted to the gun. Your life could be devoted to staring a pea-sized target, the bulls-eye, 50m away, in lonely halls in practice or in packed competition venues. The highest goal of your life is to hit the very centre of the pea every time you press the trigger. Now, Jitu Rai is the very picture of politeness. He's short, slight of build. When he bows and shakes your hand with his right, his left hand’s palm cups the right elbow, in a sign of respect. He smiles gently, and he blushes when we advise him to kiss his medal for a photograph. But under that exterior is flint — the strongest kind of flint. Shooting makes your life crazy — you've got to be super-strong in the mind to excel in it. “Sir, dimag thanda honey do, phir baat karunga,” said Rai, India’s first gold medallist of the Asian Games, as he walked off the shooting range today. Rai's gun did most of the talking today in the 50m air pistol event. He’d qualified with the seventh-best score for the final today. After 18 of the 20 shots of the final, he was placed second — just .7 of a point behind Hoang Phuong Nguyen of Vietnam. This is the moment when palms sweat, the shoulder creaks, the pistol begins to weigh like a canon. This is the moment shooters can crack. This is the moment of truth. Rai, his left hand in his pocket, held his breath, looked at the target, and waited and waited and waited. It seemed like an eternity to the watcher — it was perhaps only 10-15 seconds. To Rai, it surely seemed longer than an eternity. Rai wanted to make it count with the deepest 10 possible — eventually, he fired and shot a 9.6. Nguyen had shot a 8.7. Rai's advantage of.9 point on that shot put him in lead by .2 point. Rai then held his nerve on the final shot, even as Nguyen lost his head — he shot a shocking 5.8. Rai too got a low score, 8.4, but that was enough for gold. “I had to make sure that I got a good score with the second-last shot,” Rai said later. “I took my time. I was behind him, and this was perhaps my last chance to take the lead. I wanted to grab this opportunity!” Rai has been inspirational this year — in 10m and 50m air pistol event, he's won three medals in the World Cups (one gold, one silver and one bronze), the gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and the silver in the recent World Championship in Grenada, in which he shot 191.1 in the final then.
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With a hard-earned bronze medal, Shweta gets India off the blocks
Incheon, September 20 She was only jesting, of course, because everyone loves the gentle Jitu Rai. But Shweta deserved the limelight as much for a particular reason – the pistol she uses in her event, the 10m Air Pistol, had been lying with the Customs Department, and she had been upset and distraught over the last few days. She had to use a new pistol, which she had bought during the World Championship in Grenada recently. “I’d used it for only one hour during practice yesterday, firing some 30 shots with it,” Shweta said later. Each time shooters fly to a tournament, the country’s shooting association sends the serial numbers of their weapons to the organisers, who give the numbers to the Customs Department. For some reasons, the serial number of her old pistol was not with the Customs officials when she arrived — this resulted in the confiscation of the weapon at the airport. “I’d been running after these guys, and I was told everyday that it would come in the evening, or it would come the next morning,” Shweta said. She got it only today morning, at 8 am, but now she wasn’t sure if she wanted to use it. “I couldn’t use it, for one has to have the weapon examined by the organisers, give it at the gun control section,” the Faridabad-born shooter said. “And then the keys of the box were with the Customs, and I didn’t know how they’d handled it. I didn’t have full confidence about using it, for someone could have inspected it, fiddled with the gun-sights by mistake.” Shweta, 28, did little wrong today herself, even as the more fancied Heena Sidhu failed to reach the final. Shweta qualified fourth-best among the eight finalists, with 383 points, one point behind two Koreans and a China shooter, who were joint first with 384 points each. In the final, Shweta led the field after six of the 20 shots, with 60.8 points; but her eighth shot got her a horrible 7.7, plunging her down to sixth. She recovered, however, and eliminated China's Guo Wenjun after the 16th shot to ensure a bronze for herself. Under pressure, Shweta shot a remarkable 10.7 in the shoot-off that eliminated Guo. Shweta said that this was the biggest medal of her life – bigger than the team silver she won in the 2006 Asiad, or the gold won at the Commonwealth Shooting Championship in 2010. Shot in the foot
Her start in shooting hadn’t been very encouraging – she actually shot herself in her foot the first time she was taken to the shooting range by her father, Ramesh Chaudhary, who’s in the real estate business. She can laugh it off now, but said: “I’ve still got that scar!” She wasn’t too keen to continue and dropped the sport, but her father encouraged her to return to the range. She’s lucky she didn’t lack money because her father supported her. “He travelled with me for 10 years after I started competing at age 12,” she said. But she’s been dogged by back fortune as well, mainly due to the lack of specialised training at the start. “When I started, I didn’t know how to exercise to strengthen the shooting muscles, in the shoulders,” she said. “We used to do what we knew.” But the strain slowly weakened the muscles on her right shoulder. It was agony. “It became so bad that the muscles were dead, and my shoulder was numb at the end of 2012,” she said. “Then my sponsors, Olympic Gold Quest, provided their medical team, which helped me recover.” Shweta got married to Prashant Singh, who has an elevator business, last year – now he’s her coach as well. “He’s not a trained shooter, but he started as my mental coach and then, learning about shooting, he has become my full-time shooting coach,” she said. “He understands my psychology, my mind, how to boost me.” He often travels with Shweta, but he’s not here, because it’s a short event and they didn’t wish to go through the hassle of arranging for accommodation. She missed her family, and she’d not even talked with them well after her medal, but she was confident that they were up at 4 am today, following her performance. Staying away from home is a problem, but she’s motivated by two pugilists – Mary Kom and Sarita Devi – who actually have to stay away from their little children for months. “They motivate me to stay away from my family, my husband,” said Shweta. “Whenever I miss home, I think about them. If they can stay from their families, why can’t I?” |
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Shooters still on way, little time for practice
Incheon, September 20 This means that are going to go into competition with no practice here, getting into action soon after reaching the city, with no time to acclimatise. The delay in getting the accreditation cards of the shooters, which was reported two days ago, will thus cause greater grief than earlier thought. Three of the four are currently in Spain, from where they will go to New Delhi to apply for their visas for Incheon. The fourth, Jung, was scheduled to reach Incheon tonight — and he’d be straightaway plunged into competition, the 10m air pistol event, scheduled to be held on Sunday morning. As reported earlier, only seven of the 43 Indian shooters had their accreditation cards ready in time. The accreditation cards act as visa-waivers for the athletes and delegates, and the absence of the cards forced the 36 shooters to apply for visas in New Delhi. If the accreditation passes had been prepared, they would have been able to fly to Incheon right from Grenada. The trip to Delhi, and applying for the visas, wasted precious time, which should have been spent in acclimatisation and practice here. Most of the 36 have arrived here, tired and upset, but the above-named four are yet to reach here. The World Shooting Championship ended in Grenada, Spain, today. The events of the above-named four were among the last in the World Championships, so they had to remain in Grenada. The others – 32 of them – came to India, applied for the visas at the Korean embassy, and reached here over the last two days. Gurpreet had won two gold medals in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, and he was one of the hopefuls here in the 25m rapid fire event. A National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) official said: “We feel bad for Gurpreet because missing the official practice before the event could be very detrimental to his chances. He will not have the time to even overcome his jet lag. Expecting a medal under such a situation would be very unrealistic.” Vijay Kumar has been going through a slump, worsened by a shoulder injury; the London Olympics rapid-fire silver winner didn’t do well in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He hasn’t been able to land a berth in the rapid fire team, and his chances here in the centre fire event may be minimal, but one cannot really rule out a proven shooter. Pemba Tamang, partner of Vijay Kumar in the 25m centre fire event, will rue the missed practice session, too. “Vijay and Pemba will probably reach the Games Village on Wednesday night,” the NRAI official said. “They will reach Delhi either on Sunday evening or Monday. They’d then apply for the visas.” If the accreditation passes had been prepared on time, this trouble would not have hit the Indian team. The NRAI has said that it’s not their fault, that the Asian Games organisers had been sent the accreditation requests for all shooters in time. Whose fault is it, then? It’s certainly not the fault of the shooters. |
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Gopi, Vimal in Saina’s corner, but who’s the coach?
Incheon, September 20 This was Saina’s first tournament after Vimal took over.
Vimal Kumar, though, took over as her coach recently, giving rise to the unusual situation today — national coach Gopi Chand and Vimal Kumar sat together in Saina’s corner today, but when it came to passing advice, Gopi Chand had little to do.
Saina beat Ratchanok Intanon 21-15, 17-21, 21-18 in the first match of the team event; a very creditable win, for Ratchanok is ranked No. 5 in the world and was the last year’s world champion. Who’s the coach?
When Saina discussed the presence of the two coaches in her corner today, she left some room for ambiguity about who’s her coach here. It may have been out of habit that she said that “he is my coach” about Gopi
Chand; but she also said that “I wanted to work with him (Vimal Kumar) for a few days before this event”. Before this event? So perhaps Gopi Chand is still her coach during this event? Specifically, what did she want to work on with Vimal Kumar? “I wanted to work on my movement around the court,” Saina said today. “He was at the Uber Cup for a few days and helped me with my movement… That’s why I wanted to work with him for a few days before this event, to see how my movement around the court
worked.” Vimal Kumar and Gopi Chand, as they sat together, were the cynosure of all eyes today; Vimal was more animated of the two even while cheering the points Saina won. During the breaks between the games, Vimal did most of the talking while Gopi Chand stood next to him and
Saina. Vimal talked and gestured in an animated manner, pointing to various parts of the court; having finished, however, he would look at Gopi
Chand, almost as if he wanted his opinion on what was discussed. Gopi Chand would make very brief remarks, lasting perhaps 10 seconds, before the two walked back to their chairs in the corner. So, how did Saina feel about Gopi Chand standing quietly there, even as Vimal Kumar advised her? “I think it’s better that he
(Vimal) tells me something right now, because Gopi Sir didn’t see me play the last two weeks, so I think let him
(Gopi) just see how it is going,” she said. But Gopi too advises her, doesn’t he? “Won’t he?” she shot back with a laugh. “Obviously, he’ll give some points… What’s there in this? Both will give me some information, about strategy.” And does she go to Gopi for advice? “He’s my coach, obviously!” she said. Medal assured
In the second singles match, PV Sindhu beat Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 21-15, 21-13 to put India 2-0 up. However, Chandrika Thulasi lost to Busanan
Ongbamrungphan; and Nelakurthi Reddy and Pradnya Gadre lost the first doubles match to Porntip and Kunchala
Voravichitchaikul. The rubber was now tied 2-2, and then PV Sindhu and Ashwini Ponnappa took to the court against Sapsiree Taerattanachai and Saralee
Thoungthongkam. The Indian team isn’t a regular combination, and Sindhu was filling in for Jwala
Gutta, Ashwini’s regular partner. However, they assured India of at least a bronze with a 21-16, 21-17 win. India would take on South Korea in the semifinals tomorrow. |
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Indian lifters fail to impress
Two Indians in quarterfinals in wushu
India began their campaign in wushu competition on a mixed note with two players making it to the quarterfinals while four of them making an early exit from the Games here today. Narender Grewal beat Mangal Prasad Tharu of Nepal in 'win by round' verdict in his round of 16 Sanda 60kg contest. The Indian won 2-0. Grewal take on Abdullah of Pakistan in the quarterfinals on Monday. Yumnam Sanathoi Devi also made it to the quarterfinal round in women's 52kg event after defeating Kamalova Mubarak of Uzbekistan.
India assured of medal in women's singles squash
India is assured of its first ever women's singles medal in the Asian Games after top players Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa won their respective openers here on Saturday and set up an exciting contest in the quarterfinals. World No. 21 Chinappa blanked 183rd ranked South Korea Song Sunmi 11-9 11-7 11-7 at the Yeorumul Squash Courts. Soon after, world No. 12 Pallikal stepped on the court against 150th ranked Jinyue Gu of China. The highest-ranked Indian slipped a bit before prevailing 11-6 10-12 11-6 11-4. Indian cagers off to winning start
Indian male cagers started their campaign on a resounding note, thrashing a lowly Palestine 89-49 in their opening encounter here on Saturday. India dominated Palestine in all the four quarters with Amjyot Singh turning out to be the highest scorer for the formers with 25 points. The Indians raced to a 20-6 lead in the first quarter and then extended it to 40-23 at the second break. Indian spikers struggle past Hong Kong
Indian spikers were given a tough time by an unfancied Hong Kong before they prevailed 3-1 in the opening group league game of the men's volleyball event at the 17th Asian Games on Saturday. India won by 23-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-21 against a spirited Hong Kong side which is atleast 90 places below them. It wasn't one of the most convincing performance from the Indian men, as there were too many errors at the net.
— Agencies |
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Miller, Patel blunt the Tridents
Mohali, September 20 Akshar Patel, who till now was known more for his left-arm spin, will no more be a rabbit with the bat. The Twenty-year-old today brought it back for Kings XI Punjab just when it looked like drifting away at their home ground. David Miller may have been adjudged the Man of the Match for his well-paced innings of 46 runs, but it was the wiry Patel who brought smiles to the faces of the Mohali crowd. Often in T20 it’s just an over that makes or mars the whole game. For Kings XI, it was the 18th over of the second innings when the game took the decisive turn and finally fell in their bag. Patel, with the help of some luck and a lot of pluck, managed to score 19 runs. Two consecutive fours, a single, then a four and finally a hook brought Kings XI Punjab back into the game with 25 runs required off 12 balls. Given the sluggish pace of the Kings XI batsmen, it looked very, very difficult but Ravi Rampaul, with his largesse, made it easy for Patel. Kings XI Punjab could not have thanked the medium pacer enough as they registered a 4-wicket win with 2 balls remaining over Barbados Tridents. Tridents had scored 174/6 as Raymon Reifer scored an unbeaten 60 and Dilshan Munaweera scored a power-packed fifty. Both the batsmen breached the long-on and midwicket region repeatedly with their clean hits. Munaweera took the lead and reached 50 when the Tridents total was 61 runs. Reifer delivered the parting shots. Kings XI Punjab too got a fiery start on the shoulders of Virender Sehwag but slacked as the innings progressed. Miller ensured there was crunch of wickets as Patel went bang bang at Mohali. And just when it looked like going to the wire, Miller brought an abrupt end to the match with a mighty heave over wide long-on for a six. After the match, Miller said: “Only towards the end did I hit one out of the ground. Akshar made it easy and took a lot of pressure off my shoulders.”
Scoreboard Barbados Tridents Munaweera c Vohra b Awana 50(26) Perkins lbw b Awana 10(80 Reifer not out 60(42) Carter c Miller b Anureet 20(19) Franklin c Awana b Perera 10(8) Chigumbura c Anureet b Perera 3(5) Holder c Miller b Awana 12(9) Nurse not out 8(3) Extras
(lb 1) 1 Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 174 Fall of wickets:
1-54, 2-61, 3-106,
4-124, 5-131, 6-159 Bowling Anureet 4-0-32-1 Awana 4-0-46-3 Patel 4-0-42-0 Maxwell 3-0-22-0 Sehwag 1-0-10-0 Karanveer 1-0-6-0 Perera 3-0-15-2 Kings XI Punjab Sehwag lbw b Mendis 31(25) Vohra c Carter b Rampaul 27(19) Saha c Munaweera b Franklin 14(13) Maxwell c Nurse b Rampaul 16(8) Miller not out 46(34) Bailey c Franklin b Mendis 7(11) Perera c Carter b Nurse 0(1) Patel not out 23(9) Extras
(b 4, lb 2, w 6, nb 2) 14 Total (6 wickets; 19.4 overs) 178 Fall of wickets:
1-41, 2-76, 3-95, 4-103, 5-127, 6-131 Bowling Holder 3.4-0-38-0 Rampaul 4-0-50-2 Emrit 2-0-17-0 Franklin 2-0-17-1 Mendis 4-0-18-2 Nurse 4-0-32-1 Man of the Match:
David Miller |
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Sania-Cara defends Tokyo Open title
Tokyo, September 20 With the win, Sania and Cara have successfully defended their Tokyo Open title. The duo took just an hour and 15 minutes to dispose the Spanish challenge as their opponents were no match. The Indo-Zimbabwean pair had a greater percentage (73%) of points won on first serve while they broke their opponents seven times in the match.
Ivanovic, Wozniacki in final
Ana Ivanovic overcame a slow start to beat top seed Angelique Kerber 7-5 6-3 in the semifinal to set up a title clash with second seed Caroline
Wozniacki. World No. 10 Ivanovic, seeded third in the $1 million event, was down 5-3 in the opening set but went on to win 10 of the next 13 games to seal her victory.
Wozniacki was the first to enter the final after a tough match against an aggressive Garbine
Muguruza. The Dane saved 19 of the 23 break points she faced to win 6-4 2-6 6-2.
— Agencies |
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Marsh pulls off a scorcher
Mohali, September 20 Chasing 165 for victory, the Scorchers started on a calm note. After Adam Voges (7 off 11) fell in the third over, lbw by right arm medium pacer Kyle Abbott, Craig Simmons ( 48 off 36) played an essential innings. He fell short of completing his half century when he was caught and bowled by Cameron Delport. Sam Whiteman carried forward the momentum along with Marsh before the former was dismissed by Craig Alexander. Brief scores: Dolphins: 164/7 (Zondo* 63, Maharaj 29; Behrendorff 3/46, Paris 2/21); Perth Scorchers: 165/4 (Simmons 48, Whiteman 45, Marsh* 40). |
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Warriors register 7th consecutive win
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, September 20 The only unbeaten side of the WKL won their seventh match in eight games, with one tie also against their name. The early part of the matches tend to be very tight as it was between Khalsa and United, when they were tied 13-13 after the first quarter and it became 27-26 for the Warriors at the midway stage. The Warriors, who have been very tenacious in the WKL, seemed determined to move ahead in the third quarter as the game became more tensed. Khalsa Warriors’ raiders, Gagandeep and Manjot Singh Gill, took their team into a strong position. In the final session, that edge stayed with the Warriors as they closed the match 57-50. Manjot was adjudged the Man of the Match and the Best Raider.
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Arsenal shake off midweek blues
London, September 20 Ronaldo nets treble as Real hit eight past Depor
Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 27th career hat-trick and Gareth Bale struck twice as Real Madrid bounced back in style from consecutive defeats with a thumping 8-2 La Liga win at Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday. Ronaldo put Real ahead with a 29th-minute header before new signing James Rodriguez scored a stunning goal in the 36th. Rodriguez picked up the ball just outside the penalty area and whipped a curling left-foot effort into the far corner.
— Reuters |
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Shooting makes your life crazy. You've got to still your nerves and deaden your heartbeat. You've got to check the flow of the blood in the veins.
“Jitu, aapne gold medal jeet kar meri saari limelight cheen li — you’ve taken away the limelight from me!” said Shweta Chaudhary as she congratulated the 50m air pistol shooter for winning India’s first gold.
It was quite a peculiar sight — Pullela Gopi Chand stood by quietly as Vimal Kumar instructed and advised Saina Nehwal during the breaks in the women’s badminton team match against Thailand here today. Gopi Chand had been Saina’s coach during her rise to superstardom.
Tokyo, September 20
Indian weightlifters began their campaign on a disappointing note as all three contestants finished at the bottom half of the table in their respective categories. In women's 48 kg category, Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu and Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, the gold and silver medallists at Glasgow, finished 10th and ninth respectively out of 13 lifters. Sukhen Dey, another Commonwealth Games gold medallist, finished 12th among 14 lifters in the men's 56 kg category. Sukhen ended fifth in his group of six lifters with a total of 242 kg (106+136).
