India Culture, Business, Sports and Food. Get all the buzz in India now

Medal Tally Till now everything was happening as was expected in the Beijing Olympics. But as the event is progressing many shocking results have been seen. China is at the first place in the medal tally and there are no signs that USA will reach even its half of the medals’ tally. Germany is at the third position with 7 golds. Russians and Australians are way behind.

Swimming Michael Phelps has ruled the pool till now and has become the only one Olympian who has won 12 gold medal. His has won six gold medals in various swimming competitions in the Beijing Olympics. But what is more interesting is that he has won all these gold medals by breaking the previous world records. His has won six gold medals for his country. Americans have broken the Chinese dominance in Water Cube and women’s gymnastics by winning four gold medals. America’s Rebecca Soni broke the world record and won the gold medal in women’s 200m backstroke swimming event by defeating world record holder Leisel Jones on Friday. Two years ago she had went heart surgery.

Tennis But to a great surprise three famous tennis stars Roger Federer and sisters Venus and Serena Williams, could not advance the quarter-finals and were defeated by those tennis players who are much below in rank as compared to all of them. Roger Federer was defeated by America’s James Blake in straight sets by 6-4, 7-6. It is the irony that in all eight of their encounters Federer had defeated the American. Serena Williams by defeated by Russia’s fifth seeded Elena Dementieva 3-6 6-4 6-3. Venus Williams was defeated by home favorite 26 year old Li Na in straight sets 7-5, 7-5.

Drug Abuse In another shocking development North Korea’s Shooter Kim Jong-su tested positive for drugs and his both of the medals-Silver and Bronze- have been rescinded.

Indians Friday also turned out be another disappointing day for India as there Shooters Gagan Narang and Sanjeev Rajput could not advance the qualifying round of 50m Rifle Prone event at the Beijing Olympics. 56 shooters competed in the event and Sanjeev finished 26^th (591) and Narang 35th(589). Earlier Narang had failed to qualify for the 10m Air Rifle shooting final.

Gold Medal Abhinav Bindra shot into fame when he won the gold medal in men’s 10m Air Rifle event in Beijing Olympic games. With it he became the first Indian to won an individual Olympic Gold medal and thus ended India’s 28 years old gold medal drought. Though he has won many international shooting events but his Olympic Gold medal has made the country proud.

Early Life Born on September 28, 1982 to an affluent Sikh Khatri family of Dr. Apjit and Babli Bindra, Abhinav has many other achievements that can not be ignored. He used to practice 12-14 hours daily at his family owned shooting range near Chandigarh. With his participation in 2000’s Olympic games he became the youngest Indian to participate in Olympics. He could not qualify for the final as his position was 11^th and only the top 8 compete in the final. He succeeded in qualifying to the final of 2004’s Olympic games as he had earned the third place with the score of 597 in the quarterfinal round. But he could not won any medal in the final because of his poor performance. He had scored only 97.s points which was much below the other competitors.

Commonwealth Games He was the Gold medalist in Pairs event and Silver medalist in the individual event in 10m air rifle event in the 2002 Commonwealth Games played in Manchester. He had won gold medal in Pairs event and bronze in individual event in 2006’s Commonwealth Games played in Melbourne. But he could not participate in the 2006 Asian Games held in Doha because of back injury and was under going treatment in Germany. In the final of the 10m air rifle event almost all his shots were perfect as he never scored below the 10.0. His last shot of 10.8 in the final earned him the gold as he was tied with Finland’s Hakkinen.

Awards He has studied at Doon School, Dehradoon and St. Stephen School,Chandigarh. He has done his BBA degree form the University of Colorado,US. He earned his MBA(Masters in Business Administration) from the same university. Presently he holds the post of CEO of Abhinav Futuristics. Government of India had awarded him with the 2000’s Arjuna award. He was conferred with India’s highest sport award-Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2001.

Badminton Saina Nehwal entered the quarter finals of the women’s badminton championship on Monday in the Beijing Olympic games. This news has cheered the Indians. In the pre-quarterfinals she stunned Hong Kong’s player Chen Wang who is ranked fourth in the world. She defeated her 21-19, 11-21, 21-11 in the match. But other Indians could not do well in their respective games as most of them disappointed the nation with their poor performance. Shuttler Anup Sridhar’s Olympic campaign ended in the second round as he was defeated by Shoji Sato of Japan in straight sets. It was a disappointing show by the Indian as his campaign ended only in 37 minuted.

Archers Both the Indians Dola Banerjee and L Bombayla Devi could not perform well in the deciding moments of women’s individual archery events. They crashed out of the event as they lost their respective opening matches played on Tuesday. Both gave a tough resistance to their opponents. Dola was defeated by Canada’s Marie-Pier Beaudet and Bombayla lost to Poland’s Iwona Marcinkiewicz. Both the players were neck-to-neck with their rivals but lost only in the deciding shots. Earlier, Indian trio of L Bombayla Devi, Dola Banerjee and Pranitha Vardhineni had lost to China in women’s team event at Olympics on Sunday.

Rathore But worst was yet to happen. Indian camp was stunned to hear the news of Rathore’s failure to qualify in the double trap final. He shot 131 targets that placed him at the 15^th position. But he could not qualify for the final as top six shooters had made it to the final. It must be noted that he is the silver medalist of the Athens Olympic games in the same event and was hot favorite to win a medal. He told reporters that “I did not read the targets too well and paid the price.”

Boxers Jitender Kumar stormed into the fly weight pre-quarterfinals boxing by defeating the Turkish Boxer Ulas Furkan Memis in less than three rounds. It was a lopsided match as the Indian was leading in the first round by 5-0 and in the second by 9-2. He remained aggressive throughout the match and easily evaded Memis’ every challenge. Another Indian boxer who has qualified for the pre-quarterfinals is Vijender who has qualified in the middle weight category.

In the Lightweight men’s double sculls heats at the Olympics Indian due of rowers of Devender Kumar Khandwal and Manjeet Singh finished last as they were 21 seconds behind the winners. Meanwhile, 2006’s Melbourne Commonwealth Games’ ‘Gold finger’ Samaresh Jung failed to qualify for the final of 50m pistol event on Tuesday.

Gold Medal Abhinav Bindra ended India’s gold medal drought on Monday in Beijing Olympics when he won India’s first individual gold medal in men’s 10m air rifle shooting event. It was a pulsating shooting final as winner could be decided only on the basis of his last shot. Silver was won by Zhu Qinan of China and Bronze by Henri Hakkinen of Finland . It must be noted that Zhu Qinan of China is the defending Olympic champion and was the hot favorite to win a gold medal in the event. Abhinav had entered the event as having a world ranking of 17.

Competition It was a very though competition as almost all the competitors scored never below 10 . His fellow Indian shooter Gagan Narang had had also did well in the even but could not reach the final as he lost in the count back. In the last Olympic games held in Athens Abhinav had broken the Olympic record but could not win a medal as the other competitors had performed well than him. He had finished seventh in the Athens Olympic games. He had won world championship in 2006.

Match Summary He was placed fourth when he entered the final. With his first shot of 10.7 he moved to the third place. He kept his nerves holding and had risen to the second spot even before the fourth shot. With his seventh shot of 10.6 he earned the lead and never looked back after it. He remained aggressive throughout the final and it earned him the gold medal in the end. Speaking to reporters he said “I sincerely hope my medal changes the face of India’s Olympic sports.” His last shot of 10.8 earned the gold medal for him and for India. His final score was (596+140.5)700.5 as compared to Zhu Qinan’s (699.7) and Henri Hakkinen’s (699.4).

Prizes It is the first time that India has won a gold medal after the 1980’s Olympic games that was won by the hockey team. Meanwhile President and Prime Minister has congratulated him for his performance. Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal has announced that Rs one crore will be given to him as an award. Haryana government has also announced a cash prize of 25 lakhs for him. BCCI has announced a reward of 25 lakhs for him. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has also announced a prize of 5 lakhs for him. Chandigarh Administration has also announced a cash prize of 5 Lakhs for him.

Opening Ceremony It was the entertaining show of colors and splendor that presented a breathtaking view at the opening ceremony of 2008’s Beijing Olympic games at the National Stadium, known as Bird’s Nest. More than 90,000 spectators including many dignitaries from all of the world attended the opening ceremony of the games in which more than 10,000 player from 204 countries are participating. Only 25 years ago China had not won even a single medal in the games and now it is hosting the even that marks its emergence as a world power. March past of the players started with the players of Greece , the birth place of the Olympic games, were the first to enter the stadium as it is the tradition. And the last was the host country, China. After the start Beijing has become the center of attention for whole of the world and the focus is on sports. It completely follows the theme of the Beijing games ,’one world one dream’ as thousands of players from all of the world are participating in the games with one aim.

India Indian contingent was led by Lt.Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore the silver medalist of the Athens Olympic games of 2004. India started with a dismal note on Saturday morning as its medal hopes dashed with the failure of Anjali Bhagwat, Avneet Kaur to enter the final of Women’s 10m Air Rifle event. Anjali Bhagwat is participating in her third Olympic games and has never succeeded in winning a medal. But it was a world class competions as half of the shooters had scored well. They ended with the 29^th and 39^th positions respectively. One the other hand Samresh Jung also disappointed when he failed to repeat his performance of 2006’s Commonwealth games and ended only with the 42^nd position in men’s air pistol event. Juduca Tombi Khumujam Devi also crashed out in her first match as her challenge lasted only for two and a half minute against Ana Hormigo of Portugal.

First gold medal of the Beijing Olympics has been won by Czech Republic’s Katerina Emmons in women’s 10m air rifle event at 503.5.

Athens After 1896’s first modern ere Olympic games it was the second time that the Olympic games were celebrated in Athens, Greece. In was the first time that all the Olympic committee member countries took part in the games. A record of 10,625 players accompanied by 5,501 officials from 201 countries took part in the games in 28 sports’ 301 various events. Games started from August of 13^th and closing ceremony was held on 29^th of August. In these games United States once again dominated in the medal telly by winning 36 medals and was closely followed by China and Russia. Two new countries who participated first time in the games were Kiribati and Timor-Leste. Afghanistan re-appeared in the games.

Archers India had sent a large delegation to participate in the Athens Olympic games. India had emerged as a great power in the event of archery and shooting as they had won most of the recent international events related to these games. But they could not live up to the expectations and only Lt.Col.Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore could won a Silver medal in men’s double trap shooting that was the only medal won by the Indians in the 2004’s Athens Olympic games. Indian archers and shooters could have increased the medal telly but they could not do so because of climate difference and windy conditions in Athens. In men and women’s individual archery events all the Indian competitors did well but could won no medal. Satyadev Prasad(10^th place) and Reena Kumari (15^th ) performed well. In team events men and women ended with 11^th and 8^th places respectively.

Athletics In athletics Indians showed some improvement as compared to the previous games . K. Mathews Binu performed well and succeeded to reach the semifinal of men’s 400 meter’s race. Women’s 4 x 400 meters relay team ended with the seventh place in the final. Women long jumper Anju Bobby George kept Indian’s hopes of wining a medal alive but ended with the sixth place in the final. Indian due of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes ended with the fourth position in men’s doubles tennis. Rest of the Indian players’ performance was average in their respective games. Indian hockey team once again disappointed the fans as they ended with the 7^th position. But Athens games had revealed one thing that Indians are an emerging power in the games of archery and shooting. They missed some of the medals because of windy conditions but this time story will be different from the past as in China climate conditions are similar to India.

Sydney Olympics Summer Olympics of the year of 2000 were held in the city of Sydney, New South Whales, Australia. Sydney was chosen to host the games on September 23, 1993. The other competitors to host the games were Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul and Manchester. Opening ceremony was organized on September 15 and the closing ceremony was celebrated on the 1^st of October. Though the opening ceremony was celebrated on 15^th of September but the preliminary matches of football had started from 13^th of September. 199 countries took part in the games except Afghanistan which was not allowed to take part in the games because of Taliban regime’s opposition to any kind of games and oppression of women. Four players from East Timor participated in the games under the Olympic Flag. Attraction of the games were Koreans who took part under the unification flag.

Indian Men Though Indian had sent a large number of players to participate in the games but they could not turn the medal search into reality. None of the Indian runners could match the world competition and lost even in their preliminary races. In men’s shot put and Javelin throw none of the Indian could advance the qualifying round. In Badminton Pullela Gopichand perished in the third match. Only Gurbachan Singh could reach the quarterfinal of Men’s heavyweight boxing competition as rest of the boxers lost before the quarter finals. Hockey team one again gave a dismal performance and ended with the seventh place defeating Argentina by 3-1 in the classification match.

Indian Women Karnam Malleswari was the only Indian who could win a medal (Bronze) in the games. She won it in the event of Women’s 69kg Weightlifting category. Though Beena Mol K. M. reached the semifinal of women’s 400m race but could not advance. Both of the women’s 4×100 m relay teams could not advance the first round. Neelam Jaswant Singh and Gurmeet Kaur could not go ahead the qualifying round of discus and javelin throw. In women’s heptathlon Pramila Gudandda Ganapathy and Soma Biswas ended with 24^th and 25^th positions respectively. Badminton player Aparna Popat’s challenge ended even in the first match. In women’s 200 m freestyle swimming Nisha Millet could not advance the preliminary round. It was once again the repetition of the previous games as Indian went into the games with high aspirations and ended with a very little conversion of them into reality.

Georgia Atlants City of the state of Georgia of United States was selected to host the 1996’s Summer Olympic Games in 1990 in Tokyo, Japan against the bids of Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne and Toronto. It was being expected that Athens will be selected for games as it was 100^th anniversary of the games but could not be selected because of lack of infrastructure. A record 197 nations took part in these games that included twenty four new countries. These new debutant countries included eleven ex-Soviet states and some South African and Asian counties. In these games USA won most of the medal and was followed by Russia and Germany.

Leander Paes In these games Anju George and Leander Paes were the Indian flag bearers respectively in the opening and closing ceremonies. India’s performance was slightly different from the last games.India’s only medal was a bronze medal won by Leander Paes in Men’s Singles Competition of Tennis. He won all his first three matches with ease by defeating Richey Reneberg (United States), Nicolas Pereira (Venezuela) and Thomas Enqvist (Sweden) respectively. In the quarter final match he defeated Italy’s Renzo Furlan with a huge margin of 6-1 and 7-5.But in the semi final he was defeated by the world famous US tennis player Andre Agassi. His fought with Brazil’s Fernando Meligeni for the bronze medal and won it after loosing the first set.

Hockey Performance of Indians in other other games was only the repetition of the previous games. Their performance in the nation game hockey was worst that the previous games and they slipped one point down as compared to the previous games’ rank. They won only two matches against US and Spain lost to Argentina and drew with Germany and Pakistan. They lost to South Korea for the 5th/8^th place and were defeated by Great Britain in the match that was played for 7th/8^th place. It was their worst ever performance. Only Lalremsanga Chhangte could advance to the next round of the archery out of three Indian who took part in the game. In athletics neither men nor women could advance the first round. All the three boxer disappointed the nation as they too could not win even their first matches. Richard Bera took part in Men’s 50 freestyle swimming but failed in the first round. Again Indians could not impress expect Leander Paes.

Barcelona It was in the first time in the three decades’ history of Olympic games that the event was held without a boycott and a record 172 nations took part in the Barcelona games in Spain. It was first time that Germany took part under the one flag. It was first time after the suspension of 28 years that South Africa was allowed to take part in the games. After the dissolve of USSR all the Soviet republics took part in the games some with their own team and some as the unified team. It was first time that professional athletes were allowed to take part in the games.

Indian Hockey But for India, nothing different happened as compared to the previous Olympic games. Indians could not won even a single medal in any of the game they participated. They once again disappointed the nation with their performance even in the national game hockey. The ended with the 7^th position that was worst as compared to the previous games. They lost their first match to Germany with the margin of 0 to 3 goals. They won the second match against Argentina with the margin of 1-0 goals. They lost both of the next matched against Great Britain and Australia and won the last against Egypt. In the nest match they slipped to the 8^th place as Spain defeated them. In their last match they defeated New Zealand with the margin of 3-2 goals and thus could get only the 7^th position.

Other Games In archery none of the three Indians could perform well whether it were the individual or team competitions. In athletics Bahadur Prasad could not advance the first round in the men’s 5,000 meter race. And same was the fate of Shiny Wilson who took part in women’s 800 meter race. In boxing Rajendra Prasad won his first match against Poland’s Anderzej Rzani but lost the second to Roel Velasco. In tennis both the Indians Leander Paes and Ramesh Krishnan could not survive the first round as both the individuals lost their matches. But in Men’s doubles competition they won both the matches against the the dues of Slovenia and Australia. But hopes of winning a medal dashed as they lost in the quarterfinals to the the Croatian due of Goran Ivanišević and Goran Prpic. Indians once again returned to their country medal less.

Seoul !988’s Olympic games are called the summer games as it started on September 17 and closing ceremony was organized on October 2. South Korea’s city Seoul was chosen against the Japanese city of Nagoya and with it South Korea became the second Asian country to host the event. 160 nations took part in the games as there were not much larger boycotts as compared to the previous two games. Only North Korea did not took part in the games as it was at war with the host country. Ethiopia and Nicaragua supported the North Korean government and did not took part in the games.

Hockey In 1988’s Summer Olympics, India’s performance was worst ever as compared to the previous games. Indians could not win any medal in the games. Even their performance in their national game hockey was not impressive one and they ended with the sixth place. In their first match they lost to the weak team of USSR. Drew with Germany and won the next two games against South Korea and Canada but were badly drubbed by Great Britain as they lost to them with the score of 0-3. They defeated Argentina in the next match but in their last they fought with the arch rival Pakistan and lost to them with the margin of one goal. Star studded Indian team could not live up to the reputation and dashed hops of millions of Indians.

Other Games It was the first time that Indians took part in the archery but could not make mark as none of the three players could move forward as they all could not perform well even in the preliminary round. A team of four Indian girls took part in the 4×400m Relay race but could not stand against the world competition and lost in the first round. Khazan Singh Tokas took part in the swimming event of men’s 200m Butterfly race and ended with the 28^th position. India was represented in the game of tennis by Zeeshan Ali and Vijay Amritraj . Ali won his first match by defeating Victor Caballero of Paraguay but lost the second to Jakab Hlasek of Switzerland and his challenge ended with this defeat. The second Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj could not surpass the first hurdle and lost to France’s Henri Leconte.

India one again could not win even a single gold.

Performance World’s most populous country, India, has never performed well in the world famous Olympic games as compared to its population. Except some games that includes Hockey and Archery its performance has always remained dismal in other games. Most of its gold medals have been won by its hockey team.

Boycott 1984’s Olympic games were played in Los Angeles. But these games were boycotted by some countries of eastern-bloc that included Soviet Union, East Germany, Cuba, Iran and Libya. These 14 countries had held their own games event that they had named as Friendship games. Earlier USA and other 64 countries had boycotted the 1980’s Moscow Olympic games as a protest to its invasion of Afghanistan. But 1984’s Olympic games were attended by 140 countries that was a record as compared to the previous games. In the absence of USSR, USA toped the medal telly. It had won 83 gold medals in the games.

India Though no Indian could win a medal in the 1984’s Olympic games but it inspired the women of India to take part in the biggest event in future. P.T Usha shot to fame during these games and was given the name of ‘Udan Pari’ by the people of India. She failed to win the bronze medal in 400 meter hurdles by the margin of one-hundredth of a second. Another women athlete who shot to fame was Shiny Wilson who was first Indian to reach the semi-final of the race for 800 meters. In 4×400 meter relay final Indian women set an Asian record of 3:32.49 seconds but finished last.

Men It was only Chand Ram who could survive till the final of the Men’s 20km walk but finished with the 22^th place. In other game events Indian men could not survive the world competition. But Indian women’s participation and their performance astonished everyone. It was first time that Indian girls were running in the finals of the athletics in the USA. Though P. T. Usha missed the bronze medal but her achievement of reaching the final of the race was nothing less than a medal and every one was proud of her achievement.

Boycott It was the first time that Summer Olympics were held outside the Eastern Europe in 1980. It was Moscow that had won the bid to organize the event in competitions to Los Angeles. Some of the games were played in other cities of USSR that involved Kiev, Minsk,and Tallinn except Moscow. These games had run into controversy as more that 45 countries had boycotted the games that included United Stated also. They had taken this step as a protest to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Only eighty-one countries were left who participated in the games after the boycott by some countries. It was the lowest figure of participating countries after the 1956. It ware eight new nations who participated first time in the games who were previously known Rhodesia. They were Angola, Vietnam, Botswana, Laos, Nicaragua, Seychelles, Mozambique and Cyprus and Zimbabwe.

Hockey India had finished at the position of 23^rd as it could succeed in winning only one gold medal. It was the Indian hockey team that had won the sole God medal for the country. AS most of the hockey playing countries had boycotted the event so there was no other strong team that could give enough competition to Indian team except Spain. No other team could perform well against Indians as they were not nowhere near to standards of International hockey and were thrashed mercilessly by the Indians. Final was played between Indian and Spain and India won the final as the final score was 4-3.

Other Games In other games Indian could not perform well. Most of its Boxers perished in the first round of the game. Only Ganapathy Manoharan could surviver till the third round. Indian mens basket ball team lost all of its matches and finished with the 12^th position. In men’s marathon Hari Chand finished with the 31^th position and the other athlete Shivnath Singh could not complete his race.

Womens Women’s hockey team’s performance was average as it scored two wins lost two and drew one against Zimbabwe. It finished with the fourth position. 1980’s Summer Olympics brought no difference for the Indians as for as their previous performance is considered. It was only the game of hockey from which it had expected the gold medal and they won it.

Victory It was, once again drag-flicker Diwakar Ram who played a crucial role in India’s emphatic and dramatic win over the strong team of South Korea. Diwakar had scored two successive goals against the arch-rival Pakistan in the semifinal match played in New Delhi on July 16 in the second half of the game. On the basis of his goals India had entered once again in the final of the Asia Junior Hockey Cup.

First Session Till the 52nd minute of the game, India was trailing behind Koreans with the margin on two goals. Diwakar Ram once again showed his class by scoring two important goals that stunned the Koreans and took the game away from them. Koreans had dominated through whole of the first session of the match with their speed and stick work. They attacked from both of the sides but it was goalkeeper Sreejesh who stunned the Koreans with a couple of good saves.

2^nd Session During the first session performance of the Indians was very lackluster as compared to the well organized and well planned game plan of the Koreans. Indians missed two golden chances of scoring goals and made many defensive lapses that resulted in Koreans scoring a goal in the seventh minute of the game. They scored their second goal in the 52nd minute of the second half. India reduced the margin in the 59th minute with Sunil’s free hit. In the 62nd minute of the match Diwakar scored the equalizer goal by converting a penalty corner.

Extra Time It was only in the extra time that the winner of the tournament could be decided. Supported by the home crowd, Indians entered into the extra time with a changed body language and confidence. Diwakar once again showed his brilliance by scoring the match wining goal with which, he also emerged as the top goal scored in the tournament. Korea’s Nam Hyan Woo scored 10 goals throughout the tournament including both of his goals scored for his team in the final. With his performance throughout whole of the tournament Diwakar has emerged as a star in the Indian hockey. He has emerged as an exceptional drag-flicker that India needed for a long time.

Top Order Indian entered the final of the Asia cup by defeating Sri Lanka with six wickets remaining in hand. India chased down the target of 309 with 19 balls to spare, after loosing four wickets, exhibiting their batting prowess to perfection with their top order firing in unison to score an easy 6-wicket win over Sri Lanka. Both the openers, Virender Sehwag (42) and Gautam Gambhir (68) gave a flying start putting on 92 runs from 70 balls. Sri Lanka’s inexperienced bowling attack could not stop their free flow. Sri Lanka suffered for resting both the frontlines bowlers — veteran Chaminda Vaas and the prodigious Ajantha Mendis. Both the openers kept the asking rate always lower than the required rate of 6.18 per over.

Middle Order After them it was Raina and Skipper Dhoni who took the charge. Raina cashed the opportunity provided by fate when he was dropped on 11 and made 54 runs. Dhoni kept his nerves held and scored 67 runs. He fell to Muralitharan clean bowled in 38^th over. Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma played with cool heads and the target was reached with 3.1 overs in hand. Yuvraj scored the winning runs.

Sri Lanka Everything happened as the Sri Lankans wanted to-they won the toss, took first strike, and put up a big total on the board but at the end their total of 308 runs proved to be too small for the strong Indian Bating line-up. Though they played in a controlled manner and had reached 217 for 3 but their lower order batsmen could not perform well and they lost wickets at regular intervals. They scored 308 runs for eight with half centuries from Chamara Kapugedera (75), Captain Mahela Jayawardene (50) and Chamara Silva (50).Sri Lanka’s hopes to score quick runs in the final overs and post a big total dashed in 46^th over when Silva’s got run out after reaching his 50.

Improvements Though no Lankan could dominate beyond a point, bowlers still conceded many and fielders also dropped catches. Both these fields of the game have worried the Indians a lot in the past also and they should be more careful about them when they will be playing in the final of the Asia Cup against the same side.

Briber In a startling revelation, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) was jolted on Tuesday by another controversy with its secretary B R Gulati being accused of receiving a bribe to select dope-tainted lifter Shailaja Pujari for the Beijing Olympics. An IWF official had revealed that Gulati had allegedly accepted an amount of Rs. 5 Lakhs as bribe to select Pujari instead of Monica for the Olympic Games. It was Monika who was actually selected for the event.

B R Gulati The IWF secretary B R Gulati has, however, dismissed the allegation as “rubbish and baseless” and said he had never done such a thing right through his career as a sports administrator.

Rules Weightlifter Monika had fetched one silver and two bronze in 69 kg in the Asian Championship in Japan in April-May to make it to the Olympic Games for India, along with Shailaja was short listed for the final selection after a trial at Army Sports Institute in Pune. As per the rule, the national federations usually prefer the quota winner to contest in the Olympics unless that player is unfit or unavailable for the event.

Trials The IWF, however, decided to hold the trials to select the best athletes for the Beijing Games and Monika and Shailaja were short listed. Only one will be named to represent the country in the Olympics while the other would be kept as reserve. The final selection is scheduled to be held on July 15. Gulati had defended his decision of holding another trial by stating that it was not only Monica’s effort but was also of whole of the team’s that Indian had finished fifth. It was because of the points secured by the whole team that Indian had got the fifth position in the points table in the Asian Championship.

Ban on IWF It should be recalled that Shailaja was caught for doping earlier and because of her IWF had to face ban for two years. After Indian Hockey Federation, IWF is the second games’ body that is going through the crisis because of such allegations. Any one can smell fool play form the poor performance of the Indians in the field of games. There is no doubt that there are some people in every game’s selection committees who are not impartial. They have spoiled the career of many brilliant players.