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Incheon hands it over to Jakarta
Four years later, relay girls script redemption song in Incheon
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Ferry disaster, lack of sporting culture in Incheon make it a tepid affair
CLT20 champs
Spinner Kuldeep picked for ODI series against WI
Vettel to leave Red Bull, set for Ferrari
Lions maul Tigers in World Kabaddi League Atletico beaten at Valencia, Barca march on
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Incheon hands it over to Jakarta
Incheon, October 4 The 16-day sporting extravaganza saw intense action among 45 countries with 9,500 athletes vying for top honours. As many as 14 world records were registered and more than 28 Games records were broken in this duration. But more than that, it was a prelude to Rio Olympics, giving a fair indication of where countries stood two years from the ultimate sporting event. Though cold winds lashed through the stadiums forcing spectators to remain indoors for most of the days, there was no let up in the spirits of the participating athletes. China won 342 medals (151 gold, 108 silver and 83 bronze), South Korea bagged 234 medals (79 gold, 71 silver and 84 bronze) and Japan finished third with 200 medals (47 gold, 76 silver and 77 bronze). The Olympic Council of Asia president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah bid goodbye to all, saying, “I declare the 17th Asian Games closed and as per the tradition I call upon the youth of Asia to assemble in four years time in Jakarta, Indonesia, to celebrate the 18th Asian Games.” The Games flame was doused before fireworks erupted to signal the conclusion of the two-and-half hour ceremony. In the middle of the cultural show, the athletes from various countries came in a mixed group to soak in the atmosphere. The first part of the ceremony witnessed performances from 'Rainbow Choir', the National Dance Company of Korea, National Gugak Centre dance troupe and a demonstration of taekwondo, and a performance by the Serotonin club drummers. Seven women performed a traditional dance “Chunsanghwa”, which embodied a mythical maid flying the sky and warmly interacting with humans. Kosuke Hagino is the most valuable player
S. Korea- N. Korea diplomacy ramps up
Isolated North Korea sent its highest level delegation to South Korea on Saturday to attend the Asian Games closing ceremony amid a flurry of diplomatic activity which has raised hopes for improved ties between the arch rivals. Heading the delegation was Hwang Pyong So, who arrived at Incheon airport in full military uniform, and Choe Ryong Hae, two senior aides to North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un. Kim Yang Gon, a senior ruling Workers' Party official and a long time veteran of dealings ties with the South, was also among the delegation. They met South Korean government officials."The Asiad have been a significant event that showcased the nation's glory and strength to the world," Kim said at the meeting. "It was an enormous joy and pride for the nation as both the North and the South performed well." The two Koreas are technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce and not a peace treaty. — Agencies |
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Four years later, relay girls script redemption song in Incheon
Incheon, October 4 Mandeep Kaur ran the third leg of the relay as the Indian women retained the gold medal they won in Guangzhou four years ago. They did that with a new Asian Games record, and they are delighted. Three of the six women of the squad that won in Guangzhou — Mandeep, Ashwini Akkunji and Priyanka Panwar — were given a suspension one year later, in 2011. They were the pariahs of Indian athletics, doing the rounds of the offices of the sports association, the Sports Ministry, as they desperately sought to overturn the suspension. They were suspended due to an “accidental case” of doping, and they’ve angrily protested, they’ve pleaded, that they were innocent. “It was a very tough time for us,” says Mandeep, a 26-year-old from Ludhiana. Mandeep had failed an out-of-competition dope test in June 2011, conducted by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). In the December of that year, she and six other female athletes were banned for one year by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) in India. The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) demanded stronger strictures, and eventually they were given a two-year suspension. The women said they were innocent, and that the positive results were caused by contaminated food supplements. “We had to undergo a lot of hardship and had to bear a lot of trouble in the past three years,” Mandeep said after the win here. “We had to prove that we could come back again. A lot of people tried their best to ensure that we could not come back again.” After the positive results, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) sacked their Ukranian coach, Yuri Ogorodnik. Another Indian coach was suspended for 18 months. Due to the suspensions, the athletes were not allowed to train in the national camp. When they did join the national athletics camp a few months before the suspension ended, SAI officials practically threw them out. “It was an accidental case. It can happen to any athlete. But it was blown out of proportion and we were so much troubled after that," said Panwar. “We were not training at the government's expense. We were paying for it. But still we were evicted, humiliated,” says Akkunji. “We had to train on the streets. There was no safety. Everyone pointed fingers at us. I and Mandeep were on the streets of Delhi at midnight. Was this safe? Was it the way to treat national athletes?” The women, without a place to train in, kept in shape and training by running on the streets of New Delhi. The three women began to train with the national campers last year, and qualified for the national squad last year. They didn’t do well in the Commonwealth Games — in fact, they were disqualified in the finals. “There was tremendous pressure on us,” Panwar, who ran the first leg of the race, said here. “We as a team had to prove that we can get medals again. And we have got the medal!” The years, days of infamy and humiliation left a bitter taste in their mouths, and redemption tastes sweet.
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Ferry disaster, lack of sporting culture in Incheon make it a tepid affair
Incheon, October 4 The ferry disaster of April killed over 300 people, including 250 school students. April shook to the very core the people of South Korea – on the 15th day of that month, a ferry started from Incheon for the Jeju Islands at 9 PM. It carried 124 cars, 56 trucks, and 1157 tons of cargo. More precious was the human cargo — including around 300 school students, on way for a pleasure trip. The 400-km journey usually took about 14 hours — but around 9 am the next morning, the ferry began to capsize after the unbound cargo damaged it. The ferry took over two-and-a-half hours to go down, yet over 300 people died. South Korea is a small country, of a little over five crore people, homogenous and tightly-knit. The disaster wounded the country to the soul. Even by the time the Asian Games started, the country was unable to party. One reason was that the people believe that there has been a cover-up of the disaster because of political reasons. “People are still very angry,” says Seung-Jae Bek, a journalist with a local daily. “There is strong suspicion that the owners of the ferry company had political links. People are upset that there was no proper, open inquiry into that part of the tragedy.” The anger, the gloom was one of the reasons the stadiums were mostly empty at a majority of the sports events here. The organisers had kept the cost of the tickets for many events quite modest – in low-demand events, like cricket, canoeing, bowling, and triathlon, entry was free. You could get into the kabaddi venue at a cost of 5,000 Korean Won, roughly $5. But for popular sports, the tickets cost quite a lot – baseball tickets ranged from $5 to $50; tickets for swimming, popular in Korea, ranged from $20 to $50. “The cost of an outing at an event for a family of five could be $250, quite a large sum of money here,” says Kim Jeung-Seok, a spectator at the hockey venue. Park Hye-Jin, a sports journalist with the Yonhap news agency, says that Incheon doesn’t really have a sporting culture. “If the Games had been held in Seoul, I’m sure the response of the people would have been much better,” she says. “Then there are other factors – our city leagues (baseball, basketball etc) are very popular, and people prefer to watch them. Finally, people don’t think that the Asian Games are such a big deal — they’d rather watch the Olympics!” Volunteer fansThus you have the concept of the volunteer fans. Mostly, they’re school or university students. There have been dedicated young volunteer-supporters of India, who’ve been going around different venues to cheer India on. They’re volunteered to support India because they’re deeply interested in India, like Kim Min Jun and Na Hyeon Kong. They carry signs that say “Jaana India” (Go India), “We Love India” and “Aapka Swagat Hai”, etc “I’m very interested in India,” says Kim, a 22-year-old student. “In fact, I’ll be there in December with a (male!) friend. I’d be there for 40 days, and visit places like Kolkata, New Delhi, Agra...” Song Yoo-Rim, a 21-year-old student, greets you with a ‘namaste’. “I’m keen about yoga,” says Song. “I have plans to visit places where I could be at a yoga camp.” Jeon Hyeong-Seok, 23, actually wants to live in India. “I want to be a travel guide, and I’d be very happy if I could do that job in India!” he says with a laugh. The Koreans, often diffident because of their lack of the English language, have lived in gloom for months. They’re desperate for the young like Song and Jeon to would restore their hopes.
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CLT20 champs
Bengaluru, October 4 Chasing a competitive total of 181, Raina smashed the daylights out of a depleted KKR attack without Sunil Narine, scoring a breathtaking 109 off 62 balls with the help of six fours and eight sixes. His century came off only 59 balls. Fitting enough, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni finished the match with a flourish, hitting successive sixes off Yusuf Pathan as CSK won with nine balls to spare. This is CSK's first trophy in three years, having last won the IPL and CLT20 in South Africa, back in 2011. CSK lost the IPL final to KKR in 2012. Raina, one of the finest players in the shorter format, made mincemeat of a KKR attack that looked psychologically down with mystery spinner Narine already on his flight back to Port of Spain. Raina is now the only player to score a century in T20 Internationals, IPL and CLT20. As it has been for Raina in a yellow jersey, where he has rarely failed, the left-hander gave a perfect exhibition of how to play on a track that offers turn. Raina's footwork against spinners was out of the coaching manual as he came to the pitch of the deliveries and effortlessly lifted the spinners like Piyush Chawla (0/38 in 3 overs) and Kuldeep Yadav (0/44 in 4 overs) into the second tier of the Chinnaswamy stadium. He added 118 runs in only 12.2 overs with Brendon McCullum, who scored 39 off 30 balls and 58 off 5.2 overs with Dhoni. Needless to say, Raina was the dominant partner in both the stands. — PTI Scoreboard Kolkata Knight Riders Chennai Super Kings
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Spinner Kuldeep picked for ODI series against WI
Bengaluru, October 4 Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was rested while Murali Vijay also made a comeback in place of an injured Rohit Sharma. The squad, to be led by MS Dhoni, had no place for seniors like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, who have remained in the sidelines for quite a while. The 19-year-old Yadav, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, was the surprise inclusion and the lone new face in the squad, getting the nod ahead of experienced left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha. Yadav was rewarded for his performance in the ongoing CLT20 where he bagged seven wickets so far playing for Kolkata Knight Riders. He will become the first cricketer in the last 10 years to make it to the national team without playing a single first-class or list A match. The first ODI of the five-match series will be held in Kochi on October 8, followed by games in New Delhi (Oct 11) and Vishakhapatnam (Oct 14). The last two matches will be played in Dharamshala (Oct 17) and Kolkata (Oct 20).— PTI
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Djokovic downs Murray in Beijing
Beijing, October 4 The 27-year-old Serb took an hour and 37 minutes to down Murray for an impressive 23-0 record in Beijing and meets Czech Tomas Berdych in Sunday's final. In the women's section, French Open champion Maria Sharapova outplayed former number one Ana Ivanovic 6-0 6-4 to set up a final clash with third seed Petra Kvitova, who overcame Sam Stosur 6-3 5-7 6-2. Looking to add to his four Beijing titles, Djokovic completely outplayed Murray as he looks to finish the year as the number one. "I'm glad that I'm back in the form that I would like to be in, especially in these courts where I still haven't lost ever since I played this tournament," the top seed said. "Hopefully, I can finish the year in style, similar as I finished last year." Murray, fresh from his first victory in more than a year at last week's Shenzhen Open, put up more resistance in the second set but could not crack Djokovic's solid defence and smashed his racket in frustration after being broken in the ninth game. Djokovic restricted the Scot to only seven winners and denied him four of his five break point chances. With his semifinal appearance, Murray has moved up to ninth place in the race to season-ending ATP Finals in London, which will feature the top eight. Berdych ended Martin Klizan's golden run, beating him 6-4 6-1 a day after the Slovak had stunned world number two Rafa Nadal. — Reuters Nishikori rallies to set up Raonic final Tokyo: Local favourite Kei Nishikori overcame an injury scare to labour past Benjamin Becker and set up a Tokyo Open final clash against Canada's Milos Raonic, who enjoyed a more routine victory in the other semi on Saturday. Nishikori dropped the first set and needed courtside treatment on a hip injury ahead of the decider before prevailing 4-6 6-0 7-6(2) in a duel that lasted an hour and 47 minutes. The win ensures Nishikori will move up to fifth place in the race for one of the eight spots available at the ATP Finals in London from Nov. 9-16. Losing finalist in the last two editions of the Tokyo tournament, Raonic stayed on course to be third time lucky with a comprehensive 6-1 6-4 win over Frenchman Gilles Simon in a rain-interrupted match.
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Vettel to leave Red Bull, set for Ferrari
Suzuka (Japan), October 4 "Sebastian Vettel has advised us that he will be leaving Red Bull at the end of the 2014 season," the champions said. Team principal Christian Horner said the 27-year-old was joining Ferrari, although there was no immediate confirmation from the Italian team whose principal Marco Mattiacci remained tight-lipped. At the same time, Red Bull moved swiftly to fill the vacancy by appointing 20-year-old Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat from Toro Rossso to take Vettel's place next year alongside Australian Daniel Ricciardo. Vettel, who has been part of the Red Bull 'family' for 15 years, said it had been “a tough day and a tough decision” and it was not because he was unhappy at the team. "We had an incredible run. Obviously this year was not the way we were hoping for but it's part of racing," he said. "I'm leaving a very happy place... but at some point in your life you feel you want to do something new. That voice kept growing and led me to decide to leave Red Bull and start a new chapter.” Former Ferrari driver Niki Lauda, who is now non-executive chairman of the Mercedes team, said Vettel had told Horner only on Friday night. The moves left an open question mark over the future of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who could now return to McLaren. They could also signal the end of the road for 2009 champion Jenson Button, who is out of contract with McLaren at the end of the year. Alonso's contract runs until the end of the 2016 season but Ferrari is going through major change, with long-standing chairman Luca di Montezemolo leaving this month after key departures earlier in the year. — Reuters Rosberg holds off Lewis for Suzuka pole
Nico Rosberg seized pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton, who completed a front-row lockout for Mercedes in qualifying on Saturday. Rosberg lapped the 5.8 km Suzuka Circuit in one minute 32.506 seconds to claim his first pole since the Belgian GP at the end of August. Valtteri Bottas took third for Williams ahead of team mate Felipe Massa. Fernando Alonso set the fifth fastest time. Daniel Ricciardo was sixth in the Red Bull. |
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Lions maul Tigers in World Kabaddi League
Mohali, October 4 The win gave the Lionstheir fifth win in 11 matches and at 10 points they join Lahore Lions, California Eagles and United Singhs in third spot. Khalsa Warriors with 21 points and Punjab Thunder with 11 points occupy the top two spots. Kuljeet Singh and Sucha Singh were the star raiders and Amritpal Singh Sheru was the most successful stopper for the Lions. By the end of the first quarter the Lions had set the tempo with an 18-13 lead. In the second quarter, Vancouver Lions opened with a successful raid and they never looked back after that. Balwan Singh, Sucha Singh and Sukhvir Singh Sabrawa were unstoppable during this period, with four raids each.
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Atletico beaten at Valencia, Barca march on
Madrid, October 4 Valencia last won the Spanish league title in 2004 but have started their latest campaign in impressive form and made a thrilling start at the Mestalla to race into a 3-0 lead by the 13th minute. Atletico centre back Miranda put the ball into his own net in the sixth minute, Andre Gomes finished superbly after a fine run a minute later and Nicolas Otamendi nodded in at a corner to leave the champions reeling. Mario Mandzukic pulled a goal back in the 29th when he followed up a Tiago effort to head home before Atletico squandered a chance for a second on the stroke of halftime. Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves, a penalty specialist, saved Guilherme Siqueira's weak spot kick, the 13th he has stopped out of 31 faced in La Liga. — Reuters
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Lallana delivers as Reds gain overdue win
London, October 4 Lallana's first Liverpool goal was cancelled out by a controversial Saido Berahino penalty before Henderson's driven winner helped last season's runners-up climb to seventh. Papiss Cisse struck twice to ease the growing pressure on underfire Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew with a 2-2 draw against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium. Steven Fletcher scored a brace as Sunderland beat Stoke City 3-1 to claim their first win of the season following five draws from their opening six games. Leicester City were held to a 2-2 draw by fellow promoted side Burnley, who grabbed their second equaliser through Ross Wallace deep into stoppage time. Elsewhere, Neil Warnock suffered his first league defeat since returning to Crystal Palace in a 2-0 loss to Hull City, who won for the first time since August. Champions Manchester City will look to cut the gap on table-topping Chelsea when they travel to Aston Villa in the late kickoff. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers dropped Mario Balotelli after being critical of the Italian striker's lack of goals following their lacklustre 1-0 Champions League loss to Basel. Rickie Lambert was handed his first Premier League start for the club and the England international should have given the hosts the lead but he was excellently thwarted by Ben Foster. Reinvigorated West Brom were rarely troubled for the remainder of the half before England international Lallana gave the hosts the lead on the stroke of halftime. The 26-year-old exchanged passes with England team mate Henderson before dispatching a sharp finish low into the bottom corner. West Brom started the second half brightly and restored parity after 56 minutes through Berahino's fifth league goal of the season. Bayern crush Hanover
Berlin: Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben scored twice each as the champions crushed Hanover 96 4-0 in the Bundesliga to go four points clear at the top of the table as rivals Borussia Dortmund lost to Hamburg SV. The Bavarians, who have now kept a clean sheet in the last seven consecutive games in all competitions, needed only 13 minutes to tighten their grip on the game, scoring first through Poland's Lewandowski, who controlled a superb Rafinha pass, before pouncing on a Hanover mistake. Lewandowski benefited from another superb through ball in the 38th minute, this time form Juan Bernat, for his fourth league goal of the campaign. Robben also got his second goal, slotting in 11 minutes from time as Bayern moved up to 17 points. — Reuters |
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With lots of joy, some heartbreaks and a few sorroors the 17th Asian Games came to an end at Incheon on Saturday.
Incheon,
October 4
Incheon, October 4
Red Bull dropped a bombshell on the Formula One paddock on Saturday with the news that four times world champion Sebastian Vettel is leaving at the end of the season and heading for Ferrari. With the sport already braced for a typhoon at the Japanese Grand Prix, Red Bull's announcement sent a tremor through the sport as the implications of the move sank in.
Vancouver Lions continued their resurgence as they outplayed Yo Yo Tigers 68-53 in a one-sided match of the World Kabaddi League her today.
The win gave the Lionstheir fifth win in 11 matches and at 10 points they join Lahore Lions, California Eagles and United Singhs in third spot. Khalsa Warriors with 21 points and Punjab Thunder with 11 points occupy the top two spots.
Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino was named as the MVP for the 17th Asian Games, which ended on Saturday, recognising his dominant performances in the pool. The 20-year-old university student showed why he could be the man to take over from Michael Phelps as swimming's ultimate ironman by winning seven medals, including four golds, in just six days of competition. Showing no sign of fatigue or weariness despite his grueling schedule, Hagino won the 200 and 400 metres individual medleys, two of the most exhausting events in swimming, as well as the 200m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay. He also won a silver medal in 400m freestyle and bronze medals in 100m and 200m backstroke.
