Indian judokas, weightlifters and cyclists landed gold medals on the third day of the 11th South Asian Games at Dhaka on Sunday.

Balvinder Singh and Vikram Solanki grabbed the gold medals in the mens 73 and 90 kg categories of the judo event at a BKSP, Savar, which is 40 k.m. away from the capital city, lifters Omkar Otari and Rustam Sarang gave India a gold and a bronze in the men’s 62 kg class.

In the morning, the men’s cycling quartet of Amandeep Singh, Harpreet Singh, Rajendra Bishnoi and Sabu Ganager, earned India gold with a time of 1:44:11.81s in the 80 km team time trial at Khulna. Pakistan (1:45:59.11s) took the silver and Bangladesh (1:46:44.11) the bronze.

Balvinder won against Pakistan’s Karamat Butt en route to the gold medal while Vikram Solanki downed his Sri Lankan rival D.K. Priyadarshana.

Srinivas disqualified

There was a setback for India in the weightlifting arena as the Indian entry, V. Srinivas, competing in the 56 kg class, was disqualified for failing thrice in the snatch event. In a field of five competitors,

Srinivas began after the other four finished at 102 kg. The Indian attempted to clear 103 and failed thus denying India a medal from this class.

In an interesting incident, all the three medal winners in the men’s 62 kg tied on points. India’s Omkar Otari, Pakistan’s Istiaq Ghafoor Muhammad and Rustam Sarang of India tallied 258 kg in snatch and clean and jerk. Omkar’s lesser body weight (61.30kg) gave him the gold while Ghafoor (61.47) took the silver. Rustam (61.50) had to settle for the bronze medal.

GOOD SHOW

Indian shuttlers were looking for a clear sweep in the team events as both the teams made it to the finals of the team event without much difficulty. The men’s team had no difficultly in walloping host Bangladesh 5-0, the women made short work of Nepal also by the same margin.

India’s final opponent will be Sri Lanka whose ladies beat Bangladesh 5-0 and the men outplayed Nepal by an identical margin.

Oinam Bembem Devi struck a hat-trick against Pakistan to enable India win by a half a dozen goals in its second game at the National Stadium. India, which had won against Sri Lanka 8-1 in the opening game, led 5-0 at half-time.

Captain Bembem, who plays as an attacking midfielder, combined superbly with the strikers in rotating the ball in the rival’s zone.

After Sashmita Mallick drew the first blood in the seventh minute, Bembem got into the act scoring in the 10th, 11th and 17th to bamboozle the Pakistanis.

read more@ Hindu

Comment (0)

 Pankaj Advani defeated nine times champion Mike Russell at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds to win the elusive World Professional Billiards Championship.

Advani beat the defending champion 2030-1253 after having a 800-plus lead at the break.

Advani is the second Indian to win the title in its 139th years of history. Geet Sethi was the last Indian to win in 2006, his first being in 1992.

Comment (0) Read More...

Two years ago, IPL cricket was a pipe dream. Now it's the fastest-appreciating sports business on Earth.

The season opener was mere moments away when the Washington Redskins cheerleaders marched to mid-field to perform a routine that brought the crowd--draped in red and yellow team colors--to its feet.

No, it wasn't a late-summer night at Maryland's FedEx Field, but rather a sweltering April evening in Bangalore's Chinnaswamy Stadium and the inaugural match of the Indian Premier League (IPL), cricket's first foray, from a business prospective, into the major leagues.

The 2008 match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (the team's owner, Vijay Mallya's United Breweries, hired the cheerleaders for four games) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (co-owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan) was seen by 40,000 spectators, 14.4 million TV viewers in India and millions more watching on the eight networks that syndicated coverage across the globe.

Comment (0) Read More...

Below are a few quotes compiled  about what others (including his competitiors) think of Indian Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar..

"Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it." 
- Hashim Amla, the South African batsman, reassures himself as he boards a flight. 

"Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job." 
- Yaseer Hameed in pakistani newspaper. 

"To Sachin, the man we all want to be" 
- Andrew Symonds wrote on an aussie t-shirt he autographed specially for Sachin. 

Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their TV sets and switch off their lives." 
- BBC on Sachin 

"Tujhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?" 
- Wasim Akram to Abdul Razzaq when the latter dropped Sachin's catch in 2003 WC. 

Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal. 
- Brian Charles Lara 
"We did not lose to a team called India...we lost to a man called Sachin." 
- Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1997) 

"The more I see of him the more confused I'm getting to which is his best knock." 
- M. L. Jaisimha 

"The joy he brings to the millions of his countrymen, the grace with which he handles all the adulation and the expectations and his innate humility - all make for a one-in-a-billion individual," 
- Glen McGrath 

"I can be hundred per cent sure that Sachin will not play for a minute longer when he is not enjoying himself. He is still so eager to go out there and play. He will play as long as he feels he can play," 
- Anjali Tendulkar 

"Even my father's name is Sachin Tendulkar." 
- Tendulkar's daughter, Sara, tells her class her father's name after the teacher informs them of a restaurant of the same name in Mumbai. 

Question: Who do you think as most important celebrity ? 
Shah Rukh Khan: There was a big party where stars from bollywood and cricket were invited. Suddenly, there was a big noise, all wanted to see approaching Amitabh Bachhan. Then Sachin entered the hall and Amitabh was leading the queue to get a grab of the GENIUS!! 
- Shah Rukh Khan in an interview. 

India me aap PrimeMinister ko ek Baar Katghare me khada kar sakte hain..Par Sachin Tendulkar par Ungli nahi utha Sakte.. 
- Navjot Singh Sidhu on TV 

He can play that leg glance with a walking stick also. 
- Waqar Younis 

'I Will See God When I Die But Till Then I Will See Sachin' 
- A banner in Sharjah 

Sachin Tendulkar has often reminded me of a veteran army colonel who has many medals on his chest to show how he has conquered bowlers all over the world. I was bowling to Sachin and he hit me for two fours in a row. One from point and the other in between point and gully. That was the last two balls of the over and the over after that we (SA) took a wicket and during the group meeting i told Jonty (Rhodes) to be alert and i know a way to pin Sachin. And i delivered the first ball of my next over and it was a fuller length delevery outside offstump. And i shouted catch. To my astonishment the ball was hit to the cover boundary. Such was the brilliance of Sachin. His reflex time is the best i have ever seen. Its like 1/20th of a sec. To get his wicket better not prepare. Atleast u wont regret if he hits you for boundaries. 
- Allan Donald 

On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This Genius can stop time in India!! 
- Peter Roebuck - Aussie journalist 

"Sachin cannot cheat. He is to cricket what (Mahatma) Gandhiji was to politics. It's clear discrimination. " 
- NKP Salve, former Union Minister when Sachin was accused of ball tempering 

There are 2 kinds of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the others. 
- Andy Flower 

"I have seen god, he bats at no.4 for India" 
- Mathew Hayden

source : Rediff

Comment (0)