Thursday, September 10, 2009

Vijender storms into World Boxing semis, ensures bronze medal

NEW DELHI: Indian

NEW DELHI: Indian boxing's jinx-breaker Vijender Singh achieved yet another historic feat as he ensured the country's first medal in the World Championships by advancing to the middle-weight semi-finals in Milan, Italy.
The world number two and top seed Vijender out-punched Ukrainian Sergiy Derevyanchenko 12-4 to become the first Indian to make the last-four stage of the prestigious event.

"I am on cloud nine...it's a feeling that cannot be described in words. I have broken another jinx for India and I am very happy," the 23-year-old who won India's maiden Olympic medal, a bronze in Beijing last year, said from Milan.

Vijender is now up against former light heavy weight world champion Abbos Atoev, who returned to middle weight this year, but the Indian can draw confidence from the fact that he beat the Uzbek as recently as the Asian Championships in China.

"I always believe that one should never get intimidated by the opponent, it hampers the performance. So, I am not even thinking about his past record. After all, what matters is how I perform in those 11 minutes when we are competing," Vijender said.

Talking about his bout, the Khel Ratna awardee said he measured his opponent in the opening round which ended 1-1 before going for all-out attack in the next two rounds.

Vijender,a strapping six footer, also had the height advantage against his much shorter rival. The Indian began to take control of the proceedings with his trademark left straights and uppercuts to end the second round 5-3.

He went on the offensive in the final round and didn't let his opponent breach his defence even once to round off the last three minutes 6-0.

"I had never even seen this guy before. I was just told that he is a good boxer so I observed him in the first round. Once I got a hang of his technique, I just fought from long range and made good use of my height advantage," Vijender said.

National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu lavished praise on the Haryana boxer.

"The composure with which he competes is remarkable. He hardly ever loses his cool and even in moments that can make one nervous, he seems in control," he said.

QnA: Was the Beijing Olympics the beginning of a successful future for Indian boxing?

TOI

Paes, Bhupathi to clash in US Open doubles final

Indian tennis

NEW YORK: Indian tennis ace Leander Paes kept himself in line of two Grand Slam titles after entering the final of the men's doubles event of the US Open following an upset win over top seeds and local favourites Mike and Bob Bryan on Wednesday.

Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Bahamian Mark Knowles also coasted to an easy straight set win over fifth-seed Belarussian-Israeli duo of Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram to enter the finals of US Open men’s doubles.

The Indo-Bahamian pair got the better of Belarussian-Israeli duo 6-4, 6-2 to set up title clash with fourth-seed India's Leander Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will now fight it out for the US Open men's doubles title. Paes and his partner Cara Black have already reached the final of the mixed doubles event.

Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, seeded fourth, overwhelmed the Bryan brothers 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) in one hour and 51 minutes in the semi-final at the Flushing Meadows.

The match had a sensational climax as Paes and Dlouhy had plenty of match points in the tie-breaker of the third and final set but Bryan brothers made a spirited comeback and saved five match points.

However, Paes and Dlouhy held their nerves and finally converted their sixth match point to clinch the issue.

It was Bryan brothers who got the first chance of a break but Paes and Dlouhy not only saved them but also converted the opportunities that came their way in the opening set.

The first set was tied 2-2 when on Paes' serve, the Americans earned two break points but the Indo-Czech combination played well to ward off the threat and held their serve.

In the next game, Paes and Dlouhy converted their second break point chance as Mike made a forehand error. Dlouhy served out the next game at love to take a 5-3 lead.

The next two games went with serve and the fourth seeds comfortably took the set to go one up.

The second set started on an ominous note for Paes and Dlouhy but they could not convert the early chance.

Dlouhy misfired an overhead volley to hand their rivals a break in the fourth game and it was enough for the Bryan brothers to claw their way back into the match.

Mike held his serve in the next game to consolidate the lead, making it 4-1. The next four games went with serve and the Americans stretched the match to the decisive third set.

The final set began with a marathon 16-point game but Dlouhy managed to hold serve after five deuces and in the process saved two break points.

The next chance of service break came in the seventh game when Paes and Dlouhy were down 0-40 on the serve of the Indian. The fourth seeds held their nerves and saved four break points in that game, making it a brilliant contest.

Bob served the 10th game to save the match and Paes hit a stunning backhand winner to earn their first match point. Bob served extremely well and made it 5-5.

No pair was willing to concede even an inch and it all boiled down to the tie-breaker.

It was a dream tie-breaker for Paes and Dlouhy as they created a 5-0 lead but Bryan brothers played exceptional tennis and saved four match points to make it 6-6.

The partisan crowd cheered for the American duo but Paes hit a backhand volley between the brothers to seal a final berth.
TOI

Gambhir out of Sri Lanka tri-series with injury

TOI

COLOMBO: India's quest to become the world's number one ODI team suffered a big jolt with opener Gautam Gambhir being ruled out of the tri-series on the eve of their opening match against New Zealand.

With the destructive Virender Sehwag and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan not in the team because of injuries, India has been further depleted with the in-form Gambhir joining the casualty list.

Gambhir will return home after straining his groin muscle during practice and has been advised rest for ten days. Young Dehi middle order batsman Virat Kohli has been named as his replacement.

The setback to Gambhir could not come at a more inopportune time and it will no doubt disturb the combination at the top of the order.

With the regular pair of Sehwag and Gambhir sidelined, the experienced Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik, who has opened the innings in recent times, could take up the responsibility.

The brief series assumes importance for India as they are fully aware that a clean sweep in the tournament would make them the number one ODI team in the world.

The tag of the number of team will be the main goal for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men who need to win both their league matches and the final to achieve the feat.

The BCCI Corporate trophy provided the Indian players a chance to shrug off the rust following a six-week break even though the fitness of the players were assessed during the off-season.

Despite the last-minute setback, the Indians are raring to get back onto the field and coach Gary Kirsten has already drawn up a road map for the team.

"We have set our targets as to what we have to achieve in the next eight months. Certainly, one of them is to become the best team in the world. We are heading that way and we are very excited on the way that we have gone about our business to get to that position," Kirsten said.

"We know that if we continue with as hard as we do in terms of our training and how we set our sights for games, we have the best chances of reaching there", he said.

If India win the two league matches and then the final, they will earn two rating points which is enough to topple South Africa who are currently on top of the table.

While the Indians appear to be quite confident, it will be a do-or-die battle for the Kiwis who were thrashed by the hosts in the opening match. A defeat against India will dash their hopes of a berth in the final.

But the Black Caps, who have been strengthened by the return of some of their ICL players like Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey, are a dangerous One-day team and are quite capable of turning the table on any fancied team on their day.

TOI