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Wrestling As the Olympics games in Beijing have progressed India’s hopes of winning another medal have also dashed. Some Indian players had succeeded in reaching the quarterfinal round of their respective games but could not won their quarterfinal rounds that could have assured at least a bronze medal. Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt missed the medal with a very narrow margin as he was defeated by the Japan’s Kenichi Yumoto in the 60kg freestyle category by 2-1. He had won the first round by 1-0 but could not contain the lead in the second round as his opponent equaled the points by winning four points. In the decisive third round he had taken the earlier lead by winning one point but could not hold on to it as his opponent earned two points in the last 10 seconds of the games that decided the result of the match. He had beaten Kazakhstan’s Baurzhan Orazgaliyeb by 3-1 in the pre-quarterfinal round.

Boxing Earlier Indian were cheered to hear the news that three of the Indian boxers have succeeded in reaching the quarterfinal rounds of their respective categories. It had raised hopes of winning first medal in boxing which Indian had narrowly missed in Athens Olympics. But Akhil Kumar, who had qualified in the bantamweight class, lost to Gojan of Moldova by 3-10 in the quarterfinal played on August 18. He could not break Moldova’s defense by his unorthodox methods and paid the price for his attacking and less defensive game tactics. Till the end of second round both the boxers were equally placed 2-1. But by the end of the third round, Akhil was trailing by 2-6. In the fourth and decisive round he could not do well and lost the match. He had defeated world champion Sergey Vodopyanov and 2005’s bronze medalist Ali Hallab in the earlier rounds. Rest of the boxers are yet to play their matches.

Others India’s Melbourne Commonwealth Games gold medalist winner paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal defeated Spaniard Alfredo Carneros 4-2 in the first round of men’s singles table tennis event at the Beijing Olympics played on Tuesday. He had lost he opening game but won the rest except the fourth. Another huge disappointment to the Indian athletics was failure of woman long-jumper Anju Bobby George who could not qualify for the final. All her attempts were fouls. She had won bronze medal in 2003’s World Championship.