Vijender Kumar is the Brand Ambassdor for Bajaj Allianz

Its time to cash their success for India's Olympic Heroes. After the great performance at the Olympics, Corporates are now looking at these athletes as an alternative to their all time favorite cricketers.

The first one to join the modeling bandwagon is the Olympic Bronze medalist Boxer with good looks, Vijender Kumar! Vijender has been signed up by Bajaj Allianz for an amount of Rs 60 Lac to promote their insurance business and have termed him as their Youth Icon in the process.

Vijender however maintains that his main focus would be Boxing and not modeling!

Read more @ http://profit.ndtv.com/2008/08/28232201/Olympic-medalist-Vijender-Kuma.html

Key Takeaways and Lessons from Beijing for India

Now that the Beijing Olympics are history, what will history remember it for? Or better, what will history remember it in Indian context?

In terms of performance, it may not be a worthwhile performance when you compare it with other countries. But it was India’s best ever performance nevertheless. 3 medals at an Olympics is something India had never achieved. This was also the best rank India has ever managed at the games. India was ranked 50^th in the medals tally.

It is now time to introspect and see how did we fare? What went wrong and what was right for us?

There have been quite a few positives that India can take from these games:

1. The medal winners: The greatest takeaway from Beijing is the athletes who participated. We got to give them the credit they deserve. Abhinav Bindra, Suresh Kumar and Vijender Kumar were simply amazing and did not let the opportunity slip through their hands.
2. The rise of Boxing: Boxing has now risen to a level, where people are taking notice of it. India is now firmly on the world map. 5 Boxers into the games, 3 went to Quarterfinals and one winning the Bronze medal. The first ever in Indian Boxing history. Bhiwani has been baptized as the mini Cuba of India.
3. Wrestlers: Another high point! Only 3 wrestlers were sent, one (Yogeshwer Dutt) managed to go till quarterfinals, while one (Sushil Kumar) wins Bronze medal (through Repechage).
4. Shooters: The only positive in shooting was Abhinav Bindra. He was amazing. He was concentration personified. Rests were just to fill up the names. We need to put more emphasis on the shooters. Not that we do not have world class shooters. The shooters that were sent there are amongst the best in the world.
5. Badminton: Saina Nehwal was amazing. She was a revelation in her first Olympics. Better things can be expected from her in future.
6. Archers: Mangal Singh Champia and V Pranitha did fairly well. With proper support they can do better.
7. The media coverage: This was the first time that the media covered Olympics more than Cricket. This is a good sign and should be continued. This will only help in increasing the awareness about the sports.
8. Tennis: Lee-Hesh era may be over but all is not lost. Sania can be expected to bring laurels to India in future. She was unlucky to get injured at a wrong time.

Road Ahead:

1. Improve the management: The overall sports management needs to be improved. The administrators should be made accountable. Take a leaf out of BCCI’s book and do something to provide better funding to sports. A positive start has already been made by removing the present Hockey administration. This needs to be continued till we get the results.
2. Improve the funding: Get the funding in from all the possible sources. Not all sports are sale-able. But the avenues need to be searched. Government should come forward to improve the overall infrastructure. The prizes should be announced before rather than later. This would motivate the athlete to perform better. A performance management system might as well not be a bad idea.
3. Draw a road map and follow: We need to start now for the London dream. British had conquered India long back. The focus now should be to conquer London, although in terms of Sports only! Identify the sports that can give us more medals and work towards gaining experience in those sports. This has to be persistently followed to get the results. Rome was not built in a day. And do not let the memories of Beijing die.
4. Arrange more international level sports in India. This will give our athletes more exposure and experience. This way they will be aware of the international standards, as well as make the public also aware of these sports.

Let’s make sure that this does not go down in History as a one off event where India did well and take proper steps to reap the benefits.

Closing Ceremony Olympics 2008

Spectacular Closing Ceremony for Olympics, 2008
A wonderful campaign for Olympics,2008 comes to an end on Sunday, Aug 24th,08.

http://specials.rediff.com/sports/2008/aug/24pic1.htm

India's flag bearer for Olympics closing ceremony

Vijender Kumar, the boxer has been given the honor to be India's Flag bearer in the Closing ceremony at Olympics in Beijing on Sunday 24th August 2008.

The Bhiwani pugilist won a bronze medal in the 75kg category event, which made him the national hero. Army marksman Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was India's flag bearer during the spectacular opening ceremony of the Games on August 8.

India finishes its campaign with a never before 3 medals and 50th Rank

This is India's best ever performance in Olympics! Indian contingent is returning with a modest 3 medals from Beijing. This is the first time in Indian Olympic History that India has won 3 medals and that too in Individual sports category!

Also, India has for this time ranked 50th among all the participating nations. Another first for India!

Kudos to Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Vijender Kumar for their performance. India has many positives to take from these games as well.

In my coming posts we will discuss on the positives that India can take from Beijing...

Also read:
India's Sports at Olympics: vijender-wins-hearts-albeit-losing
India's Sports at Olympics: Sushil Kumar wins Bronze for India in Wrestling after 1952!
India's Sports at Olympics: abhinav-bindra-wins-olympic-gold

Vijender wins hearts albeit losing the fight!

Vijender Kumar lost his semifinal bout yesterday to the Cuban Boxer Emilio Correa Bayeaux. This was a sad moment for a billion of Indians who had pinned their hopes on Vijender to get India a second Gold.

Nevertheless, Vijender has won a Bronze medal, another first by any Indian boxer in the Olympics. The boxer from India's mini Cuba (Bhiwani) lost to the actual Cuban boxer, but has won the hearts of all his countrymen. This has announced India's arrival in Boxing to the world.

Repechage Rule in Wrestling.

Repechage is an interesting rule in wrestling. According to the rules of Repechage Round, the wrestlers who lost to the Finalists need to play among themselves in 2 rounds and the winner of the Repechage Round gets to play with the losing semi-finalists to decide the bronze medal.

This rule helped India in a great way on August 20th 2008, when Sushil Kumar won the Bronze for India through the Repechage round only.

India at Rank 42 with 1 Gold, 1 Bronze in Olympics 2008

With Abhinav Bindra showing his heroic by winning a GOLD medal for india, others haven't disappointed this time.
Sushil Kumar won Bronze for India first time after 1952 in wresting.
Vijender Kumar also assured India of yet another medal when he entered the semi-finals of the middleweight (75kg) category on Wednesday

With the present medal tally India is at rank 42 which will be improved once Vijender's medal with join the India's medal tally. ;) Complete medal tally in Olympics 2008

This is so far BEST ever Olympics performance from India.
India has never returned with 3 medals from any Olympics.

Previous best was back in 1952 when India had won 2 Olympic medals in the 1952 Helsinki Games, where the hockey team had won the gold medal and wrestler KD Jadhav had won a bronze medal, a record which had stood for 56 long years.

Read More related:
India's Sports at Olympics: Sushil Kumar wins Bronze for India in Wrestling after 1952!
India's Sports at Olympics: Vijender Kumar is the man to watch in the 75 kg Boxing Semifinals
India's Sports at Olympics: ABHINAV BINDRA WINS OLYMPIC GOLD
India's Sports at Olympics: Bindra says gold is ... "alright"

Vijender Kumar is the man to watch in the 75 kg Boxing Semifinals

Yippieeeeee....

Vijender Kumar assured India of yet another medal when he entered the semi-finals of the middleweight (75kg) category on Wednesday.

Vijender defeated Ecuador's Carlos Gongora 9-4 at the Workers' Gymnasium.

Earlier, Jitender Kumar failed to live up to the expectations when he lost in the quarter finals in 51 Kg category.

This is India's best ever Olympic performance we 3 assured medals.

Sushil Kumar wins Bronze for India in Wrestling after 1952!

Wrestlers won the race to Bronze for India. Sushil Kumar manages to win the bronze medal in wrestling ahead of the Boxers who have their matches scheduled later in the day.

Sushil Kumar, the wrestler defeated Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan 3-1 in the repechage match of the men's freestyle wrestling 66kg to win India's India's first wrestling medal since the 1952 Helsinki Games.

He is only the second Indian wrestler after Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav to win an Olympic medal. Jadhav had won a bronze medal in the 1952 Games.

Incidently, this is also the first time since 1952 that India has two Olympic medals.

Earlier, Abhinav Bindra won first-ever Olympics gold medal for the country in the 10meter air rifle event.

3 cheers for the Indian contingent...

Another medal goes begging in wrestling

Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt lost in the quarterfinals in 60-kg category to Japan's Kenichi Yumoto.

Yogeshwar Dutt made a good start to his bout winning the first round 1-0 but the Japanese bounced back to win the second, earning four points to draw parity.

The Indian wrestler again seized the initiative early in the decisive third round, going ahead 1-0 but failed to hold on to the lead in the last 10 seconds and gave away two match winning points to his opponent to lose 2-1.

A win in this round would have assured at least a bronze for India as losing semi-finalist gets a medal in the competition.

Earlier in the day, Dutt had beaten Kazakhstan's Baurzhan Orazgaliyeb 3-1.

One Boxer down, two more to go.

Boxer Akhil Kumar lost his battle in the quarterfinals. This is a major setback to India's medal hopes. Akhil Kumar was the most experienced of the three boxers in the fray.

All is not lost for India though as the focus now shifts to Vijender Kumar and Jitender Kumar, who still have their quarterfinal matches in the coming days.

More at: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/boxer-akhil-loses-in-quarters-out-of-olympics/71496-29.html

Indians' schedule at the Games, August 18

Following is the schedule of Olympic [Images] events in which Indians will be taking part on Monday.

ATHLETICS: Men's Triple Jump - Ranjith Maheswary.

BOXING: 54 kg (Bantamweight) quarte- final - Akhil Kumar vs Veaceslay Gojan (Moldova).

TABLE TENNIS: Women's preliminary round - Neha Aggarwal vs Jian Fang Lay (Aus)

Akhil beats world champ to reaches quarter-finals, within sight of Olympic medal

Akhil Kumar did the unthinkable and upstaged world champion Sergey Vodopyanov in an edge-of-the-seat thriller to put himself just one win away from an Olympic medal on Friday. The Haryana boxer, trailing 2-6 at one stage drew parity in the dying seconds and won on points to reach the quarter-final of the 54kg category at the Workers' Gymnasium. ( Watch ) .
Though the boxer insists he is not ready to settle for anything less than the gold, he would be assured of a medal if he wins his quarter-final bout on Sunday. The Russian world champion grabbed early initiative and had a slight edge in both the rounds as he raced to a 6-2 lead midway through the third round. Read More

Rain stops India's doubles tie - Paes Bhupathi

Rain played spoilsport to drop early curtains on the men's doubles quarterfinals match with the Indian pair of Leander Paes [Images] and Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] trailing 1-4 to the Swiss duo of Roger Federer [Images] and Stanislas Wawrinka in the Beijing [Images] Olympics [Images] on Thursday night.

The match was into its 16th minute with the seventh seeded Indians pushed to the corner when the sky opened up and what started as mere drizzle grew in strength, forcing the match officials to call off the tie.

Both the pairs would return on Friday to play out the remainder of the match.

Abhinav rubbishes gun tampering reports

Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra [Images], who called on President Pratibha Patil [Images] along with his father Dr A S Bindra and mother Babli on Thursday morning, denied reports that his gun was tampered with before the final of the 10 metres Air Rifle event at the Beijing [Images] Olympics [Images].

"No, it is not true at all. I am not aware of any such thing," he said.

"As I said, everything went off well; hence, there is no need to comment on everything about which I am not sure of. Why bother?".

Read More

Paes-Bhupathi in quarters

Their impeccable on-court camaraderie betrayed no signs of a stormy past as Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi today inched closer to their first joint Olympic medal by reaching the quarter-finals of the men's doubles event here.
The seventh seeded Indians played compact tennis to defeat Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa of Brazil 6-4, 6-2 in just over an hour.
In the quarter-finals, they will take on the winners of the second round match that pits fourth seeded Swiss pair of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka against the mercurial Russian duo of Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny.
Read More

Bindra's gun tampered with before final

Abhinav Bindra's gun was tampered with before the final of 10m air rifle event which the ace marksman won to give India its first ever individual Olympic gold medal, top officials with the Indian contingent said in Beijing on Wednesday.

The sightscreen fitted with the gun had been altered before the final and it was only because of his unflappable nature that Bindra went on to win the medal, Deputy Chef-the-Mission Baljit Singh Sethi, who is also the Secretary General of the National Rifle Association of India said.

Read More

Is this going to be the sole medal again for India?

11th August 2008 will be etched in the Indian Sports History in Golden letters. And why not!! After all this was the first ever Individual Gold medal India has won in its 108 years history in Olympics. Kudos Abhinav Bindra, the man who made it possible!!

But the question that all the Indians must have in their minds now must be, Will this be the only medal India will manage to win this time as well? Just like the last 3 occasions!

The picture does not seem to be very bright as all the Indian athletes are losing their battles one by one, Mangal Singh Champia being the latest one.

Do we go to the Olympics only for filling up the numbers? When will there be the time, when we can give the Sporting powerhouses like USA and China a run for their money? The question is not of ability for sure. You can see an NRI "Raj Bhavsar" winning a Bronze medal for USA. So, we have the ability. The problem lies in the resources/facilities that we get. Abhinav Bindra could manage to win because the family was kind enough to get him his personal shooting range. He probably has never visited the "Tugalakabad Shooting range". The government has to stand up and do something about the facilities we provide to our sports persons.

Hockey team getting Rs 1000/- per goal they score is another example of the sick mentallity of the authorities. That's a whopping Rs 62.50/- per player in a team of 16.

How would a parent then have the courage to ask their kids to go and play hockey for the country!

Boxing: Jitender Kumar storms into last 16

Jitender Kumar pummelled his Turkish opponent Ulas Furkan Memis in less than three rounds to storm into the fly weight pre-quarterfinals of the boxing competition at the 2008 Olympics [Images] in Beijing [Images] on Tuesday.

Jitender, who was making his Olympic debut, led 12-3 before Memis threw in the towel just a few seconds into the third round of the lopsided bout. Read more.

Saina bows out of Olympics

The Indian challenge in the Olympics [Images] badminton competition ended on Wednesday when Saina Nehwal bowed out of the women's singles following a quarter-final loss to Indonesian Maria Kristin Yulianti.
The 18-year-old Indian, playing in her first Olympics, was beaten 28-26, 14-21, 15-21 by the world No 16 after a thrilling contest. Read More.

Paes-Bhupathi in pre-quarter-finals

Leander Paes [Images] and Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] put behind their frosty relationship and recreated the old magic to sail into the second round of the men's doubles event of the Beijing [Images] Olympics [Images] on Tuesday.

It took a lot to make them play together but once they walked out in the court, Paes and Bhupathi were their usual self as the 'Indian Express' duo tamed the French scratch pair of Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3 in less than an hour to breeze into the second round.

More @ http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/aug/12paes.htm

Akhil strolls into pre-quarters

Indian pugilist duo of Akhil Kumar and Jitender packed enough punch in the boxing ring to stroll into the pre-quarterfinals in their respective categories in the Beijing [Images] Olympics [Images] on Tuesday.
In the 51kg category, Jitender Kumar pounded Ulas Memis until the 17-year-old pugilist from Turkey retired while trailing 1-21.

More @ http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/aug/12akhil.htm

Indians' schedule at the Games, August 12

Indian athletes' schedule on Tuesday, August 12, the fourth day, at the Beijing [Images] Olympics [Images].

SHOOTING: Samresh Jung and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore [Images] compete in the 50m pistol and double trap events respectively.

ARCHERY: L Bombayla Devi, Dola Banerjee [Images] and Pranitha Vardhineni compete in the individual events.

BOXING: Jitender Kumar (51kg) and Akhil Kumar (54kg) open their campaign.

ROWING: Devender Kumar Khandwal and Manjeet Singh compete in the lightweight men's double sculls repechage.

SWIMMING: Virdhawal Khade [Images] and Sandeep Sejwal compete in 100m freestyle and 200m breaststroke heats respectively.

TENNIS: Leander Paes [Images] and Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] compete in the first round of the men's doubles.

Saina Cruises into the quarters

Saina Nehwal may well prove to be India's next medal winner in Beijing. She defeated the 4th seed and World No. 6 Wang Chen in the pre-quarter finals on Monday.

World No. 15 Saina shocked the 2007 World Championships runner-up Wang 21-19, 11-21, 21-11 in 52 minutes at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium.

The China-born Hong Kong girl became the highest seed to be knocked out so far.

The win put Saina into the quarter finals and just one match away from moving into medal contention. She will now clash with World No. 21 Maria Kristin Yulianti of Indonesia, who herself stunned sixth seed Tine Rasmussen of Denmark 18-21, 21-19, 21-14 in another 57-minute cliffhanger.

more @ http://www.ibnlive.com/olympicsnews/saina-reaches-badminton-quarterfinals/70877-29.html

Deshmukh announces Rs 10 lakh cash prize to Bindra

Mumbai (PTI): Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today announced a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh to Abhinav Bindra, the winner of gold medal for shooting at the ongoing Beijing Olympics, on behalf of the state.

Read @ Deshmukh announces Rs 10 lakh cash prize to Bindra

Bindra says gold is ... "alright"

Making history was not on Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra's mind when he took aim for the Olympic men's 10m air rifle title on Monday.

In fact, before he made the crucial winning shot, he wasn't thinking about anything.

Showing the same ice-cold nerves that just moments earlier had helped him come from far behind to win India's long-awaited first gold medal, Bindra was a picture of tranquility at a news conference after winning his country's first ever individual gold medal.

Read More@ http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Olympics/idUSPEK13761320080811?sp=true

ABHINAV BINDRA WINS OLYMPIC GOLD

CREATING HISTORY: Abhinav Bindra is the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics.

Abhinav Bindra has done what no one has ever done for India at the Olympics. He won the first-ever individual gold medal in men's 10m air rifle event on Monday morning.

China's Qinan Zhu won the silver while the bronze went to Henri Hakkinen of Finland.

Earlier in the day the world champion had qualified for the men's 10m air rifle event finals.

However, Gagan Narang failed to make the final cut in the same event finishing ninth with a score of 595/600.

Narang shot a series of 97, 100, 100, 100, 98, 100.

Bindra, a Khel Ratna awardee, finished the qualifying event joint fourth with Romania's George Alin Moldoveanu after the duo shot a score of 596/600.

The bespectacled shooter managed a series of 100, 99, 100, 98, 100 and 99.

Anup Sridhar breezes into second round

Anup Sridhar, India's lone male entry at the Beijing [Images] Olympics' [Images] badminton competition, breezed into the second round of the singles event with a straight games' victory over Marco Vasconcelos of Portugal on Sunday.

The Indian ace needed a little more than 30 minutes to tame his opponent 21-16, 21-14 and set up a second round clash with world No 12 Shoji Sato of Japan [Images], who is regarded as one of the most nimble-footed shuttlers around.

Read More @ http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/aug/10anup.htm

More related:

Indian Sports at Olympics: Champia second in ranking round

Indian Sports at Olympics: The Olympics 2008 Live news

Indian Sports at Olympics: Khade finishes 48th in 200m freestyle

Khade finishes 48th in 200m freestyle

Virdhawal Khade's campaign in the 200 metres freestyle sunk without a trace at the Water Cube.

The Kolhapur boy clocked 1:51.86 seconds and finished seventh in the eight-man Heat 4 and overall 48th on the chart.

Khade still has two more events, the 50 metres and 100 metres freestyle left at the Games.

More @ http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/aug/10khade.htm

More Related:
Indian Sports at Olympics: Champia second in ranking round
Indian Sports at Olympics: The Olympics 2008 Live news

Champia second in ranking round

Mangal Singh Champia set alight the Olympic Green Archery Field to finish second in a field of 64 in the ranking round, which won him an easy draw in the elimination stage which starts on August 13.
Read More@ http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/aug/10champia.htm

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Indian Sports at Olympics: Indian hope for MEDALs still Alive
Indian Sports at Olympics: Beijing - a new watershed for Indian swimmers

The Olympics 2008 Live news

August 10, 2008
Rain delays start of Olympic tennis The start of the Olympic tennis tournament was delayed by rain on Sunday.

Play had been scheduled to begin at 1030 and organizers had hoped for a delay of only 10 minutes but rain continued to fall at the Olympic Tennis Centre.

The first match due on Centre Court is American James Blake against Australia's Chris Guccione in the men's singles.

Top seed Roger Federer of Switzerland is also in singles action later on Sunday against Russian Dmitry Tursunov.

_______________________________________________________
August 10, 2008
Saina enters last 16 Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal continued her fine form, beating Ukrainian Larysa Gryga in straight games to advance to the women's singles pre-quarterfinals of the badminton competition at the Olympic Games in Beijing on Sunday.

Saina beat Gryga 21-18, 21-10 to make the last 16. She will next face the winner of the match between world number three Hong Kong's Chen Wang and Slovakia's Eva Sladekova.

_______________________________________________________

August 10, 2008
Indian women archers lose to China The Indian trio of L Bombayla Devi, Dola Banerjee and Pranitha Vardhineni came agonisingly close to a place in the medal rounds before hosts China shattered their hopes with a nail-biting win in the quarter-finals of the women's archery team event at the Olympics in Beijing on Sunday.

Bombayla, Dola and Pranitha, the trio which got a bye in the first round, lost 206-211 to th Chinese trio of Lin Jiang, Wenquan Li and Feng Hai Xue.

The Indian eves could manage only five 10s as opposed to China's nine that ultimately tilted the result in host team's favour.

________________________________________________________

August 10, 2008
Manavjit, Mansher bow out Indian shooters continued to draw a blank in Beijing Olympics with Manavjit Singh Sandhu wilting under pressure and compatriot Mansher Singh too failing to make it to the finals of the men's trap event in Beijing on Sunday.

Tipped a medal prospect, Manavjit could manage only 116 out of 125 to finish 12th at the end of the five-round qualifying sessions spread over two days at the Beijing Shooting Range.

In comparison, Mansher did better, tallying 117 to finish eighth. Mansher in fact came close to qualifying for the finals but in the end, a place in the top six just proved elusive for him.

---

August 10, 2008
Indian women archers lose to China The Indian trio of L Bombayla Devi, Dola Banerjee and Pranitha Vardhineni came agonisingly close to a place in the medal rounds before hosts China shattered their hopes with a nail-biting win in the quarter-finals of the women's archery team event at the Olympics in Beijing on Sunday.

Bombayla, Dola and Pranitha, the trio which got a bye in the first round, lost 206-211 to th Chinese trio of Lin Jiang, Wenquan Li and Feng Hai Xue.

The Indian eves could manage only five 10s as opposed to China's nine that ultimately tilted the result in host team's favour.

---

August 9, 2008
Vijender Kumar wins opening round India's Vijender Singh made a winning start in the middleweight (75 kg) category in the boxing competition on Saturday.

The pugilist had a comfortable 13-2 win over Badou JG Jack of the Gambia.

The amateur boxer, who has picked up medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, and tournaments in Germany, Baku, Karachi and Scotland, was one of the few Indians to do well in an otherwise disappointing day.

Indian Sports at Olympics: Indian hope for MEDALs still Alive

Indian Sports at Olympics: Indian hope for MEDALs still Alive

Beijing - a new watershed for Indian swimmers

For Indian swimmers, Beijing Olympics will mark a new beginning. The country, which could field just one swimmer in the previous edition of the Games at Athens, has as many as four swimmers representing it here.

Trained by Nihar Ameen, the 16-year-old Khade is the first Indian to qualify for three events in a single Olympics.
Apart from the talented Khade, the Indian contingent includes two times best National Games athlete Rehan Poncha, as also Sandeep Sejwal and U.S. based Ankur Poseria.
Read More @
http://www.freshnews.in/beijing-a-new-watershed-for-indian-swimmers-47080
More Related:
Indian Sports at Olympics: 2008 Olympics Stadium
Indian Sports at Olympics: 16-year-old fastest Indian swimmer ready to hit Beijing Olympics

Sania, Sunitha had no time to change in saree: Kalmadi

Under fire for allowing tennis players Sania Mirza and Sunitha Rao in casuals in the Olympic opening ceremony, the Indian Olympic Association on Saturday said the duo did not have enough time to change after a lengthy practice session that brought them to the event at the eleventh hour.

IOA President Suresh Kalmadi said both the tennis players had returned from a prolonged practice session and did not have enough time to deck up in the official saree for last night's march past, hence they turned out in casuals.

More @ http://www.ibnlive.com/olympicsnews/sania-sunitha-had-no-time-to-change-in-saree-kalmadi/70740-29.html

Related

Indian Sports at Olympics: 2008 Olympics Stadium

Indian Sports at Olympics: Will Sania and Saina make it happen this time for India?

Indian hope for MEDALs still Alive

India's big medal hopes in shooting have had a disappointing start at the Beijing Olympics.

Shooters Samresh Jung, Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat and Avneet Kaur Sidhu have crashed out of the competition with the first gold medal of the Games going to the Czech Republic much to the disappointment of hosts China.

But there is some good news in the camp for the following events:

Women's Archery team, rower enter quarters,
read more @ http://www.ibnlive.com/olympicsnews/womens-archery-team-rower-enter-quarters/70735-29.html

And this is not alone,
In rowing, too, there was good news where Bajrang Lal Thakar qualified for the quater-finals in the men's single sculls event.

Thakar finished third in his heat, clocking 1minute 57.82 seconds and finished about 16 seconds behind Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic who finished first.

Thakar will now try to move ahead in the next round on Monday.

More related:

Indian Sports at Olympics: Medal Prospects in Beijing

Event Schedule at Beijing

Schedule of the events:

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/Schedule/index.shtml

Campaign starts at a bad note

Indian campaign did not start at entirely on a good note. Weightlifter Monica Devi was tested positive in dope test and had to withdraw from the games...

more @ http://olympics.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/IndiaBeijing/India_Challenge/Monica_Tests_positive/articleshow/3330492.cms

16-year-old fastest Indian swimmer ready to hit Beijing Olympics

Virdhawal Khade, the new teen sensation is the youngest hopeful to keep the Indian flag aloft in the Beijing Olympics. He has already won six gold medals in 2006 south Asian Games.
More @
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/265784.php

Beijing Olympics 2008: Medal hopes

Going by recent performance of the players, it would be safe to expect a medal at least in tennis, boxing, shooting and even archery. Tennis remains our biggest bet at the Olympics. The former world no. 1 pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati have buried all their past differences to team up for the doubles event.
Other big medal hopes are Sania Mirza (we are forever hopeful of her good performance) and Sunitha Rao.
Read more @
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/The_Sunday_ET/Special_Report/Beijing_Olympics_2008_Medal_hopes/articleshow/3319956.cms

R S Rathore to carry the flag at Olympics

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been designated to carry the National Tricolor during the opening ceremony for Beijing Olympics. This is a matter of great honor for any Olympian. Rathore, who won the silver medal at Athens, is gunning hard for another medal at Beijing.

Though his competition starts on August 12, he is already in Beijing for about 10 days and is training diligently.

2008 Olympics Stadium

The Olympic Games 2008 Stadium is Gigantic... Look below:

Cricket at Olympics?

All the cricket lovers, have you ever wondered that cricket should be a part of Olympics? Well, this wish might come true in future. With the advent of T20, cricket might find a place in Olympics as well, the grandest stage of them all for any sports.

The process has already started. Cricket was recognized as an Olympic Sport in 2007, the first hurdle in the process of getting the full admission! Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist is campaigning for Cricket to be in Olympics by 2020.
Don't believe me? Check this out: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldOfSport/idINIndia-34813520080804?sp=true

Medal Prospects in Beijing

With only 4 days to go, let’s look at some of the medal prospects for India in Beijing.

R. S Rathore: Expectations are already high after his performance in 2004. In 2005 Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Melbourne, he was the member of the winning team in the double trap event. He won the gold in the individual and team events in Men's double trap at the 2005 Asian Clay Shooting Championships at Bangkok. The gold in the individual event was the third consecutive one for Rathore at the annual events after the ones in 2003 and 2004, thus constituting a hat trick.

Abhinav Bindra: This 25 year old is a veteran of 2 Olympics. Though he was not successful in getting the medal for past two times, he still is counted as a strong prospect. The road to Beijing has been full of troubles though for him. After his failure in getting his hands on the medal in Athens, Bindra returned with the World Championship in 2006, 4 medals in the Commonwealth. But then he has to struggle with the Spine injury and is forced out of the games for more than a year. That he is now fit and ready to fight for a medal in the mother of all the competitions, speaks immense about his courage and fighting spirit.

Dola Banerajee: First Indian woman archer to be at Olympics. She has already represented India at 2004 games as well. Trained from Tata Archery Academy, Dola created history by winning the 18th Golden Arrow Grand Prix tournament 2005 at Antalya, Turkey where she defeated Ukrainian third seed Tatyana Dorokhova. At the 2006 SAF Games held in Colombo, Dola out shot compatriot Reena Kumari to bag the women's individual re-curve gold in archery.

Sania Mirza: The amazing 21 years old Hyderabad based Tennis player is the best India has ever produced. Her best carrier ranking being 27 in the world. She has been consistently performing at the international stage. Apart from her performance at the Tennis Circuit, she also has to her name 3 medals (Gold in mixed doubles, Silver in Singles and Silver in Team event) at the Doha Asian Games. It remains to be seen if she can repeat that in Beijing as well.

Saina Nehwal: This 18 year old girl is the first Indian woman to win a 4-start badminton event (Philippines Open in 2006). Ranked 15 in the world she should be a tough competition for others in the event. She also has a Bronze to her name in the 2006 Commonwealth games.


A. Lalit Lakra: A 26 year old boxer from Jharkhand, he was the first Indian boxer to book a ticket to the Beijing last year. He will be contesting in the featherweight category. He was in fabulous form in 2007 during the World Championships in Chicago. He has consistently performed at the international stage. His best being the Gold medal in Commonwealth Championships in Glasgow.

Akhil Kumar: This 26 year old Bhiwani lad is going to the Olympics for a 2^nd time. Athens was not a happy outing for Akhil but he has come ages since then. His run up to Beijing includes a Gold in 2005 Commonwealth championships, Gold in 2006 Commonwealth Games and Gold in Asian Olympic qualifying tournament. He also has struggled with a career threatening wrist injury, which kept him out of action in 2007. He is the senior most member of the boxing team and is the only one with Olympic experience.

Dinesh Kumar: 20 year old boxer from Bhiwani will be fighting for a medal in the light heavyweight category. He performances at the international stage are : Gold in SAAF games in 2006 and silver in Asian Boxing Qualifiers 2008 which gave him the ticket to the games.

Anju Bobby George: She shot to fame when she won the Bronze medal in 2003 World Championships in Athletics. Thus becoming the first Indian to do so. She went on to win the silver medal at the IAAF World Athletics Final in 2005, a performance she considers her best.

Anjali Bhagwat: In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, competing as a last-minute wildcard Anjali put up a spirited effort to become only the second Indian woman to reach an Olympic final and ended a creditable seventh. At the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, Anjali grabbed four gold medals at the 10 meter Air Rifle and 50 meter Rifle 3-position events.