Indians excel

Published : Nov 01, 2008 00:00 IST

Gold medallists in boxing, from left, Virothu Shanthosh, Balwinder Beniwal and Nanao Singh Thokchom.-PICS: PTI
Gold medallists in boxing, from left, Virothu Shanthosh, Balwinder Beniwal and Nanao Singh Thokchom.-PICS: PTI
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Gold medallists in boxing, from left, Virothu Shanthosh, Balwinder Beniwal and Nanao Singh Thokchom.-PICS: PTI

In the eight disciplines, excluding athletics, under review here by V. V. Subrahmanyam, the Indians surpassed even their coaches’ expectations.

The ambience was perfect with capacity crowds lustily cheering the athletes. The expectations were palpably high and not surprisingly, the brigade from India — notably Kynan Darius Chenai, Asher Gusti Noria, Sathiyan Gnanasekharan, Rahi Sarnobat and Sikki Reddy — raised its skills to come up with some sterling performances in the third Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) in Pune. The participants have generated fresh hope for a bright future by winning 27 gold, 19 s ilver and 11 bronze medals from eight of the nine disciplines (excluding athletics).

For most of these young Indian athletes, winning a maiden gold in an international competition was in itself a major achievement. And doing so in front of the home crowd was an ideal morale-booster for them. Even the coaches were surprised by their wards’ remarkable grit and temperament under trying conditions. “Honestly, Sikki’s performance against Saina Nehwal in the badminton women’s singles final was a revelation, the way she handled the pressure of the final and the noisy crowd,” confessed India’s chief national coach Pullela Gopi Chand.

The 15-year-old, unseeded Sikki Reddy achieved what not many international shuttlers have done in recent weeks, giving a harrowing time to the national champion and World No. 11 Saina during an exciting women’s singles final before losing by the narrowest of margins. “I never expected it to be so tough and close. I was surprised. She was brilliant and definitely I was tense,” remarked Saina after scraping to a 23-21, 22-20 victory for the gold.

By all means, Sikki, watched by her mother Madhavi from the gallery, threw enough hints of her abundant talent with a high quality game at the net and a telling forehand. And, it was some justice for her great showing in the Games that she partnered P. C. Thulasi to win the women’s doubles gold.

Even top-seeded R. M. V. Guru Sai Dutt served a reminder of his growing reputation in the Indian circuit with a remarkable come-from-behind win over his close friend, the unseeded Aditya Prakash, 21-18, 20-22, 21-18 in the men’s singles final. The young Hyderabadi showed the required tenacity after his opponent reeled off eight consecutive points in the second game from 14-20 with a deadly combination of drops and forehand smashes to clinch it and extend the match into the decider.

“This is a significant win and should do my confidence level a world of good,” remarked the gold medallist later. In a way, the Indian shuttlers were so dominant that they eventually reduced the show to an all-India affair or to be more precise a South Zone affair, considering that Saina, Sikki and Sai Dutt come from Hyderabad and Aditya from Karnataka.

At the shooting range, the young guns boomed on predicted lines. In his pre-Games comments, coach Sanjay Sachdeva oozed confidence and his wards did not let him down. It all started with Ankush Bharadwaj winning the gold in 50m pistol with 509 points. Interestingly, Ankush had only one competitor in Murray Middleton of Falkland Islands, who could not even complete the qualifying rounds. A very ‘liberal’ technical committee decided to not only go ahead with the event, but even discard the final round as the gap between even an out-of-sorts Ankush and Middleton was too wide to merit a final. Well, only the gold medal was awarded as per the Games rules. Later, Ankush picked up a bronze in the 10m air pistol event with a score of 645.90.

Rahi Sarnobat did not need any special favours as she was bang on target to clinch the gold in the 25m pistol event for women with a score of 748.10. She was followed by Binti Azhari Alia Sazana of Malaysia and Hayley Chapman of Australia. Inspired to take up shooting after watching Tejaswini Sawant clinch a Commonwealth Games medal in Melbourne a couple of years ago, this 16-year-old shooter was a picture of confidence. She did not even bother to look at the scoreboard as she reeled off 48.70, 50.70, 49.70 and 48.80 in the final four rounds to put the issue beyond doubt.

Deepika Patel was the other woman gold medallist from India, winning the 10m air pistol event with a score of 470.20.

In one of the best performances at the shooting range, Hyderabadi Kynan Darius Chenai, under pressure in the final round because of “windy and unfavourable conditions,” kept his cool to clinch the gold in the men’s trap event. With five shots remaining, Kynan was tied with Ryan Bugeja of Malta having already dropped the pigeon six times. Then he raised the level of his concentration to come up with scores of 23, 22, 22, 22 and 22 to emerge the winner even as the electronic scoreboard failed in the last round.

Then, it was the turn of another Hyderabadi, Asher Gusti Noria, to clinch the honours . He happens to be the son of a gentleman-shooter, who is also the proud owner of a jewellery shop. But, Gusti Noria, a skeet shooter, could not have found a more priceless jewel than his gifted son — the 17-year-old Asher Gusti Noria — who shot gold in the double trap in Pune. This performance could just herald a new chapter in Indian shooting given Asher’s commitment and talent. This 12th standard student of Hyderabad Public School, was bang on target with a score of 180 to be the eventual winner. “I was definitely nervous in the final stages, but managed to stay calm when it mattered most,” said the smiling Asher. Not surprisingly, he dedicated this effort to his mentor and coach Ranjan Sodhi.

Lakshya Bansal was another Indian shooter to clinch the gold. This was in the 25m pistol event with an aggregate of 567 to keep the Indian camp smiling at the range.

In the pool the focus was on Beijing Olympian Virdhawal Khade and he did not let down the huge home crowd, which lustily cheered him. He won the gold in the 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly events besides the silver in the 100m butterfly and the 4 x 100 relay. Aaron D’ Souza won a bronze in the 200m butterfly.

The women swimmers were a big disappointment with none figuring on the podium.

Arguably, one of the best performances in the Games by an Indian came from Sathiyan Gnanasekharan, who won the table tennis men’s singles gold against compatriot Soumyajit Ghosh, 11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9.

The 15-year-old trainee of former national champion V. Chandrasekhar drew all-round applause for his perfect blend of caution and aggression against an opponent who was too flamboyant.

Having knocked out World Junior No. 12 Shen Qiang of Canada in the semifinal, it was a fitting finale for this student of Kola Perumal Senior Secondary School (Chennai). He then completed a golden double, partnering Soumyajit Ghosh to win the men’s doubles title.

The men’s and women’s doubles pairs also picked up a gold each. Soumi Mondal defeated Neha Aggarwal to settle for the women’s bronze.

The host was in for a disappointment in tennis as its best bet in men’s singles,Yuki Bhambri, was injured. He had to settle for a bronze.

In women’s singles, Kyra Shroff’s campaign fell apart in the final, 1-6, 2-6, against the big-serving Heather Watson of Guernsey Island. Venkatesha Poojashree had to pull out of the women’s singles bronze medal match due to a right shoulder injury.

In the boxing ring, the Indians lived up to expectations to pick up three gold medals on the final day. Nanao Singh Thokchom set the tempo with a brilliant win over Zack Davies in the 48 kg category. Then, Shanthosh Virothu demonstrated his skills against Jonkir Alexander for a 16-4 verdict.

A sporting gesture by Benjamin Alexander after losing to Balwinder Beniwal in the 75 kg was perhaps symbolic of the spirit of the CYG. He raised the Indian’s hand after losing the verdict to a five-member jury with the scores tied two-all.

The Indians put up an impressive show in wrestling to win seven gold medals. In weightlifting, Diksha Gaikwad (48 kg) and Y. Yamini (58 kg), who won the gold, inspired their team-mates to bag seven silvers and a bronze.

The 18-year-old Diskha was a champion bat for Kesarbhai Lakhotiya School. But she was convinced by her Sir (Sinhassane) to take up weightlifting and she has proved him right.

India’s medals tally (excluding athletics) in the order of gold, silver and bronze: Badminton (3-2-1); Boxing (3-1-3); Shooting (6-0-3); Swimming (3-3-1); Tennis (0-3-1); Table Tennis (3-3-1); Weightlifting (2-7-1); Wrestling (7-0-0).

* * *He’s a crowd puller

His popularity at the swimming pool during the Commonwealth Youth Games had to be seen to be believed. Each time Virdhawal Khade’s (in pic) name was announced in the starting line-up for the competitions, he was greeted by a thunderous roar from the crowds.

Khade, the youngest swimmer ever from India to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, seemed to have become a household name already, especially with the home crowd in Pune. “I am enjoying this terrific crowd support. It is a great feeling to be greeted in such a fashion. A rare experience for me,” said the 6ft 3in swimmer.

Khade didn’t disappoint his fans. He won three gold and two silver medals.

His natural speed and the ability to overcome the pressures of expectations were the remarkable features of the 17-year-old swimmer. Khade looked composed before his events, merely waving to the crowd before jumping into the pool and then triumphantly putting his head out at the end of each race.

He won the gold in 100m freestyle (48.47s), 50m freestyle (22.68s) and 50m butterfly (24.25s). And what was really remarkable was that he set meet records in all these events.

Incidentally, Khade beat his own Commonwealth Youth Games record set earlier in the qualifying rounds of the 50m freestyle (23.16).

Khade also won the silver medal in the 200m freestyle with a timing of 1:49.86. Australia’s Ryan Napoleon (1:47.62) won the gold, while Edward McKendry (1:51.93) picked up the bronze in the event.

The Kolhapur swimmer, who shifted base to Bangalore in 2006 to join his coach Nihar Ameen, also swam the last lap of the 4x100m freestyle relay to help India bag the silver medal (3:28.15).

How does he sump up the Commonwealth Youth Games?

“They are a terrific opportunity for all the young Indian athletes. And from a personal point of view, I am happy that I could achieve my target of winning at least three gold medals,” Khade said.

“I hope to keep improving and win more medals in international meets,” he added.

Khade then signed off with a message that this could be the beginning of a new chapter in his career.

THE RESULTS

Shooting — Men’s 50m pistol: 1. Ankush Bharadwaj 509 pts, 2. Murray Middleton (Falkland Islands). 1 0m Air pistol: 1. Hendry Mathew James (Can) 653.10, 2. Chia Christopher (Sin) 655, 3. Ankush Bharadwaj (Ind) 645.90. 50m rifle prone: 1. Huckle James (Eng) 687.60. 2. Hall Mathew (N.Ireland) , 3. McAlpine Rory (Scot). Trap: 1. Kynan Darius Chenai (Ind) 128 pts, 2. Ryan Bugeja (Mlt) 127, 3. Michael McNabb (Aus) 125. Double trap: 1. Asher Gusti Noria (Ind) 180 pts, 2. Ziegler Phillip Smith (RSA) 172, 3. Chester Cobb (GBR) 167. 25m pistol: 1. Lakshya Bansal (Ind) 567, 2. James Hendry Mathew (Can) 547, 3. Arron Wilson (Aus) 547. 50m pistol three-position: 1. James Huckle (Eng) 1243.80, 2. Zubair Bin Muhammad Muhamad (Mas) 1206.20, 3. Rushad Damania (Ind) 1189.10.

Women’s 10m air rifle: 1. Sudhir Binte Aqilah (Singapore) 501.0 pts, 2. Monica Fyfe (Canada), 3. Binti Abdul Hali Nur Ayuni Farhana (Mas). Paul Ayonika finished fourth with 491.70 pts. 50m rifle prone: 1. Copland Kay (Scot) 585 pts, 2. Binti Mohd Taufb Nurfarah Afiqah (Mas), 3. Cox Sheree (Eng). 25m pistol: 1. Sarnobat Rahi (Ind) 748.1, 2. Binti Azahari Ala Sazana (Mas) 742.9, 3. Chapman Hayley (Aus) 729.3. 10m air pistol: 1. Deepika Patel (Ind) 470.20, 2. Mei Kay Chong Eunice (Sin) 464.30 , 3. Wahidah Binti Ismail (Mas) 464.20. 50m rifle three-position: 1. Sheree Cox (Eng) 653.8, 2. Jennifer McIntosh (Sco) 648.4, 3. Tejaswini Muley (Ind) 646.90.

Swimming — Men’s 100m freestyle: 1. Virdhawal Khade (Ind) 48.47 NGR), 2. Ryan Napoleon (Aus) 50.65, 3. Thomas Barrett (Aus) 51.05. 100m butterfly: 1. Lachlan Staples (Aus) 53.63, 2. Virdhawal Khade (Ind) 54.013, 3. Daniel Scott (Sco) 54.86. 50m freestyle: 1. Virdhawal Khade (Ind) 22.68 – NGR, 2. Thomas Barrett (Aus) 23.15, 3. Conor Leaney (NIR) 23.47. 200m freestyle: 1. Ryan Napoleon (Aus) 1:49.62, 2. Virdhawal Khade (Ind) 1:49.86, 2. Edward McKendry (Aus) 1:51.93. 50m butterfly: 1. Virdhawal Khade (Ind) 24.25 (NGR), 2. Daniel Scott (Sco) 24.38, 3. Thomas Barrett (Aus) 24.87. 200m butterfly: 1. Lachlan Staples (Aus) 1:58.67, 2. Dan Vickers (Eng) 2:01.88, 3. Aaron D’Souza (Ind) 2:03.43. 4 x 100 m free-style: 1. Australia 3:24.11, 2. India (Aaron d’ Souza, N. A. Sandeep, Ashwin Menon, Virdhaval Khade) 3:28.15, 3. South Africa 3:30.20.

Tennis — Women’s singles: Heather Watson (Gue) bt Kyra Shroff (Ind) 6-1, 6-2. Bronze medal match: Monica Wejnert (Aus) bt V. Poojashree (Ind) 4-0 - Conceded. Doubles final: Monica Wejner & Jade Hopper (Aus) bt Kyra Shroff & V. Poojashree (Ind) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Bronze medal match: Lisa Whybourn & Jade Windley (Gbr) bt Tanvi Shah & Rashmi Teltumbde (Ind) 6-1, 6-3.

Men’s singles: Finn Tearney (Nzl) bt Hendrik Coertzen (RSA) 6-4, 6-2. Bronze medal match: Yuki Bhambri (Ind) bt Logan MacKenzie (Nzl) 7-5, 6-2. Doubles final: Logan MacKenzie & Finn Tearney (NZ) bt Yuki Bhambri & Vijayant Malik (Ind) 6-4, 6-0. Bronze medal match: Hendrik Courtzen & David Mark Fisher (SA) bt Emmanuel Sunday & Anthony Michael (Nig) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Table tennis — Men’s final: Sathiyan Gnanasekharan (Ind) bt Sowmyajit Ghosh (Ind) 11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9. Bronze medal: Qiang Shen (Can) bt Robert Frank (Aus) 5-11, 11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7. Doubles final: Sathiyan Gnanasekharan & S. Ghosh (Ind) bt Raj Mondal & Shubham Sharma (Ind) 11-1, 11-5, 11-8.

Women’s final: Li Isabelle Siyun (Sin) bt Zena Kai Xin Sim (Sin) 11-6, 9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 8-11, 11-1. Bronze medal: Soumi Mondal (Ind) bt Neha Aggarwal (Ind) 11-8, 10-12, 8-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-8. Doubles final: N. Aggarwal & S. Mondal (Ind) bt P. Sahasrabudhe & Divya Deshpande (Ind) 7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9.

Badminton — Men’s singles: R. M. V. Guru Sai Dutt (Ind) bt Aditya Prakash (Ind) 21-18, 20-22, 21-18. Bronze medal: Martin Campbell (Sco) bt Rietvelde Paul Van (Sco) 21-13, 21-17. Doubles: bronze medal: B. Sai Praneeth & Pranav Chopra (Ind) bt Gary Fox & Richard Morris (Eng) 21-18, 23-21.

Women: Singles: Saina Nehawal (Ind) bt N. Sikki Reddy (Ind) 23-21, 22-20. Bronze medal: Riou Panuga (Eng) bt Currier Tiffany Chase (Mas) 18-21, 21-16, 21-16. Doubles: N. Sikki Reddy & P. C. Thulasi (Ind) bt Alexandra Mary & Li Michelle Man Shan 21-18, 21-8.

Boxing ( all finals) — 48 kg (lightfly): Nanao Singh Thokchom (Ind) bt Zack Davies (Wal) on pts 25-10. 51 kg (fly): Daniel Chapman (Wal) bt James Dickens (Eng) on pts 8-7. 54 kg (bantam): John Quigley (Eng) bt Clevon Rock (Guy) 12-1. 57 kg (feather): Iain Weaver (Eng) bt Ibrahim Balla (Aus) on pts 16-1. 60 kg (light): Daniel Phillips (Eng) bt Sean Duffy (Ire) on pts 21-7. 64 kg (lightwelter): Shanthosh Virothu (Ind) bt Jonker Alexander (SA) on pts 16-4. 69 kg (welter): Balwinder Beniwal (Ind) bt Benjamin Alexander (Can) on individual scores, bout score 2-2. 75 kg (middle): Stuart Twardzik (Can) bt S. Satinder (Ind) on pts 5-0.

Weightlifting — Women’s 48 kg: 1. Diksha Gaikwad (India) 140 kg total; 2. Jessica Ruel (Canada) 138; 3. Utako Alikli (Nauru) 128. 53 kg: 1. Zoe Smith (Eng) 159, 2. N. Laxmi (Ind) 149, 3. Fayema Akthar (Ban) 143. 58 kg: 1. S. Yamini (Ind) 178, 2. Maria Liku (Fiji) 154, 3. Carolanne Lanouette (Can) 149. 63 kg: 1. Valerie Lefebure (Can) 187, 2. G. Aruna Rani (Ind) 168, 3. Marie Josephe Fegue (Cmr) 154. 69 kg: 1. Mary Opeloge (Sam) 191, 2. Srishti Singh (Ind) 191, 3. Chantel Lambrechs (Nzl) 160.

Men’s 85 kg: 1. Matthieu Marineau (Can) 293, 2. Harbhajan Singh (Ind) 266, 3. Jean Graff (SA) 258. 77 kg: 1. Paul Dumais (Can) 287, 2. Anup Deo Topo (Ind) 267, 3. Ad Mubin bin Rahim (Mas) 268. 69 kg: 1. Mohd Hafifi Bin Mansor (Mas) 272, 2. J. B. Yanou Ketchanke (Cmr) 263 kg, 3. Gourar Dube (Ind) 258. 56 kg: 1. Tulo Manueli (Fiji) 219 kg total; 2. Shiv Shankar Singh (India) 216; 3. Bin Ammeran Khairul (Mal) 215.

Wrestling — Freestyle 63 kg: 1. Ranjeet Nalawade (Ind), 2. Liya Abelev (Can). 69 kg: 1. Parveen Rana (Ind), 2. Christo Lottering (RSA). 58 kg: 1. Rahul Aware (Ind), 2. Moffat Ducan (Can), 3. Ebikeweimo Wilson (Nige). 54 kg: 1. Jitendra Hari Prasad (Ind); 2. Naatele Shilinela (Nam). 50 kg: 1. Amit Kumar (Ind), 2. Takahashi Steven (Can), 3. McKenna Craig (Sco). 46 kg: 1. Deepak Kumar (Ind), 2. Ali Haider (Pak), 3. James Luu (Can). 42 kg: 1. Ajit Patil (Ind), 2. Salamat Ali (Pak), 3. Jonathan Babulall (Can).

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