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Record In the ongoing test series between India and Australia, Sachin Tendulkar has become world’s highest run-getter in test matches when he scored 15 runs on the first day of the second test match being played at Mohali. With it he has surpassed West Indies’ former captain Brian Lara’s record of 11,953 runs in test-cricket. Brian Lara already had taken retirement from the international cricket. On the other hand, according to cricket pundits Sachin has a lot to offer even in the last phase of his cricket career. It must be learnt that he along with his four senior team mates was under fire by the selectors for their declining performances in the recent test series. But he has shut everyone’s mouth who was saying that he should take retirement now.

Run Machine He could not break Lara’s record in Bangalore test and had got out at 49 and still needed 15 runs to surpass the record. But he had saved the match for his team. But he succeeded in Mohali to break the record. He made 88 runs and got out on debutant Peter Siddle’s ball. His catch was taken by Mathew Hayden. But with his 88 runs he has created another world record of 12,000 runs in test-cricket. Don Bradman had himself anointer him as his successor and he has proved him right. He had debuted in the international cricket in 1989 and since then he has remained an inseparable part of the Indian team. He is also the highest run-accumulator in the ODIs also. He has scored 81(42,39) centuries and 139 half centuries in the ODI and test matches. Playing on first day in the Mohali test he not only created world records but also steered his team out of danger. When the day’s play ended, India was playing at 311/5 with Ganguly and Ishant Sharma playing.

First Day Earlier Indian skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. Both the openers, V. Sehwag and G. Gambhir gave a flying start to their team. But when it was looking that Sehwag has settled he edged a short delivery going towards leg-side and was caught. After it Gambhir and Dravid added 76 runs for the second wicket. Dravid was bowled out by Bret lee when he was at 39 while Gambhir was sent back by M. Johnson when he was at 67.VVS Laxman again disappointed and met fate similar to Sehwag on M. Johnson’s bowling. After it Sachin and Ganguly consolidated their team’s position. They both completed their half centuries. When the play was called off Ganguly was playing on 54 while Ishant Sharma had made 2 runs.

Day 1^st  Earlier in first inning, batting first Australia made 430 runs which includes skipper Ricky Ponting’s 123 runs and Mr. Cricket, Hussey’s 146 runs. It was Ponting’s maiden century on the Indian soil and he again fell victim to Harbhajan Singh. On day one Australians had made 254 for four. It was pace man Zaheer who took the prized wicket of Hayden. The second wicket was taken by Ishant Sharma who sent back Katich for 66 of 149 balls. Fourth wicket was of M. Clarke who was declared LBW on Zaheer’s bowling.

Day 2^nd The Second was clearly the day of M. Hussey as he completed 146 runs of 276 balls and put his side in a commanding situation. He was bowled out by Zaheer Khan. Ishant Sharma took the wickets of S. Watson (2), B. Haddin (33) and debutant C. White (6). Zaheer Khan completed his five-wicket haul by taking the remaining two wickets of B. Lee (33) and M. Johnson (1). Both the experienced Indian spinners could not create pressure as they were inconsistent in their line and could not even exploit the inconsistent bounce. When the play of the second day was called off Indian openers had made 68 runs without loss. Sehwag was batting on 43 while G. Gambhir was on 20.

Day 3^rd When the play resumed on day third, Indians were in a commanding position but two early blows by B. Lee and M. Johnson put them into defensive mode. Gambhir was sent back by Lee for 21 while Sehwag by  Johnson for 45. Tendulkar, Laxman and Dhoni could not do well and departed cheaply. It was Dravid, Ganguly , Harbhajan and Zaheer who resisted the Australian bowling attack. Wickets of Dravid (51) and Harbhajan (54) were taken by Watson while Ganguly (47) was victim of Johnson. Till the end of the day three India had made 313 runs at the loss of 8 wickets.

Day 4^th On day four Zaheer completed his half century. Indian team could add only 47 more runs and was all out for 360. Indian bowlers dominated in the second inning as none of the Australian batmen could make big totals. At the end of day four Australian had lost its 5 wickets for 193 runs. Harbhajan has taken the wickets of Katich(34) and Hussey(31) while Ishant had sent back Ponting (17) and Clarke (6). Hayden (13) was sent back by Zaheer.

Draw On the fifth day it had become clear that the test is heading towards a draw.  At the score 228-6 Australia declared its inning giving the victory target of 299 to India. India could not get a good start as it had lost Sehwag and Dravid at the score of 24. the attraction of the day was Tendulkar as crowd was waiting to see him surpassing Brian Lara’s  record of 11953 runs. But he could not do it as he fell victim to debutant spinner Cameron White. Gambhir(29) was bowled out by Johnson. Because of the bad light play  was called off when the 10 overs were remaining to be bowled. And with it first test between India and Australia was declared to be draw.

Controversy Shoib Akhtar for Pakistan, Andrew Symonds for Australia and Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji) for India are the match winning cricket players. But it is not their performance in the International cricket that keeps them in headlines. They always remain in headlines not only for their onfield performance but also for their off field controversies. Shoib Akhtar is out of Pakistan team on disciplinary grounds and same is with Andrew Symonds. But Bhajji too has earned Akal Takhat’s wrath by performing and dancing on a TV show as a demon king Ravana.  He had dressed as Ravana and was wearing a tilak when he danced with Mona Singh (actress) in the television show, “Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena”.

Sikh Tradition Sikhs have a unique a identity and a lot of importance is given to preserve it. It is the Sikh history that thousands of Sikhs had sacrificed to preserve their identity under the Mugul and British rule. Bhajji’s act of dressing like the demon king and wearing a tilak is highly objectionable to the community. He has hurt the Sikh sentiments Akal Takhat has ordered him to apologizer to Guru Granth Sahib and the Sikh Sangat for the objectionable act. It must be learnt that Akal Takhat is the oldest and supreme Sikh Body that is elected by the Sikhs, democratically. Akal Takhat’s Hukamnamas (orders) are respected by the Sikhs as the orders of their Guru.

Sikh Sentiments Though no one have complained against him but Akal Takhat has taken the notice of the act and have taken the action. Internationally, he is recognized as a Sikh player and his act have sent wrong messages about the Sikhism. He had taken part in the TV show during the  navratras.  Navratras are the nine day festival season after which the tenth day is celebrated as Vijay Dashmi. It means goods victory over evil. According to the Hindu mythology Lord Rama had killed the Demon king Ravana on this day. Despite physical identity there is not enough difference between the Sikh and Hindu religious teachings. Sikhs too, give a lot of importance to Lord Rama. Thus Akal Takhat’s stand against Bhajji is natural. Some months ago cricket commentator Mandira Badi had used the Sikh religious symbol “Ek Omkar” on here body as a tattoo and had to apologize for the act.

Announcement Ganguly left everyone surprised on Tuesday when he announced in a press meeting that he will retire after the coming Australia-India four test-match series. Though there were rumors that coming test series will be his last series but nobody had believed them. But with his announcement it has become clear that coming tests will be the last test matches of a spectacular career. Earlier some cricket annalists had suggested that Ganguly’s inclusion into the test squad is an opportunity provided by selections board to retire gracefully. But Ganguly has denied these speculations. But he admitted that he had not hoped that he will be selected in the national team for the coming test series. It must be learnt that he had not been selected even for the Irani Trophy.

Seniors According to recent media reports five senior player are under pressure and selection committee has asked them to plan their retirement by the December end. But Senior players have denied any kind of such suggestion. But Ganguly’s announcement has proved that the rumor has some truth in it. Ganguly has said that he already had planned to get retired two weeks ago when he had been ignored for the Irani Trophy series.

Captaincy Though he has not performed well in some of the recent series but his overall average is very good . He Is considered to be India’s most successful test captain. Under his captaincy Indian team was totally transformed.  Under his leadership India had won 21 out of 49 test matches and had reached the final of 2003 world cup. He has the credit of nurturing the career of many young players. He is considered to be India’s most aggressive captain.

Career As far as his career is concerned he is one of those Indian players who have played more than 100 tests and 300 hundred ODIs. He has scored more than 10,000 runs including 22 centuries in One Day Internationals. His, along with Tendulker was considered to be world’s most destructive opening pair. One of the interesting factor is that his test average has always remained above 40%. Though under his captaincy India’s performance at foreign soils improved a lot but his performance continued to deteriorate. His performance in 2003 world cup is considered to be the highest point of his career. After that his performance continued to deteriorate and in 2006 he was dropped from the national team. He staged an impressive comeback in December 2006 but he could not perform constantly.

Selection Indian selectors on Wednesday announced the names of the 15 members of the Indian Test Squad for the the first two test matches against Australia. The selection committee is headed by Krishnamachari Srikanth which selected the 15 players for the four-Test series. The first test will be played on October 9-13 in Bangalore. Remaining three matches will be played in Mohali, Delhi and Nagpur. Former Indian captain Saurav Ganguly has been retained in the 15-member squad. He is one of four veteran Indian batsmen who are under tremendous pressure to save their places in the team. The other three are master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Vangipurappu Laxman.

Side Middle-order batsman Subramaniam Badrinath and leg spinner Amit Mishra have been included in the team. They have been called in side as the replacement of batsman Rohit Sharma and left-spinner Pragyan Ojha. ODI and 20T skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has also returned to the side. He has not played in the previous test series in Sri Lanka which India had lost by 2-1.

Speculations The previous selection headed by Dilip Vengasarkar had ignored Ganguly for the Irani Cup. His omission from the side had been widely criticized. It must be learnt that he is the most successful captain of the Indian team. Under his leadership India has won many series. When he was ignored for the Irani Cup then there were speculations with rumors that he will quit the game if he is omitted from the national side. This 36 years old former Indian captain will be under tremendous pressure as this probably would be his last chance to prove his worth. He had stormed into the Indian side with a debut ton at the Lord’s in 1996. He had lost his place in the side because of his fall-out with the then coach Grag Chappel but had again stormed into the side in South Africa in late 2006.

Exit After his return to the side he had made 1100 runs which includes the 239 runs against Pakistan in Bangalore in late 2007. After Sachin Tendulkar he is the most successful Indian Batsman. His inclusion into the team has surprised most of the people. But some people have taken his selection as an opportunity given to him to get an ‘honorable exit’ from the side.

Win India’s Saina Nehwal has reached the semifinal of the China Masters Super Series Badminton tournament being played in changzhou, on Thursday. World ranked 12 Saina, seeded seventh in the tournament defeated world no. 6, seeded third China’s Lin Zhu in the quarterfinal of the tournament. She defeated her with the margin of 21-16,21-23 and 21-18. Zhu had got a walk over from Japan’s Eriko Hirose. Saina will meet Mi Zhou of Hong Kong in the semifinal. Zhou had defeated world no.2, top-ranked Lu Lan of China in the quarter final by 10-21, 21-13 and 21-14.

Summary Match between Saina and Zhu was fought very closely. It was a fierce contest which lasted almost an hour. Saina played aggressively in the first game and win most of the points on smashes. She won the first game easily. But in the second game her Chinese counterpart gave her a stiff resistance. Second game was one of the most closely fought game as there was a marginal difference between the points of both of the players. It was won by Zhu. In the third and last game Saina rose to the occasion and came back strongly and won it easily.

Quarterfinal Saina had defeated Japan’s Ai Goto in the second round of the tournament. It was a lop-sided match as Goto could not stand against her for much time as the match lasted only 21 minutes. Saina had defeated Goto by 21-12, 21-10. Saina had won the Chinese Taipai Open tournament on September 14 and had become the first Indian woman to win two Grand Prix Singles. But she had lost in the first round of the Japan Super Series. It must be learnt that she also had reached the quarterfinal of the game in the Beijing Olympic Games.

Future Saina is only 18 years old and a bright future is waiting for her. Her present world ranking shows that she will rule the world in the coming years. Her performance at the Olympics, Chinese Taipai are only the starting point of her badminton career. Her reaching in the semifinal is nothing less than an achievement as very little preference is given to other games in the country where cricket rules.

Saina Nehwal India’s Saina Nehwal, the quarter finalist of Beijing Olympic Games. Became the first ever Indian woman shuttler to win two Grand Prix singles titles when she won the final of the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold badminton championship in Taiwan on Sunday. She defeated her Malaysian opponent Li Ya Lydia Cheah with the margin of 21-8, 21-19. She had shot to lime light after winning the Philippines Open in 2005. After that she could not do well but her performance in the Beijing Olympic Games had increased her confidence level a lot. She had missed an Olympic medal with a very narrow margin as she had lost to Indonesia’s Maria Kristin Yulianti in the quarter final. She is also a two time national champion.

Summary This second-seeded Indian and world ranked 14 played a very attacking game from the start and did not gave any chance to her opponent to reduce the points’ gap. Though in the second set her Malaysian opponent gave a tough fight to her but she could not match the experience of the Indian. Saina said ,”I guess this is perhaps my best performance so far.” She had reached the finals and semi-finals of various tournaments but had not succeeded to win a final. This victory is vary important for her as many top ranked shuttlers had participated in the tournament.

Tournament In this tournament she defeated Mingtian Fu of Singapore, Kwan Yi Monng of Hong Kong, Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand and Pia Zebadiah Bernadet of Indonesian to reach the final. After the pull out decision of top seed Xu Huaiwen of Germany she had become the hot favorite to win the tournament.

She had an opportunity to avenge her Olympic defeat to the third seeded Indonesian Maria Yulianti but the encounter could not materialize as Maria was defeated by Pia Zebadian Bernadet in the quarterfinal. Her quarter final encounter with Porntip Buranaprasertsuk was one of the longest and toughest matches of all of the matches played in the tournament. She won all the three sets of the match with a very narrow difference. She had showed maturity as well as full control in the decisive moments of all the sets and it had turned the match in her favor. Saina had defeated Porntip Buranaprasertsuk by 20-22, 21-12, 23-21.

Tendulkar Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar has expressed his views that cricket rivalry between India and Australia is bigger than the traditional rivalry between India and Pakistan. Australia is the number one cricket team of the world and India has over the last eight years always challenged its supremacy. It is because of the competitiveness shown by both the teams that people prefer to watch Indo-Australia cricket matches as compared to India-Pakistan matches. All the series played between India and Australia in last eight years have been fought very closely.

Competition It is only the Indian team that has defeated the Australian team in their home country. It is only the Indian team that has challenged the Australian supremacy and have defeated them many times in their home country. Commenting on Symonds’ absence in the Australian team in the forthcoming series, Tendulkar said that such things have happened in the past and will not affect the results of the matches much. It must be noted that Symonds is an integral part of the Australian team and has won many matches for his side. Spat between Harbhajan Singh and Symonds had grabbed the headlines of most of the International news papers during the last test series played  between both of the countries in Australia. Symonds has not been selected for the Australian team for the forthcoming series on disciplinary grounds.

Rashid Latif Same views have been expressed by former Pakistani captain Rashid Latif. He has supported Tendulkar’s views and has said that Pakistan’s deteriorating bowling attack is also responsible for the situation. Because of it India has always dominated during the last some series played between his country and India. In fact most of the matches were one sided. He has even said that some top Indian players don’t enjoy the competition because of lack of competitiveness. While Australians have the world class bowlers and India’s world class batsmen enjoy the competition with them. But he has said Indians will surely benefit from the absence of Andrew Symonds because he has played some of his best innings against India.

Dhoni The annual ICC awards function  was held in Dubai on  Wednesday, September,11 in which two Indian cricketers have succeeded to won the top ICC awards. ODI and 20T captain of team India became the first Indian cricketer to win the ICC ODI Player of the Year award on the basis of his  performance this year. His teammate Sachin Tendulkar, Australia fast bowler Nathan Bracken and Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Yousuf were also in the race to take the prestigious award but he beat off their tough competition. He has played 39 ODI’s during the voting period and have scored 12,98 runs with the average of 49.92 and at the rate of 82.46. He made one century and nine fifties.  Except it he has dismissed 62 batsmen as a wicket keeper. It includes 46 catches and 16 stumpings. He always performed according to the circumstances. He is currently ranked as no one ODI batsmen in the ICC Player Ranking. He has also figured in the ICC ODI Team of the Year which is nothing less than a dream come true.

Yuvraj Singh His team mate Yuvraj Singh has also been awarded with an ICC top award. He has won the inaugural international Twenty20 performance of the year award for his six sixes off Stuart Broad ’s  over during last year’s Twenty20 World Cup held in South Africa.

Other Awards Indian player Ishant Sharma, too  was in the race to win the Emerging Player honor but this award was won by Sri Lanka’s ‘mystery’ spinner Ajantha Mendis. West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul was honored as the 2008 International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year. Currently he is ranked at no one position in the ICC Test batting rankings while in the ODI he is ranked at sixth position. Except it Steyn was named Test player of the year. England Women Team Captain Charlotte Edwards was adjudged women’s player of the year. Austrian Umpire Simon Taufel was once again adjudged as Umpire of the Year. It is the fifth time that he won this award in a row. Sri Lankan Cricket team once again one the spirit of cricket award. This award is based on the best conduct of the team during whole of the year.

US Open Leander Paes won his career’s eighth Gland Slam Title on Thursday night. He and Cara Black of Zimbabwe defeated Britain’s Jamie Murray and American Liezel Huber 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 in the US Open mixed doubles Grand Slam final. They won the match in straight sets that lasted for 97 minutes. Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy have also reached the final of the US Open men’s doubles final which will be played on Friday. They will play against the pair of US brothers Mike and Bob Bryan.

Career It was his career’s fifth mixed Gland Slam Title. Before it he, with America’s Lisa Raymond had won the 1999 French Open and Wimbledon Titles. In 2003 he had paired with US Tennis star Martina Navratilova and had won Wimbledon and Australian Open. He had won 2006’s US Open in men’s double event. But this is the first Gland Slam Title won of the pair of Leander Paes and Cara Black. It is being expected that they can won more titles at Flushing Meadows in the coming week. For the world ranked no1 27 year old Cara Black it was her first Gland Slam Title. Before it she had reached the final of 2000’s US Open but had lost the match. Except it has won the Australian Open once and Wimbledon doubles thrice.

Contribution Leander Paes is an Indian Tennis legend. He is one of the most famous Indian sports person in India after Sachin Tendulkar. This Davis Cup captain of the Indian team is one of the reputed Indian Tennis players who is remembered for his many memorable performances. Despite his eight Gland Slam wins he had won bronze medal in 1996’s Atlanta Olympic Games. He was awarded with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India’s highest sporting honor , in 1996-97. He was awarded with Padmashri award in 2001 for his unique contribution to Tennis in India. Indian due of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi was considered to be world’s most successful pair before 2000. They had reached three Gland Slam finals in the year of 1998 which are US Open, French Open and the Australian Open.

Leander’s contribution to the Tennis in Indian cannot be mentioned in works. In a country in which cricket is considered to be the another religion he has made the Tennis a favorite game of many Indians. His win at the age of 35 years will inspire many young Indian players.

Result Sri Lanka won the fifth and the last match of the 5 one-day match series by a huge margin of 112 runs. Its bowlers did a great job and saved the side from a humiliating series loss. Though they had already lost the series to Indians by 3-1 they were playing for the pride. Some Lankan batsmen and bowlers performed well and scored a consolation victory over the Indians.

Lanka Earlier, Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat. Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasurya once again disappointed his captain and edged a ball from Zaheer to the third man. He scored only one run.Malinda Warnapura(30) and Mahela Udawatte(43) added 77 runs for the second wicket. When everything was going Lanka’s way comeback man Irfan Pathan struck twice and sent both the established batmen back. Kumar Sangakkara’s poor form continued even in this match as he edged a RP Singh’s wide ball to Gautam Gambhir at slips. He had made only one run. Pragyan Ojha took two Lankan wickets. He sent back Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene(12) when he was caught by Yuvraj Singh at Short cover. His second victim was hamara Kapugedera who could score only 26 runs. But partnership between lower order batsmen Thilan Thushara(54) and Jehan Mubarak(47) set the stage for Lankans .Their 94 run partnership brought the Lankan back into match as the had put a fightable score on the board.

India In response to the victory target of 228 runs Indian operners too could not give a good start to their side. Gambhir edged Kulasekara’s outside going delivery and was caught by wicketkeeper. In his next over Kulasekara took wickets of Virat Kohli when he had made 31 runs. His next victim was Suresh Raina. He departed for 10 runs. Rest of the Indian batsmen could not reach even the double figure. When India was comfortably placed at 70 for 3 from 15 overs rain interrupted the match. Because of rains India was given a revised victory target of 216 from 44 overs.When play resumed Kulasekara struck once again and sent Rohit Sharma back just for 3 runs. Non of the other batsmen could stay for a long and all the Indian team got out for 103 from 26.3 overs. Mendis took three wickets while Dilhara Fernando took two. Dhoni was adjudged man of the series.

Best Olympics Beijing Olympics turned out to be India’s best Olympics as for as the medal tally is concerned. India won three medals in the Beijing Olympics that includes One gold and two bronze medals. It is the second time that India has won more than one medals in an Olympic. Before it, it had won a gold and a bronze in 1954’s Helsinki Olympic games. The winners were freestyle wrestler Kashabha Jadhav (bronze) and the hockey team (gold).

Politics It is being projected by various Indian sports chiefs that the present success is just a sign of starting and in future India will emerge as a major sports power. Indian medal winners became national heroes in a very short span of time. They were given cash awards. It is being said that it will encourage the youth to participate in the games and which will result with some more successes on the International level. But former sports persons have expressed opposite views. According to them, success of some players at the Beijing Olympics is the result of their rigorous training and personal interests. A very little credit goes to the government’s funding and sports bodies. Various sports bodies are trying their best to take the credit by politicizing the achievement .

Selection It is being said that India will emerge as a major sports power in the future. But every Indian doubts it. Almost all the heads of the sports bodies are political leader and some of them are those who have never participated in any game even at the school level. Coaches and players are selected by these politicians. In most cased selection remains controversial as we have seen that related people have always raised voices against the selection process. Monica Devi case is the perfect example of it. In the past many players have made allegations of biased selection.

Problems Presence of bureaucrats and politicians in the sports bodies have always ruined the future of players. The present situation of the Indian hockey is the result of prevalent system. Poor planning and meager funding are the two other major problems. Prevalent corruption, biased selection and inadequate funding have cut short the careers of many budding players. In such circumstances it sounds like a joke that India will emerge as a major sports power.

AFC Challenge Cup Final It is after the long gap of 24 years that India will play in the Asia Football Cup in 2011 in Doha. India has secured its entry by defeating champion Tajikistan 4-1 in the eight-nation AFC Challenge Cup football tournament final played in New Delhi on Wednesday, August 13. It was in 1984 when, India, under the guidance of their Yugoslav coach Ciric Milovan had played in the Asia cup. Before it they had played in the Asia cup final in 1964 in which they were defeated by Israel. Final was scheduled to be played in Hyderabad but because of incessant is was shifted to Ambedkar Stadium which was almost full to its spectators’ capacity of 20,000.Indians dominated during both of the halves though Tajiks also tried to play an attacking games but Indian defenders did not let them succeed.

Hat-Trick It was India’s best performance in the tournament. Star of the day was Sunil Chhetri he made a hat-trick of goals. India dominated the first half and scored three goals. India’s dominance can be accessed from the point that they were leading by 3-0 by the 23^rd minute of the game. India’s first goal was scored in the 9^th minute of the game by Sunil Chhetri. Next was also scored by the same striker in the 17^th minute. It was captain Baichung Bhutia who scored the third goal in the 23^rd minute for the hosts. Sunil Chhetri completed his hat-trick in the 75^th minute. Sunil Chhetri gave a very tough time to his opponents as he pierced their defense easily many times. Tajiks made launched some good attacks but could not convert the chances into success. Indian goalie Subrata Paul foiled most of their attempts one of which was in 20^th minute. 

Other Match Tajikistan’s midfielder Fatkullo Fatkuloev scored the sole goal for his side. If their striker Davrondzhon Tukhtasunov could have been played in the final the result could have been different. During their semifinal encounter with North Korea  Davrondzhon Tukhtasunov was suspended because he was shown a red card . In  another match played for the 3rd/4^th  place North Korea defeated Myanmar bu 4-0. Korean midfielder Pak Song-chol made a hat-trick.

Indian football team is being coached by Bob Houghton.

Semifinal Indian boxer Vijender Kumar could not convert his possibilities of winning a silver or gold medal into reality in the Beijing Olympics as he lost to Cuba’s Emilio Correa Bayeaux in the semifinal of middleweight (75kg) bout on Friday. But his defeat has not disappointed the Indian as his bronze medal is first-ever boxing medal for India in Olympics

Match Summary Is was a closely contested match as for as the points are concerned. Vijender had lost the first round by 2-0. But at the end of the second round he reduced the margin by 3-4. But in the Third round Cuban bounced back and increased the lead by 7-3. Emilio used the strategy of back-paddling after landing punches. All his punched were straight and precise. His strategy thwarted all the efforts of Vijender who once again failed to score in the third round. In the fourth and the decider round Vijender was more offensive by he could not score enough points to win the game. Emilio committed a foul and was awarded a two point penalty the reduced the difference between points by 8-5.

Comparison Emilio was clearly a better boxer than Vijender as he did not allow him to land even a single blow in the first,second and fourth rounds. Vijender could not take advantage of his height as the Cuban played form a distance. Emilio’s quick footwork, reach straight and strong punches paid him rich dividends. Vijender easily avoided his right punches but could escape the strong left punches.

Vijender Though he has lost the semifinal but has promised to his countrymen that he will won the gold in the London Olympics for the country. According to Indian Express he has said, “I’m very upset and want to say sorry to all for I could not win the bout. But I promise to come back in 2012 Olympics and beat this guy and win gold.”

Record Beijing Olympics have reveled that Indian boxers can compete at the world level. In this Olympics, three Indian boxers had reached the quarter finals which in itself is a big achievement. Except it India has won gold and two bronze medals that is its best record as for as the Olympic games are concerned.

Medal Wednesday proved to be a very good day for India in the Beijing Olympic games. On this day India won its second medal in the games. It was wrestler Sushil Kumar who won the bronze medal for his country in the 66 kg freestyle wrestling event. The second news that brought cheers to the Indian faces was the win of boxer Vijender Kumar in the quarter final round that ensured India another medal. His entry into the semifinal has ensured India its first Olympic medal in the game of Boxing. India had narrowly missed a medal in Boxing in the Athens Olympics when Boxer Gurcharan Singh had lost the match with a very narrow margin.

Hopes But in the Beijing Olympics Indians were very hopeful of winning a medal in the game of boxing as three of its boxer had stormed into the quarterfinals. Indian hopes were dashed when Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar perished in the quarterfinal rounds of their respected categories. In was only Vijender Kumar, on whom Indian hopes were resting now. And he did not disappoint his countrymen. Sushil Kumar’s bronze medal had fired him up.

Quarterfinal He fought against his Ecuadorian opponent Carlos Gongora and defeated him by 9-4. He dominated in all the rounds and won the match with a huge margin that shows his class. He fought a tactical bout with patience. He won the first round by 2-0. He had grabbed these points by a left hook and an undercut. He won the second round by the margin of 4-1 points. He played both attacking and defensive game. In all of the three rounds he gained points by attacking his opponent first and then withdrawing. He widened the point margin by following the same tactics. He won the third round by 7-1. He will fight against Cuba’s Emilio Correa in the semi-final. Vijender had lost in the first round in the Athens Olympics.

Boxing is a family tradition for Vijender’s family. His grandfather and his father all are associated with the game. His father was a national level boxer. On the other hand Emilio Correa is son of Emilio Correa Vailant , who is a welterweight gold medalist in the 1972 Munich Olympics.