Pakistan Information & News

 Olympics Star Sushil Kumar brought smiles on the faces of millions of Indians across the globe by giving the country its second medal of the Beijing Olympics after Abhinav Bindra brought home the Gold earlier. Indian grappler Sushil, bagged a bronze in wrestlings 66 kg freestyle event exactly 56 years after KD Jadhav brought glory at Helsinki in 1952 and Indian grappler Sushil Kumar won the 1^st repachage round against American Doug Schwab and pinned down Belarussian Albert Batyrov in the second.The glorious moment came after Sushil outclassed Kazakh grappler Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakastan 2-1, 0-1, 1-0 to win an Olympic Bronze medal.

Sushil won two repechage rounds after he had lost his first grapple in the morning to a far superior Ukrainian Andriy Stadnik 3-8 & what makes the achievement even more significant is that Sushil fought and won all three of his bouts in less than one hour after the energy sapping hour Sushil has time to reflect on his achievement. I will continue to win medals for India.

All the fights were tiring and nerve wrecking said Sushil and the question is that what is a Repachage wrestlers who only lose against the two finalists make up a repachage. The repachage matches begin with wrestlers who lost in the 1^st round including the matches to obtain the ideal # against one of the 2 finalists up to the losers in the semi-finals by direct elimination. Winners of the 2-repachage matches each receive a bronze medal and Sushils campaign seemed nearly over when he lost his first round battle against eventual silver medallist Andriy Stadnik but repachage provided him a ray of hope and the Indian proved simply irresistible as he beat three grapplers on the trot to win the bronze and down in the dumps after his opening round defeat Sushil came up with an incredible show beating Doug Schwab USA Albert Batyrov Belarus and finally the losing semifinalist Leonid Spiridonov Kazakhstan in the repachage rounds to earn his slice of history. Sushil thus became the second Indian wrestler after K D Jadhav who won a bronze in the 1952 Helsinki Games to win an Olympic medal. Incidentally in the 2006 Doha Asian Games also Sushil had beaten Leonid to win the bronze against Leonid Sushil grabbed early initiative by scoring two technical points that proved decisive in the end though the Kazakh grappler scored one in the second period and managed to thwart Sushil the Indian proved his superiority again in the third period and eventually prevailed 3-2 to trigger frenzied celebration among the Indians present at the Chinese Agricultural University here.

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 Weightlifter Monika Devi who was forced to give the Beijing Olympics a miss due to bungled dope test has threatened not to take part in any national or international event until the officials who wrongly accused her of failing the test were punished.

 Monika a 69kg category lifter said she was a victim of politics in sports. I could not take part in the Olympic games as a result of politics in Indian sports. All those who are responsible for framing false charges against me must be pulled up and given befitting punishment she demanded and an emotional Monika who arrived here from New Delhi yesterday, said she never knew politics in Indian sports would be so dirty to the extent that an innocent player who had worked hard would be dropped at the last minute from participating in the Olympic games by framing false charges.

At a function organised in her honour she welcomed the support given by the people of her state who called a bandh today in protest against her exclusion from the Olympic squad and the stand taken by the people of my state for a victimised player like me is simply overwhelming she said with tears in her eyes while seeking the continued support of the people in finding out the truth and punishment to the guilty.
Earlier the Manipur Olympic Association MOA had decided not to participate in any national championship and the coming National games if Monika Devi was not sent to Beijing. Monika was prevented from boarding the Beijing flight at the last minute on August 6 after testing positive for a banned anabolic salt. Backed by the Indian Weightlifting Federation, Monika claimed innocence as she had cleared four dope tests in the last two months and alleged that she was being victimised by some members of the Sports Authority of India. I am innocent. I have always stayed away from doping and that is why I was selected in the trials a tearful Monika had said at a press conference in New Delhi on Aug 6. Everyone knows there are various international tests and no sensible athlete would do that dope. I am ready to go to Beijing where my dope test is scheduled for tomorrow Aug 7. If I fail there leave apart banning me for life shoot me in public she had said. Monika who was selected ahead of Andhra weightlifter Shailaja Pujari in the trials last month, claimed some people in the SAI were trying to make case for Shailaja due to regional allegiance. However three days later on Aug 9 she was cleared by the SAI of any wrongdoing but the relief came too late for her to participate in the Olympics. Unhappy over Sports Authority of Indias flip-flop over dope testing ainvolving the weightlifter, Sports Minister MS Gill appointed former Chief Election Commissioner TS Krishnamurthy to inquire into all aspects of this matter on Aug 13 and submit its findings within a week.

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 World No 1 Spanish Rafael Nadal clinched gold medal in the mens single tennis competition of Beijing Olympics beating Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 7-6, 3 here on Sunday and Nadal who has had an out standing year so far winning both French Open and Wimbledon displayed attacking tennis from the word go against an opponent who has produced some remarkable tennis in the last one week at Beijing.

Throughout the match Nadal was at his best executing perfect forehands and backhands with elan. Though world no 12 Gonzalez came up with some great shots in patches it was not enough to beat a man who humbled world no 1 Roger Federer in Wimbledon a month back to herald his march to greatness. In the 1^st set Nadal broke Gonzalez twice, thus paving the way for a cakewalk. But in the second set Gonzalez fought back well to take the set to the tiebreak where Nadal produced some stunning backhands to take home the second set and the loss of the second set, might have devasted the morale of Gonzalez and lost the decider 6-3.

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 The pair of Indian tennis aces Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes stormed into the quarterfinals of men’s doubles tennis and the seventh seeded Indians played compact tennis to defeat Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa of Brazil 6-4, 6-2 in just over an hour. In the quarterfinals, they will take on the winners of the second round match that pits fourth seeded Swiss pair of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka against the mercurial and Russian duo of Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny.

Paes and Bhupathi were in perfect sync and they combined well to negate the Brazilians. Breaking Sa early in the third game put them ahead and the duo subsequently did not relax their grip over the proceedings as they sealed the first set without much ado at a time when games tend to go with the serve, squandering break points is a luxury that a pair can hardly afford and Paes and Bhupathi put themselves right in the drivers seat by breaking Melo in the first game of the second set.

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 Michael Phelps has become the winningest Olympic athlete ever earning his fourth and 5^th gold medal of the Beijing Games with a world record in the 200 meter butterfly and 2×200m relay. The American touched in one minute 52.03 seconds breaking his old mark of 1:52.09 set at last years world championships in Australia.

Phelps had a problem with his goggles but that didn’t keep him from touching first and he is now all-alone at the top, with four more chances to stretch his lead before he leaves China. He was scheduled to come back later in the morning to swim the leadoff of the 800 freestyle relay for the heavily favored Americans. In the fly his signature stroke Phelps was second at the first flip, then pushed it into another gear his long arms gobbling up huge chunks of water as he literally sailed along atop the surface. He touched the wall in 1 minutes 52.03 seconds breaking his mark of 1:52.09 from last years world championships. He barely smiled as he looked at the board breathing heavily and hanging on the lane rope.

Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh really pushed it at the end but settled for silver in 1:52.70. Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda took the bronze in 1:52.97. Phelps rubbed his eyes and said climbing from the pool I can’t see anything. A pair of leaky goggles kept him from even seeing the wall as he finished. Still it was another gold and another record taking Phelps halfway to his goal of beating Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in a single games. My goggles kept filling up with water during the race he said. I wanted a world record, I wanted 1:51 or better, but in the circumstances not too bad I guess and everyone wanted to get a look at history including the USA men’s basketball team. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony were among those cheering on Phelps from poolside seats. James posed for pictures with Phelps mom Debbie. Three worlds records fell before Phelps even walked on deck. In the semifinals of the 100 free Australia’s Eamon Sullivan and France’s Alain Bernard played takeaway with the record Sullivan set two days earlier. In the first heat, Bernard won in 47.20 to knock down Sullivan’s mark of 47.24 from the leadoff leg of the memorable 400 free relay and that record lasted all of 2 minutes. Sullivan won the second heat in 47.05 setting up a thrilling showdown in Thursday’s final. Records don’t mean much Sullivan said. They don’t win medals at the end of the day, unfortunately. But it gives me confidence that I can swim my own race under pressure. American Jason Lezak who chased down Bernard in the relay, advanced to the final with the sixth-best time 47.98. The other U.S. swimmer Garrett Weber-Gale failed to advance. Then it was Federica Pelligrini’s turn. The Italian broke the mark she set a day earlier in the semifinals, winning gold in 1:54.82. The old record was 1:55.45. Sara Isakovic of Slovenia claimed the bronze in 1:54.97 and China’s Pang Jiaying thrilled the home fans by passing Katie Hoff on the final lap to take bronze in 1:55.05. It was another disappointment for Hoff, who looked to be one of the big stories of the game when she qualified in five individual events the same number as Phelps and the 19-year-old American who considers Phelps her big brother has yet to match his success in the water. In her first two races, Hoff settled for a bronze and a silver which look pretty good after she faded out of the medal hunt in the 200 free finishing 0.63 behind Pang. I would have liked to medal but I got my 1^st personal best of the meet and I think that’s a good effort said Hoff who finished in 1:55.78. I can’t be upset with that and I am just moving on to the next heat. Hoff had a chance to make up for her disappointment before the morning was done; she also was in the final of the 200 individual medley. An inspiring Olympic story came to an end in the semifinals of the 200 breaststroke.

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Fans will be unable to wave banners supporting national teams at the Beijing Olympics, according to an official guide book for spectators issued by the Chinese authorities. The thrill of the supporters will be missing in the comming olympics games.

The book, published by Olympic organisers and available to ticket holders, said banners backing individual teams including China were “tendentious (and) violate the fairness principle of an Olympic event,” state media reported.

Also banned from stadiums are materials supporting human rights, religion or politics as well as animal rights and the environment. Commercial banners promoting products are also banned from stadiums during the August 8-24 Games.

Huang Keying, an official on the organising committee, said the guidelines were in line with the Olympic Charter, which outlaws using the Games to promote religious, political and racial discrimination.

Drunkenness, nudity and gambling are also banned from Olympic venues, as are soft drink containers, musical instruments, cameras and radios.

Animals other than guide dogs are also banned, and adults are discouraged from taking babies into venues.

Zhang Zhenliang, director of the Games’ inquiry centre, said the rules were designed to promote an “orderly, happy and harmonious environment,” according to Xinhua news agency.

The reason behind this move rises many questions. The banner waving does not harm any one feelings so the move seems to be unjustified.

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