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After winning two medals in the prestigious Beijing Olympics, India is ready to get the third one as the boxer Vijendra Kumar enters the semifinals after defeating Carlos Gongora of Ecuador in the quarterfinal of the 75kg category bout on Wednesday. The victory ensured at least a Bronze for India.

Vijendra Kumar, boxer from a small town Bhiwani in Haryana, managed to gift India the first ever Olympic medal in boxing. He dominated the entire bout and won the quarter finals by 9-4. He entered the quarter finals after defeating Thailand’s Champuphuang Angkhan 13-3 in a one sided match.

There was no answer to upper cuts and jabs by Vijender and the rival had no clue as to what was going. Vijender is benefited by his height and long reach to unnerve the Thai who looked confused

Earlier in the Asian Championship in Ulan Bator, Mongolia Vijender had lost to the Thai. Now with this historical victory he has taken his that revenge also.

The Haryana lad is now one of the India’s best medal hope. Wrestler Sushil Kumar had won a bronze in the freestyle event earlier in the day whereas Abhinav Bindra won first-ever Olympics gold medal for the country in the 10meter air rifle event.

Tags: beijing olympics, Bhiwani, Bronze Medal, gold medal, Haryana, India, Olympics, Vijendra Kumar

Abhinav Bindra clinched first ever individual Olympic gold medal for India on Monday in the men’s 10m air rifle shooting. The gold has set India to 10th place in overall Olympics medal tally in Beijing.

Bindra, the 25-year-old businessman from Chandigarh, followed his world championship title two years ago to finally win a landmark gold medal for India. Athens Games champion Zhu Qinan of China won the silver and Henri Hakkinen of Finland took the bronze at the Beijing Shooting Hall in Beijing.

Bindra won by scoring 700.5 points, 596 in the qualifier and 104.5 in the final to claim the gold. He overcame a two-point deficit against Hakkinen and one point against Zhu after the qualification rounds to hold the title.

Zhu came in with 699.7 this time and Hakkinen, a member of Finland’s armed forces who is taking part in his first Olympics, scored 699.4 points.

While talking to media, the sharpshooter said gladly, “I can’t describe how happy I am, it’s the thrill of my life. That’s about it. It’s hard to describe. I just went for it. I knew I was lying in fourth. Thankfully it went my way and I just went for it.”

Fellow Indian shooter, Gagan Narang who scored 595, too almost made it to the final leveling at the fifth place but lost out on a final place in count back.

Bindra, a Khel Ratna awardee, won the 2006 world championships and finished seventh in Athens four years ago.

Tags: abhinav bindra, beijing olympics, first olympic gold, gold medal, indian shooter, Olympics, Shooting

Monica Devi, the Indian weightlifter who was found guilty in dope test and withdrawn from the Indian Olympic contingent on Tuesday night claims that the tests were faulty and she is innocent.

Giving her clarification Monica said, “I don’t know how it has happened. So far the tests that took place haven’t shown any indications. Politics has been played with me. So far four tests have taken place. The results of these four tests haven’t come out yet. A player will never commit such mistakes.”

Pleading innocence after being denied a Beijing flight last night in controversial circumstances, she said, “I am innocent and I am being targeted. This according to me is politics played by Shailaja, along with the Association. I won’t make such a mistake at all because I don’t want to end my career like this,”

While addressing a press conference, she said, “Forget life ban, and give me public execution if I am dope cheat.”

Monika was India’s lone entrant in the 69 kg category and had won silver and two bronze in the Asian Championships in Japan in May this year. She qualified amidst controversy surrounding the other candidate Shailaja Pujari who was accused of bribing the IWF Secretary.

The Indian team got a shock as Monica Devi, who was being dubbed as a medal hope was withdrawn from the squad after she allegedly failed a dope test just hours before the team was to depart for Beijing.

Addressing the media along with Monica was General Secretary of IWF BR Gulati who said, ”There are all chances that samples could have been changed or samples could have been polluted as well. We had informed the government in writing about the inability of the lab to conduct proper test.”

“The entire thing has been sabotaged and it needs to be thoroughly checked.” He added.

Tags: beijing olympics, dope test, monica devi, Olympics, weight lifter

India ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Monday chosen for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2007-08 given for the most outstanding performance in a year. The awards would be presented on August 25, 2008.

The current Indian captain of the ODI (one day international) and T-20 teams became the only second cricketer after master blaster Sachin Tendulkar to be honored with the Khel Ratna Award, the country’s highest honor given for an achievement in sports. .

Dhoni on Monday offered prayers at the famous Deori temple after being conferred with the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

The President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sharad Pawar said, “We are very happy. He has represented the country with distinction, and deserves the honor. His exemplary leadership and demeanor under pressure, especially in the ICC World Twenty20 and the tri-series in Australia, mark him out as the ideal role-model for millions of young Indians, who want to make a mark in life.”

Dhoni is the model icon among youth. He scored 148 against Pakistan in his fifth ODI in 2005 - then the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper. Later in the year, he broke his own record as well as set the current world record for the highest score in the second innings in ODI matches as he scored 183 not out against Sri Lanka.

Tags: Award, BCCI, Dhoni, ICC, Indian Captain, Mahender Singh Dhoni, MS Dhoni, ODI, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, T20, Tendulkar

India leveled the three match Test series 1-1 in Galle on Sunday after beating Sri Lanka by 170 runs in the second cricket test. Earlier, team India was defeated by Srilanka by a mammoth total of 239 runs in the first test match at SCG ground in Colombo. On Sunday in second test, Indian team performed very well in Galle setting a hard target of 307 runs but the Sri Lankans collapsed for 136.

Harbhajan, Sehwag and Gambhir deserves of being the responsible factor behind this victory. Harbhajan Singh returned a match haul of 10 wickets, four in the second innings, for 153 runs while Virender Sehwag once again shown his magical batting and hit an unbeaten double century in the first innings and a half-century in the second to pave the way to victory ground. Sehwag fell against the Srilankan strike bowler Chaminda Vass when India’s total was 90 in second inning. Sehwag and Gambhir partnership was the backbone of India’s victory. Out of India’s total of 598 (329, 269) the duo scored 381 runs, more than half scored by other batsmen.

Sri Lanka bundled India for 269 in the second innings. India was bowled out for 329 runs in their first innings and restricted the Sri Lankans for 292 in their first innings.

In the first inning, Kumble and Harbhajan dismissed nine batsmen of the opponent team. Only Warnapura (66), Sangakkara (68) and Jayawardene (86) stayed for long durations on the crease and played crucial innings for their team. But even they couldn’t cross India’s total of forst inning.

In the second inning, after dismissal of Sehwag and Gambhir, Dravid and Tendulkar were on the crease and they took the team’s total to 200 for two. However, both these batsmen returned to pavilion, only few minutes before the end of the Day-3 play.

On fourth day, Ganguly and Laxman began the morning session but after adding 21 runs to the score, Laxman was trapped before wicket by Mendis. The other players were soon dismissed and India managed 269 runs in the second innings and gave a target of 307 to Srilanka.

Sri Lanka was slow in second inning. Score was 37 at lose of four. Samaraweera and Dilshan provided some resistance to the innings and took team’s total past 100. At the Srilankan score of 113, Ishant Sharma dismissed Dilshan and provided the crucial breakthrough. The entire Srilankan team returned to pavilion by scoring 136 runs. Harbhajan finished with four wickets in the second innings as Sri Lanka was all out on 48 overs.

The third Test will start in Colombo on Aug. 8.

Tags: cricket match, Harbhajan, India, Sehwag, Sri Lanka, Test Match

The International Olympics at Beijing is going to start at 8pm on 8 August, 2008, 08/08/08 and the sports celebration will continue for 16 days till 24 August.

The number eight is considered by the Chinese as a very special number and the Olympics opening ceremony will therefore start at 08:08:08, that is 8 minutes and 8 seconds past 8 in the evening (Beijing time) on the 8th day of August in the year’08. According to the reports, grand fireworks are planned by the organizers on the opening ceremony which the whole world can watch. This will be the opening and a very important moment for the celebration; hence all the possible problems are under consideration. But what if it starts raining that time??

China’s Scientists are worried about this possibility and they are engaged in the solution of this possible problem which can ruin the whole celebration. Till now, scientists are trying to make possible that in case, rain clouds come on the day, their path can be averted by rocket attack. They will be targeted by rockets and rain drops will be converted into ice that could be kicked away by rockets.

The whole world is focused on the games. With almost every country represented, there will be something to cater for everyone.

A bumper 29 sports will be on display. These are: Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Softball, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Weightlifting and Wrestling.

Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee and the Chinese organizers BOCOG have agreed to lift all Internet restrictions for the Beijing Games, IOC vice-president Gunilla Lindberg told reporters on Friday.

This issue had caused major stir days before the start of Olympics with IOC officials insisting there would be no censorship and BOCOG saying sensitive sites would remain blocked.

Top stars will be taking part. Athletics will have Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay in the sprints. Isinbayeva in the Pole Vault, Kenisa Bekela the great Ethiopian long distant runner and all the top Kenyans. Federer and Nadal and the Williams sisters will participate in Tennis. Kobe Byrant and Lebron James in basketball and Ronaldinho will be in football.

Tags: Archery, Asafa Powell, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Bejing, Boxing, Canoeing, Celebration, China, Cycling, Diving, Equestrian, Federer, Fencing, Fireworks, Football, Gymnastics, Handball, Hockey, IOC, Isinbayeva, Judo, Kenisa Bekela, Kobe Byrant, Lebron James, Modern Pentathlon, Nadal, Olympics, Rain, Ronaldinho, Rowing, Sailing, Scientists, Shooting, Softball, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Williams sisters, Wrestling

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar is going to enter in Bollywood by his comeo debut in a film, “Vighnaharta Shri Siddhivinayak” about the miracles of the elephant-headed deity Ganesh. The film is about the god and Tendulkar himself will play a small role of “Vighnaharta Shri Siddhivinayak”.

The star of Indian cricket, Sahin Tendulkar is a devotee of Ganesha and he will not charge any money for his role in the movie. The film is expected to start from next month and it will also feature a voice-over by Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan.

The film is being produced by the Siddhivinayak Temple Trust, which looks after a famous temple dedicated to Ganesh in Mumbai. Film’s production is handled by company of Rajiv Sanghvi. “He will play a small role, as himself, either in a song sequence or in an actual scene,” said Rajiv Sanghvi.

“Sachin has been a regular at the temple for many years now and he never gives up an opportunity to show his devotion,” said Subhash Mayekar, chairman of the trust.

Indian cricket team is in touring Sri Lanka at present. Sahin’s office confirmed the cricketer would be shooting for the film after he returns from Sri Lanka.

Tags: Bollywood, Cricket, film, Ganesha, Master Blaster, Movie, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, shri siddhivinayak

The dashing opener of Indian Cricket team Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan are selected for the Indian squad for the forthcoming Sri Lanka Test series on Tuesday.

The BCCI selectors met in Mumbai ro choose the 15-man Indian team where the exhausted ODI skipper MS Dhoni was opt out and Zaheer Khan is welcomed back from injury.  Harbhajan Singh is again in the team after his rather inglorious IPL exit.

MS Dhoni who was complaining of his hectic schedule in the just concluded Asia Cup according to media reports was given a rest. Dhoni was playing non-stop cricket for the past two years.

According to television reports Dhoni had talked to BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah and then took the decision. “In India and the subcontinent we have a full year of cricket and there’s no off-season. It’s tough for cricketers. When we want rest we should get it,” India’s T20 team captain said on Monday.

In place of Dhoni, Parthiv Patel is selected for the test squad after a long gap. Parthiv comes back to the team on the back of his fine batting performance in the domestic circuit.

The young left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha was rewarded for his consistent performance with a berth for this upcoming three-match Test series against Sri Lanka starting July 23.  Dinesh Kaarthick is the other wicket-keeper in the team with a new vice captain, Virendra Sehwag.

Sachin is back after his groin injury and Anil Kumble is going to lead the team.

The squad is like this:

Anil Kumble (Capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (WK), Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel (WK), RP Singh.

Tags: Anil Kumble, Cricket, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Sri Lanka, Team India, Test Cricket, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan

India lost the crucial Asia cup against Sri Lanka by 100 runs today in Karachi in National Stadium. Sri Lanka which set an easy looking target of 274, won the Asia cup Tropthy for the fourth time. The final match was all set for a Sunday delight to get a view of powerful Indian batting and Sri Lankan fielding but disappointedly the Indian batsmen really had no answer to Ajantha Mendis, who is selected as Man of the match and Man of the series as well.

Earlier India lost the Kitply Cup against Pakistan and lost the finals at Dhaka by 25 runs. India’s skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first.

India was at good field at the start. Danger man Kumar Sangakkara was back to pavilion in just the second over of the match by Suresh Raina. He has made only 4 runs. Ishant Sharma removed Mahela Jayawardene for just 2 runs and send Chamara Kapugedera on a long walk back to the pavilion for a score of 5. With Kapugedera’s departure, the scoreboard read 66 for the loss of three in 11.4 over.

The lanky fast bowler Ishant Sharma seemed to be on fire as he took the wickets of skipper Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedera and Chamara Silva in quick succession. Jayasuriya hit three sixes and two fours in the same over bowled by RP Singh. He scored 125 runs off 114 balls at total racing his 27th century in One-Day Internationals.

Virender Sehwag finally broke the 131 run partnership between Sanath Jayasuriya and Tilakratane Dilshan by forcing Jayasuriya to hole a catch into the hands of Ishant Sharma in the deep. Dilshan scored 56 important runs before sent back to pavilion by Dhoni.

Pathan bowled the last over of the innings and scalped Muttiah Muralitharan off the fifth ball of the last ball to finish the Lankan innings before 50 overs.

At that point India needed 274 runs in 50 over to lift the Asia Cup.  India lost their first wicket at the score of 36 in the 5th over.

Virender Sehwag departed after he struck a speedy half century to give India a good and quick start. Only Sehwag crossed his half century making a score of 60 runs out of 36 balls including 12 fours.

Yuvraj Singh came to the crease after Sehwag’s departure and followed him to the hut two balls later. Ajantha Mendis sent six players to the pavilion. Suresh Raina was another victim of him who made only 16 runs.

Although the final pair of Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha offered some resistance to the Lankans, it was not sufficient to take the Indians home. Kulasekara took the last wicket in the form of Ishant Sharma by castling him to bring an end to the Asia Cup championship.

Dhoni made a score of 49 out off 74 balss. Other players could not show their best on the ground. India can only reach 173 runs in 39.3 overs before getting all out.

Mendis was awarded the man-of-the-match for his six wicket haul for 13 runs in six overs. He was also the man-of -the-series for taking 17 wickets in the tournament.

Tags: Asia Cup, Asia Cup 2008, Asia Cup Finals, Cricket, Dhoni, India, MS Dhoni, Pakistan, Sehwag, Sri Lanka

Sachin Tendulkar moves to second rank in the latest ICC ODI batsmen ranking list by stepping one move ahead while M S Dhoni is no on 4th place. Yuvraj Singh at rank 14 is another Indian batsman in top 20 ranks while Gautam Gambhir snatches 20th spot.

Tendulkar, who was suffering from groin injury for a long time, has scored 758 points after 792 points by South African captain Graeme Smith. 135 runs made by Dhoni in Asia cup scored 750 points and shares his place with Australians Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey at number four.

In the ICC championship table, India remains at fourth, one point adrift of New Zealand (115). However, if India wins its next super four matches in the ongoing Asia Cup India can reach at position three.

Australia with 128 points at the top is giving neck to neck competition to South Africa with 127 points. Sri Lanka is at sixth spot followed by England at seven and West Indies at eighth position.

Tags: Cricket, Dhoni, Gambhir, Gautam Gambhir, Hussey, ICC, Mahender Singh Dhoni, MS Dhoni, Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Tendulkar