Asian Games: India tally rises to 36, nine medals assured in boxing

A gold and silver in tennis and a bronze in archery took India's medal tally to 36 to keep the eighth spot on the tenth day of competitions at the Asian Games here Monday while nine more medals were assured in boxing. Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh claimed the tennis men's doubles gold with a sensational victory over a higher ranked Chinese pair, but the Sania Mirza-Vishnu Vardhan pair had to settle for the silver in the mixed doubles. The men's archery team won a bronze.

Santhosh Kumar became the seventh boxer to make the semifinals in the men's section and at least two of the pugilists are likely to claim a gold while the others will win at least a bronze. World champion boxer Mary Kom, as also Kavita Goyat also headed for a platform finish in the women's section, while Somdev will pick up at least a silver in the tennis men's singles. It was, however, a unsatisfactory day for India in the track and field competitions as none of the athletes made it to the podium. This was a day after India bagged two golds and a silver in athletics.

India's 36 medals comprise six gold, 12 silver and 18 bronze.China head the table with 304 medals (154-77-73), followed by South Korea-178 (61-51-66) and Japan-158 (32-59-67). Iran, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Thailand are the other countries above India. Sixth seeded Somdev-Sanam Singh combined well to defeat second seeded Chinese Maoxin Gong and Zhe Li 3-7, 7-6 (4), 1-0(8). The Sania-Vishnu pair had to settle for a silver following their 6-4, 1-6, 0-1 loss to Chinese Taipei's Yung Jan Chan and Tsung Hua Yang.

Sania, who had won a gold with Leander Paes in the mixed doubles at the 2006 Doha Asiad, won a bronze in the singles event here. The Indian archers, who lost to South Korea 216-222 in the semifinal, beat Chinese Taipei 220-218 in a directly contested match at the Aoti Archery Range. The Indian team of Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champiya opened up a five point lead in the first round after which they led 57-52. The second round was tied at 56 each, but Chinese Taipei came back strongly in the third round scoring 58 while India managed 53.

Asian Games boxing: Paramjeet in semifinal, Chote Lal out

Indian boxer Paramjeet Samota guaranteed himself of a medal as he moved into the semifinal with a 9-4 win over South Korea's Sungkeun Park in the men's +91kg quarterfinal at the Asian Games here Thursday.Samota won the first round 5-2 and came down greatly on Park in the second round, where he won four points while the South Korean bagged just two.Samota's right hook nearly knocked out the South Korean and the referee had to stop the contest midway into the second round at the Foshan Gymnasium.Samota got a first round bye in the nine-boxer +91kg competition. He will now face Zhang Zhilei of China in the semifinals slated for Nov 24.

Asian Games

Among other Indians in fray, Suranjoy Singh (52kg) and Mandeep Singh (46-49kg) won their bouts while Chote Lal Yadav (56kg) made a first round exit.Suranjoy, who defeated Thai Chatchai Butdee in the first round, won 8-6 against South Korea's Jeusong in a closely contested pre-quarterfinal match. Suranjoy took a 4-1 lead after the second round, but found himself in a challenging position in the third round where the Korean bagged five points while Suranjoy managed four. In Saturday's quarterfinal, Suranjoy will take on Isakov Shahriyor of Uzbekistan.

In the first round of 46-49kg, the referee had to stop the competition after the first round and declare Mandeep as the winner after the Indian took a 0-9 lead over Saudi Arabia's Fahad Ahmed Alfaifi. Mandeep will face Pakistan's Muhammed Waseem in the second round.

Auction of players for IPL 4 in January

Cricket News:
The IPL player auction for the 2011 season will be held on January 8 and 9 in Mumbai, the league's governing council has announced. The competition itself will feature eight teams, playing 60 matches, and run from April 8 to May 22.The tournament, which begins a week after the World Cup ends, will involve each of the eight sides playing 14 games, adding up to 56 matches, the same as in earlier IPL editions. The top two from the league rounds will then contest a play-off match, with the winner qualifying for the "Grand Final."

The teams that finish third and fourth in the league stage will challenge the other play-off, and the winner of that game will play the beaten team from the first play-off to decide the second finalist.The auction is likely to be on the scale of the first one, held in 2008, with teams starting largely from scratch, and will be held under rules framed in September. One difference will be the absence of "icon" players - originally, five franchises had one player each named as its icon. The auction was initially to have been held this month but uncertainty over the composition of the competition - with two franchises expelled and a third, Kochi, in limbo - forced a postponement.

The governing council, which met in Mumbai on Wednesday, was expected to have discussed the status of the Kochi franchise but Rajiv Shukla, a BCCI vice-president and council member, said it did not figure. He did, however, reiterate that the 2011 season would have eight participating teams.Kochi have until November 27 to reply to the IPL's notice asking it to set its house in order; if, as seems likely, the franchise owners decide to call it quits, the IPL will start the auction process for a replacement team.

With a majority of the present franchises in the southern half of the country, any new franchise is likely to be from the north - Ahmedabad being the front-runner.The new auction rules governing player retention, which have been criticised by the franchises, allow a team to keep up to four players but at a sharp price.The first player retained will cost a team $1.8 million against the salary cap of $9 million, regardless of the amount the player is actually paid. The second player will cost $1.3 million, the third $900,000 and the fourth $500,000.

Suranjoy to open India's boxing campaign

One year ago at the Asian Championships in Zhuhai, China, when flyweight Indian boxer Mayengbam Suranjoy clinched the title, he ended India's 15-year long gold drought.This time around, when the Manipuri will step into the ring to begin his Asian Games campaign against Chatchai Butdee of Thailand at the Foshan Gymnasium in Guangzhou on Tuesday, he will be the best bet for India to help them end their 12-yearlong gold-less run at the Asiad Games.Digko Singh was the last Indian to triumph a gold at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

Now, as Suranjoy bids for the gold, his claim doesn't look unrealistic.The 24-year-old boxer has clinched seven gold medals, including one at the recent Commonwealth Games, since March 2009 and is a clear favourite against Butdee whose maintain to fame is reaching the quarter-finals of the World Championships last year and a gold at the South East Asian Games in Laos, also last year.The Thai is no threat to the mighty Indian, who is known for his electric moves and reflexes in the ring.But, at the same time, no Thai boxer can be taken lightly as the country is known to churn out the world and Olympic champions.

On the other hand, Suranjoy is also fancied for the gold and he has the skills to emerge triumphant even against the best in Asia. His quickness inside the ring often induces his opponents to commit mistakes. Unlike many Indian boxers, Suranjoy throws four-five punches in one burst and has better chances to log good scores.Even an ardent fan outside Thailand would know little about Butdee and at 25, he is known as the upcoming boxer. So, Tuesday clash against Suranjoy will be a test of quest for success for Butdee.

Gayle axed as captain, Sammy to take charge

Latest Cricket News:

Chris Gayle was on Monday neglected from West Indies captaincy and replaced by all-rounder Darren Sammy in a unexpected result aimed at reconstruction the side which has been on decline for some years. The West Indies Cricket Board announced the decision to bag Gayle, who has been skipper since 2007, while naming the squad for the three-match Test tour of Sri Lanka next month.

Sammy, though, has not been a regular member of the Test side having played just eight matches after making his debut in June 2007. Gayle, who recently refused new central contracts with the WICB last month along with Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, is still in the squad as a batsman.

Contract muddle

Gayle, Bravo and Pollard had refused central contracts which stipulated that they must construct themselves available for the West Indies team at all times. Bravo was also demoted from vice-captaincy with Brendan Nash taking over the job for the Test series in Sri Lanka, though he is still in the squad.

Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy to perform final song

Latest News of CWG:

Inside the Commonwealth Games village

Latest View on Common Wealth Games Village:

Great Recent Victories in CWG

Latest Common Wealth Games News:Archery : 16 year old Deepika Kumari won 2nd gold for India.
Wrestling: Sushil the great world title winner prevail Gold for India in 66kg category of Wrestling.
Tennis: Somdev Devvarman won first gold for India.
Centre Fire Pistol: Harpreet and Vijaya Kumar won gold and silver in 25m men centre fire Pistol.

Women Archers Won Gold for India

Latest News in Common Wealth Games: The troika of Deepika Kumari, Dola Banerjee and Bombayala Devi Laishram continued India's gold rush winning the yellow metal in the women's recurve event of the Commonwealth Games on Friday.

The women recurve team defeated England 207-206 in a thrilling final at the Yamuna Sport Complex here as India's gold medal tally swelled to 15.

Earlier in the morning, India women team beat Malaysia 213-185 in the semifinals.

Yesterday, the Indian compound archers had claimed a silver and a bronze in the men's and women's team events respectively.

Indian archers announce arrival on world stage

Latest common Wealth News: In an unprecedented success, the Indian compound archers on Thursday announced their arrival on the big stage, claiming a silver and a bronze in the men's and women's team events respectively in the 19th Commonwealth Games at Yamuna Sports Complex here on Thursday.

Shedding their tag as 'under-achievers', the men's trio of Jignas Chittibomma, Chinna Raju and Ritul Chatterjee claimed their first ever medal at any international level when they lost to the Englishmen 229-231 to settle for the silver.

The women's trio of Bheigyabati Chanu, Jhano Hansdah and Gagandeep Kaur beat 223-219 in the bronze play-off as the Archery Association of India (AAI) secretary general Paresh Nath Mukherjee said the medals had come as a "bonus".

"We never expected to get anything in compound section, as our main strength has been in the recurve section. But our effort and the archers' hardwork has paid fruits," Mukherjee said.

It was the youngest member of the side, 16-year-old Jignas who made all the difference for the Indians in pulling off a stunning 226-224 win over the South Africans in the semi-finals.

In all-praise of the Andhra archer, who trains at the Army Sports Institute at Ghorpuri in Pune, India compound coach Harendra Singh said "All credit goes to Jignas. He instilled the confidence in the Indians shooting in 79s and 80s.

"But the Englishmen opened up a five-point lead which was difficult to match. We covered up but only by three points. Neverthless, this silver medal, first time in the history of compound archers, will give them a new found confidence.

"Now we will also be recognised alongside our big brothers (the recurve archers)," Singh said.

In the final, the trio notched their best ever score of 229 but the mighty Englishmen trio of Duncan Edward Craig Busby, Liam Grimwood and Christopher White were too good to win the gold by a slender three points.

South Africa beat Australia 234-232 in the men's compound bronze playoff.

Earlier, the women's team, who had earlier seen success at international level bagging World Cup silver and bronze medals at various stages, also dished out an unexpected performance with a fine show by Jhano Hansdah to earn India the first archery medal in Commonwealth Games.

The bronze by the women's compound was India's first ever in Games archery which made a return after making a debut in the Brisbane edition in 1982.

In the bronze playoff, it was an exciting affair till the last three arrows were to be shot.

Indians were 195 with three rounds while Malaysia finished at 219.

When the last arrow was to be shot by Hansdah, India needed five points and she shot eight to give India its first medal of the competition.

Hansdah said that they had lost all hopes after the disappointing elimination in the individual rounds.

"Lekin haar ke hi log sikhte hain (Win comes only after realising a loss). We all were determined after the loss in the individuals. We had a great day yesterday when we notched our best ever 227."

The action now will shift to India's gold medal hopes when the recurve teams fight it out in the men's and women's sections tomorrow.

Women's trio of Nicky Hunt, Nichola Simpson and Danielle Brown shot 232, just one point off the world record to win England the second gold.

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Today's Common Wealth Schedule of Indians

Today's complete schedule of Indian participation at the Commonwealth Games:

Swimming:

800m Freestyle Women: Surabhi Tipre

100m Freestyle Men: Aaron Agnel Dsouza, Virdhawal Vikram Khade, Anshul Kothari

100m Butterfly Women: Pooja Raghava Alva, Shubha Chittaranjan

200m Backstroke Men: Rohit Rajendra Havaldar, Rehan Jahangir Poncha, Praveen Tokas

200m Breaststroke Women: Raghavi Manipal, Poorva Kiran Shetye

4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Women: Pooja Raghava Alva, Shubha Chittaranjan, Arti Bajarang Ghorpade, Talasha Satish Prabhu, Sneha Thirugnanasambandam, Surabhi Tipre

Synchronised: Avani Kardam Dave, Kavita Chandras Kolapkar, Bijal Vijay Vasant

Archery:

Recurve Team Women: Dola Banerjee, Deepika Kumari, Bombayala Devi Laishram.

Recurve Team Men : Rahul Banerjee, Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar

Compound Team Women : Bheigyabati Chanu, Jhano Hansdah, Gagandeep Kaur

Compound Team Men: Ritul Chatterjee, Jignas Chittibomma, Chinna Raju Srither

Athletics:

100m Men: Nagaraj Gobbargumpi, Md Abdul Najeeb Qureshi, Krishnakumar Satish Rane

400m Women: Mandeep Kaur, Manjeet Kaur Shot Put Men: Om Prakash Singh Karhana, Navpreet Singh, Sourabh Vij

5000m Men: Sandip Kumar, Sunil Kumar Boxing:

Lightweight (60kg) Men: Jai Bhagwan

Welterweight (69 kg) Men: Dilbag Singh

Cycling:

Keirin Men: Rajesh Chandrashekhar, Amrit Singh, Bikram Singh

Team Sprint Women: Ch. Rameshwori Devi, Rejani Kumari

40km Points Race Men: Rajendra Kumar Bishnoi, Atul Kumar Singh, Satbir Singh

Sprint Men: Rajesh Chandrashekhar, Amrit Singh, Bikram Singh

Team Pursuit Men: Prince Hylem, Vinod Malik, Dayala Ram Saran, Sombir

Gymnastics Artistic:

Individual All-Around Men and Women event

Hockey:

Women Group A: India vs Australia

Lawn Bowls:

Pairs Women Group A: India vs Botswana

Triples Men Group A: India vs Malta

Pairs Women Group A: India vs South Africa

Triples Men Group A: India vs South Africa

Triples Women Group B: India vs Scotland

Pairs Men Group B: India vs Malaysia

Triples Women Group B: India vs Jersey

Pairs Men Group B: India vs Guernsey

Netball:

Women Group A: India vs Malawi

Shooting:

Pairs Double Trap Men: Asher Noria, Ronjan Sodhi

Singles 25 m Pistol Women: Rahi Sarnobat, Anisa Sayyed

Singles 50 m Pistol Men: Deepak Sharma, Omkar Singh

Singles 10 m Air Rifle Men: Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang

Squash:

Men and Women Singles

Table Tennis:

Men and Women team quarterfinals

Weightlifting:

58kg Women: Renu Bala Chanu Yumnam

69kg Men: Ravi Kumar Katulu

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Bindra, Narang win first gold medal for India

Latest News in CWG: Olympian gold winner Abhinav Bindra and World Champion Gagan Narang won first gold medal for India in the Pairs 10 m Air Rifle Mens event at the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday.

Bindra scored 595 and Narang scored 498.

World champion Tejaswini Sawant is also be in action in the 50m 3P pairs event with Lajjakumari Gauswami. There are four gold medals to be won in shooting today. (Read: Bindra, Gagan set to lead India's fortunes in shooting range)

In tennis, top-seed Somdev Devvarman will play his first-round singles match, while veterans Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati will play against Sri Lanka at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium.

In Boxing events, some of India's best pugilists, including Olympic bronze winning boxer Vijender Singh, Akhil Kumar, Suranjoy Singh, Jai Bhagwan and Dinesh Kumar will be seen in the ring.

The Indian men's hockey team will also start its Commonwealth Games campaign against Malaysia in Pool A at 8:30pm.

In archery, Dola Bannerji will feature in the recurve individual event, as will Deepika Kumari, Bombayala Devi Laishram.

For more sports info>>

Delays, mess will not affect our performance: Sushil

Latest CWG News: Brushing aside all the talks of delays in construction of the venues and training centres hampering the preparations for the Commonwealth Games, world wrestling champion Sushil Kumar on Monday said that such delays do not deter a sportsperson from getting ready for a big event.

"All these delays in setting up venues do not affect a sportsman as he is always focused on making his preparations and continuing with his training. We, as players, are not so bothered about all these things (delays) and would like to concentrate on our game," the Beijing Olympic Games bronze-medalist said.

"I would also urge the media to ignore all the negative things surrounding the Games and focus on the positive aspects.

After all, the country's prestige is at stake," he added.

Beaming with confidence after becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the World Wrestling Championship in Moscow earlier this month, Sushil said he was hoping to translate his recent performance during the October 3-14 Games.

"I hope to do well. Even the other members of the team are preparing well and working very hard. So, we all are pretty confident of giving our best during the mega-event, said the freestyle wrestler.

Sushil also predicted that India would bag at least 10 to 15 golds in the Games. "There are a total of 21 gold medals up for grab and I feel that we would be able to win at least 10 to 15 of them."

He, however, said that countries like Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Pakistan might pose a stiff challenge.

"Obviously, it is going to be tough, but we will give a strong fight. It does not matter who the opponent is because whenever you take the field you believe that you are going to win," said Sushil, adding, "We are quite positive about our chances after some good performances in the World and Asian Championships."

When asked whether he was responsible for bringing global respect for Indian wrestling, Sushil tried to play it down.

"We are now being recognised as a dominant force in wrestling. But to project me as a trend-setter for the game, as the media has done, is a simplistic assessment.

"There was a time when medals were not coming our way and then our mentors and coaches worked very hard and now because of their hard work we have reached this stage," said the wrestler.

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First look at CWG opening ceremony venue

Latest Sports News: Nehru Stadium is all set to conduct the opening ceremony of Common Wealth Games and various legends of sports were on the way to Delhi and here you can watch the arrangements made in Nehru stadium.

Arrival of athletes to Delhi

Latest CWG News: Just 6 days to go to watch the great Common Wealth Games in Delhi. By this time athletes from most of the countries were arrived and some or on the way. And many athletes were started to do their practice too. After the big issue of the CWG village bad condition, now the athletes were satisfied with the place and also they stated that they are in Delhi to play and win the game, so there is nothing to worry about the place.

But for the organizers previously the problem was “Stray Dogs” but now it’s because of “Snakes”. Anyway despite of these issues, all are expecting that the Common Wealth Games will start and end well.

Australian umpire Darrell’s rude statement against Pakistan Players

Latest Cricket News: Former Australian Test Cricket umpire Darrell Hair sentenced a rude statement against Pakistan players as they are “cheats, frauds and liars” since because the ICC refused to act against the Shoaib who tampered with the ball during the ODI against England last Wednesday. During the match the Pakistan players were caught red handed of deliberately bowling no-balls. Immediately, test captain Salman and his other teammates Mohammed Amir and Asif were suspended and sent back home.

Darrell became angry after hearing the statement of ICC that they were investigating the suspicious scoring patterns by Pakistan. And Darrell said "The fans, viewers and crowds have been watching cheats and liars. How long will they continue to part with their money to watch manipulated matches and players cheating? The ICC should be ashamed to allow these matches to take place."

Fennell is going to take a view on the places of CWG village today

Michael Fennell the president of Common Wealth Games Federation is going to take the view on the places of CWG village where the residential plots were allotted for the athletes. According to the sources, Michael went to Delhi by Thursday and by today he will go to the places to examine the condition of the places along with the chairman of Common Wealth Games committee Suresh Kalmadi.

After examining the last week issue on the condition of CWG sports village and foot bridge collapse, he had given the three days timing for the organizers to take immediate steps to improve the condition of the allotted places. He also pressure up the organizers since because many countries like New Zealand, Canada, Ireland were decided to delay the arrival of their country sports legends to Delhi because of the unhygienic conditions. Then after the assurance of the Common Wealth Games organizers, England, Wales, Australia, Scotland decided to confirm their participation.

Now all the countries are waiting for the statement from Fennell… We will wait and watch whether the organizers were made use of three day timings!!!

Arrival of Athletes is going to be delayed

All the country athletes were about to come to their allotted residential plots by this week but since because of the bad condition in the CWG village, many countries especially New Zealand has advised their country athletes to not to go to Delhi by this week. The New Zealand Olympic Committee has ordered them to not to start from their country athletes for CWG sports till Sep28.

And also the other countries like Scot land, Canada also decided to send their athletes later. In this situation, the president of Common Wealth Games Mr. Michael Fenell has admitted with the poor condition of the CWG village which made most of the nations to feel bad.

Great cricketers were nominated for two great awards

Great Cricket News: Two Indian Cricketers Sachin and Sehwag were nominated for the two great awards “Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year awards” which is going to be held on Oct 6 in Bangalore. One more cricketer name has been included in the nomination list for both awards. He is South Africa’s Hashim Amla.

While Dale Steyn of South Africa has been short-listed as the fourth player in the category of Test cricketer of the Year award, England's Graeme Swann is nominated for the Cricketer of the Year award. The final list was decided on the basis of the votes casted by the independent 25-member academy.

Meanwhile, two of Australia's victorious World Twenty20 team members - Shelley Nitschke and Ellyse Perry - alongwith West Indies' Stafanie Taylor and England's Katherine Brunt have been shortlisted for Women's Cricketer of the Year award. The Emerging Player of the Year nominees include Englishman Steven Finn, Angelo Mathews of Sri Lanka, Tim Paine of Australia and Pakistan's Umar Akmal.

The LG ICC Awards 2010 takes into account the performances of the cricket players and officials during the period of August 24, 2009 to August 10, 2010.

In sports there is no place for nationality issues

Generally in sports there is no place for nationality issues. This following news really proves that. The India- Pakistan connection made them a global talking point at the US Open but Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi do not even consider themselves from two different nations.

They were the first India-Pakistan combination to reach a Grand Slam final and their coming together and doing well at tennis major, generated a huge interest.

Even the Ambassadors from the two countries to the United Nations came together to cheer them and it was enough for media to add some political colour to the coverage, considering the two countries have fought three wars since becoming independent.

Media coined terms like 'Indo- Pak Express, Indo-Pak peace pair' to describe their pairing but Bopanna on Wednesday said he and Qureshi have never thought about the countries they belong to and their compatibility as individuals was the sole reason behind their partnership.

"Qureshi and I got together because we felt that we would make a good doubles team. We know each other for so long and have a great understanding so it only made sense to play together.

"We never intended on making any political statement. It is the media who gives us these tags, we never look at each other as being from different countries," Bopanna said.

"Earlier we used to win the first set but fall of on the second set and then take the third. But now we want to win big. We focus even harder on the second set, and the entire US Open, the only sets we dropped were in the finals.

"Also that we can compete at this level and we know we belong here. We just need to stay focused, work hard and we can win a Grand Slam final."

"Hopefully, it will lead to many great performances and eventually take us to the No.1 spot in doubles. I am noted as a confidence player, and I am sure that this final, will help me be a more confident player and doing better."

Bopanna could have been only the fourth Indian and Qureshi first Pakistani to win a Grand Slam had they beaten the Bryan brothers - Mike and Bob - in the US Open final. They are little disappointed to miss out on history but still very much satisfied.

"We are still working our way towards winning a Grand Slam. Despite the result it was a great achievement to make it to the finals. We were a bit disappointed, but looking back I think that is definitely something to be proud of," he said.