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Akhil warms up nice and easy
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Chauhan’s gold gone with the wind
‘Satisfied with BI elections’
Coach by his side, Arpinder has no place for fear
Sports Bill in winter session
Kolkata storm into semis
Quick notes
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Akhil warms up nice and easy
Akhil Kumar, the original boxing star, 33-going-on-34, today fought his first international bout in four years. Akhil isn’t the one to be coy or diffident when he gets into a fight, but today he had reason to be fearful and cautious in the round-of-32 bout. The 60kg boxer had been unwell, down with viral fever and on medication, and feared if he’d be able to step up and take a pounding on his body.
There were bigger demons — four years on, his body is older, younger boxers have emerged, the scoring system has changed. There have been no preparatory tournaments because of the suspension of the Indian boxing federation. Akhil Kumar was not fighting only Purna Bahadur Lama tonight — he was fighting the passage of time, doubt, the fear of pain. His opponent tonight, Lama of Nepal, seemed to be in the thrall of even bigger fears; Lama has a rather peculiar problem — he’s extremely reluctant in throwing punches. For a boxer, that’s a killer problem. Seeing him box, it seemed likely that he is an accidental boxer — did a Nepalese boxing coach simply spot a sturdy lad and forced the boxing gloves into his hands? But Lama, 32 and a police officer, has been boxing for 16 years. It was he who landed the first punch of the night. Akhil, though, went on to give Lama a severe pounding, landing several multi-punch combinations, forcing the Nepalese to take two standing counts in the first round and one in the second. Lama’s response was to protect his face and duck low — even when Akhil put his own guard down and planted himself a foot away, Lama didn’t oblige — every 15 seconds, he attempted a high hook. He rarely connected, and the referee, mercifully, stopped the ‘fight’ in the third round to give Akhil a technical knockout. Akhil played his part well; he moved fast, ducked and weaved and moved out to avoid the punches that rarely came; Akhil’s was a solo performance and, despite the non-cooperation of Lama, it was quite impressive. “I was worried how I’d be able to fight because I’d been down with viral fever,” Akhil said later. “I’d been having problem with my weight too. Without Jaidev Bisht and Gurbax Singh Sandhu, and physio Ahluwalia, I wouldn’t have been able to fight tonight.” He said the strategy was to begin watchfully. But when he started landing punches, he felt better. In the pre-quarterfinals, Akhil would face Charly Suarez of the Philippines. “I have not fought for some time now,” Akhil said. “I’m not taking any pressure, and the coaches aren’t taking pressure too.” “It was really very good, his first bout after such a long time,” Sandhu said. “Boxing after a long break, the eye movement is slow, the counter and the movement etc are slower — so the speed of your punch goes down, and the opponent lands more punches. The fear psychosis increases.”
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Chauhan’s gold gone with the wind
Incheon, September 24
Before joining the Army, Chauhan, 22 next month, used to dabble in kabaddi and wrestling. When he joined the Army, a rowing coach suggested that his physique and strength would make him a good rower — he’s a six-footer and has brawn in the arms. In just over a year, Chauhan won a silver medal in the quadruple sculls event at the 2013 World Championships. The Jhajjar lad didn’t find happiness today, but he did well — he led from the 500m mark for about 1,300m, up to the 1,800m mark. At that stage, Hong Kong’s Kwan Hoi Lok and South Korea’s Hakbeom Lee got past him. At 1,500m, Chauhan’s time was 5 minutes 27.55 seconds; Lok was a second behind, and Lee a further second adrift. But in the last 200m, in wet and windy conditions, Chauhan could not summon the strength to stay with Lok and Lee. Lok won with a time of 7:25.04, Lee timed 7:25.95, while Chauhan was a further 1.53s behind at 7:26.57. At the 2013 Asian Championships, Chauhan had participated in the single sculls event, but “I was confident that I’d win gold,” Chauhan, who’s with the Army’s Bengal Engineering Group in Roorkie, said. “It was windy in the last stretch, and due to that I was unable to challenge for the top medal.”
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‘Satisfied with BI elections’
Ching-Kuo Wu, AIBA president, has said that they made this decision only after being satisfied that the Boxing India elections were fair. “Three organisations had applied for recognition, and after evaluating them, we’ve asked one of them to take charge,” Wu told this writer today. “We’d sent our observer to the Boxing India elections, and our view is that this was a fair election. But if there are rules that are infringed, we will go by our rules and take action.” There have been allegations that the AIBA had favoured BI — one Indian official had gone to the extent of alleging that bribes had been used by the BI officials to buy AIBA’s approval. “No, it doesn’t work that way… Everything we did was under our rules,” Wu said. “These allegations are made by people who are not recognised by us. There were so many protests the last time too — many people came and complained. The problem with India is different groups fighting each other. But as far as we’re concerned, all that is over.” Wu said that it’s not rare for boxing associations to be suspended by the AIBA. “We’ve suspended Great Britain, the United States, Wales, Korea, Thailand etc in the past,” he said. “After they were suspended, all of them were able to solve their problems and come back. If they do not follow the rules, association are out — when they follow the rules, they’re allowed back in. India isn’t a rarity.” Significantly, Wu said that the national bodies of different sports are governed by the international federation, not by the National Olympic Committee of that country. “We’ve kept the Indian Olympic Association informed about our decision, we’ve always kept them in the loop,” he said. “The Olympic Charter is very clear that the national federation is in the hands of the international federation.” Wu said that the officials of the old federation haven’t been black-listed. “But a lot of things have happened. How can we trust the old federation people?” he said. “Too many complains and protests were made, but the Boxing India elections were fair. So we’ve asked the IOA to recognise it.”
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Coach by his side, Arpinder has no place for fear
Incheon, September 24
Doubt and fear have been Arpinder’s companions in the recent times. At the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Arpinder won a bronze with a jump of 16.63 metre. The Amritsar lad jumped to 16.63m on the first of his six attempts — he seemed set to go for gold. But he never went past 16.63, fouling his last two jumps. Arpinder got a medal, but he was not delighted – it was cold and wet in Glasgow, he had problems in his run-up, and he had no one to turn to. Pannu was not with him, for he hadn’t been included in the Indian contingent for the CWG. Arpinder’s event is complex in its technicalities. He launches his attempts with a sprint some 47 metres away, and gains speed as he nears the take-off mark; then it’s over in an instant — hop, skip and jump. During the sprint, the last thing he wants on his mind is doubt — doubt kills success in sport. During the National Inter-State Athletics Championships at Lucknow in June, Pannu noticed that the run-up was a bit shorter than 45m — so he extended it with wooden planks and cotton sheets. Arpinder promptly set a national record, 17.17m. He couldn’t have done it without Pannu. Arpinder beat Renjith Maheshwary, the previous national record-holder, by a stunning margin of 63 centimetres. After the Glasgow hiatus, Pannu is with him here, and the two are confident that they’d be going for nothing less than the gold. “You know, the training has gone very well here,” Arpinder said here today. “I’d been having some problems with my run-up, and I’d had fouls in Glasgow. I’ve been working with my coach on that here, and I’m confident that I’ll perform very well.” Overall, he’s glad with the way his season has gone. “I set the national record in June, and then got the bronze medal in Glasgow, though the conditions weren’t ideal there,” he said. “It had rained and it was cold, and I was without my coach. Immediately after that, at the Federation Cup, I jumped 16.70m.” Arpinder added that he’d been targeting the gold at Incheon all along. “Yes, that was my main target,” said the tall, slim and polite lad. “I hope to do well here. I hope my work on my technique would help me avoid fouls and get me the gold medal.” Arpinder said he’d been working on the different aspects of his technique — runway, half-strides and launch. He has a few more days to work before the event — the qualifying sessions for triple jump are on October 1, and the final the next day. “I’ve not been executing the full jumps in practice, I’d be doing that only in competition now,” Arpinder said. Coach Pannu said that he was confident that gold would be India’s. “Everything has been very good over the last few days, the training is excellent, the track is good,” he said. “I’m sure that we’d get a gold.”
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Sports Bill in winter session
New Delhi, September 24 "The Bill is ready and has been circulated to all stake holders. After the change in the government, fresh comments have been sought. The IOA has been dragging its feet, but we will present the Bill in the next session of the Parliament," said Secretary Sports Ajit Sharan. Sharan said the Bill will be placed before the Cabinet next month after getting the IOA's response on some contentious clauses. The IOA, however, informed another official, is in disagreement with the Ministry over age, tenure, and the term of the office-bearers. "We have to respect the autonomy of the NSFs and the Olympic Charter, but, at the same time, they are subject to the RTI. They have been advised to put up information on their expenditure, criteria for selection of athletes, money spent on office bearers on their websites," said Sharan. Asked about the Ministry's failure to bring the BCCI under the RTI Act, Sharan said, "The High Court in Chennai stayed it and we could not get the stay vacated. This is our failure. We have made fair amount of effort to bring the BCCI within the ambit of RTI." Boxing ad-hoc committee ceases to exist Sharan said the IOA-appointed ad-hoc committee, which was entrusted with the task of running the affairs of boxing in the wake of IABF's suspension, has been dissolved and the Ministry is considering Boxing India's application for recognition as NSF. On the resumption of bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan, Sharan said the Sports Minsitry would welcome any such development. "This is a diplomatic issue which concerns the MEA. If the cricket ties resume, we will welcome it but we are not making any special efforts in this regard," he said.
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Kolkata storm into semis
Hyderabad, September 24 Chasing 152 for win, KKR lost early wickets but Suryakumar Yadav (43 not out) and Yusuf Pathan (21) stitched a 38-run sixth-wicket partnership to help them achieve the target in 19.4 overs and set a domestic record of 12 straight wins. Earlier electing to bat, Scorchers rode Adam Voges' unbeaten 71 to post 151 for seven in 20 overs. Brief scores: Scorchers 151 for 7 (Voges 71no, Narine 4/31); KKR 153 for 7 (Suryakumar 43no, Arafat 3/39) |
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Quick notes
India fought valiantly before conceding a late goal to lose 1-2 against three-time defending champions China in the women's hockey competition on Wednesday. Barring the late blunder, the Indian eves matched their fancied rivals throughout to raise hopes of an upset. But it was not to be as the world No. 5 team scored a late winner through Yudiao Zhao. China enjoyed the early share of exchanges but India started to get their footing in the match towards the end of the first quarter. Jaspreet Kaur scored the lone goal for India by converting a penalty stroke.
Indian women shock Hong Kong in squash Joshna Chinappa and Anaka Alankamony made a great comeback as India defeated higher seeded Hong Kong 2-1 to brighten their chances of another medal, in women's team squash. In the men's section, India defeated China 3-0 . This is their second win, having beaten Jordan 2-1 on Tuesday. Having lost to Hong Kong 0-3 in the Asian Senior Women's Championship, this was a grand turnaround for India, who had beaten Pakistan 3-0 in their previous match. Dipika keeps medal hopes alive, enters pre-quarters Archer Dipika Kumari kept alive India's medal hopes in archery as she booked a place in the pre-quarterfinals of the individual recurve event. The 20-year-old, who won two gold medals in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, shot a total of 1337 over four distances 70m, 60m, 50m and 30m. She faces Uzbekistan's Munira Nurmanova in the pre-quartersfinal elimination round on Friday. Laxmirani Majhi also made it to the pre-quarters after she finished 15th with a score of 1319 and will be up against Sharbekova Asel of Kyrgystan in the elimination round. Qatar takes a stand in hijab row The issue of religious freedom took centrestage at the Asian Games on Wednesday when Qatari women forfeited a basketball game after refusing to remove the Islamic head scarf, dealing another blow to an event that trumpets diversity and inclusiveness. Organisers of Incheon's Asian Games, which have welcomed 9,500 athletes from 45 countries across the length and breadth of the world's most populous continent, said their hands were tied by International Basketball Federation (FIBA) regulations. Qatari player Ahlam Salem Al-Mana said the team had decided to send a strong message to the governing body by refusing to take the court against Mongolia. — Agencies |
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Incheon, September 24
