Jitender follows Akhil Kumar while Vijender ensures another medal..

Bhiwani volcano erupted on the Equadorian.....

Indian boxer Vijender Singh ensured another medal for India at the Beijing Olympics by outpunching Carlos Gongora of Ecuador in the quarterfinal of the 75kg category bout today.
With this victory, he is now assured of at least a bronze medal.



He led all the rounds over Equadorian and clinched the bout 9-4. Although Carlos managed to close the gap in the last round but Vijender's evading tactics and excellent footwork won him the bout.
Video
http://olympics.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/showvideo/3386135.cms


Jitender Kumar lost to Russia's Georgy Balakshin in the quarter-finals of the 51kg flyweight category in the Beijing Olympics.

The Indian boxer lost the bout 15-11 against his experienced Russian rival and European champion at the Workers' Gymnasium to end hopes of a medal.

The Russian took the lead of 2 - 1 in the first round itself. But they both equaly done well with 5 points each in the second round...But Russian raced ahead with counter punches and won the secured points in 3rd and 4th rounds to win the semi berth..

"I'm sorry I could not win the medal but I tried my best," rued Jitender, blood dripping from the cut he had received in the chin.

His other 10 wounds from previous match also made him weak in the match.

Video
http://olympics.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/showvideo/3385994.cms

The other day boxer Akhil Kumar from Bhiwani failed to qualify for the semifanals.

Another bronze for India through Sushil Kumar

Freestyle wrestler Sushil Kumar wins a historic bronze medal in the 66kg category in the Beijing Olympics. Sushil Kumar beat Kazakhistan’s Leonid Spiridonov in a play-off bout for the Bronze medal..


Against Leonid, Sushil grabbed early initiative by scoring two technical points that proved decisive in the end.

Though the Kazakh wrestler scored one in the second period and managed to thwart Sushil, the Indian proved his superiority again in the third period and eventually prevailed 3-2 to trigger frenzied celebration among the Indians present at the venue.

"I thought I'll do whatever it takes and the end result is the medal is mine. It's an unforgettable moment in my life and it seems I'm living in a dream," Sushil said.

"Probably you may say that there was no expectation from the people back home and the media too. But me and my coach (Satpal) always knew I had a fair chance of winning a medal and I'm happy I could achieve that," a beaming Sushil said after winning the medal at the China Agricultural University.

"While it is good not to have that burden of expectation on your shoulder, I think we can give even more provided we get better facilities," said the wrestler.

Video
http://olympics.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/showvideo/3385025.cms

Ramazan Sahin won Turkey's first gold medal of the Olympics with victory in the same competition over Ukraine's Andriy Stadnik. Sahin emerged victorious from a close encounter, 2-2 2-1 2-2, to add Olympic gold to his world and European crowns.

World Champion Hammered By Indian Juggernaut!! Enters QuarterFinal

India's Akhil Kumar (R) fights Russian world champion Sergey Vodopyanov in the men's bantamweight (54kg) round of 16 boxing match at the Beijing 2008 Olympics August 15, 2008.

India's medal hope is still one more fight away, yet Akhil Kumar’s patriotic win must rank as one of finest performances by an Indian in an Olympic boxing ring. The Haryana boxer gave India a perfect Independence day gift by knocking out World Champion Sergey Vodopyanov of Russia to move into the quaterfinal of the bantamweight (54 kg) category. With the crowd rooting for him, Akhil came back from a huge 2-6 deficit to level at 9-9 and then win the judges nod to edge out his pedigreed Russian rival, and current world champion, Sergey against whom even a loss would not have been a matter of shame.

Paes, Bhupathi Crashes Out! Quarterfinal Loss

Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes play against Switzerland's Roger Federer and Wawrinka

India's only hope of another medal which rested on, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi crashed out of the men's double at the 2008 Olympics losing in straight sets to the Swiss pair Roger Federer and Stanislas Warwinka in men's doubles quarterfinal on Friday.

The fourth seeded Federer and Warwinka defeated the Indians, seeded seventh, 6-2, 6-4 at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre.

Saina Crahes Out!! Flash News!

Saina Lost to her Indonesian counterpart today

The 18-year-old Indian went down 28-26 14-21 15-21 in the thrilling contest against her world number 16 rival.

However, unfazed by the initial setback Yulianti equalised in the next game, helped to a large extent by Saina's mistakes.

The decider looked like going Saina's way as she led 11-5 at one point but nerves got the better of the world number 15 Indian in the closing stages as Yulianti equalised before racing away with the game and the match.




















In the men's competition, Anup Sridhar has already made his exit, losing in the round of 16 of the men's singles event.

India's chances of getting a medal now lies entirely on Paes-Bhupathi pair, Sania Mirza withdrew from the tournament because of injury!

Pics of the Champion... Abhinav Bindra

Saina entered Quarter Finals..India's hopes high...

India's ace shuttler,18 tr old, Saina Nehwal is just one win away from ensuring another individual medal for India after she smashed away the fourth seed Chen Wang of HongKong to move into the quarterfinals of the women's singles badminton event at the Olympics on Monday.

Saina, ranked 15, defeated Wang 21-19 11-21 21-11 in a grueling pre-quarterfinal contest at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium here.

After first two easy encounters, Saina had to bring her best to get the better of World No. 5 Wang. Both the shuttlers were neck and neck in the first game till 19 points when Saina stepped up the accelerator to seal the game with two consecutive points.

However, Wang took full advantage in the second game and level the scores. But came back strongly in the decider and raced on to 6-0 lead. She was also helped by Wang's high number of unforced errors in the decider.

From there onwards there was no looking back for Saina as she booked her last eight place with ease with some elegant placement and immaculate drop shots.

Breaking News: India wins gold in Olympics

India's Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle in Beijing on August 11 with an incredible performance in the final. Bindra shot a total score of 700.5.

China's Zhu Qinan, gold medalist at Athens 2004, won the silver medal with a total score of 699.7.

The bronze medal was won by Finland's Henri Hakkinen, who was leading the field after the qualification round, but was unable to hold off Bindra and Zhu in the final.

Profile Info:

Abhinav Bindra (born September 28, 1983) is a shooting sports person from India specialising in the field of Air rifle. He was the youngest Indian participant at the 2000 Olympic Games. He won six gold medals at various international meets in 2001. In the Air rifle event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Manchester, he won Gold in the Pairs event and Silver in the individual event. At the 2004 Olympic Games, he broke the Olympic record but failed to win a medal. He is a recipient of the Arjuna award in 2001 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for the year 2001-2002. Abhinav Bindra's potential talent was first spotted by Lt. Col. J.S. Dhillon. He was Bindra's first coach. Apart from being a shooter, Abhinav Bindra holds an M.B.A. (Masters in Business Administration). He is also the CEO of Abhinav Futuristics.

Source 1, 2

DD To Air Olympics In Inida: Live 5:30pm

For Indian Viewers, you can watch the live telecast of the opening ceremony starting at 5.30 pm on Friday in Doordarshan's (DD) Sports Channel .

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has got the exclusive rights to telecast the Beijing Olympic Games in the country.

Prasar Bharati release reports, Doordarshan has made elaborate arrangements to bring the live action to viewers here.

DD has also lined up an impressive list of advertisers. While Samsung, BSNL, LIC and the ministry of rural development are the presenting sponsors, other spot advertisers include Maruti, ITC, Amul, Lenovo and some government departments.

Paes & Bhupathi again...

Indian tennis superstars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have are ready for the Beijing Olympics after so much of bickering. Sources inform the estranged tennis partners will first play a couple of tournaments together in order to prepare themselves for the forthcoming sports event.

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) Executive Director Ranbir Chauhan informed that the AITA secretary Anil Khanna convened a meeting with Paes and Bhupathi, following which both agreed to play together to win a medal for India.

Chauhan said Paes and Bhupathi will play two tennis tournaments together prior the Olympics. The meeting of the AITA Secretary with Paes and Bhupathi took place in Paris where they are playing the French Open. It was only recently that Mahesh Bhupathi had complained to the AITA that Leander Paes was not cooperating for the preparations needed for Olympics. He had infact also asked the AITA to permit him to play the quadrennial event with Rohan Bopanna instead. Leander Paes had called Bhupathi’s comments as ‘silly’ and there were serious doubts as to whether the two would play together for Olympics or not.
Source

Indian Squad in Olympic Village..

The First batch of Indian Olympic team entered in Beijing Olympic Village.

Shooting, Boxing, Athletics contestants and their coaches are in the squad. About 30 of the total 57 arrived yesterday in Beijing. This include 9 shooters,5 Boxers and 4 Swimmers...

It has been announced by the National Rifle Association General Secretary Baljit Singh Sethi who is accompanying the team. He was satisfied with the facilities that are well maintained for Indian participants at the Olympic Village.

When asked, Sethi, also the General Secretary of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) said that the shooting ranges impressed him.

"I am going to the range every day and they are really very good," he said adding that all the facilities at the village were "first class".

"It's first class. The food is very good with so much variety, transportation is good and we are entertained well by the hosts. There is no complaint at all," he said.

Sethi said the weather was hot in Beijing at the moment but it was a plus for the Indians, who are habituated to these kinds of temperature.

"It's hot here at this time of the year but it is good for us. Last time, when we came here it was freezing cold which had affected our performance," he added.

Indians are chiefly resting their hopes on shooters, boxers and the star tennis duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi for Olympic glory.

Rajyavardhan Rathore - India's Flag Bearer..

Ace double-trap shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore, India's first-ever Olympic individual silver medallist, will lead the 57-member contingent from his country and will carry India's flag during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games, Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi said in a statement Monday.

Rathore leads nine-member Indian shooting team, which has two reigning world champions in its ranks: Manavjit Singh Sandhu (trap) and Abhinav Bindra (10m air rifle).

"Our shooters are on the top of the list and they are raring to go," Kalmadi said at a press conference last week.

The 15 shooting events begin on August 9, a day after the opening ceremony.

India's Olympics "victories"

India's Olympics "victories" include

8 Gold medals, 1 Silver medal and 2 Bronze medals in Hockey.
2 Silver medals in Athletics and 1 in Shooting.
Bronze for wrestling ( Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav 1952 Helsinki).
Bronze for tennis ( Leander Paes 1996 Atlanta).
Bronze for weightlifting ( Karnam Malleswari 2000 Sydney)........
.

India ready to go for Beijing Olympics...

99-member squad for Beijing Olympics from INDIA

First time in Olympics history, India going to send a team for "Swimming"

The 99 member squad is to represent India in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Figure 99 consists of 57 athletes and 42 officials which includes Sania Mirza’s mom !!!!.

India’s Olympic team:

Archery: Dola Banerjee, Pranitha Vardhineni, L Bombayala Devi, Mangal Singh Champia.

Athletics: Anju Bobby George (Long Jump), Krishna Poonia (Discus), Harwant Kaur (Discus), Preeja Sreedharan (10,000m), Manjit Kaur (400m), Chitra Soman (4×400m relay), Sini Jose (4×400m relay), MR Poovamma (4×400m relay), Mandeep Kaur (4×400m relay), S Geeta (4×400m relay), K Mridula (4×400m relay), J J Shobha (Heptathlon), Sushmita Singh Roy (Heptathlon), G G Pramila (Heptathlon), Vikas Gowda (Discus), Renjith Maheswary (Triple Jump), Surender Singh (10000m).

Badminton: Anup Sridhar, Saina Nehwal

Boxing: Jitender (51kg), Akhil Kumar (54kg), A L Lakhra (57kg), Vijender(75kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81kg)

Judo: Khumujam Tombi Devi, Divya. Rowing: Bajrang Lal Takhar (Single M1X), Devnder Khandwal and Manjeet Singh (Light Weight Double Scull).

Shooting: Manavjit Singh Sandhu (Clay Pigeon Trap), Mansher Singh (Clay Pigeon Trap), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Clay Pigeon Double Trap), Gagan Narang (10m Air Rifle), Abhinav Bindra (10m Air Rifle), Samresh Jung (10m Air Pistol), Sanjeev Rajput (50m Rifle 3 Position), Anjali Bhagwat (50m Rifle 3 Position), Avneet Kaur Sidhu (10m Air Rifle).

Swimming: Virdawal Khade (50m, 100m, 200m Freestyle), Ankur Poseria (100m Butterfly), Sandeep Sejwal (100m, 200m Breaststrokes), Rehan Poncha (200m butterfly).

Table Tennis: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Neha Aggarwal.

Tennis: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi (doubles), Sania Mirza (singles and doubles), Sunitha Rao (doubles). Weightlifting: L Monika Devi (69kg)

Wrestling: Sushil Kumar (66 kg Freestyle), Yogeshwar Dutt (60 kg Freestyle), Rajiv Tomar (120 kg Freestyle).

Yachting: Major NS Johal (Heavyweight Dinghy).

P.S. I honestly recommend you to read the article at http://www.iwebie.com/indias-2008-beijing-olympics-dreams.. Analysis of the state of the country and Olympics to the core... Very good post...