Olympic badminton: Saina brings India third medal

Saina Nehwal won India its third medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games, after being declared the winner in the women's badminton play-off for the bronze medal after her Chinese opponent Wang Xin withdrew with an injured knee. And the news became sweeter with Indian boxer Devendro Singh's entry into the Men's Light Flyweight quarter-finals.

Saina's opponent Wang, the World No. 2, won the first game despite the injury she suffered at the end of it. She won the first game 21-18, but before claiming the final point, she strained her knee. Wang received medical attention before claiming the game, but broke down soon into the second game – with the score 1-0 in her favour - before she hobbled off the court.

Saina saved four game points in a dramatic fightback in the first game and was 18-20 when left-handed Xin twisted her knee while going for an acrobatic smash from the baseline. She took on-court treatment for the injury after that.

But after winning the first game and the opening point of the second, Xin could not continue and was soon seen shaking hands with Saina with a wince. Saina thus became the first Indian badminton player to win a medal at the Olympic Games. She had reached the quarter-finals at the Beijing Games four years ago.

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Vijay Kumar wins silver to give India second medal

India’s Vijay Kumar gave the Indian fans a lot to celebrate when he took aim and won silver medal for India in the London Olympics 2012. This is India’s second medal in London Games after Gagan Narang’s bronze medal in 10-metre rifle. This medal also happens to be India’s fourth overall Olympics medal in shooting events.

Army sharp marksman Vijay Kumar today fought a nerve-wracking battle with five other top marksmen to clinch the silver medal in the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event at the Olympic Games here today.

Kumar beat back the challenge of world champion Alexei Klimov of Russia, Chinese duo of Ding Feng and Zhang Jian and German Christian Reitz in the 40-shot final to finish runner-up in a thrilling finale behind Cuba's Leuris Pupo who shot his way to the gold with a world record equalling score of 34.

The 26-year-old army subedar from Himachal Pradesh found the target 30 times out of 40 attempts in the series comprising eight rounds of five shots each.

This is India's second medal in the ongoing quadrennial extravaganza after fellow marksman Gagan Narang's bronze in the 10m Air Rifle event on July 30. This was also the country's fourth medal in shooting in Olympic history. The other medal winners are Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (silver in 2004 Athens) , Abhinav Bindra (gold in 2008 Beijing) besides Narang.

Kumar started with a bang, hitting the target all five times and kept himself in the hunt for a medal by consistently finding the target. After a perfect five out of five at the start, Kumar, a double gold medallist in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, found the target four times in the second and third series, but missed it twice in the fourth.

He came back strongly by finding the target four times in the next three rounds and assured himself of a silver. In the last round after Pupo shot four to clinch the gold, Kumar seemed to relax a bit and missed three targets.

The bronze medal was won by Feng with a tally of 27. In the final, Kumar was assured of a medal after the the elimination of the trio of Klimov (23), Jian (17) and Christian (13) leaving himself, Pupo and Feng in the fray.

The silver was in his bag when Feng missed twice in the seventh round and Kumar replied with four.

Kumar had earlier lifted the Indian shooting team's spirit after the flop show by Narang, who failed to qualify for the final of the 50m Rifle Prone, by entering the finals of his event through the preliminaries.

En route to his total score of 585, Kumar became the second shooter to break the previous Olympic record of 583 to give a hint of his potential during the second stage of qualification.

Placed fourth in the list, Kumar, who had scored 293 in stage 1 of the qualification yesterday, shot a series of 98 97 97 in the second stage to take his total score to 585. He shot a sequence of 99 96 98 at the Royal Artillery Barracks. The Army man then successfully competed with five shooters for a medal.

Pre-Games medal favourite Ronjan Sodhi had yesterday failed to qualify for the double trap event.

Klimov had created a new world record by shooting 592 but he could not replicate that in the final. He scored a total of 592 after Stage 2, breaking the existing world record of 591 and Olympic record of 583, with 294 points in Stage 1 and a staggering 298 out of 300 in Stage 2.

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Who is Gagan Narang?

Gagan Narang is an ace Indian shooter, especially in Air rifle shooting, supported by the Olympic Gold Quest. He was the first Indian to qualify for the London Olympics. He won the Bronze Medal in the Men's 10 m Air Rifle Event at the 2012 London Olympics.

Gagan was born on 6 May 1983 in Chennai. His family hails from Panipat in Haryana. His grandfather lived at Samalkha in Panipat district, later on the family moved to Hyderabad.

Gagan Narang is a gold medalist in the Afro Asian games, 2003 in Hyderabad on October 26, 2003 in Men's 10m air rifle competition. He had won an air rifle gold medal at the World Cup 2006 and followed that event in April 2010.

In a pre-Olympic event in Hannover, Germany, Gagan shot an air rifle score higher than the world record, 704.3 as opposed to 703.1 set by Thomas Farnik of Austria in the World Cup 2006. Gagan qualified for the 2008 ISSF World Cup Final after he won a gold in the World Cup in China earlier in 2008. Gagan shot a perfect 1600 in the qualification round. He scored 103.5 in the final round making total score of 703.5 to gain the universe record. On November 4, 2008 he broke Austria's Thomas Farnik's record, set in the 2006 World Cup final in Granada, Spain.

Gagan Narang added 4 gold medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. In the Men's 10 m air rifle singles event, he shot a perfect 600 which was a new record.

Gagan also clinched a silver medal in his pet event at the Asian Games 2010. He also combined with Abhinav Bindra and Sanjeev Rajput to provide the country with another silver, in the team event behind champions China. Both of his silvers were won on the opening day of Asian Games.

Gagan Narang won the bronze medal in the 10m air rifle event at the 2012 London Olympics with a total score of 701.1 becoming India's first medal winner at the 2012 games. Gagan was just behind the silver medallist Niccolo Campriani of Italy who scored 701.5, while the gold medallist Alin George Moldoveanu of Romania was at 702.1.

In recognition with his achievements, Gagan Narang was conferred with the Padma Shree Award in 2010. Gagan Narang was selected for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for 2010. This is the highest sports award in the country. He was conferred the award by then President Pratibha Patil on 29 August 2011.

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Hockey Wizard: Dhyan Chand

Dhyan Chand Singh was an Indian Hockey player, and considered to be the all time greatest player the game of Hockey has ever seen the world over. He has probably been the only Indian player ever in any sport which skills so high that generated a number of myths about his abilities as a Hockey player.

Dhyan Chand has put India on the world map in sport. Chand is most remembered for his goal-scoring feats and for his three Olympic gold medals (1928, 1932, and 1936) in field hockey, while India was dominant in the sport. Throughout his carrier, Dhyan Chand scored more than 1000 goals

He was born on the 29th of August 1905 at Prayag (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh to a Bais Rajput family. Dhyan Chand spent most of his early time at Jhansi. His father served the Indian Army as a Subedar, and played the game of Hockey. Initially known as Dhyan Singh, he had 2 brothers named Mool Singh and Roop Singh, the latter one too being an accomplished Hockey player. Dhyan could not resume his studies after 6th standard as his family used to move from one place to another, before finally settling down permanently at Jhansi.

In his younger days, Dhyan was not much interested into sports although he liked wrestling a lot. He started playing Hockey with his friends who used to themselves make Hockey sticks from tree branches and balls from ragged clothes. At the age of 14 years he visited a Hockey match with his father, where one team was down by 2 goals. He insisted his father to play from the losing side, and when an Army Officer let him do so, Dhyan scored 4 goals for the team. Impressed by his skills, the Officer offered him to join the army and at the age of 16 years Dhyan was inducted into the Punjab Regiment as a Sepoy in the year 1922. Subedar-Major Bhole Tiwari of Brahmin Regiment became Dhyan’s mentor inside the Army and taught him the basics of the game. Pankaj Gupta was the first Coach of Dhyan Singh who predicted that one day he would shine like the Moon, called Chand in Hindi. Hence, Dhyan Singh came to be known as Dhyan Chand after that.

There are many incidents that describe the grandeur of Dhyan Chand’s amazing skills as a wonderful Hockey player. In one of them, he scored 3 goals in the last 4 minutes of a match wherein his team was losing by 2 goals, and got his team the victory in the match. This was the Final match of the Punjab Infantry Tournament in Jhelum. After this match, Dhyan Chand was named the “Hockey Wizard”.

Dhyan Chand delivered brilliant performance in the first Inter-Provincial (National) Hockey tournament that was organized in the year 1925. Five teams, viz. United Provices (UP), Punjab, Bengal, Rajputana and Central Provinces participated in the tournament. On the basis of his performance in the tournament, he was selected for the International Hockey team of India.

In the year 1926 Dhyan Chand was selected for the Indian Hockey team going to visit New Zealand at a tour. During the tour, the Indian team scored 20 goals in a match played at Dannkerke, and Dhyan Chand alone had scored 10 of them. India played 21 matches on the tour, out of which it won 18, lost 1 and drew 2 matches. The team scored a total number of 192 goals and Dhyan Chand alone had scored over 100 of them. After his return to India, he was promoted to the post of Lance Nayak in the Army. At the London Folkstone Festival in 1927, he scored 36 goals out of India’s total 72 goals, in 10 matches played at the event.

Dhyan Chand played a monumental role in India winning 3 successive Olympic hockey gold medals (in 1928, 1932 and 1936).

He played for the Indian Hockey team in the Amsterdam Olympic Games 1928, and scored 2 out of the 3 goals in the final match against Netherlands, getting India the Gold Medal by a 3-0 win. In the Los Angeles Olympics 1932, the Indian team led by Lal Shah Bukhari again won the Gold Medal. In the tournament, the Indian Hockey team defeated the USA Hockey team by 23-1, which remained a world record until it was broken in the year 2003. Out of these 23 goals, 8 were scored alone by Dhyan Chand. In the event, Dhyan Chand scored 12 goals for India in 2 matches.

In the Berlin Olympics 1932, Indian had successfully treaded their path to the finals crushing Hungary by 4-0, USA by 7-0 and Japan 9-0 without conceding a single goal in the tournament. The team defeated France in the Semi-Finals by 10 goals, and was going to combat Germany in the Finals. In the Final match, the Indian squad could score only 1 goal till the interval. Dhyan Chand removed his shoes in the interval and played the match barefooted onwards. The Indian team won the match and the Gold medal by 8-1.

In the year 1934, Dhyan Chand was appointed the captain of the Indian hockey and subsequently captained the gold winning team at the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

At the Berlin Olympics, Hitler was so impressed with his play that he offered to make him colonel (higher post) in the German army, if he agreed to play for Germany, but he politely denied the offer.

At the age of 43, he led the hockey team to the tour of East Africa in 1947. In this tour Dhyan Chand scored 61 goals in 21 matches that India played. After an illustrious carrier of 30 years, Dhyan Chand bid adieu to international hockey in 1949. He retired as Major and was also the Chief Hockey Coach at the National Institute of Sports.

After retirement, he taught at coaching camps at Mount Abu, Rajasthan. Later, he accepted the position of Chief Hockey Coach at the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, a post he held for several years. Chand spent his last days in his hometown of Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Dhyan Chand met Don Bradman, the Cricket Maestro at Adelaide in the year 1935. After watching him play Hockey, Bradman commented “He scores goals like runs in Cricket.”

Dhyan Chand died on December 3, 1979 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. He was cremated at the Jhansi Heroes ground in his hometown, after some initial problems in getting clearance. His regiment, the Punjab Regiment, accorded him full military honours.

For his extra-ordinary services to the nation, the Government of India celebrates Dhyan Chand’s birthday (29th of August) as National Sports Day. The President gives away sport-related awards such as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award and Dronacharya Award on this day at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, India.

The Indian Postal Service issued a postage stamp in his memory, and the Dhyan Chand National Stadium at New Delhi has been named after him. He was honored by the Padma Bhushan award by the Government of India in the year 1956. India's highest award for lifetime achievement in sports is the Dhyan Chand Award which has been awarded annually from 2002 to sporting figures who not only contribute through their performance but also contribute to the sport after their retirement.

Astro-turf hockey pitch, at the Indian Gymkhana Club in London has been named after Indian hockey legend Dhyan Chand.

Even today, Dhyan Chand remains a legendary figure in Indian and world hockey. His astounding skills have been glorified in various apocryphal stories and anecdotes. A number of such legends revolve around the fact that Singh had a magical control over dribbling the ball.

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The Flying Sikh: Milkha Singh

After clocking a world record 45.8 seconds in the 400-meter race preliminaries in France, and finishing second in all of his 400m races prior to the races, Milkha Singh – dubbed 'The Flying Sikh' – was a favorite for the gold medal. Unfortunately, he ended up missing bronze by a fraction.

In the final event he set off strongly to the fore but was overhauled by the field and finished in fourth place, this being a decision that required a photo-finish. It was a gut-wrenching moment for the champion runner.

In later years, Milkha – who in 1959 had won a Commonwealth Games gold in Cardiff – would look back at the 400m final at the Rome Olympics as a tragic moment in his sporting career.

"Since it was a photo-finish, the announcements were held up. The suspense was excruciating. I knew what my fatal error was: After running perilously fast in lane five, I slowed down at 250 metres. I could not cover the lost ground after that - and that cost me the race," he said. "After the death of my parents, that is my worst memory. I kept crying for days."

So dejected was Milkha at failing to win a medal that he even contemplated retiring from athletics. Luckily for India, he was coaxed out of such thoughts and in 1962 won two medals at the Asian Games.

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Dazzling opening ceremony launches 30th Olympic Games

London presented a vibrant picture of Great Britain's rich heritage and culture as a colourful opening ceremony marked the inauguration of the 30th Olympic Games at the spunky Olympic stadium on Friday night.

Queen Elizabeth II declared the Games open amidst thunderous cheers from the capacity crowd of 80,000 signalling the launch of the biggest sporting spectacle which returned to Britain after a gap of 64 years, giving the country the distinction of holding the mega event for an unprecedented third time.

The night sky lit up with dazzling fireworks as the Queen declared the Games open to herald London's moment of glory in the presence of as many as 100 heads of state and a host of other dignitaries who have descended on this historic city to witness the extravaganza, watched by an estimated one billion global audience.

The 27 million pound three-and-a-half-hour long opening ceremony, which magically transformed the stadium into a rural British idyll, complete with cows, horses, sheep and dogs and synthetic clouds to provide traditional British rain, was designed to give Britons a "picture of ourselves as a nation".

The 81-strong Indian contingent, the biggest ever, was led by wrestler Sushil Kumar, a bronze medallist in the 2008 Beijing Games. It was a smartly dressed Indian contingent. The men wore yellow safas, navy blue blazers, cream-coloured trousers, off-white shirts and ties, and the women were dressed in elegant sarees.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) secretary-general Randhir Singh waved at the contingent from the VIP box.

Indians will take part in 13 disciplines. Four years ago, India won three medals, gold for shooter Abhinav Bindra and bronze medals for Sushil and boxer Vijender Singh.

Gold medal winning fencer Mariel Zagunis led the United States team into the Olympic Stadium. Two-time sabre gold-medallist Zagunis, 27, was chosen in a vote by the 529-strong American team. Four-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy led the Great Britain team. Hoy, 36, also carried the Union Jack at the closing ceremony in Beijing four years ago. The British team was the last of the 205 nations to enter the arena.

Basketball star Yi Jianlian led the China team. The Dallas Mavericks centre succeeds fellow basketball hero Yao Ming who carried the flag on home soil at the Beijing Games in 2008. China has brought a 396-strong team to London.

Australia's Lauren Jackson led her country's team, the first Australian woman in 20 years to carry the flag at a Summer Games. The 31-year-old Jackson was appearing at her fourth Olympic Games after leading the women's basketball team to silver in Beijing four years ago. Chef de Mission Nick Green said Jackson had been chosen for her leadership qualities on and off the court, but her appointment to carry the flag also followed a row over gender equality in Australia in recent weeks.

Five time Olympic beach volleyballer Natalia Cook said last week, apparently in jest, that she would stage a sit-down protest if she had to walk behind another male flag bearer, while there were also complaints about travel arrangements.

The women's basketball team, who have been runners-up to the United States at the last three Games, flew to London in economy class while the country's men, who have never won a medal, went in business class.

The arrangements were slammed by Australian media and politicians, forcing the country's basketball governing body to say it would review its policy. The last Australian woman to lead out the team was diver Jenny Donnet in Barcelona in 1992.

Saudi Arabia's first female Olympic athletes made their appearance at the opening ceremony to the London Games on Friday, dressed in traditional hijabs, or Islamic headscarfs. Saudi Arabia was one of three countries, alongside Brunei and Qatar, never to have sent female athletes to the Olympics but the latter two confirmed earlier this year that their delegations would include women. Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani and Sarah Attar are due to compete in the +78kg category in judo and 800 metres respectively after Saudi Arabia broke with its practice of sending male-only teams to the world's biggest multi-sports event.

On Thursday, International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer said Shaherkani would have to fight without a hijab - a decision that is likely to cause controversy in Saudi Arabia, where female participation in sports has long been a controversial issue.

Powerful clerics denounce women for exercising, saying it goes against their natural role.

Greece's Olympic team entered the stadium at the head of a parade of athletes from the 204 nations participating in the 2012 London Games. The Greeks were led by flag bearer Alexandros Nikolaidis, a two-time taekwondo silver medallist. The beleaguered country's athletes always come out first in honour of Greece's place as the birthplace of the Olympic Games. After that, countries parade in alphabetical order, with host Britain last.

Roughly 10,500 athletes are participating, although some have skipped the three-hour ceremony in order to be well-rested for competition.

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India's Olympic moments: Hockey's golden run

Olympic Gold winning Indian Hockey players

Hockey was the first sport that had the world take notice of Indian presence at Olympics. For 28 years, Indian hockey team at the biggest sports carnival, the Summer Olympics, was unbeatable. The sheer dominance was accentuated by the fact that the British played against an Indian team only when after it ceased to be their colony. This they did, apparently, to avoid the humiliation of getting defeated by one of their colonies. Hockey has earned India a total of 11 Olympic medals. This includes eight gold, one silver and two bronze medals and the last of those, a gold medal, came way back in 1980 at Moscow Games.

In fact, looking at that record it seems we missed out on two gold in 1940 and 1944, the editions that got abandoned due to the World War II.

The whole world would gasp in awe as Dhyan Chand and his teammates displayed their magic with the hockey sticks enthralling thousands of fans all over the planet, making India the undisputable champion team.

But things haven't been the same since our last golden Olympic year 1980, and less than ten days from London Olympics, that optimism, though not at its peek, is brewing once again. On that note, let's live through that golden phase of Indian hockey.

Amsterdam 1928: The beginning of a golden era

The initiation of the golden run incidentally also saw the birth of a hockey legend – Major Dhyan Chand. He burst into the limelight as the event's top scorer with 14 goals, which included a hat-trick performance in the final against the Dutch. Such was India's dominance that the team didn't concede even a single goal in five matches.

Results:

• India beat Austria 6-0
• India beat Belgium 9-0
• India beat Denmark 5-0
• India beat Switzerland 6-0
• Final: India beat Holland 3-0

Los Angeles 1932: A low-key affair, but gold is gold

With the competition reduced to just three participating nations – India, United States and Japan – India emerged overwhelming favourites. It reflected in the two wins that earned India their second consecutive gold. They beat USA 24-1 with 10 goals from Roop Singh and eight from Dhyan Chand, before which they hammered Japan 11-1.

Results:

• India beat Japan 11-1
• India beat United States 24-1

Berlin 1936: Dhyan Chand's swansong

By now, Dhyanchand was 31 and after establishing himself the undisputed hockey wizard, he decided to quit the game while captaining the team in Berlin. The gold-medal match against Germany was witness to a famous Dhyan Chand anecdote. In a collision with the aggressive German goalkeeper Tito Warnholtz, Dhyan Chand lost a tooth and had to be attended on the sidelines. But upon returning, Dhyan Chand – understandably angry over the incident – took the team in a huddle urging them to teach the Germans a lesson.

What followed was an act of sheer artistic control. The Indians repeatedly took the ball into the German circle but refused to shot at goal, returning back into their half. That left the Germans humiliated. Meanwhile, India won the match by a thumping 8-1 margin, thereby completing a hat-trick of Olympic gold.

Results:

• India beat Hungary 4-0
• India beat USA 7-0
• India beat Japan 9-0
• Semi-final: India beat France 10-0
• Final: India beat Germany 8-1

London 1948: A reason to smile post partition horror

For the Indians trying to recover from the mayhem that Indo-Pak partition caused, the first hockey team of independent India – in which every player was making his Olympic debut, including the legendary Leslie Claudius and Balbir Singh Sr. – once again became the reason to smile.

Results:

• India beat Austria 8-0
• India beat Argentina 9-1
• Quarter-final: India beat Spain 2-0
• Semi-final: India beat Holland 2-1
• Final: India beat Britain 4-0

Helsinki 1952: Fifth gold in a row

KD Singh Babu and Balbir Singh Sr. became household names after this edition, with the latter scoring nine of India's 13 goals. Following the event, KD Singh Babu was bestowed upon the titles of 'Best Sportsman of Asia' and the 'Best Hockey Player in the World'. Having received a bye in the first round, India went on to beat Australia, Great Britain and Holland to win their fifth gold.

Results:

• Quarter-final: India beat Austria 4-0
• Semi-final: India beat Great Britain 3-1
• Final: India beat Holland 6-1

Melbourne 1956: Six in the kitty

India repeated their record of 1928 by not conceding even a single goal on their way to gold. Led by Balbir Singh, India beat archrivals Pakistan in the final by a solitary goal.

Results:

• India beat Afghanistan 14-0
• India beat USA 16-0
• India beat Singapore 6-0
• Semi-final: India beat East Germany 1-0
• Final: India beat Pakistan 1-0

Tokyo 1964: Gold returns on India's chest

Pakistan was by now gaining momentum in world hockey, especially after ending India's golden run in 1960. However, it was foolish if anybody counted the six-time champions out, who eventually went on to avenge the defeat of previous Games from Pakistan in the final. It was a taxing tournament for the team, playing nine matches in 12 days.

Results:

• India beat Belgium 2-0
• India drew with Germany 1-1
• India drew with Spain 1-1
• India beat Hong Kong 6-0
• India beat Malaysia 3-1
• India beat Canada 3-0
• India beat Holland 2-1
• Semi-final: India beat Australia 3-1
• Final: India beat Pakistan 1-0

Moscow 1980: Weak competition allows India break 16-year gold draught

India's passage to their eighth Olympic hockey gold became easy after 71 per cent of the medal-winning nations from the 1976 Montreal Olympics boycotted the Moscow Games. The boycotting hockey nations included the three medal-winning countries from Montreal – New Zealand (gold), Australia (silver) and Pakistan (bronze).

The European hockey giants Germany and Holland also did not participate owing to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. That helped India go top of the podium from seventh in the previous edition.

Results:

• India beat Tanzania 18-0
• India draw with Poland 2-2
• India draw with Spain 2-2
• India beat Cuba 13-0
• India beat USSR 4-2
• Final: India beat Spain 4-3

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