Jwala-Ashwini pair loses in semifinals, settles for bronze

London: India's Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa lost 14-21, 16-21 to Chinese fifth-seeded pair of Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei in the women's doubles semi-final of the World Badminton Championship to settle for a bronze medal.



Jwala and Ashwini were impressive in flashes but failed to keep up with the Chinese pair, and went down in 38 minutes Saturday night.

It was the pair's first medal in the World Championships and also of the country in 28 years.

Jwala and Ashwini, ranked 21, did well to rally from 2-6 down to 8-8 in the first game but slumped to a rash of errors to go down.

The Chinese continued in the same vein to take a 11-6 lead in the second game but Jwala with a terrific net play and Aswini supporting from the backcourt bridged the gap to 16-17. But the Chinese soon upped the ante to reel off four points to wrap up the game and the match.

Their semifinal finish will propel Jwala and Ashwini three places to 18 and will boost their chances of qualifying for the Olympics. — IANS

Asian games: India's best Final Tables

Asian Games: Indian men secure team bronze in archery

Guangzhou, Nov 22 (PTI)

The Indian trio of Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Mangal Singh Champia fought through challenging conditions to clinch the men's team bronze after beating Chinese Taipei in the Archery competition of the Asian Games here today. Like women, the Indian men defeated Chinese Taipei but with a more comprehensive 220-216 margin as compared to the women's 218-217 victory in the bronze medal play-off. Incidentally, both men and women lost to world's top archers from South Korea in the semifinals before clinching the bronze medal.

In pic: Mangal Singh Champia of India releases an arrow in their bronze medal match

The Indians scored 28 and 29 for a total of 57 in the first set of six arrows, 56 (29 and 27) in the second set and flagged a bit to get 53 (26 and 27) in the third and 54 in the fourth and last set (27 and 27). They shot a total of eight 10s and bulls eyes. Taipei started off badly scoring only 52 in the first set (27 and 25), did the same as their rivals in the second scoring 58 (28 and 28) before outperforming the Indians in the third with 58 (28 and a fabulous 30). But Taipei could score only 50 (26 and 24) in the last when they needed 54 to tie with the Indians and force a shoot-off. In the semis, India were beaten by South Korea 222-216 before the latter went on to grab the gold by outsmarting hosts China 222-218. "It was a close one. We were not tense after losing to Korea in the semi finals as we knew we will be able to pull it off," said Talukdar about the bronze play-off with Taipei.

Banerjee blamed the wind for the misses and said the archer who could hold his own in these difficult conditions emerged on top. "The wind was too heavy. Anyone who could keep calm could pull it off," he said. Champia saw an upswing in the Indian display here compared to Doha four years ago when only one team bronze was won. "There is definitely an improvement in our performance in Asian Games as we have already got two medals (both bronze) ahead of the (two-day) individual events commencing tomorrow," he said.

Asian Games: Athletes provide the sparks as India clinch three gold medals

GUANGZHOU: The athletes provided a huge boost to the country's lacklustre campaign in the 16th Asian Games by fetching two gold medals while Ronjan Sodhi brought an end to the gold drought in shooting as India bagged as many as nine medals on an eventful ninth day of competitions on Sunday.

After a disappointing medal collection on the first week of competitions, long distance runner Preeja Sreedharan and steeple chaser Sudha Singh stole the thunder with their gold-winning feats on the track to raise hopes of a top ten finish for India on the medal table.

Ace shooter Ronjan Sodhi finally brought an end to the shooting contingent's gold drought by taking the honour in the men's double trap event.

The 31-year-old Sodhi, the world record holder shotgun shooter, made amends for his colleagues' miserable campaign and provided the first gold medal from the shooting range, which has not been too productive for the Indian shooters so far.

Kavita Raut fetched a silver in the women's 10,000m run while star tennis player Sania Mirza and grapplers Ravinder Singh (60kg Greco Roman) and Sunil Kumar Rana (66kg Greco Roman) were among those who claimed individual bronze medals.

Sodhi teamed up with Asher Noria and Vikram Bhatnagar to claim the bronze in the double trap team event while the women's archery team comprising Dola Banerjee, Deepika Kumari and Rimil Buriuly also chipped in with a bronze.

With the addition of nine more medals, India's medal tally climbed to five gold, 11 silver and 17 bronze. India had finished tenth on the medals table in the last Asian Games in Doha with a tally of 10-17-26.

Somdev Devvarman also assured India of at least a bronze medal by storming into the semifinals but Karan Rastogi went down fighting to top seed Denis Istomin in the men's singles tennis quarterfinals.

The men's hockey team also had a good day as they beat Japan 3-2 for their fourth consecutive win and finished atop the points-table in group B.

After a generally disappointing show, Sodhi turned the tide for the shooters as he clinched the top honours with a score of 186 after being second behind China's Pan Qiang at the end of the qualification stage.

Sodhi, part of the silver winning squad in the same event four years ago at Doha in Qatar, also reeled in the team bronze for India with his stupendous effort at the Guangzhou Shotgun Centre.

Sodhi shot 139 (47, 44 and 48) and was four shots behind China's Qiang going into the finals competed by six men and shot 47 in the final while the host nation shooter flopped with a 38 for an overall tally of 181.

This was the first gold from the much-heralded shooting squad after they started competing on November 13 and it was also the eighth medal hauled in by the marksmen and women who have so far won one gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

While Sodhi won the top honours in the individual, he combined with Asher Noria and Vikram Bhatnagar (16, 130) to rake in the team bronze medal with a combined aggregate of 403. Noria shot 46, 45 and 43 in the qualification while Bhatnagar came up with a sequence of 47, 40 and 43.

In the showpiece athletics event, long-distance runner Preeja Sreedharan clocked a personal best of 31:50:47 in the women's 10,000m final.

Kavita Raut, who won the bronze in the women's 10000m at the Commonwealth Games last month, walked away with the silver with a personal best timing of 31:51.44.

Later, Sudha Singh fetched India's second gold medal in track and field events and fifth overall by winning the 3000m Steeplechase event with her personal-best timing.

Sudha made up for her poor outing at last month's Commonwealth Games, clocking 9:55.67s to take the honours at the Aoti Main Stadium.

The Indian hopes of a gold medal in the women's singles tennis event were dashed when Sania Mirza settled for a bronze after losing to third seed Akgul Amanmuradova in the semifinals.

Sania lost the long-drawn-out battle, that lasted two hours and 49 minutes, against the big-serving Uzbek rival 7-6 (7), 3-6, 4-6 by committing a number of forehand errors to exit from the competition.

Indian women archers settled for a bronze in the team event after missing out on an opportunity to stun world number one South Korea in the semifinals shoot-off.

After qualifying for the semifinals with an easy 214-202 victory over North Korea, the Indian trio of Dola Banerjee, Deepika Kumari and Rimil Buriuly were leading by two points at 167-165 after 18 of the 24 arrows against South Korea.

But, the Indians failed to get over their nerves in the final six arrows (two each by the three archers) and the score was tied at 221 each in the end.

In the shoot-off, one of the South Korean trio hit the bull's eye while the other two scored 9 and 10. India could only come up with 9, 8, 9 to lose the tie.

In the bronze medal play-off against Chinese Taipei, India were trailing from the beginning and they were four points behind after 18 of the 24 arrows.

India scored 56 from the last six arrows as against 51 by their opponents to win the close contest 218-217.

Asian games: Sania loses semifinal; settles for bronze

The Indian hopes of a gold medal in the Asian Games women’s singles tennis event were dashed when Sania Mirza settled for a bronze after losing to third seed Akgul Amanmuradova in the semifinals here on Sunday.

Sania lost the long-drawn-out battle, that lasted two hours and 49 minutes, against the big-serving Uzbek rival 7-6 (7), 3-6, 4-6 by committing a number of forehand errors to exit from the competition.

In the other semifinal, China’s Peng Shui shocked top seed Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan 7-6 (6) 3-6 6-2 to advance to the gold medal match against Amanmuradova.

Both the losing semifinalists, Sania and Date-Krumm, won bronze medals as there is no play-off for third place.

Sania committed five double faults when she was serving for the first set at 5-4. Later she led 6-2 in the tie-break before it became 6-6. She finally clinched it 9-7.

The set lasted 74 minutes and drained the Indian.

In the second set, the hard-serving Uzbek broke her for a 4-3 lead and then surged to take it 6-3.

The decisive break in the final set came in the 10th game when Sania muffed three forehands to be down 0-40.

She tried to get out of the situation with an inside-out forehand to finish a rally but only ended up putting the ball into the tram-lines and lost the set and the match.

Sania, looking glum, said later that her rival was the better player on the day.

“We played for an hour and 45 minutes and it could have gone either way. She was the better player on the day. Her main strength is her serves which she mixes up well,” Sania, ranked 166th on the women’s circuit, said.

Sania did not agree that the five double faults she served, including four in the opening game, made a difference to the result.

Asian games: Ronjan Sodhi, Preeja Sridharan clinch Gold for Inida

In the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, Ronjan Sodhi and Preeja Sridharan clinched Gold medals for India in their respective events on the ninth day of competitions today. India also added one Silver and two bronze to their kitty to enhance their tally to Four Gold, 11 Silver and 14 Bronze.

In pic: Preeja Sridharan and Ronjan Sodhi

Ronjan Sodhi brought an end to the shooting contingent’s gold drought by the winning the medal in the men’s double trap shooting event. Preeja Sridharan bagged the second gold of the day by winning the women’s 10,000 metres race. Kavita Raut finished second for the silver in the same race.

Earlier in the day, the trio of Ronjan Sodhi, Ashar Noria and Vikram Bhatnagar won the bronze in the double trap team event.

The women’s archery team comprising Dola Banerjee, Deepika Kumari and Rimil Buriuly also won a bronze in the team event. It is the Indian women’s maiden Asian Games archery team medal.

Asian Games: India trap team wins bronze but fails to win individual medals

Guangzhou, Nov 19 (PTI)

Manavjit Singh

India's veteran shooting trio of Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Mansher Singh and Zoravar Singh Sandhu managed to edge out hosts China by one point for the team bronze medal in the two-day Asian Games men's trap event that concluded here today. The Indian trap members logged 341 points, with Asian record holder Manavjit leading the way, which enabled them to finish one point ahead of China (340). The gold medal went to Kuwait (352) who edged out Lebanon (351). But none of the threesome won an individual medal, including Asian record holder Manavjit, who stormed his way back from eighth to third position and qualified for the final only to finish fifth with an aggregate of 136, including 119 in the qualifying round.

Manavjit's qualification sequence was 23, 24, 23, 24 and 25 and he shot 17 in the final. Mansher secured 113 points (22, 23, 22, 24, 22) to finish a poor 17th from 37 starters while Zoravar was even more pathetic, ending a distant 28th with qualifying score of 109. He commenced with a very modest 19 before improving to log 22, 23 and 24 before going off the boil again with his last shot which was a 21. The first bronze from the shot gun events took India's meager tally from shooting to six, made up of three silver and as many bronze medals. The shot gun events would continue on November 21 with the men's and women's team and individual double trap scheduled, after tomorrow's rest day.

Vijay Kumar wins bronze in 25m centre fire pistol

Guangzhou, Nov 18 (PTI)

Vijay Kumar notched up his second and India's fifth medal in shooting by bagging a bronze in men's 25m center fire pistol even as ace marksman Gagan Narang missed out on a bronze by whisker in 50m rifle 3 positions in the Asian Games here today. Vijay shot 583 (290+293) to finish third behind South Korea's Park Byung Taek who scored 586 (290+296) and Liu Yadong of China who fired 585 (290+295).

The other two Indians in fray in the same event, Omkar Singh and Harpreet Singh finished eighth and 32nd respectively with scores of 580 and 563. This is Vijay's second medal in shooting, having won a bronze in 10m air pistol individual event. In the 25m center fire pistol team event, India finished fourth behind China, South Korea and North Korea. The trio of Vijay, Omkar and Harpreet shot 1726, 17 points adrift of gold winners China. Narang, meanwhile, was unlucky today as the star shooter missed the bronze in men's 50m rifle 3 positions event by 0.5 points to Qinan Zhu of China.

Narang finished the event with 1261.8 points, 0.5 points behind bronze medal winner Qinan, who also pipped the Indian to win the 10m air rifle individual gold earlier in the Games. Incidentally, Narang was the only Indian to have qualified for the finals in men's 50m rifle 3 positions after finishing fourth with a score of 1162 (393 prone+382 standing+387 kneeling). Two other Indians in fray in the same event, Imran Khan and Sanjeev Rajput finished 13th and 15th respectively with scores of 1150 (377+384+395) and 1146 (394+379+373) respectively. As if Narang's fourth place finish in the individual category was not enough, India also missed out on a bronze in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions team event after finishing fourth behind China.

The India trio of Narang, Khan and Rajput shot 3458 (1176+1138+1144), 13 points adrift of China who scored 3471 (1183+1146+1142). South Korea won the gold with 3489 points while the silver went to Kazakhstan (3478 points). The Indian also cut a sorry figure in the men's trap event except for Manavjit Singh Sandhu, who finished eighth with a score of 70 (23+24+23) in the qualifier. Manavjit's compatriots Mansher Singh and Zoravar Singh Sandhu were 18th and 26th respectively with scores of 67 (22+23+22) and 64 (19+22+23). In the team event, the Indian trio of Manavjit, Mansher and Zoravar finished fifth in the qualification round with a total score of 201 (70+67+64) points. India had earlier scooped up two silver medals in the 10m air rifle event on the first day with the individual medal going to CWG's star performer Narang, and two bronze on the second day (women's team in the 10m air pistol and Vijay Kumar in men's individual air pistol event).

I missed coach Chertkov, but got over it: Ashish Kumar

Guangzhou, Nov 16 (PTI)

Bronze medalist Ashish Kumar

After Ashish Kumar opened a new chapter for India in gymnastics by clinching the country's first ever medal in this sport -- a bronze, in the Asian Games here today, the youngster said he missed the presence of his coach Vladimir Chertkov. But the gymnast added that he was determined not to make it lose his focus. "On the day he (Chertkov) left I was hugely disappointed and was quite unhappy. But I had to get out of it, otherwise I would not have won a medal," said the 19-year-old after bagging the third spot in the men's floor exercise routine today. Ashish , who came to national limelight during last month's Commonwealth Games by winning a vault silver and bronze in floor, tallied 14.925 points to take the bronze in a bitterly fought contest, in which China's Zhang Chenglong and Korea's Kim Soo Myun tied for the gold with identical 15.400 points.

Ashish said he is now targeting an Olympic medal in 2012 at London by improving his ranking. "Now, confidence is there to go for an Olympic medal. But I am currently ranked 32nd. So, next year I would participate in a number of World Cups to improve that," he said, adding he dedicated his medal to the entire team of coaches who have worked with him. "I am very happy because it is the first gymnastics medal in the history of Indian gymnastics (at the Asian Games)," the Allahabad-born railway employee, added. Ashish's performance is even more praiseworthy considering that the team's foreign coach Chertkov deserted it before the commencement of the Games and returned to India after he was miffed with the contingent authorities over being denied permission to be in the opening ceremony march past on November 12.

Ashish said he did not have the time to practice for this tough world class event which had China, Korea and Japan in the fray. "It was very tough for me because I did not have much time to practice for the Asian Games. We have just had the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. And it is very tough with China and Korea (in fray)," said Ashish. "I started in 1994 when I was four years old. Now I am 19. It's a great experience. I won silver (on vault) and bronze (in floor) at the Commonwealth Games and now I have another bronze at the Asian Games." Team's coach Ashok Mishra, who is with Ashish since January 2009 in a succession of camps to prepare the gymnasts for this year's CWG, said that the competition was very close and the gymnast did not feel the absence of Chertkov. "It (Chertkov's leaving) has not made a difference. He trained under a foreign coach as a child. We have trained the gymnasts for almost two years in a succession of camps which has paid dividends," he said. Among those who were pushed out of the medal bracket in the floor apparatus were China's Feng Zhe who finished with 14.900 points, Hishashi Mizutori of Japan (14.825), Yoo Won Chul (Korea, 14.275), who got a penalty of 0.3, Uzbek Masharipov Otabek (14.000) and Ryotaka Deguchi (Japan, 13.425).

Gold medal winner Zhong Chenglong is the world horizontal bar champion while the man who tied for the No 1 spot, Korean Kim Soo Myun, was a member of his country's team that won a bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and his pet event is floor.