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Saketh serves double delight
After golden throw, Seema recalls hard times
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Magic cream to keep bruises, cuts away
Dutee takes her fight to CAS
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Saketh serves double delight
Under greying skies, Sania Mirza fretted — she had to leave for China to play in the Beijing Open tomorrow, but before that, there was this small matter of winning a gold medal for India. That could be done, though, only if the matches started. And the rain wasn’t allowing any tennis at the Yeorumul Tennis Court.
Sania trained indoors, her mother Nasima — here as manager of the Indian women’s team — insisted to the tournament referee that the mixed doubles final must be finished only today. “Sania must take the early morning flight to China, else she’ll have to pay a big fine for missing the China Open,” she said. The rain did stop, and Sania did win the mixed doubles gold medal — her second Asian Games gold, and eighth overall, and India’s sixth gold of Incheon 2014 — and early flight became easily catchable. Sania paired up with Saketh Myneni to beat Hsien Yin Peng and Hao Ching Chan of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-3. Sania, the best Indian woman tennis player ever, attracted a sizeable number of Indian fans here too, though the stadium had emptied out a bit by the time the mixed-doubles final began. They shouted out her name, cheered for the Indians, who didn’t need to do much in the two sets to win India their fifth tennis medal here. The Indians struck first, breaking Chan in the fourth game of the first set, winning it comfortably at 6-4. In the second set, games went with serve until 3-3, and then the Indians broke serve to go 4-3 up. They broke Chan and Peng once each, taking game, set and match when a strong Sania forehand forced an unforced error from the Chinese.
Myneni grabbed the Tricolour and waved it around on the court, before handing it to Sania. “I was studying in the US during the last Asian Games,” said Saketh later. “It’s a great feeling to be standing on the podium while the national anthem is played.” This is Sania's third consecutive Asian Games mixed-doubles medal – in 2006, she won the gold with Leander Paes and a silver with Vishnu Vardhan in 2010. “Winning gold again, what more can I ask for?” she said later. “It is wonderful to hear the national anthem. We could have won a few more medals in tennis but this is a good performance.” “It was very important for me to win the medal,” said the Hyderabad girl. “No matter what the field is winning gold is always huge.” Myneni had earlier won the silver medal in the men’s doubles, along with Sanam Singh. The Indians were up against Yongkyu Lim and Hyeon Chung and all of Korea — the home crowd had packed the stadium and cheered wildly for their boys. In a match that started late and was interrupted due to rain, the Koreans won 5-7, 6-7 (2/7)
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After golden throw, Seema recalls hard times
Incheon, September 29 Seema Punia won gold in her first Asian Games in the discus throw, and that should be reason to bring cheer to India. Seema threw the disc to 61.03m on her fourth attempt, good enough for gold, India’s first in the athletics events here. China’s Lu Xiaoxin (59.35m) and Tan Jian (59.03m) took silver and bronze, respectively. Seema’s first two attempts were 55.76m and 57m; she wasn’t happy, something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She walked to her husband-coach, Ankush Punia, to figure out what was wrong. It seems that Seema was gripping the disc too hard – that’s what Ankush Punia told her. Was Seema a bit nervous, a bit tense? Possibly. She followed Ankush’s advice, and promptly threw the disc to 59.36m. The fourth attempt got her to 61,03m, and that proved enough. The two Chinese women weren’t up to speed today. Lu Xiaoxin’s personal best is 63.27, while 64.45 is the best of Tan Jian, which she achieved two years ago. The two haven’t been throwing too well this year, and Seema was able to secure the gold, even though she didn’t beat her Glasgow Commonwealth mark of 61.61m. “This is a big, big medal!’ Seema said later. “We have been training for this medal for the last three years after I made a comeback from injury.” It was a very difficult time. She didn’t have a sponsor, and shoes and gear and travelling cost a fair packet. At times, she had to take loans to cover her travel and training expenses. “But no complains! I never created a ruckus for anything. My husband has been a great support and everything changed after our marriage,” she said. Ankush, a former national discus throw champion, retired early because of an injury. “We worked on her technique and we always used to think positive. We never let negative thoughts bother us. We had to remain positive,” said Ankush. It had rained all day here, and the evening was cold and damp. Taking a firm grip on the disc was a problem – maybe that was the reason Seema was holding it too tight. “I was very emotional on the podium and I broke down into tears,” Seema said. “This was my first Asian Games after missing the two previous Asian Games; partly because of a doping allegation in 2006, where I was innocent.” “On the podium, all the pain and the sacrifices came to my mind; back then I could also not win a prestigious award from the Indian government because I was involved in the doping scandal, although I was not a part of it,” she added. Seema’s best before her injury was 64.84m, which came in Kiev in 2004; she’s only 31, but she’s already been around for what seems like an eternity; tonight, winning the biggest medal of her life, she was engulfed by a feeling of great joy, which was accompanied by the pain that’s the lot of an Indian athlete.
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Magic cream to keep bruises, cuts away
Incheon, September 29 Baloch wished that he could fight on, and said that the risk of such injuries has magnified following the removal of protective headgear. Baloch did have some protection on his face, in the form of Cavilon, also called the ‘magic cream’, but contact with Thapa’s head slashed through this protection. The impact of the gloved hand on the face jars the head, and inflicts great trauma on the skin. When the skin breaks, wounds may open, infections may occur. Cavilon, advertised as the ‘magic cream’, protects the skin by forming a protective, transparent coating on it. The cream dries quickly, and the layer is water repellent. When the use of headgear was banned in July, the AIBA advised the boxers to use Cavilon during bouts. The Indian boxers, however, didn’t use the cream during the Glasgow CWG. They feared it could contain some banned substance, which could get them into trouble. However, most of them are using it here; the AIBA has now decided to undertake extensive tests on the efficacy of the cream. The AIBA has asked the boxers to apply the cream, and directed the Asiad organisers to ensure that at least 50 percent of the boxers use it here. “We’ll encourage our boxers to use this here, though it will be some time before it could be determined if the cream is helping the boxers,” GS Sandhu, the Indian chief coach, said here today. Except for L. Devendro Singh, the Indian boxers have been using this cream here. No Indian boxer has suffered a cut here. The prominent redness on Akhil Kumar’s face even before the first bout was caused by the use of antibiotics, which he’d been using due to illness. Nadir Baloch of Pakistan was using the cream, like his teammates. In fact, three of the Pakistani boxers have suffered cuts during their bouts here. |
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Naveen Kumar gets bronze in 3000m steeplechase
Naveen Kumar won the bronze medal in the men's 3000m steeplechase with a personal best timing of 8:40.39 secs. The gold went to Qatar's Abubaker Ali Kamal with a timing of 8:28.72 secs while Bahrain's Tareq Mubarak Salem Taher took the silver clocking 8:39.62 secs. OP Jaisha wins bronze in women’s 1,500m
Middle distance runner OP Jaisha won the bronze medal in the women's 1,500 metres. The Indian finished third in four minutes 13.46 seconds. Bahrain claimed the gold and silver medals, with Maryam Yusuf Isa Jamal finishing first in 4 min 09.90 secs followed by Belete Gebregeiorges (4 min 11.03 secs). Women cagers set up fifth place play-off
After a disappointing few days for Indian basketball, the women cagers finally had a reason to smile after they beat Mongolia to set up a fifth-place play-off against Kazakhstan in the 17th Asian Games. Playing for pride at the Hwaseong Sports Complex Gymnasium, the women's team outplayed
its Mongolian counterpart 68-50 after taking a lead from the first quarter itself. The Smruthi Radhakrishan-led side covered all bases from the start and kept increasing the lead as the match progressed. Men win, women lose in sepaktakraw
Indian men’s team registered a comprehensive straight-game win over Brunei and Nepal but their women counterparts sunk against Indonesia in preliminary round matches. The Indian men took just 38 minutes to see off the challenge from Brunei 21-12 21-15 in the preliminary group B match early in the day before getting a 2-0 result in their favour after Nepal did not start the match. With two wins from as many matches, the Indian men are now placed at the top, while Korea is
second. — Agencies |
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Bajrang falls at the final hurdle
Incheon, September 29 But Dutt fought and won the 65kg freestyle category here — it was left to Bajrang, thus, to try to wrest the 61kg freestyle gold from the Iranian tough man. Bajrang fought hard; with about 40 seconds to go in the second period, the scores were tied, and since Bajrang had scored the last point, he could have won the gold. At that point, Bajrang had gold in his sight — but then Esmaeilpoorjouybari managed to go round to Bajrang's back and grab him to score two points. “It was just inexperience that cost him the gold medal,” Yogeshwar Dutt later commented. “He should have been able to defend from that position, but I don’t blame him.” The last time Bajrang fought Esmaeilpoorjouybari, the Iranian had demolished Bajrang, winning 11-0.That made Bajrang cautious to begin with. “He’s very good on the counter, and so I was a bit careful in the first round,” Bajrang said later. Esmaeilpoorjouybari scored the first point of the bout when he pushed Bajrang off the mat. Bajrang was a bit too wary, and the umpire gave him a 30-second passivity warning — which means that Bajrang had to score a point in the next 30 seconds, failing which the Iranian would be rewarded a point. Bajrang failed to break the defences of Esmaeilpoorjouybari, who got a point to lead 2-0. In the second period, Bajrang attacked — he got Esmaeilpoorjouybari by the legs for a two-pointer, tying the game. India has, surprisingly, had a noisy fan support in the wrestling arena – and the Iranian support for wrestling has always been great. The hall reverberated with cries of “India, India” and “Iran, Iran”. Seventy-seven seconds into the second period, Esmaeilpoorjouybari scored two points when he tackled Bajrang down to his back, bringing his knees to the mat. The two fought hard, slipping and turning and jousting; two minutes and 16 seconds into the second period, Bajrang scored two points — he had the Iranian on his belly, and the score was tied at 4-4. Then the final points were scored, and they were scored by Esmaeilpoorjouybari – he got to the back of the Indian and got two points, at 2 minutes 40 seconds into the three-minute second round. “I’ve lost to Esmaeilpoorjouybari several times, and today I tried a more defensive technique,” Bajrang later said. “Unfortunately it didn't work.” “I was injured at the recent Worlds so I wanted to win for all the Iranian people,” Esmaeilpoorjouybari said.
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Dutee takes her fight to CAS
New Delhi, September 29 Dutee, who was excluded from the national squad for the Glasgow CWG after failing the hyperandrogenism test, has become the first female athlete in the world to challenge the IAAF's medical policy on hyperandrogenism, which came into effect in 2011. "The designated advocate has filed the appeal. The Sports Authority of India is bearing all supporting costs," said Dr Payoshni Mitra, a research consultant on gender and sports issues who has been nominated by SAI to advice Dutee. The test conducted by SAI had showed excess androgen in Dutee's body, which, in turn, rendered her ineligible to compete in the female category. SAI has written to AFI to lift the provisional suspension of Dutee and allow her to take part in the competitions. SAI has also formed an advisory board of experts to advise Dutee as they prepare to challenge the hyperandrogenism policy. "The policy needs to be corrected and one of the options was moving CAS against it," SAI DG Jiji Thomson said. Dutee is currently training at the SAI Centre of Excellence in Patiala. |
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Incheon:
Under greying skies, Sania Mirza fretted — she had to leave for China to play in the Beijing Open tomorrow, but before that, there was this small matter of winning a gold medal for India.
Sania trained indoors, her mother Nasima — here as manager of the Indian women’s team — insisted to the tournament referee that the mixed doubles final must be finished only today.
Incheon, September 29
