Friday, August 22, 2008

Vijender Kumar gets Bronze!!!

Vijender Kumar has lost his semifinal bout against Cuba's Emilio Correa Bayeaux 8-5. He has to settle with the Bronze medal now.

The Cuban boxer had a 2-0 lead by the end of Round 1 itself. Vijender lifted his game and tried to storm back in Round 2. The score for Round 2 was 2-3 in the favour of Vijender. The total score after Round 2 was 4-3 with Vijender trailing with 1 point. But in the third round Emilio scored a clear 3-0 and the total score was 7-3 taking the match away from the hands of Vijender Kumar. Vijender tried a comeback but the 4 point lead was too much and the final score was 8-5.

With this bronze, India is at 44th position in medals tally with 1 Gold and 2 Bronze, the best performance of India so far in Olympics.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

India Events Today 22nd August

India will be competing in two events today. The first one is highly anticipated Semifinal match of Boxer Vijender Kumar in Men's 75kg Boxing. His match will be happening at 1246(IST). If he wins this match he will reach finals and will win a Gold or Silver. But if he looses this match he will get a Bronze.

India will also be competing in Women's 4x400m relay. The race will take place at 1655(IST).

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Finally a Medal in Boxing!!! ...thnx to Vijender Kumar

Image Courtesy: REUTERS

India's Vijender Kumar has defeated Ecuador's Carlos Gongora 9-4. By this victory Vijender has paved his way to semifinal and will atleast win a Bronze because both the loosing semifinalists get a Bronze medal.

Vijender dominated the entire match and had a lead 0f 2-0 from Round 1. In Round 2 scores were 2-1 and by the end of round three total score was 7-2 with Vijender comfortably in the lead.

Vijender Kumar will be having his semifinal bout on 22 at 1246IST.

Jitender Kumar also out of Boxing

India's Jitender Kumar has been defeated by Russia's Georgy Balakshin 11-16 in the Quarterfinal of Men's Fly 51kg Boxing. With this defeat two of the three boxers of India are out of Quarter Finals. Now only Medal Hope in Boxing is Vijender Kumar who is having his bout at 1816IST.

Like Abhinav Bindra and Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar is also supported by Mittal Champions Trust created by Lakshmi Mittal of ArcelorMittal.

India's Sushil Kumar wins a Bronze in Wrestling!!!

Image Courtesy: REUTERS

India's Sushil Kumar has won a Bronze Medal in Men's 66kg FreeStyle Wrestling by beating Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan 3-1. Earlier Sushil lost in Main Round. Main Round is for Gold and Silver Medals. And Repechage round is for Bronze Medal.

During his run in the event, Sushil was first defeated by Ukraine's Andriy Stadnik(who has won the Silver Medal in the event) 1-3 in the Main Round. After this defeat in the Repechage Round-1 Sushil defeated USA's Doug Schwab 3-1. After that in Repechage Round-2 he defeated Belarus' Albert Batyrov 3-1. And finally Leonid of Kazakhstan to win the Bronze.

With this win India has got two medals, 1-Gold and 1-Bronze in its kitty. Now India is ranked 41(in order of Golds won) and 46th(in order of total medals won) in medals tally. Today fate of Vijender Kumar and Jitender Kumar will also be decided. If they win today, it will guarantee a medal as bothe loosing semifainalist get a Bronze in Boxing. And if they win today they will be having there Semifinal Match on 22.

Sushil's Run to the Bronze Medal
Men's FR 66 kg 1/8 Final
India KUMAR Sushil - Ukraine STADNIK Andriy 1-3

Men's FR 66 kg Repechage Round 1
United States SCHWAB Doug - India KUMAR Sushil 1-3

Men's FR 66 kg Repechage Round 2
India KUMAR Sushil - Belarus BATYROV Albert 3-1

Men's FR 66 kg Bronze
India KUMAR Sushil - Kazakhstan SPIRIDONOV Leonid 3-1

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

India's Result Today (19th)

                
  • Table Tennis - In TT Sharath Kamal Achanta (above Middle) won his first round match against Alfredo Carneros 4-2 (6:11 12:10 11:8 9:11 11:6 11:7 ). His next match will be against Weixing Chen of Austria on 20th August at 0830IST (GMT +5:30).
  • Wrestling - India's Yogeswar Dutt (above Left) won his second round match earlier today but then lost in Quarter finals to Japan's Kenichi Yumoto 6-3. Another Indian Wrestler Sushil Kumar will be having his bout in 66kg category tomorrow at 0730IST.
  • Women's Long Jump - India's Anju Bobby George showed a dismal performance by making a foul in all the three jumps. She didn't get any mark for her jumps and thus was last in her Group.
  • Boxing - India's two Boxers will be having there Quarterfinals bout tomorrow. If any of them wins, it will guarantee a medal because both the loosing semifinalists get a Bronze in Boxing. Jitender Kumar's match will be at 1646IST and Vijender's bout will be at 1816IST.

Monday, August 18, 2008

India today (19th August)


Indians will be competing in three events today.

  • Women's Long Jump - Anju Bobby George(above Left) will be representing India in Women's Long Jump. Her personal best is 6.83m. She will have to perform a lot better than that for winning a medal. But her current performance is not so encouraging and her season's best is 6.55m. Long Jump qualification will be happening on 19th August 0710IST (GMT +5:30).

  • Table tennis - Sharath Kamal Achanta (above Middle) will be representing India in Table Tennis. He will be having his first round match today at 1030IST.

  • Wrestling - Yogeshwar Dutt (above Right) will be representing India in Men's Freestyle 60kg. He is a tough guy and is capable of some outclassing the best. Luckily he is having a easy draw until Semifinals. So one can expect a medal. I think at least a Bronze shoud be there around the corner. You can catch him live at 0830IST (GMT +5:30).

Akhil Kumar looses the Quarter-final

In a major blow to India's medal hopes, Akhil lost his quarter final match to Veaceslav Gojan of Rep. of Moldova in Men's Bantam (54kg). Both Akhil and Gojan were tied at 2-2 until the end of the Round - 2. But after that Gojan scored 4-0 and 4 - 1 in next two rounds and won the match with the final score of 10-3. Akhil seemed to be missing the flare he showed in previous games. Although he punched a larger number of times but Gojan's punches were more accurate and focused.

With Akhil out, now India has two Boxers Vijender and Jitender Kumar in Quarter Finals both of whom are having there bout's on 20th.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

India Today (18th): Watch Akhil Kumar



Neha Agarwal is out of Table Tennis. Boxer Akhil Kumar who defeated World Champion in the earlier round has a quarterfinal match today at 1700 IST(GMT +5:30). His Opponent today will be Veaceslav Gojan from Republic of Moldova. A win today will guarantee a medal as both loosing semifinalists get a Bronze medal.

vs

Indian Action yet to come...


First week of the Olympics is over and we have seen a lot of ups n downs not only for Indians but for all the countries. Michael Phelps has created a history by winning record 8 Olympic Gold Medals. Tyson Gay, the former World Record holder in Men's 100m failed to qualify for the finals. But this is Olympics where new stars are born every time.

Returning back to India, now only 4 events are left in which India will compete.
  • Boxing - In Boxing India's three athletes are there in quarterfinals. A medal should not be a far away dream but lets see if any (or more) of Akhil, Vijender or Jitender can add to India's Medals Tally.
  • Wrestling - India's three athletes will be competing in the wrestling events. Indians used to be good wrestlers at until some years back when strength and stamina were more important than speed. But this time the wrestlers have worked hard on their technique so a good show can be expected here too.
  • Table Tennis - Sharat and Neha may be India's best but wining against Chinese in T.T. is like "Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne".
  • Athletics - India has "good" athletes in Athletics but only the "Best" win the medals at Olympics. Indians has performed good in Commonwealth and Asian Games but a Olympic medal is not in sight.