OGQ signs Deepika Kumari, Jayanta Talukdar

DEEPIKA KUMARI & TALUKDAR
Picture rights : DNA

Talukdar, 27, is an experienced archer and took India to World No. 1 in 2011, along with Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai.

Deepika, 19, is looking for competitive experience to perform in keeping with her talent and rating at the international level. She went into London Olympics 2012 as World No. 1 and crashed out of the individual event, cracking under the weight of expectations.

“We were demoralised after the sports ministry refused to recognise the Archery Association of India (AAI). The junior archers were not getting jobs. I thank OGQ for this initiative,” said Talukdar. Deepika, who recently returned from the Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai with two silver medals including one with Jayanta, spoke about not repeating mistakes while preparing for Rio.

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Railways retains team crown at Indian open championships

The 52nd edition of the Indian National Open championships, last of this season's senior competitions and held in the post-Olympic period, drew little attention from top guns but some good performances by enthusiastic juniors made it a lively four days (10-13 September) of competition.

The championships, held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here, venue for next year’s Asian championships, witnessed only two meet marks being bettered — both in the High Jump.

Out of 14 Indian athletes who took part in the London Olympics, only four were present in Chennai and barring one — shot putter Om Prakash Singh — the others won their respective events comfortably.

Sahana Kumari, who established a national record 1.92m while qualifying for London during the Inter-State championships at Hyderabad, added one centimetre to her mark from last year by sailing over 1.84m. "I was down with fever after returning from London and competed here for my department," she said. Her husband B.G. Nagaraj garnered a silver medal in the 100m sprint.

However the men’s competition witnessed stiff competition between Jithin C. Thomas and national record-holder Harishankar Roy. Jithin cleared 2.22m to set a new meeting record. He had a smooth ride without any failure until he attempted to surpass Roy’s national record at 2.26m. Thomas could not make it this time but was confident of taking it the next season.

Tintu Luka, the London semi-finalist, ran a one-horse-race to win her pet 800m in a modest 2:04.69. However her junior colleague in the Usha School of Athletics, Jessy Joseph, had a disappointing outing as she was knocked down just a few metres before the finish by Jyoti Rani. Jessy managed to finish the race in 2:31.41 and Rani was disqualified.

Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary, who had a shocking exit in London with three fouls during the qualifying round, won his event with a leap of 16.72m here.

Juniors excel

Many junior athletes delivered good performances and won their maiden senior title or medal during the four-day meet. Important among them were Asian junior champion Rahul Kumar Pal in the 5000m and Asian indoor bronze medallist Kumaravel Premkumar in the Long Jump.

Premkumar leapt 7.72m to take his first senior title while Rahul won a closely-fought 5000m in 14:14.64 from Indrajeet Patel, who earlier won the 10,000m on the opening day.

Shraddha Ghule, a former Commonwealth Youth Games medallist, had a golden double in the long and triple jumps. Middle distance runner Sajeesh Joseph was another athlete to take a double in 800 and 1500m.

Reigning Asian Games champion Joseph G. Abraham, who turned 31 during the meet and who narrowly missed Olympic qualification earlier this year, avenged his defeat to arch-rival Satender Singh in the 400m Hurdles. "I am planning to switch to 400m flat next year and will come back to hurdles in 2014 in time for the next Asian and Commonwealth Games," Abraham said.

Favourite falls

Apart from Roy, there were many other national record-holders who failed to live up their billing. Shot putter Om Prakash Singh, who entered the London Games with an Indian best 20.69m, registered a paltry 17.81m for third place.

Among the other national record-holders, reigning Asian Games champion Preeja Sreedharan finished second in women’s 10,000m. The winner, Suriya Loganathan, went on to secure a double by adding 5000m gold on the final day. Another Guangzhou Asian medallist, Kavita Raut, dropped in midway during the longer race. The petite Suriya (22) revealed her ambition to deliver better performances and win a medal in the forthcoming Asian championships.

Same was the story in the women’s Pole Vault when Khyati S. Vakharia, a medical student from Bangalore, won the event from Surekha Suresh who holds the national record in this event.

Railway athletes Manikandan (10.60) and Manisha (11.77) romped home with the tile of fastest man and woman of the meet.

The Indian Railways team’s successful run continued as they annexed the overall championship with 327 points. Services team, which finished runners-up with 138 points, however had the satisfaction of taking the men’s team title.

High jumper Jithin C. Thomas (Services) and middle distance runner Tintu Luka (Railways) were adjudged best athletes among men and women respectively.

Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF

Leading Results:
MEN -
100m (11)(w: 1.3): 1. Manikandan (Railways) 10.60, 2. B.G. Nagaraj (Railways) 10.70, 3. Debnath Jyoti Shankar (Services) 10.74
200m (13)(w: 1.2): 1. Dharambir (LIC) 21.00, 2. Manikanda Arumugam (Railways) 21.80, 3. Manikandan (Railways) 22.06
400m (11): 1. Arokia Rajiv (Services) 46.57, 2. S.K. Mortaja (Services) 47.03, 3. Bibin Mathew (Railways) 47.14
800m (13): 1. Sajeesh Joseph (Railways) 1:51.93, 2. Ghamanda Ram (ONGC) 1:52.04, 3. Jinson Johnson (Services) 1:52.40
1500m (11): 1. Sajeesh Joseph (Railways) 3:46.69, 2. Chatholi Hamza (Services) 3:47.47, 3. Ravindra Rautela (Police) 8:47.74
5,000m (13): 1. Rahul Kumar Pal (Services) 14:14.64, 2. Indrajeet Patel (ONGC) 14:15.12, 3. Nitinder Singh (Services) 14:16.71
10000m (10): 1. Inderjeet (ONGC) 29:42.76; 2. Kheta Ram (Services) 29:44.00; 3. Suresh Kumar (ONGC) 29:44.73
3,000m Steeplechase (12): 1. R. Ramachandran (Services) 8:53.06, 2. Sanjit Luwang (Services) 8:54.32, 3. Sunil Kumar (Haryana) 8:57.88
110m Hurdles (13)(w: 0.4): 1. A. Suresh (Tamil Nadu) 14.21, 2. J. Surendhar (Tamil Nadu) 14.35, 3. K. Prem Kumar (Tamil Nadu) 14.59
400m Hurdles (12): 1. Joseph G. Abraham (Railways) 50.87, 2. Satender Singh (Railways) 51.06, 3. C. Binu Aquito (Tamil Nadu) 51.25
High Jump (12): 1. Jithin C. Thomas (Services) 2.22 (NMR), 2. Harishankar Roy (Jharkhand) 2.19, 3. S. Harshith (ONGC) 2.16
Pole Vault (10): 1. K.P. Bimin (Railways) 4.95; 2. Bineesh Jacob (Gujarat) 4.70; 3. Parveen (Haryana) 4.70
Long Jump (13): 1. K. Premkumar (Tamil Nadu) 7.72/0.7, 2. Ankit Sharma (LIC) 7.60/0.0, 3. M. Arshad (Services) 7.59/0.0
Triple Jump (11): 1. Renjith Maheshwary (Railways) 16.72/1.1, 2. Amarjeet Singh (Railways) 16.03/0.3, 3. Arpinder Singh (ONGC) 15.92/0.2
Shot Put (12): 1. Jasdeep Singh (ONGC) 18.14, 2. Satyender Kumar (Railways) 17.85, 3. Om Prakash Singh Karhana (ONGC) 17.81
Discus Throw (11): 1. Kamalpreet Singh (ONGC) 55.34, 2. Prabhjot Singh (Punjab) 53.50, 3. Dharam Raj (Services) 52.18
Hammer Throw (12): 1. Kamalpreet Singh (ONGC) 66.28, 2. Neeraj Kumar (Rajasthan) 62.87, 3. Md. Aftab Alam (Services) 62.45
Javelin Throw (13): 1. Davinder Singh (Services) 75.09, 2. Jitender Singh (LIC) 74.57, 3. Samarjeet Singh (ONGC) 72.85
Decathlon (11): 1. Daya Ram (Rajasthan) 6690, 2. V.V. Raneesh (Railways) 6630, 3. Dhaneesh Stephan (Railways) 6327
20 Km Walk (12): 1. Babubhai Panucha (Services) 1:27:26, 2. Surinder Singh (Punjab) 1:27:37, 3. Chandan Singh (Services) 1:29:01
4x100m (13): 1. Railways (Manikandan, Manikanda Arumugam, P. Muthuswamy, B.G. Nagaraj) 41.36, 2. Services 41.53, 3. Punjab 41.92
4x400m (13): 1. Services (S.K. Mortaja, Vikas Chandran, Kunhu Muhammed, Arokia Rajiv) 3:09.88, 2. Railways 3:12.47, 3. ONGC 3:14.56

WOMEN -
100m (11)(w: 1.2): 1. Manisha Dhankar (Railways) 11.77, 2. Saradha Narayana (Railways) 12.03, 3. M.M. Anchu (Railways) 12.09
200m (13)(w: 0.9): 1. Bebi Sumaya (Karnataka) 24.91, 2. V. Santhini (LIC) 24.94, 3. Asha Roy (Railways) 24.96
400m (11): 1. M.R. Poovamma (ONGC) 53.79, 2. Rattandeep Kaur (Police) 54.52, 3. Anu Mariam Jose (LIC) 55.03
800m (13): 1. Tintu Luka (Railways) 2:04.69, 2. S.R. Bindu (Railways) 2:10.40, 3. Fulan Khatun (Bengal) 2:15.80
1500m (11): 1. S.R. Bindu (Railways) 4:25.58, 2. O.P. Jaisha (Railways) 4:26.90, 3. Jhuma Khatun (Railways) 4:29.58
5,000m (13): 1. Suriya Loganathan (Railways) 17:29.94, 2. O.P. Jaisha (Railways) 17:31.13, 3. Monika Athare (LIC) 17:32.87
10000m (10): 1. L. Suriya (Railways) 35:18.2; 2. Preeja Sreedharan (Railways) 35:19.4; 3. Monika Athare (LIC) 35:25.5
3,000m Steeplechase (12): 1. Priyanka Singh Patel (Railways) 10:51.66, 2. Kiran Tiwari (Railways) 10:56.96, 3. M.V. Rameswari (Kerala) 11:21.74
100m Hurdles (13)(w: 0.7): 1. M.M. Anchu (Railways) 14.40, 2. C.T. Raji (Punjab) 14.58, 3. Meghana Shetty (ONGC) 14.64
400m Hurdles (12): 1. Papathi (Police) 1:00.33, 2. C.T. Raji (Punjab) 1:00.81, 3. Anju Rani (ONGC) 1:01.00
High Jump (11): 1. Sahana Kumari (Railways) 1.84 (NMR), 2. N.K. Siji (Railways) 1.73, 3. Mallika Mondal (Railways) 1.70
Pole Vault (12): 1. Khyati S. Vakharia (Karnataka) 3.70, 2. V.S. Surekha (Railways) 3.65, 3. K.C. Dija (Kerala) 3.40
Long Jump (10): 1. Shraddha Ghule (Maharashtra) 6.36/-0.5; 2. S. Delphin Rani (LIC) 6.32/0.0; 3. Susan K. Joy (Railways) 5.99/0.5
Triple Jump (12): 1. Shraddha Ghule (Maharashtra) 13.17/-0.4, 2. Mereena Joseph (Kerala) 13.07/-0.4, 3. M.A. Prajusha (Railways) 12.86/0.0
Shot Put (11): 1. Pinki Dey (Railways) 12.82, 2. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (ONGC) 12.75, 3. J. Saranya (Kerala) 12.73
Discus Throw (10): 1. Pramila (Railways) 49.08; 2. Praveen Kumari (Rajasthan) 47.05; 3. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (ONGC) 46.45
Hammer Throw (12): 1. Manju Bala (Railways) 58.46, 2. Gunjan Singh (Railways) 55.25, 3. Anitha Abraham (Railways) 53.47
Javelin Throw (10): 1. Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 49.58; 2. S. Saraswathy (Railways) 48.66; 3. Aarti Maurya (Uttar Pradesh) 46.48
Heptathlon (12): 1. Liksy Joseph (Railways) 4933, 2. Niksy Joseph (Railways) 4808, 3. R.A. Manjushree (Karnataka) 4263
20 Km Walk (11): 1. Khushbir Kaur (ONGC) 1:44:55, 2. L. Deepmala Devi (Railways) 1:49:26, 3. Shanti Devi (Punjab) 1:52:53
4x100m (13): 1. Railways (Asha Roy, Saradha Narayana, P.K. Priya, Manisha) 46.74, 2. LIC 47.37, 3. Kerala 47.84
4x400m (13): 1. Police (Saraswati Chand, Papathi, Bhupinder Kaur, Rattandeep Kaur) 3:45.00, 2. Railways 3:47.06, 3. ONGC 3:47.48.

US Open: Paes-Stepanek lose to Bryan brothers in final

India’s Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic went down to America’s Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in the finals of the men’s doubles category in the US Open.

Indo-Czech pair lost to the second seeded Bryan brothers 6-3, 6-4 in straight sets. Bob and Mike Bryan with won the record 12th Grand Slam men's doubles title and are tied with
Australia's John Newcombe and Tony Roche.

The match saw the Americans play some beautiful tennis to which their opponents have no answer to. Leander Paes and Stepanek struggled to keep the pace up with the Bryan brothers and found it difficult to held their service game on numerous occasion.

After the match Leander Paes said that Bryan brothers are the best doubles pair in the history of the game. Paes also said that he and his partner Stepanek will come back strongly in the coming tournaments.

Mike Bryan praised the veteran from India saying that Paes is improving with every passing year.

Oz' enter U-18 finals

Strong Aussie team beat RSA by 4 wickets to enter finals of U-18 world cup. Descending champions India yet to play the semifinal against Black caps

India ‘A’ finishes fifth in Chess

India ‘A’ went down fighting 1.5-2.5 to Germany in the final round as Russia won the Tata IBCA Chess Olympiad here on Sunday.

Little has changed over the four years as gold, silver and bronze went to the same identical nations, Russia, Ukraine and Spain in a repeat of 2008.

What has changed in the four years is that India ‘A’ has improved from its previous best showing of 16th to fifth place this time. In the 25-team competition, India ‘B’ managed 18th.

Russian had earlier won this event six times as Soviet Union. In the 14 times it has been staged, Poland has won once and the erstwhile Yugoslavia twice.

Swapanil Shah lost to Oliver Mueller with the black pieces. The Other Indians, Kishal Gangolli, Darpan Inani and Ashvin Makwana drew their matches.

Gangolli (7.5/9) of India ‘A’ won the individual gold medal for best performance on board three. He also remained undefeated winning six games and drawing three.

India won five matches, lost three and drew one.

The All India Chess Federation for the blind organised this event for the first time in Asia. Sports Minister Ajay Maken distributed the prizes.

The results (round nine): UK lost to Russia 1-3; Germany bt India ‘A’ 2.5-1.5; Spain bt Poland 2.5-1.5; Ukraine bt Serbia 3.5-0.5; India ‘B’ drew with Turkey 2-2.

Final placings: 1 Russia 15; 2-4. Ukraine, Spain, Germany 14 each; 5 India ‘A’ 11; 6-9. Poland, UK, Venezuela, Croatia 10 each; 18 India ‘B’ 8. 

Courtesy: The Hindu

Journey from Beijing to London indicates a better Olympic future for India

In the build up to London Olympics, it looked like that it would be their best Olympic Games for India ever. But then India started off their campaign on a sad note and the high profile Indian archery team made an early exit, Abhinav Bindra failed to qualify for the finals and Indian hockey as usual started with a loss, making it seem like bettering the Beijing performance would be a myth.

But then Gagan Narang broke the shackles and won India its first medal at the 10 m air rifle event. Thereafter, India made a slow but steady progress and doubled its medal haul from Beijing. Though it was nowhere close to the meadl tally of top sporting nations, nevertheless, it was commendable.

Even though India saw some upsets like Ronjan Sodhi, Abhinav Bindra, Deepika Kumari to name a few, the medal tally at London does indicate at the times to come. India never was a force to reckon to when it came to Olympics, but then this might well be the start.

From 1952 to 1996, India failed to win an individual medal at Olympics and it was Leander Paes who broke the jinx by winning a bronze at Atlanta. Following that, India returned with medal in every edition. The achievements at Beijing Olympics, where they won three individual medals including a gold, did instill a sense of optimism in India and the country started to take Olympic sports rather seriously.

Prior to Beijing, India entered the Olympic arena just for the sake of participation and no one even expected much from the athletes. But then that outlook has changed and it was all due to the achievements at Beijing Olympics. India entered London to win and the result shows that. It might not be that great as compared to other nations but then it is a start.  There always was a social stigma engulfing the Indians about taking to Olympic sport but then it has been erased. Seeds of this self confidence were sown back in 2004 with the silver medal win by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and this Olympic might very well see a new sporting India arise.

Performance in Beijing also made the corporate to come forward and lend their support to the athletes. Private bodies like Mittals Champions Trust and Olympic Gold Quest are working efficiently to make the country a sporting nation. If Beijing created an opening, London surely has taken few paces in order to bridge the gap and in coming Olympics in Rio, a lot can be expected from the Indian athletes.

Indian medallist at London:

Sushil Kumar (silver in wrestling), Vijay Kumar (silver in shooting), Gagan Narang (bronze in shooting), Mary Kom (bronze in boxing), Saina Nehwal (bronze in badminton) and Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze in wrestling)