Vijender through to round of 16

London, July 29: India’s strong medal contender Vijender Singh sailed into the pre-quarter final in the men’s middleweight (75 kg) boxing competition with a clinical 14-10 win over Danabek Suzhanov of Kazakhstan at the London Olympics here on Saturday.

Vijender, who became the country’s first ever Olympic medal winner in boxing by grabbing the bronze in the Beijing Games four years back, seemed confident as he let in some lethal punches to pierce the defence of his rival.

The Indian led in each of the rounds, though the Kazakh fighter also landed a few good blows at the Excel arena.

Egged on by the vociferous crowd of expatriate Indians, Vijender opened up a 5-4 lead in the opening round, despite missing a few good scoring chances.

The Indian kept his composure in the next round, notwithstanding Suzhanov’s bid to overturn the script and widened the gulf to 9-7. Of special mention was a lightning left hook followed by a right uppercut unleashed by the Indians, both of which proved productive.

Down by two points, Suzhanov tried to go on the offensive in the third round, but Vijender was more than equal to the task as he took a further 5-3 lead to consolidate his position and end the bout on a triumphant note. Agencies

Saina begins medal bid on strong note

LONDON, July 29: India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal made a rousing start to her bid for an Olympic medal as she spanked Swiss Sabrina Jaquet in straight games in a lop-sided women’s singles group stage opening match on Sunday.

The world number five Indian was too good for the 65th ranked Swiss as she took just 22 minutes to complete a 21-9 21-4 victory at the Wembley arena here.

Sabrina, who had qualified for the Games by reaching the quarter finals of the 2012 European Championship in Karlskrona, Sweden, could not provide any resistance to Saina, who launched her campaign on a dominating note.

The 22-year-old Indian, who came into the tournament after winning the Thailand Grand Prix Gold and Indonesian Super Series Premium last month, took 12 minutes to wrap up the first match, before sealing the issue in her favour by winning the second game in just 10 minutes.

Such was the domination of the Indian that Sabrina was reduced to a bystander as the Indian kept lapping up her points in quick succession. The girl from Hyderabad led by a massive 12 and 17 points in the first and second game respectively.

Saina, who had reached the quarterfinals in her Olympic debut at the Beijing Games four years ago, will take on Lianne Tan of Belgium in another group E match on Monday. Agencies

Jai Bhagwan storms into pre-quarterfinals

LONDON, July29: Indian boxer Jai Bhagwan produced a dominating performance to storm into the pre-quarterfinals of the lightweight (60kg) category in the Olympics on Sunday.

Participating in his maiden Olympics at the age of 26, Bhagwan, was in complete control of the bout from the onset as he thrashed his opponent Andrique Allisop of Seychelles 18-8 in the opening round at the Excel arena.

Bhagwan enjoyed a better reach because of his height and technically also the Indian was far superior to his Seychelles opponent.

Bhagwan was equally sound in defense as well as attack and took control over the proceedings with identical scorelines of 7-3 in the first two rounds. Allisop tried his best to get a hold over the bout but Bhagwan was clever enough to deny his opponent any ground. Leading 14-6 in the third round, Bhagwan adopted a cautious approach but never let go his grip over the bout pocketing the decider with a 4-2 margin.

Bhagwan will now face Gani Zhailauov of Kazakhstan in the pre-quarterfinals. Agencies

Lucky Vardhan to play tennis singles too

London, July 29: Indian tennis player Vishnu Vardhan Sunday has got a lucky place in the men’s singles draw replacing German Philipp Kohlschreiber who pulled out of the Olympics with a hamstring injury.

Kohlschreiber pulled out shortly after losing the Kitsbuhel final to Dutchman Robin Haase in Austria Saturday.

Vardhan, who is partnering Leander Paes in the men’s doubles, was given a slot in the singles draw because he was placed high in the doubles draw.

The 25-year-old Indian will face Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcic in the first round Sunday. Later in the day he will also tie up with 1996 Bronze medallist Leander Paes to play the men’s doubles.

Vardhan was lucky to find a place in the Indian Olympic tennis squad after Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna revolted against the All India Tennis Association’s (AITA) decision to pair them with Paes. IANS

Rower Swarn Singh in quarters

LONDON, July29: Rower Swarn Singh held off a late challenge from his South Korean rival Kim Dongyong to win the single sculls repechage round and book a berth in the last eight in the London Olympic Games on Sunday.

Swran, who had to compete in the repechage round after finishing fourth in the heats yesterday, clocked 7:00.49 to complete the 2-km distance, winning the five-man race by more than a boat length, at the Eton Dorney Rowing Centre.

The 23-year-old from Punjab had clocked 6:54.04 in the heats yesterday. Kim, who clocked 7:03.91 to finish second, also made it to the quarterfinals which will be held on Tuesday.

Swarn led the five-rower race from the start itself and only Kim gave him competition while the others fell behind.

In the last 500m, Kim made a last-ditch effort to catch up with Swarn, but the Indian not only held off the challenge but also stretched the lead to win the race by one-and-a-half boat length. Agencies

Olympic Hockey

London, July 29: After an eight-year break, India renew their quest for the elusive ninth gold medal when they take on the Netherlands in their opening Group A fixture of the Olympic men’s hockey competition here on Monday.

The Indians, on a comeback after failing to qualify for the 2008 Olympics, face a difficult task of even reaching the semifinals, much less winning a medal, as they have, besides the Dutch, defending champions Germany, Korea, New Zealand and Belgium to contend with.

As such, there is no respite for the Indians who last beat the Netherlands in the Olympics back in 1984 and Germany in 1968. The Kiwis have always been difficult opponents while it will be a lottery against Korea and a test of firepower against the Belgians.

The expectations this time are sky high, thanks to the undue hype over India’s qualification to the Olympics after a string of victories against weak opponents in New Delhi earlier this year. The players were showered with goodies as if they had won the gold medal and it was left to coach Michael Nobbs to keep things in perspective.

A bronze medal at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia, where the Kiwis won the title, triggered another round of euphoria, but later, defeats against the higher ranked Australia, Germany and Great Britain at a test event in London showed India their place in the hockey hierarchy.

Thus, going into the opening game against double gold medallists (1996, 2000) the Netherlands, India will have to do most of the running, given the all-round strength of their opponents.

The Dutch, though without their penalty corner specialist Taeke Taekema who was a victim of the pre-Olympics shakedown, still boast of an enviable line-up with Teun de Nooijer, playing in his fifth Olympics and one of the greatest modern day players, conducting the show in his twin role as a playmaker and scorer.

As in the case of the Indian team, the Dutch squad too has plenty of new Olympic faces, but with sufficient international exposure that has polished the many rough edges that the side had when coach Paul van Ass took charge two summers ago.

Ideally, a draw with the Dutch and the Germans, and full points in the other three games should put them in contention for the semi-finals, but it is easier said than done.

Since the 2004 Olympics where India last played in these quadrennial Games, the team has participated in just three truly world-level competitions, the World Cup in 2006 (11th) and 2010 (8th) besides the 2005 Champions Trophy (6th) in Chennai.

The performances in these tournaments only emphasised the point that India had a lot of catching up to do and the situation has not changed much in the intervening period.

Looking ahead to Monday’s clash against the Dutch, the Indians would need to be at the top of their game and will have to keep faith in their traditional attacking style of play that Nobbs has encouraged.

India’s chances would largely depend on the ability, alertness and structure of the deep defence to mark the Dutch players whose tactic of switching positions can cause confusion. Perhaps, a zonal defence rather than man-to-man marking could serve India better. Agencies

London, July 29: Expectations are surging once again as India’s golden boy Abhinav Bindra, along with compatriot Gagan Narang, will take the range at the Royal Artillery Barracks on Monday to defend the men’s 10metre air rifle gold he won four years ago in Beijing.

As per the current form of the world’s best shooters, a qualification score of 598 should easily get Abhinav and Gagan into the finals, meaning they have the liberty to shoot two shots each on the ninth ring out of the 60 shots.

In shooting, the difference in qualification points of the ultimate gold-medal winner and the 10th place finisher is not be more than two or three points.

An additional nine would make things tough for them but they could even qualify with a 597 in the bottom four out of the eight finalists. A point lesser than that, 596, will certainly not be a clear qualification and shooters would need to go through a shoot-off to win the bottom slots in the finals.

The job is half done after the qualification round. After a break, the top eight finalists will then play a final ten-shot match, the score of which will be added to their qualification scores to decide the winners.

Abhinav and Gagan have left no stones unturned in their preparation for the Games.

Abhinav has shown fine form as he shot a qualification score of 598 and 104 in the finals to win gold at a competition in France recently.

Although all the competitors are capable of a final berth, but Abhinav and Gagan will face the stiffest challenge from Chinese shooter Zhu Qinan, who won a gold in 2004 at Athens.

Zhu had settled for a silver at Beijing behind Bindra and was seen in tears at the podium.

Another Chinese Wang Tao is also being seen as a strong contender. He has never shot less than 595 at any of the World Cups he has participated in. However, the London Games will be his first Olympics.

Besides the Chinese challenge there is also the current world Champion, Italian Niccolo Campriani. Incidentally, Bindra and Campriani have the same coach Gabby Buehlmann. IANS

LONDON, July 29: The Indian women’s archery team was off target in crunch situations as it lost to Denmark by a point in a see-saw pre-quarterfinal battle at the Lord’s Cricket Ground on Sunday. The trio of world number one Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro lost 210-211 to the Danish team, comprising Louise Laursen, Maja Jager and Carina Christiansen.

Even though the Indians hit more perfect 10s than their rivals, the Danish saved their best for key moments in which the Indians seemed to wilt under pressure. The Danes hit the bulls’ eye thrice compared to just once by the Indians, who were hampered by Deepika’s indifferent form.

Bombayla, however, seemed in good touch and kept the team in the hunt till the end, getting most of the 10s - including 3 in a row, but Swuro fired a poor 5 and then a 6 to let the team down. The Indians managed to win the first and the last sets, but the Danes held the overall lead. Agencies

LONDON, July 29: Indian shooters continued to misfire at the Olympic Games as Heena Sidhu and Annu Raj Singh bowed out of the women’s 10m air pistol event after failing to qualify for the finals on Sunday. Heena came close after finishing 12th with a score of 382 while Annu Raj ended 23rd at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

While Heena had a sequence of 93 97 97 95, Annu Raj shot a series of 94 96 97 91, efforts not good enough to see them into the top-8.

China’s Wenjun Guo won the gold medal, the silver went to France’s Celine Goberville while the bronze medal was won by Olena Kostevych of Ukraine.

It was the second day in a row that the Indians have failed to qualify and it will put enormous pressure on the other shooters who are expected to do the bulk of the medal shopping. Agencies

LONDON, July 29: The pair of Sania Mirza and Rushmi Chakravarthi were knocked out of the women's doubles competition of the London Olympic Games after losing to Chinese Taipei pair of Su Wei Hsieh and Chia-Jung Chuang in a three-setter.

The Indians fought their way back in the second set but lost the opening round match 1-6, 6-3, 1-6 in an hour and 31 minutes.

Sania and Rushmi, who was making her Olympic debut, were never serious contenders in event and India's medal hopes rest in men's doubles and mixed doubles competitions. Agencies

London, July 29: Soumyajit Ghosh put up a spirited effort against higher ranked Kim Hyok Bong of North Korea before going down in the men’s singles second round at the Olympics table tennis event here Sunday. His loss ended India’s challenge in the competition.

World No. 206 Ghosh gave a tough fight to his 77th-ranked opponent before losing 11-9, 6-11, 5-11, 9-11, 7-11.

The 19-year-old gave a good account of himself in his Olympic debut. He had entered the second round beating Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi, a player ranked more than 100 places above him. IANS

London, July 29: India’s mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju are virtually out of the London Olympics as they suffered yet another straight-game defeat in their second group game in the badminton competition at the Wembley arena.

The 2009 World Championships winners Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark, seeded eighth, proved too hot to handle for the 13th ranked Indian combo as they succumbed to a 12-21 16-21 loss in just half an hour here.

Jwala and Diju will take on the Korean pair of Yong Dae Lee and Jung Eun Ha in their last group match on Tuesday. Agencies

London, July 29: Indian rowers Sandeep Kumar and Manjeet Singh finished fourth in the first heat of the men‘s lightweight double scull at the Eton Dorney but qualified for the repechage round in the Olympics here on Sunday. The Indian pair finished 6:56.60 at the Eton Dorney and will have another chance through the repechage to qualify for the knock-out round. Another Indian rower, Sawarn Singh Virk, made the best of the repechage to enter the men’s single sculls quarterfinals after clocking 7:00.49 to finish first amongst five contestants. The Indian was 3.42 seconds faster than the second-placed South Korean Dongyong Kim, who also entered the quarterfinals. IANS

LONDON, July 29: Shooter Kim Rhode missed just one shot out of 100 - equalling the world record - as she became America's first individual medallist at five straight Olympics with gold in the women’s skeet on Sunday. Rhode, an Olympic shooting medalist at Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing, dominated proceedings at London's Royal Artillery Barracks.

China’s Wei Ning won silver with Danka Bartekova of Slovakia taking bronze after a shoot-off.

Rhode, 33, won golds in women’s double trap in Atlanta in 1996 and in Athens in 2004, taking bronze in the event in Sydney in 2000.

She switched to skeet full-time when women’s double trap was discontinued as an Olympic event after Athens, and grabbed silver in the discipline four years ago in Beijing.

After a bright start to the day in south London, storms swept across the temporary venue but the rain held off for the final, where Rhode finished with 99 hits out of 100 of the fast-moving clay pigeon targets.

Wei was a distant second with 91 hits, while Bartekova was involved in a shoot-off for bronze after she finished level on 90 hits with Russia's Marina Belikova.

Rhode had also won the qualifying competition, hitting 74 targets out of 75 to notch a new Olympic record.

Skeet requires competitors to hit a clay target moving away from them. The top six shooters from the qualification go into the final, where they fire a further 25 targets, with the scores added to their qualifying tally.

Rhode’s build-up to the London Games was hit when flight problems forced her to miss her team's training camp in Denmark, and when her four-month-old puppy ate her plane ticket. Agencies

LONDON, July 29: China’s Ye Shiwen unleashed a withering burst to claim Olympic gold in the women’s 400m medley in world record time at the London Olympics on Saturday.

The 16-year-old overwhelmed American world champion Elizabeth Beisel to win the final in four minutes 28.43 seconds to cap a glittering night for China in the pool following Sun Yang’s victory in the men’s 400m freestyle.

Ye put in a storming final freestyle leg to shatter the previous record of 4:29.45, set by Australian Stephanie Rice en route to gold at the Beijing Games four years ago.

So supercharged was Ye’s finish that she powered under the world record on the back of a 28.93sec final lap to leave her rivals in her wake.

Beisel finished with silver in 4:31.27 with Ye’s teammate Li Xuanxu taking the bronze in 4:32.91.

Defending champion Rice trailed in sixth in 4:35.49 with British hope and world silver medallist Hannah Miley fifth in 4:34.17.

“I think under the circumstances, it proves I am not fit enough to back up two top-class swims, I didn’t really cruise through the heats,” said Rice.

“I am disappointed, I can’t deny that. I put in a solid swim, just the time wasn’t good enough.”

A long-term shoulder injury, which requires treatment after every training session, has hampered the 24-year-old Rice’s preparations for the defence of her two Olympic medley titles. Agencies

LONDON, July 29: Defending Olympic champion Guo Wenjun took the women’s 10m air pistol title on Sunday, holding her nerve to come from behind on the final shot to seize gold after a thrilling three-way tussle.

France’s Celine Goberville, who led going into the final shot, took silver after a shoot-off with Athens 2004 gold medallist Olena Kostevych of the Ukraine, who won bronze.

With her final effort, Guo shot a 10.8, just 0.1 points short of a maximum score, drawing gasps from the packed crowd at London’s Royal Artillery Barracks while Goberville could only manage 8.8.

That meant Goberville was locked on the same points as Kostevych, leading to a shoot-off. The Frenchwoman regained her nerve after the disappointment of missing out on gold to seize the silver.

Guo, whose win marks China’s second shooting gold of the Games, topped the earlier qualifying session.

The top eight competitors from the qualification round reach the final, shooting a further 10 shots — each fired individually under timed conditions and the scores are added together to determine the winner. Agencies

LONDON: Lochte won the 400m medley gold on Saturday as Olympic superstar Michael Phelps was shut out of the medals in the first swimming final of the London Games.

The race was expected to be a duel between 14-time Olympic gold medallist Phelps and Lochte — who settled for bronze in the event four years ago in Beijing — as Phelps made it one of his eight golds.

Instead it was Lochte who won in 4min 05.18sec, comfortably in front of Brazilian Thiago Pereira in 4:08.86 with Japan’s Kosuke Hagino claiming bronze with an Asian record of 4:08.94.

“I think I am in shock right now,” Lochte said. “Going into these Games I knew I was capable of getting the win. I’m happy that I was able to do that.”

Phelps was fourth in 4:09.28 — the first time since he was a 15-year-old at his first Olympics in Sydney that he failed to medal in an Olympic final. He was fifth in the 200m fly in Sydney. In the interim, Phelps had won six gold and two bronze in Athens, and of course his vaunted eight golds in eight events in Beijing.

“It was just a crappy race,” Phelps said. “I felt fine the first 200 and then I couldn’t really go the last 100.

“They swam a better race than me, they swam a smarter race than me and that is why they are on the podium,” he added. Phelps was in trouble from the time he barely scraped into the final, putting himself in the unfavorable outside lane eight. He had never been seeded lower than fourth in an Olympic final.

“I was lucky to get into the final,” Phelps admitted. “After the heat I figured I’d be fourth or fifth.”

He never led, and once Lochte had gained the lead from South African Chad le Clos by the end of the opening butterfly leg, the race appeared to be his to lose.

Phelps had moved into second at the end of the butterfly, and held onto it during the backstroke leg, but as Lochte began to extend his lead Phelps was locked in a battle with Pereira and Hagino that he was destined to lose.

“It’s just really frustrating to start off on a bad note like this,” said Phelps, who is slated to swim seven events. “It’s pretty upsetting.

The flop denied Phelps in his first bid to become the first male swimmer to win the same event at three successive Olympics. He’ll have a chance at trebles in the 100m and 200m butterfly and the 200m medley, but Japanese breaststroker Kosuke Kitajima also has two shots at the achievement.

“The biggest thing now is to try and get past this and move forward,” Phelps said. “I have a bunch of races and hopefully we can finish this a lot better than we started. Agencies

LONDON, July 29: Cathryn Finlayson scored in the third minute on Sunday to give New Zealand a 1-0 victory over old rival Australia in the opening women’s hockey match at the London Olympics.

Australia is a three-time Olympic champion, but its last gold medal performance was at home during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. New Zealand, meanwhile, is improving after failing to win a single match at the 2008 Beijing Games.

New Zealand had the ball in the Australian net in just the second minute, but the umpire had already blown for a short corner for an earlier offense. From the corner, Finlayson hammered in the rebound for her 18th international goal.

Australia should have equalized before the break but first veteran Megan Rivers hit the post with a low hard shot and then Emily Smith could only shoot straight at New Zealand goalkeeper Bianca Russell when all alone in the circle just before half time.

Australia threw everything into attack in the second half but could not break down the stubborn Kiwi defense and could have gone further behind had it not been for a great low save by goalkeeper Toni Cronk to turn away a Charlotte Harrison backhand shot.

The match was the first Olympic hockey match ever played on a bright blue pitch that is intended to make the fast-moving ball easier to follow for players, fans and television viewers.

Group B also features one of the tournament favorites, Argentina, along with Germany, South Africa and the United States. Defending champion the Netherlands is in Group A with Belgium, China, Britain, Japan and South Korea. The men’s hockey tournament is scheduled to start on Monday. AP

LONDON, July 29: Russian top seed Musa Mogushkov was an early casualty in the men’s under-66kg judo tournament, losing in the first round to Azerbaijan’s Tarlan Karimov. Mogushkov was actually ranked number two in the world when he was selected for the Games ahead of the only man above him in the rankings, Alim Gadanov.

His defeat comes just a day after Russia had won their first Olympic judo gold medal as an independent nation in the under-60kg division through Arsen Galstyan.

The two fighters were level going into a period of golden score where Karimov countered a Mogushkov attack to land the decisive point.

Second seed Tsagaanbataar Khashbaatar of Mongolia made safe progress as he defeated Tu Kai-Wen of Taiwan with an identical counter (uchi-mata sukeshi).

In the women’s under-52kg division, Kosovan Majlinda Kelmendi, fighting under the Albanain flag as her country is not recognised by the International Olympic Committee, progressed with a victory over Finland’s Jaana Sundberg.

There was also early success for North Korea’s An Kum-Ae and Germany’s Romy Tarangul, who once appeared naked in Playboy. AFP

LONDON, July 29: World number two Agnieszka Radwanska suffered a miserable return to Wimbledon on Sunday as Olympic Games tennis was played indoors for the first time in 100 years.

Second seeded Radwanska, defeated by Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final three weeks ago, suffered more Centre Court disappointment as she was beaten 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 by Germany’s Julia Goerges in the first round.

Hail and heavy rain had drenched the All England Club in south-west London just as play was set to get underway with organisers deciding to shut the Centre Court roof.

It was the first time Olympic tennis has been played indoors since the Stockholm Games of 1912. Goerges, who served 20 aces and hit 56 winners, will play Varvara Lepchenko of the United States or Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg in the last 32.

The 24th-ranked German broke in the opening game of the match and recovered from dropping her own serve in the seventh game by landing the decisive break at 5-5.

Goerges, 23, quickly closed out the set before Radwanska finally began to find some rhythm as she won the second set in a tie-break.

Radwanska had a chance to kill off Goerges when she broke early in the final set, but she couldn’t maintain her momentum and the German made her pay with two breaks to seal an impressive win. AFP

LONDON, July 29: Dutch cyclist Marianne Voss took the gold in the women’s road race Sunday after leading a three-rider breakaway that took all the medals at the London Olympics here Sunday. Lizzie Armitstead was second for Britain with Russia’s Olga Zabelinskaya took the bronze after the trio broke away from the peloton in the last hour of the race.

Voss now has two Olympic gold medals after winning the points race in the velodrome in Beijing four years ago.

For Britain, Armitstead’s silver is a consolation after the highly-rated men’s team led by Mark Cavendish failed to come close to the medals Saturday.

The result meant that both the men’s and women’s road races were decided by breakaways rather than a bunch sprint.

Breakaways are more likely to be successful at the Olympics, where riders are not allowed the radios they use at other major events, making it harder for the peloton to judge the necessary pace to reel in escapees. (IANS)

LONDON, July 29: The Indian contingent is still awaiting a communication from the Olympic Games organizers on how an unidentified lady was allowed to gatecrash into the team’s march past at the Opening Ceremony even as media reports claimed to have identified the “ mystery woman”.

The Indians have submitted a letter on this embarrassing issue to the organisers last night and acting Chef-de-Mission Brig PK Muralidharan Raja said that no response has come yet.

“We have submitted the letter expressing our strong resentment on the matter to the organisers last night. We are still waiting for their response,” said Raja.

A day after photos of the ‘mystery woman’ appeared in newspapers and went viral on social networking sites, a newspaper claimed to have identified the young lady as Madhura Honey, a post-graduate from Bangalore.

Deccan Chronicle, quoting sources, said that her friend from the college was also baffled seeing her with the Indian contingent. She has been living in London and before she went with the Indian team, she had displayed her Olympic passes on her Facebook account. But once this became an issue, she had deactivated her Facebook account.

The Indian contingent, however, was willing to wait for an official confirmation about the identity of the person.

“I am also aware of these reports. But I can’t comment on newspaper reports. We want something from the organisers,” Raja said.

The young lady in red shirt and blue trouser was seen leading the Indian contingent in the march past alongside Beijing Games bronze medallist Sushil Kumar and her unwanted presence has not gone down well with the Indians, who had no clue as to who she was. Agencies

LONDON, July 29: Former Olympic 100m champion Maurice Greene thinks Usain Bolt will deliver at the London Games, but backed the world's fastest man's Jamaican compatriot Yohan Blake to win the 100m.

"I think he's going to get along just fine," Greene, who won the 100m at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and claimed bronze in Athens four years later, said of Bolt.

"Usain will go out there and continue to do the things he does... But Blake is going to win."

Five-time world champion Greene, however, had a word of warning for Bolt as the Jamaican seeks to defend his double sprint titles won in Beijing four years ago.

"The pressure of coming back to the Olympic Games is very tough, especially when you're trying to replicate what you did four years ago," the American said, citing his own experience of having failed to claim a second gold in the blue riband event of track and field in Athens in 2004.

"It's hard to come back and do it again. I'd say just focus on what's in front of you, not the past."

Another former track star plumping for Blake over Bolt was Edwin Moses, the 400m hurdler who went unbeaten in 122 races over more than nine years of competition.

"In track and field, you have a saying: 'Stuff happens, you're only as good as your last race'. I'm not sure the cards are in Bolt's favour, so I'm going for Blake," Moses said.

"Bolt ran some very good times last year, but he's not at same level as years previous. He's had to regroup, start from zero and work way back up."

The predictions were better for Bolt's chances in the 200m, an event in which the 25-year-old Jamaican is also world record holder.

"Bolt will have no problem winning the 200m," said Greene.

Bolt, who also secured triple gold at the 2009 world championships in Berlin, has admitted that losing in both the 100 and the 200m at the Jamaican Olympic trials to training partner and 100m world champion Blake hasn't been the best preparation for the Games here.

Blake has long lurked in the shadows cast by team-mates Bolt and Asafa Powell -- but after some stunning results, "The Beast" has suddenly roared to prominence.

Blake's personal best of 9.75sec in the 100m makes him the fourth fastest sprinter of all time after Bolt, American Tyson Gay and Powell. His 19.26sec in the 200m is the second fastest ever after Bolt. Agencies

Medal tally  (Top 10)

Country    G    S    B    Total
China        6    1    2    9
United States    2    3    2    7
Italy        2    2    2    6
South Korea    1    1    2    4
North Korea    1    1    2    4
Brazil        1    1    1    3
Netherlands    1    1    0    2
Russia    1    0    1    2
Australia    1    0    0    1
Kazakhstan    1    0    0    1

India on Monday:

* Shooting: Beijing Olympics gold medalist Abhinav Bindra along with Gagan Narang will be in action competing for gold in the 10m air rifle event at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
* Boxing: Sumit Sangwan (81kg) will be in action at Excel Arena.
* Field Hockey: Indian hockey team will play their first match of the tournament against The Netherlands at the Riverbanks Arena
* Archery: Archers will be competing in individual events.

LONDON, July 29: North Korea's An Kum Ae won gold in the women's under-52kg category on Sunday after a day of surprises in which all the top seeds were knocked out in the opening rounds.

The 32-year-old, ranked 25th in the world, went one better than the silver she who won four years ago in Beijing by beating Cuba's Yanet Bermoy Acosta with a yuko throw in the extra time golden score period.

Earlier she put out world champion and tournament favourite Misato Nakamura of Japan, a bronze medal winner in Beijing, before comfortably seeing off Italy's Rosalba Forciniti in the semifinals.

Bermoy Acosta, 25, had also looked impressive on her way to the final, comfortably beating Belgium's Ilse Heylen, 35, who won bronze in Athens in 2004, in the semis.

Italian police officer Forciniti, 26, won bronze thanks to the decision of the referee and two judges in a very tight battle with Luxembourg's Marie Muller, 27, who was seeking her country's first Olympic medal since 1952.

A clearly overjoyed Frenchwoman Priscilla Gneto, 20, beat Heylen with an ippon throw to take the other bronze in extra time. Agencies

London, July 29: The Indian men`s doubles pairs will have to wait before taking the tennis court at the Wimbledon as their first round match of the London Olympics were postponed due to rain here on Sunday. Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan were set to take on Dutch pair Robin Hasse and Jean-Julien Rojer while Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna were pitted against Max Mirnyi and Alexander Bury of Belarus.

India`s men`s singles player Somdev Devvarman had his match stalled mid-way through against Finland`s Jarko Nieminen. Somdev was down 3-6, 0-1 when the match was stopped.

Vardhan was also set to take on Blaz Kavicic of Slovenia in the first round. Vardhan got a lucky place in the men`s singles draw replacing German Philipp Kohlschreiber who pulled out of the Olympics with a hamstring injury. (IANS)

London, July 29: Kazakhstan's teenage prodigy Zulfiya Chinshanlo powered her way to a weightlifting gold in the 53kg category Sunday, breaking her own world record in the clean and jerk.

The 19-year-old posted a snatch of 95 kg before making history with 131 kg in the clean and jerk, one kilogram more than her effort at last year's world championships.

The total of 226 kg gave a seven-kilo winning margin ahead of Hsu Shu-Ching of Chinese Taipei, who took the silver, and Moldova's Cristina Iovu, who won the bronze.

Hsu was awarded the silver over Iovu due to a lesser bodyweight. China's 17-year-old prodigy Zhou Jun, one of the favourites for gold, was a surprise early casualty, failing to snatch 95 kg. Another contender, Yuderqui Contreras of the Dominican Republic, also crashed out in the snatch after dropping all three attempts at 94 kg. IANS

Kolkata, July 29: It was a prized moment for several budding football players of the city who Sunday had an opportunity for a photo op with Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit at the Mohun Bagan day celebrations.

Gullit, who is in the city on a two day visit, was the chief guest at the celebrations and stole the show with his ability to mix not only with the budding footballers and established players but also with the club's cricketers.

"I was going through the history of this club and I think it was the game of football that became the symbol of oppression against the Englishmen. Football is not just a sport... it is something stronger than that. I am very honoured to be present here," said Gullit.

Gullit recollected how he had dedicated his footballer of the year award in 1987 to Nelson Mandela without being fully aware of the significance of the gesture.

Gullit received a standing ovation as soon as he entered the Netaji Indoor stadium - the venue of the programme and waved to the crowd to acknowledge their applause.

The nursery football team players, who were felicitated during the programme, jostled among themselves to meet Gullit. Sensing their excitement, Gullit obliged the nursery team with a photo op with him.

Gullit also exchanged pleasantries with cricketers such as Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha, Debobrata Das and other cricketers from Mohun Bagan.

State Panchayat Minister and vice president of Mohun Bagan Club Subrata Mukherjee also had a brief chat with Gullit.

The Dutch ex-soccer star unveiled a new Mohun Bagan team jersey designed by singer Babul Supriyo. IANS

London, July 29: St. Kitts and Nevis sprinter Tameka Williams has been sent home from the London Olympics after failing a doping test, officials said on Sunday. The St Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee said in a statement that Williams, 22, left London on Saturday in connection with the case. "The St. Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee (SKNOC) has withdrawn sprint athlete, Tameka Williams, from its 2012 Olympic Team, effective, Saturday, 28th July," the statement said. IANS

Spain’s Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finished fifth, behind defending world champion Sebastien Vettel of Red Bull, but good enough to maintain his lead in the world championship standings going into Formula One’s summer break. Agencies

Budapest, July 29: Sahara Force India failed to score a point at the Hungarian Grand Prix held here on Sunday, with its drivers finishing 11th and 12th.

Former GP2 champion Nico Hulkenberg failed to earn the final championship point despite starting 10th on the grid, ending the race at 11th, 57.2 seconds behind race winner Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.

British driver Paul di Resta finished where he started, 12th, 5.6 seconds behind his teammate.

Di Resta is 13th in the driver's championship table with 27 points while German teammate Hulkenberg lurks in 16th place with 19 points.

Force India's hopes of of regaining the sixth place in the constructor's championship took a knock after the race. They are placed eighth with 46 points.

The only Indian driver in Formula One, Narain Karthikeyan was the second retirement of the day apart from Mercedes' Michael Schumacher. Karthikeyan stalled his car at turn four in the 60th lap of the race. IANS

NORTH SOUND, July 29: New Zealand were up against it at stumps on the fourth day of their second Test against West Indies at North Sound after two breakthroughs for the hosts left them at 199/3, just 28 runs ahead.

Looking to erase a 171-run first-innings deficit, opener Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum strove manfully to move the Black Caps towards positive territory but both fell after taking the tourists to 170/1 at one stage in the final session.

West Indies spinner Sunil Narine, who pulled out a maiden five-wicket Test haul in the first innings, made the first breakthrough in the second innings after trapping Daniel Flynn lbw for 20 in an early blow for the Kiwis.

But thereafter Guptill, who just missed a century in the first innings, and McCullum piled on the runs before falling for 67 and 84 as Narine and Kemar Roach claimed their respective scalps.

Guptill and McCullum had put on 123 for the second wicket before spinner Narine had opener Guptill caught by Assad Fudadin at short leg.

Kemar Roach then bowled McCullum to leave night watchman Neil Wagner on four not out with skipper Ross Taylor on 11.

West Indies had earlier made the Kiwis’ opening tally of 351 look modest as they made 522 all out with skipper Darren Sammy instrumental in helping his compatriots to pass the 500 mark for the first time since Mumbai last year.

Sammy helped himself to a six over deep midwicket to bring up his third Test half-century before falling next ball to Daniel Vettori.

They reached the mark when Narine hit a boundary off Vettori before getting himself run out two balls later.

It then fell to Doug Bracewell to end the West Indies’ first innings as he trapped Ravi Rampaul lbw for one before Guptill, who scored 97 in the first innings for the New Zealanders, and Flynn padded up to start chasing down the target.

Although Guptill and McCullum made light of the loss of Flynn their own demise suggested the West Indies looked the likelier victor. Agencies