Milestone of India - Vidya Pillai won the Australian Open snooker championship.

CHENNAI: Vidya Pillai won the Australian Open snooker championship defeated Remona Belmond of New Zealand four frames to three (13-78, 1-71, 66-32, 62-12, 23-55, 50-40, 50-40) in a closely fought final.

The Chennai-based Vidya, a member of TNBSA, had beaten Jessica Woods of Australia 4-0 in the semifinal.

Chitra Magimairaj, who had lost to Belmond in the semifinal, bagged the bronze medal.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - India's Vikas Gowda added to India's siver tally.

GREAT EFFORT:India's Vikas Gowda added to India's siver tally

with his medal in the discus event on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: Benn Harradine of Australia who had led the Commonwealth lists in discus throughout this season expectedly took the title, with a 65.45 metre effort, but all eyes among a near-capacity Sunday crowd were riveted on just one man near the cage — Vikas Gowda.

As it turned out, 27-year-old Gowda produced his best series ever including a season-best 63.69m to get the silver, the first big medal for the US-based Mysorean, after his Asian championship silver in 2005.

So many championships had ended in disappointments since then and it was feared that Gowda might not realise his potential in his prime. He proved everyone wrong on Sunday. Harradine had a 65.45 in the fourth round after he led early with a second-round 64.73. The 27-year-old Aussie had finished eighth in the last edition at home. He had led the season, coming into this meet, among Commonwealth athletes, with his 66.45m for the silver at the Continental Cup in Split, Croatia.

Gold for Baptiste

Englishman Leon Baptiste won the biggest title of his career, running away with the men's 200 metres gold. It was a race which he dominated throughout, running hard on the curve, holding his pace through the final 50 metres and signalling victory as he crossed.

Baptiste, the 2003 European junior champion, clocked a personal best 20.45s that was good enough in a field that did not contain the top Jamaicans or even the second-rung Caribbeans. Jamaican Lanceford Spence bettered his best of 20.54s clocked in the semfinals earlier in the evening with a 20.49 for the silver while Christian Malcolm, former CWG, World indoor and European silver medallist, all of 31 years, took the bronze in 20.52s.

Greene clears hurdles

Favourite David Greene of Wales was fluent over the hurdles and won after a close battle with South African Louis Jacobus van Zyl. The two were almost together at the eighth hurdle, with the Welsh clearing ahead, but on the ninth the South African, a finalist at the Beijing Olympics, almost caught up.

Through the flat Greene was able to hold his poise as Van Zyl started fading. Eventually, it was 48.52s for the 24-year-old Welshman and 48.63 for the 25-year-old South African, both under Indian all-comer's record of 49.03s set by Chinese Meng Yan in Bangalore in 2006.

Canadian Nicole Forrester took the high jump gold, to make up for her disappointment of no-heighting in the Melbourne Games. She had won bronze in the 2002 Games and had come sixth in 1998. The 33-year-old Canadian had a jump-off with Jamaican Sheree Francis after both cleared 1.88 and failed at 1.91. Both had the same record on count back. The jump-off at 1.91 was cleared by Forrester while Francis failed.

Ajoke Odumosu of Nigeria took the women's 400m hurdles title in a slow 55.28s. The women's 200m final was rescheduled and will now be run on Monday after the jury decides on a protest.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Silver show from Prajusha and Gowda.

Silver lining:M.A. Prajusha did well to bag the silver medal

in the long jump event at the Games.

NEW DELHI: Two silvers in two hours. India had its best day in the Commonwealth Games athletics at the Nehru Stadium here on Sunday evening. Men's discus thrower Vikas Gowda and women's long jumper M.A. Prajusha brought silvers for the country on a historic day.

Never before has the country won more than two medals in a single edition and this time we have four already and looking good for more.

Vikas Gowda, the Mysore-born athlete who trains in the US, came up with the best series of his life when he threw the saucer over 63 metres thrice.

His silver-winning throw, a season-best 63.69m came in the second round. It was the country's first medal in men's discus in the Games history.

“I was in good form, I expected a 65-metre throw today,” said Gowda, the 27-year-old national-record holder with 64.96m.

Satisfying day

“This is a very satisfying day after my 2009 injury. There are bigger things coming, at the next Worlds (in South Korea next year).”

His series read 62.84, 63.69, 61.83, 63.26, 63.24 and a foul.

But he was disappointed that his dad Shive Gowda, who had coached him for the last ten years, had to buy a ticket to watch him.

“I spoke to all the officials to get him a coach's pass so that he could be in the coaches' area but I couldn't get it for him. He is somewhere up there.”

Meanwhile, Prajusha had the long jump gold till the end of the fifth round. She led the field, which included Canada's Tabia Charles and Trinidad's Rhonda Watkins both with a personal best of 6.82m, at that point with her day's best 6.47m.

But Canada's Alice Faliya grabbed the gold with a last-round effort of 6.50 and then jumped in glee. Her teammate Tabia Charles took the bronze.

“When I started today, I was praying for at least a bronze,” said the 23-year-old Kerala-born Prajusha, a junior clerk at Bangalore's South Western Railway who is coached by SAI coach M.A. George.

“The others are all very talented, we are nothing…so I'm very happy that I've got the silver. I'm not at all disappointed that I missed the gold.”

Prajusha, who had a best of 6.55m this season, opened with 6.29 and then improved with the next three jumps, moving to 6.31, 6.43 and 6.47 before messing up her next effort. She had a weak 6.26 in the last round.

Meanwhile Mayookha Johny, who has making headlines at almost every championship in the last few months struggled with an ankle problem and finished sixth with a best of 6.30m while Resmi Bose, who also had the same distance, was seventh.

There should be some good news too from the track on Monday. Tintu Luka progressed to the final, winning her 800m heats in 2:02.73 secs.

“I'm very happy with Tintu's run…this is what we had planned, to win the race today,” said P.T. Usha, her coach.

Sahana Kumar was fourth in women's high jump with a season-best 1.83m while Kavya Muthanna was 13th and last with 1.68m.

Gayathry qualifies

Elsewhere, National champion Gayathry Govindaraj qualified for the women's 100m final after finishing third in her heats with 13.83s while M.M. Anch was sixth in the other group and failed to make the grade.

Australian Sally Pearson, the Olympics silver medallist who was disqualified for a false start after finishing first in the 100m, was the fastest of the qualifiers.

H.M. Jyothi failed to qualify for the women's 200m final after finishing sixth in her semifinal while Satti Geetha was disqualified for a false start in her group. Abdul Najeeb Qureshi was disqualified in the men's 200 first round on Saturday.

In both cases, it looked as though they were wary of returning a poor placing or were told to preserve themselves for the relay, a strategy the Indians have adopted in all major championships in the past.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Sushil Kumar proves his class.

TIGHT GRIP:India's Sushil Kumar (right) did not face much of a problem against Heinrich Barnes in the final of the men's wrestling 66kg category (freestyle).

NEW DELHI: World champion Sushil Kumar proved his class to bag another freestyle gold medal for India even as two other home wrestlers narrowly missed the top honours in the Commonwealth Games on Sunday.

With Sushil's feat in 66kg, the host grapplers collected 10 gold medals and topped the discipline.
Anuj Kumar (84kg) and Joginder Kumar (120kg) managed silvers, while Anil Kumar (55kg) gathered a bronze on the concluding day of wrestling competitions at the K.D. Jadhav stadium in the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex here.

Pakistani grapplers Azhar Hussain (55kg) and Muhammad Inam (84kg) surprised all by claiming golds.

Sushil cruised to victory against Australia's Mehrdad Tarash (6-0) and Pakistan's Muhammad Salman (7-0, 3-0) before outwitting Gambian Famara Jarjou (3-0) in a nine-second semifinal contest.

In a repeat of the summit clash in the Commonwealth championship at Jalandhar in December last, Sushil recorded a crushing win over South African Heinrich Barnes.

The 27-year-old World champion attacked Barnes's legs and took the first period 2-0. Nevertheless, in the process, the ace wrestler received two cautions for applying faulty techniques.

Aggressive

Sushil adopted a more aggressive approach after the break and overpowered Barnes like a python. His control and gripping was so strong that the South African was unable to make any attempt of wriggling out. The referee adjudged Sushil the winner ‘by fall' when he was leading 5-0.

Standing ovation

The newly-crowned champion begun his victory run amid deafening noise as everyone in the packed stadium, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi joined the rest in giving Sushil a standing ovation.

“I wanted to attack him (Barnes) as he was trying to run away from me. It is a big thing to win the gold medal (before the home crowd),” said Sushil. He added the title victory would boost his preparation for the Asian Games

Luck deserts Anuj

Anuj, a silver medallist in the Manchester Games, beat Sierra Leone's A. Kalokoh (6-0, 6-0), Scottish Seon Keogh (2-0, 1-0) and Nigerian Andrew Dick (1-0, 1-1) to book a place in the title clash.

The home wrestler's impatience cost him the yellow metal as he hurried on to attack Inam in the second period after bagging the first 3-1.

The winner was ascertained through ‘clinch' following the scoreless third period. Inam won the toss and consequently the title. “I could not execute my plan. Like in Manchester, this time too luck deserted me,” said a disappointed Anuj.

Joginder, who beat England's Mark Cocker (5-0, 4-0) and Australian Denis Roberts (2-0, 1-0) on his way to the final, could not get past Canadian grappler of Indian origin Arjan Bhullar, a silver medallist in the Commonwealth championship last year.

Joginder, who had come in as a replacement for Rajiv Tomar after a positive dope test, went down in a ‘clinch' in the first period and picked up a leg injury in the next to end up at the second place.

Milestone of India - Milestone in Hindu - Muslim Unity. (Karnataka - India.)

Symbol of amity:The Hindu-Muslim shrine at Shivalingeshwara Math at Savalgi in Gokak

Belgaum: Shivalingeshwara Math at Savalgi in Gokak taluk, near the confluence of Ghataprabha and Hiranyakeshi rivers, has been a place of worship for all faiths for the last six centuries.

The ground floor/basement of this small but beautiful Hindu-Muslim shrine, built in an Islamic style, houses the nirvikalpa (live) samadhi of Shaiva saint Shivalingeshwara.

There is a tomb in the first floor with four minarets. There is a stone bed and a cotton bed. It is said that Shivalingeshwara and the famous Sufi saint Hazrath Khwaja Bandenawaz Gesudaraz of Gulbarga sat in this room and discussed socio-cultural issues.

Legend

As per legend, as revealed by the 15th seer of the math, Jagadguru Shivalingeshwara Swamiji, certain incidents during the late 14th Century led to communal tension among castes and religions, conflicts that the Shaiva saint is said to have resolved by performing miracles.

The Sufi saint visited Savalgi and is believed to have held discussions with Shivalingeshwara.

Subsequently, Hazrath Khwaja Bandenawaz Gesudaraz ordered Muslims to make common cause with all religious communities and serve the math as servants of the Shaiva saint. Since then, Muslims became an inseparable part of the math.

Of the 66 ‘sevaks' in the shrine, 20 are Muslims and the others

Hindus, Jains and Buddhists.

The key of the main entrance is with a Muslim security guard. Every day around 100 to 500 visiting devotees are provided free meals, and the number is high during annual festivals.

The head of the math must participate in all the important rituals observed by Muslims and other religious communities in the village.

If there is a death, he cannot have bath and perform regular puja until the last rites are performed and the community intimates him about it.

Annual festivals

The two annual festivals — a 10-day ‘jatra mahotsava' in April and the Navaratri-Dasara celebrations in October — see participation by thousands of devotees from all religions and castes.

The grand finale is marked by a magnificent procession with ‘sevaks' in traditional uniforms and holding arms, with the head of the math riding a horse dressed as a king. The devotees chant the slogan “Hara Hara Deen, Hara Hara Mahadev” during the procession.

Milestone of India - Milestone in Hindu - Muslim Unity. (Karnataka - India.)

CHAMARAJANAGAR: The immersion procession of the lord Ganesh idol in Chamarajanagar town on Saturday was peaceful amid tight security of over 800 police personnel, who were deployed on the procession route.

Witnessed by a large crowd, the procession began from the Gurunanjashettar Choultry at 11.00 a.m. and took to the routes taken by the traditional procession to the Doddarasana Kola (pool) to immerse the idol in the night. Deputy Commissioner Chakravarthi Mohan, Superintendent of Police B.S. Prakash, Additional Deputy Commissioner Nagaraju, performed poojas to the Ganesh idol. The Muslim community leaders distributed sweets to Hindu devotees who marched with the spirit of harmony and integrity when the procession entered the streets of the Muslim-dominated Khadakpur Mohalla. The procession passed off peacefully in the town.

Milestone of India - Navaratri Brahmotsavams - Simha Vahana for Lord Balaji.

Navaratri festivities:Lord Venkateswara being taken in a procession on Simha Vahanam at Tirumala on Sunday as part of the ongoing Brahmotsavam.

TIRUMALA: On the third day of the ongoing nine-day annual Navaratri Brahmotsavams at Tirumala the processional deity of Lord Malayappa was taken around the mada streets on a golden “Simha” Vahanam in a grand procession. Thousands of devotees witnessed the colourful procession that lasted for over two hours.

The day also witnessed special rituals inside the hill temple.

The day as usual began with ‘Suprabhatam' to the main deity in the wee hours of the day followed by special rituals like – Ekantha Thirumanjanam to the Utsava deities at Ranganayakula mandapam, Koluvu and Panchanga sravanam inside the Bangaru vakili on Sunday morning.

The evening saw the conduct of Unjal seva at the Unjal mandapam situated outside the main temple complex followed by the grand procession of the Lord on golden ‘Muthyapu Pandiri' vahanam. The day came to an end with the Navarathri Koluvu and Asthanam inside the temple in the night.

Meanwhile the TTDs Specified Authority ( SA) Chairman J. Satyanarayana appealed to the devotees to make use of various facilities being extended to them by the temple management. Mr. Satyanarayana who noticed pilgrims sleeping on the open top granite steps in front of the main temple complex daring the cold weather, was taken aback when they explained him that spending the night in front of the main temple was part of their pilgrimage and tradition.

Meanwhile, the ‘Hundi' collections registered a record income of

Rs.1.95 crores by way of offerings from the visiting devotees.

Yet in another munificent donation Janardhan Reddy, a native of Mulakalacheruvu in Chittoor district donated Rs.30 lakhs to the TTDs Balaji Arogya Varaprasadini scheme
The TTDs Deputy reception officer Bhupathi Reddy received the amount on behalf of the management.

OM NAMO VENKATESAYA !

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Guinness record: Rrecord saplings planted in an hour at Leh. (Jammu Kashmir - India.)

Green record:Volunteers plant saplings in Leh on Sunday.

LEH: The ‘cold desert' of Leh on Sunday entered the Guinness Book of World Records after 50,300 saplings were planted at a village here in less than an hour by 9,000 volunteers under a drive supported by Buddhist monks to mark the ‘green' Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

The earlier record was held by Peru, where 40,000 saplings were planted in 60 minutes by 8,000 volunteers.

Sunday's programme was flagged off by Drukchen Rinpoche, chairman of the ‘Live to Love' initiative, at 10 seconds past 10.10 a.m. (the date being October 10, 2010). The event was held in collaboration with the Commonwealth Games Delhi.

More than 15,000 volunteers reached Changa village, nearly 40 km from Leh town, in the morning, but only 9,000 were allowed to participate.

A team of three members from the Guinness World Records was in the village to monitor the event. Chairman and adjudicator of the team Tarika Vara announced that 9,000 people had successfully planted 50,300 saplings in less than an hour, a new world record. — PTI

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Devvarman claims gold.

PUMPED UP:Top seed Somdev Devvarman, the World No.97,

made short work of Greg Jones, the World No.234 from Australia,

winning the men's final in straight sets.

NEW DELHI: Somdev Devvarman became India's first tennis gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Australia's Greg Jones at the R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium here on Sunday.

Devvarman converted his second match-point to clinch the men's singles event, preventing Australia's domination in the inaugural discipline, after India had faced relatively disappointing results from stars such as Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza.

Precise and consistent from the backcourt, the World No. 97 broke Jones once in the first set — in the seventh game — to go 4-3 up, and then maintained his supremacy to close it out 6-4 in 42 minutes.

The second set was a veritable rout. Jones, ranked 234 in the world, served ahead and hurt his knee in the first game as he went for a pick up at the net.

He availed himself of a medical timeout, and appeared to fizzle out thereafter, as Devvarman broke him to 15 and ran to 5-0 with two more breaks of serve.

A flutter went through the stadium as Devvarman, serving for the match at 5-0, double-faulted at match-point, and was broken for 5-1.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Rahul, Deepika win gold medals.

GOOD FEELING:Indian archer Rahul Banerjee, who won the gold medal

being congratulated by silver medallist, Lyon Jason of Canada

in the individual men's recurve event.

NEW DELHI: Indian recurve archers stood their ground despite stiff competition to bag two golds and as many bronze medals in the Commonwealth Games archery competition, which concluded at the Yamuna Sports Complex here on Sunday.

Top seeds Rahul Banerjee and Deepika Kumari clinched first place in the individual categories, while Dola Banerjee and Jayanta Talukdar bagged a bronze medal each.

Flawless show

Deepika turned in a flawless performance under extremely challenging wind conditions, to outclass five-time Olympian Alison Williamson, seeded six, in straight sets 6-0 in the final while Rahul, the top seed, had to ward off a stiff challenge from a consistent Lyon Jason of Canada to win 6-5 in a shoot-off.

Perfect finish

Deepika made a perfect final set score of 30 to nail the contest. Thirty-nine-year-old Williamson, a bronze medallist in the 2004 Olympics, started with an eight in the first set and was shooting confidently thereafter. But a seven in the last arrow of the third set blew away her chances.

“I feel very happy. The wind conditions were difficult, which I am not used to. The bow was shaking a lot and we had to pull it very hard. I am satisfied that I was able to handle it,” said Deepika. “I dedicate the victory to my parents and coaches — Dharmender and Poornima Mahato.”

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Sushil, Somdev among gold medallists.

STRENGTH AND SKILL: World Champion Sushil Kumar beat

South Africa's Heinrich Barnes to win the men's 66-kg freestyle wrestling gold

at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: World champion Sushil Kumar triumphed in wrestling while Somdev Devvarman wore the men's tennis singles crown as India took its gold medal tally to 29 in the Commonwealth Games on Sunday.

Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar won the gold in the 66kg category. M.A. Prajusha and Vikas Gowda won silver medals in long jump and discus to make it the most successful Games ever for Indian athletics.

Not to be left behind, the shooters continued with the gold spree and took their tally to 13 gold medals, with Harpreet Singh pipping favourite Vijay Kumar for the centre fire pistol individual gold. The archers were impressive against quality opposition. The young Deepika Kumari captured the women's individual recurve gold and Rahul Banerjee topped in the men's section.

The Indian hockey team made it a memorable day for the host with a glorious 7-4 win over Pakistan to earn a place in the semifinals.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Monika Devi claims bronze.

NEW DELHI: Laishsram Monika Devi, a silver medallist at Melbourne in the 69 kg class, won the bronze in the women's 75 kg category of the weightlifting competition at the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex here on Saturday.

The Indian claimed the medal on lesser body weight than Cameroon's Madias Dodo Nzesso Ngake, after both lifted a total of 216.

The gold went to Hadiza Zakari of Nigeria, who in grabbing the top honours, set new records in all three categories. Canada's

Marie-Eve Beauchemin-Nadeau took silver. Hadiza lifted 110 in snatch and 129 in clean and jerk for a total of 239.

Marie-Eve had a total lift of 225.

The snatch record was bettered four times, the clean and jerk record was broken twice and the total mark registered three changes. This was Canada's first silver and India's fourth bronze medal in this competition.

Faauliuli claims gold

Faavae Faauliuli of Samoa claimed the country's first-ever gold medal in any sport in the Commonwealth Games' men's 94 kg event.

Faauliuli lifted 192 kg in his final clean and jerk attempt and denied Scotland's Peter Kirkbride who was in the first place till then. The Samoan had a total lift of 334 kg.

Kirkbride won silver with 333 kg and Nigerian Benedict Uloko claimed the bronze with 332.

Pre-event favourite Nick Roberts of Canada lifted only two of his six attempts to finish fifth. Nigerian Okoli Chukwuka was an early leader after the snatch event, thanks to his 145 kg lift, but he failed miserably in the clean and jerk to go out of contention.

Pakistan's Shuja-ud-din Malik, the winner of gold medal in the 85 kg division at Melbourne, failed to finish in the 94 kg event.

The main electronic scoreboard at the weightlifting venue went off for about seven minutes at a crucial time. In the process, as many as six records tumbled and the spectators had no clue of the goings on.

Milestone of India - Indian spikers bag bronze in Asian junior men's volleyball championship.

CHENNAI: India bagged the bronze medal beating China 3-2 in the third place match in the Asian junior men's volleyball championship, which concluded on Saturday in Thailand. The scores were 21-25, 17-25, 27-25, 25-22, 15-10.

India and the two finalists, Iran and Japan, have now qualified for the World junior men's championship to be held in Brazil.

Meanwhile, the senior team now in Dubai for the Rashid International volleyball tournament, defeated Pakistan 25-20, 25-16, 24-26, 25-20 in the first match on Friday.

Other results: Asian juniors: Semifinals: Iran bt India 25-23, 25-17, 25-19; Japan bt China 25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 17-25, 15-12 .

Milestone of India - Navarathi Festival at Mysore Palace. (Karnataka - India.)

KEEN INTEREST:A section of the audience at the

Dasara music concert on the premises of the palace in Mysore on Saturday.

MYSORE: The rousing response to the Dasara music concerts at the palace and other venues in the city on Friday is testimony to the public interest in music and dance, which has remained undiminished since the days of royalty in the city.

The list of artistes who will regale the audience this year include legendary figures such as veena maestro Suma Sudhindra and vocalist Sudha Raghunathan, both of whom will perform on Sunday at the palace, while Anup Jalota, renowned for bhajans and ghazals, will perform on Monday. Another noted Hindustani artiste, Pandit Ratan Mohan Sharma, will render a concert on Tuesday.

Regular concerts

Those who are fairly regular to the Mysore Dasara include Kadri Gopalanath, who will present a fusion concert with Praveen Godhkindi on Thursday. Also, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who is a legend in Hindustani music, will present a concert on Friday.

This year's music concerts got off to a good start on Friday with a Carnatic concert featuring Nagamani Srinath, who set the tempo for the evening, followed by S.P. Balasubramaniam and Archana Udupa, who held the audience spellbound with some of their popular numbers including the devotional variety. The intermittent rain in Mysore did not deter the music connoisseurs.

The concerts that are integral to Navaratri celebrations are a legacy of the royal family of Mysore who were great patrons of art and culture. The artist community had thrived and received huge encouragement from the court as a result of which Mysore, especially under Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV (who ruled between 1902 and 1940), emerged as the cultural capital of the State and continues to be that.

There are records to testify to the patronage given by the Mysore rulers to classical musicians, artists, sculptors and crafts persons, a culture that gained prominence after the fall of the Vijayanagar empire.

The Mysore Gazette points out that king Kanthirava Narasaraja Wadiyar was a musician of high calibre and another king Chikka Devaraya is credited with authoring the Geetagopala, a musical treatise.

In more recent times, musicians such as Mysore Sadadhiva Rao flourished in the court of Krishnaraja III.

Other musicians that Mysore produced were Veene Seshanna, Bidaram Krishnappa, and T. Chowdiah. It also drew stalwarts from across the country, thanks to the patronage of the Wadiyars of Mysore.

During the era of the Maharajas, concerts were held in the durbar hall and the entry was restricted to the elite few. But with the abolition of monarchy in India, the restriction was lifted and the concerts are open to all now.

In recent decades, the concerts have been shifted from the durbar hall to the open courtyard, but the quality remains undiminished.

Milestone of India - Navarathi Brahmostavam at Tirumala.

SPECTACULAR SIGHT: Deities of Lord Venkateswara and His consorts being taken out in a procession on the ‘Chinna Sesha Vahanam' in Tirumala on Saturday.

TIRUMALA: On the second day of the ongoing Navaratri Brahmotsavams on Saturday the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateswara reeled under the heavy impact of pilgrim crowd.

The pilgrim turnout, which was moderate on the first day gradually picked up with the break of the dawn this morning and swelled as the day progressed.

Full capacity

The turnout was so huge that all the compartments in the second Vaikuntam queue complex were full to its capacity by the evening.

The management which had an ‘early' estimate of the crowd with the fourth ‘Peratasi' Saturday coinciding (today) with the nine-day festival had initiated precautionary arrangements to meet the requirements of the visiting crowd.

With a view to clearing the pilgrim rush and facilitate an early darshan for the pilgrims in queue lines, the temple management went in for the ‘Maha laghu darshan' system inside the hill temple.

Earlier the day commenced with the performance of special rituals inside the temple followed by the ‘Chinna Sesha' Vahanam in the morning. The processional deity of Lord Malayappa Swamy mounted atop the five-hooded golden ‘Chinna Sesha Vahanam' was taken around in a grand procession around the mada streets of the hill town. Thousands of pilgrims witnessed the colourful procession which lasted for more than two hours.

Rs. 1.13 cr. collected

According to temple sources an estimated 70,000 pilgrims had darshan of the Lord today while the temple netted an income of Rs. 1.13 crore on the first day of the nine-day festival despite moderate turnout in the pilgrim rush.

The day came to an end with the procession of Hamsa Vahanam in the night. The ‘Surabhi' dance troupe, which preceded the procession, drew appreciation for their impressive performance.

OM NAMO VENKATESAYA !

Milestone of India - Dasara festival celebrations on.

Tiny tots of Euro Kids School in Guntur playing `Dandiya as part of Dasara festival celebrations on Saturday.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Jharkhand archer dreams of Olympic medal.

GOLD HUNT:Deepika Kumari takes aim at the women's recurve team archery finals during the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi on Friday.

India won its 15th gold medal of the Games in the event,

beating England 207-206 in a thriller.

(Right) Her father Shivnarayan Mahato, an autorickshaw driver

and her mother Geeta, a nurse.

RANCHI (Jharkhand) : Deepika Kumari, national champion in archery and a gold medal winner in the Commonwealth Games radiates confidence. Today, modern archery may not require you to hit an apple perched on a person’s head or the eye of elusive birds, but it still demands unbreakable concentration.

She is the daughter of Shivnarayan Mahato, an auto-rickshaw driver and Geeta Mahato a nurse in the government hospital in Ranchi.

Deepika told The Hindu on Saturday that she has high hopes of an elusive Olympic medal in the sport where the greatest exponents of our country have won top awards.

The sport which she is dealing with is the kind of contest that the great Indian epics are littered with. It basically relies on the strength of one’s eyes, the power of your shoulders and the technique of the release of the arrow.

Three years ago, Deepika Kumari realised her talent and picked up a bow for the first time which produced a national champion in archery. She competes in recurve, a tough form of archery where the bow is without a lens and adjustable string length.

She won the gold medal in Turkey in 2009. Deepika’s epic win was the women’s gold medal at the 11th Youth World Archery Championships in the U.S. last year. She beat Russian Sayana Tsyrempilova 115-109 in the finals in a long, hard tournament. She also participated in Bangkok last year and won some trophies as well.

Deepika tried archery in school and the moment she started weighing the bow and the handmade bamboo arrows in her hands for the first time, she knew she was meant to be an archer, said her mother recalling her daughter’s words.

The owner of the Seraikela-Kharsawan Archery Academy, Meera Munda, wife of Jharkhand’s Chief Minister Arjun Munda, spotted her and admitted her into the academy. Later, she moved to the Tata Steel Sports Academy in Jamshedpur. Within months she was on the flight to Turkey, with the Indian team, where she won a gold medal.

Earlier Ms. Mahato, was not too pleased with Deepika taking up archery. “She was the first in the extended family to play any sport. I never supported her decision at the beginning. But now things have changed I feel proud of her,” she said.

“As a Class XI student, she has plenty of school work and Deepika never neglected that part of her life. She is an average student and does well in exams,” said Mr. Mahato.

Her parents don’t have to pay anything for her sport as she gets a monthly stipend of Rs. 6,000 from the Tata Archery Academy, which is enough for her they think. Her family received Rs. 1 lakh from the Jharkhand Archery Association and Rs. 50,000 from the Tata Academy.

“She has the ability to concentrate for long and this has helped her,” her parents said.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Yogeshwar, Narsingh land gold.

BATTLE OF ATTRITION: Narsingh Pancham Yadav (in blue) held off a stiff challenge from South Africa's Richard Addinall to win the

74 kg freestyle wrestling gold.

NEW DELHI: Yogeshwar Dutt and Narsingh Pancham Yadav contributed to India's ever-growing treasure of wrestling gold medals in the Commonwealth Games on Saturday.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's presence in the spectator gallery could not take the limelight away from the action on the mat as Yogeshwar overcame a career-threatening knee injury to win the 60kg title. Last-minute replacement Narsingh also stamped his authority by claiming the 74kg gold medal at the K.D. Jadhav wrestling stadium here.

Anil Mann, however, lost his first round bout to England's Leon Rattigan to crash out of the medal contention in 96kg.

Yogeshwar, who went past Australian Farzad Tarash (6-0, 7-0), South African Marius Loots (7-1) and England's Sasha Madyarchyk (4-4, 8-0) on his way to the final, lit up the evening with an exceptionally skillful performance.

Taking on an unheralded James Mancini in the summit clash, the former Asian champion displayed his agility to launch some swift counter-attacks and take the first period 3-1. The Canadian stepped up his aggression against Yogeshwar, but found the Indian too difficult to control before losing the next period 4-1.

“This is my first major win after the knee injury and it is going to boost my will power. I was out of action for almost one-and-a-half years due to the injury. I am immensely thankful to the Mittal Champions Trust for supporting me during those days,” said Yogeshwar.

The 27-year-old home grappler said he had planned an attacking strategy for the final.

Yogeshwar, who performed creditably in the Beijing Olympics and had secured the fifth place in the 2006 World championship, was thrilled to see Indian wrestling touching greater heights.

For Narsingh, it was an acid test. The reigning Asian champion had been inducted into the team after Sumit failed a dope test before the Games. At the big stage, he again proved that he was a cool customer. Following his first-round bye, the wrestler from Mumbai beat Mike Grundy of England (4-1, 3-0) and Canada's Evan Macdonald (1-0, 2-1) to race to the final.

The gold medal clash against South African Richard Addinall, a silver medallist in the Greco Roman competition here, was expected to be a tough affair and Narsingh rose to the occasion in style. He banked on his alertness and solid defence to ward off a strong challenge from Addinall and emerged victorious with a 2-0, 2-0 margin.

“I had lost in the selection trials because of a leg injury. I am thrilled to have made the best use of this God-given opportunity,” said Narsingh.

He said his journey to the medal was not easy. “The English, the Canadian and the South African (in the final) all were strong opponents. It drains you when you fight against such wrestlers. Thanks to our rigorous training, I could withstand the pressure,” said Narsingh.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Gagan's gold rush continues.

FOUR AND COUNTING:Gagan Narang struck gold for the fourth time

by taking the rifle 3-position title on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Gagan Narang stayed on course for a record gold haul in the Commonwealth Games, as he defended his 3-position rifle individual title by renewing two of his own records on Saturday.

It was the fourth gold for the 27-year-old Narang in the current edition, and eight in all as India took its tally from the shooting range to 12 gold, seven silver and two bronze medals.

Narang started the final with a score of 1166, a two-point lead over Jonathan Hammond of Scotland and ended up with a 6.9 point margin, despite a below par seventh shot. Compatriot Imran Hasan Khan had the chance to get the bronze, but was beaten squarely by James Huckle of Scotland eventually by 2.5 points.

Narang looked set to break the National record of 1172 set by Sanjeev Rajput during the Commonwealth Championship in February, but a score of 382 in kneeling that included a last card of 92, brought the score down, and gave hope for the Scot.

Narang will have two more events in rifle prone to meet his target of six gold medals. With Warren Potent of Australia in the fray, it may not be easy, but Narang will be determined to retain his 100 per cent golden strike rate in the Games.

There was a second gold for the host in shooting, as Vijay Kumar and Harpreet Singh won the centre fire pistol pairs event with a 19-point margin over New Zealand. It was the third gold for Vijay following his exploits in his favourite rapid fire pistol event. He will be keen to add the individual gold in centre fire pistol on the morrow.

Bronze for Shirur

There was a bronze from the women's air rifle team of Suma Shirur (397) and Kavitha Yadav (388). Kavitha, competing in her second international competition, after being blooded in the World Championship in Munich, had a series of 98, 98, 95 and 97. India snatched the bronze medal by a one-point margin over Wales and Bangladesh.

There was hope at the trap range, as Shreyasi Singh was a point behind Anita North of England, going into the final. But the 19-year-old Indian girl, who had bagged a silver in the Commonwealth Championship, failed to master the single-shot final, and missed 10 birds, and subsequently lost the shoot-off for the fifth place.

In men's trap, Mansher Singh (74) and Manavjit Singh Sandhu (73) stayed among the leaders after three rounds. Martin Davis of South Africa led with 75, while Aaron Heading of England had 74. The hero of the team event, two-time Olympic champion Michael Diamond shot 72, after a flawless 100 on Friday. There will be two more rounds, followed by the final on Sunday.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Harminder wins India's first ever walks medal.

WHAT A FEELING! India's Harminder Singh gives vent to his emotions

after claiming the bronze medal on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Harminder Singh won the 20-km race walk bronze in the Commonwealth Games here. It was India's first-ever medal in the walks in Commonwealth Games history and its second athletics medal in Delhi.

“I am really proud of myself…the crowd helped,” said Harminder after finishing behind Australia's Jared Tallent, the Olympic bronze medallist, and Luke Adams in 1 hr, 23.28 secs.

The 26-year-old Harminder has always lived in Babubhai Panucha's shadow. While Babubhai has been been the undisputed king of race walking in the country the last few years and the national-record holder, Harminder had not been far away but frequently one step behind. At the Asian Championship in Japan this March, the walker from AOC Secunderabad finished fifth, just behind Babubhai. The scene had been the same in many other meets too.

But early on Saturday, Harminder felt that his time had come.

Memorable outing

It turned out to be a very memorable outing for Tallent too for, his wife Claire took the silver in the women's section, behind England's Jo Jackson who ended the Australian stranglehold in the event.

With the rhythmic swaying of their hips and smooth strides, race walking is rarely a treat for the spectator. But there were plenty of incidents this morning which made the event an entertaining one.

The field was top class, with Tallent, second in the world list this year and the 2008 Beijing Olympics silver medallist in the 50km, Adams (28th in the world list) and Kenyan David Rotich (19th) in the fray.

Harminder, who moved from the 50km walk to 20km event as the longer walk is not part of the Commonwealth Games, does not figure in the world list this year. And when he said, “in the beginning I was very scared,” one could understand.

But despite the odds stacked against him, he put on a brave front, staying with the top bunch that included Adams, Tallent and Rotich for a major part of the events.

“Harminder has a very strong will power, he has been working very hard for the last two years,” said his coach Gurdev Singh.

It showed.

Meanwhile Babubhai Panucha, the Open National champion and National record holder who is recovering from a groin injury suffered during the walkers' recent camp in Russia, dropped out after 16 km.

But Harminder soldiered on, overtaking the Kenyan even as the Australians Adams and Tallent broke away and moved ahead.

On the way, Tallent slowed down to speak to, and probably encourage, his wife Claire. Claire had been Tallent's training partner in Canberra and they had fallen in love and got married two years ago. Both competed at the Beijing Olympics.

Costly stumble

With about two kilometres remaining, Adams had a small lead but he stumbled over a slight bump on the road, lost his footing and the lead.

“It was very unfortunate,” Adams would say later.

Tallent made the most of the stumble, opened up a good lead and went on to win the gold in 1:22:18 while Adams had to be content with the silver for the third consecutive time at the Games.

Harminder narrowly missed Panucha's national mark of 1:23:06.

“If he posts the same time, he will do very well in the Asian Games next month,” said Gurdev.
Rani Yadav (1:42.54) was India's best finisher in the women's 20km event with her fifth spot while K.J. Sandhya (1:51.44) was eighth. Deepamala Devi, a bronze medallist at the last Asian meet, did not finish the race

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Fourth gold for Narang.

GOLDFINGER:Ace shooter Gagan Narang took his tally to four gold medals in the ongoing Commonwealth Games. The Indian was on target in the

50m rifle 3-position event in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Gagan Narang won his fourth gold medal, with new records in the rifle 3-position event, as India enhanced its gold collection to 24 on Saturday. It was the eighth gold on the trot in two editions for Narang.

Vijay Kumar captured the centre fire pistol gold, in partnership with Harpreet Singh, to claim his third gold of the event. The shooters have won 12 gold medals so far.

Wrestlers Yogeshwar Dutt and Narsingh Pancham Yadav contributed two more gold medals. Yogeshwar battled a career-threatening knee injury to win the 60kg title, while last-minute replacement Narsingh showed his class in the 74kg final.

In tennis, Sania Mirza fought gallantly against the top-seeded Anastasia Rodionova of Australia in the women's final, saving three matchpoints, but had to settle for the silver.

She later partnered Rushmi Chakravarthi to lose the women's doubles final to Anastasia and Shally Peers 4-6, 4-6.

Harminder Singh won the first-ever medal by an Indian walker in the Commonwealth Games, a bronze that brought the Indian athletics team's tally to two medals. Kavita Raut had won a bronze on Friday. India now has 11 medals in athletics since 1958 when an Indian won the first (gold) for the country in Cardiff.

Milestone of India - PSU CIL Chairman gets SCOPE award.

KOLKATA: Partha S. Bhattacharyya, Chairman, Coal India Limited (CIL) has won the SCOPE “Special award of the jury”, a CIL release said.

Standing Conference of Public Sector Enterprises (SCOPE) excellence awards have been conceptualised and instituted to recognise the contribution of public enterprises and to encourage outstanding persons for their hard work and leadership qualities. Earlier, under the chairmanship of Mr. Bhattacharyya, Coal India had won the “SCOPE gold trophy 2007-08 for excellence and outstanding contribution to the public sector management” in institutional category, the release said.

Milestone of India - PSU BHEL wins contract from KPCL.

BANGALORE: Public sector power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) has bagged an order from the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) for setting up 700 MW supercritical Unit-3 at the Bellary Thermal Power Station (TPS) in Karnataka on a turnkey basis. The company won the bid for the Rs.3,700-crore contract in an international competitive bidding process, according to a BHEL release.

While BHEL had supplied the equipment for Unit-1 at the Bellary TPS, it is now executing Unit-2 at the power generating facility. “The company has commissioned about 5,000 MW of power generating sets in the state, which include thermal as well as hydro units of various ratings,” said the release.

BHEL is also executing the 2x800 MW Yeramarus supercritical TPS of the Raichur Power Corporation Limited (RPCL), a joint venture between the company and the KPCL.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Games - Shooters continue winning spree with more gold medals.

OMKAR SINGH

NEW DELHI: India's shooters continued their dominant show at the Commonwealth Games, collecting three more gold medals here on Friday.

Gagan Narang and Omkar Singh won their third golds, while Vijay Kumar collected his second, as the host inflated its shooting tally to 10 gold medals.

The Indian trap shooters had to settle for silver, missing out on gold by one point, thanks to the brilliance of Australia's Michael Diamond, who shot a perfect 100.

Wrestlers Alka Tomar and Anita and the women's archery team clinched gold medals to ensure that India stayed at the No.2 spot in the medals table, with 20 golds overall , behind Australia.
Dola Banerjee and company found the wind in India's favour and completed a 207-206 victory over England in the women's archery recurve final.

Ashish Kumar won his second gymnastics medal, a silver on the vault, while the Indian women clinched the table tennis silver. Jwala Gutta and V. Diju added another silver to India's haul in the badminton mixed doubles.

Kavita Raut won bronze in the 10,000m, becoming the first Indian woman to win a track medal in the Commonwealth Games history.

Milestone of India - IAF celebrates anniversary.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 78th anniversary of Indian Air Force (IAF) was celebrated with pride and solemnity at the Southern Air Command (SAC) at Akkulam here on Friday. Various functions and programmes were conducted to commemorate the occasion.

In a formal ceremony, Air Office Commanding in Chief Southern air Command Air Marshal Sumit Mukerji administered the Air Force pledge to the personnel. In his address, he highlighted the achievements of the SAC and exhorted the personnel to be ever vigilant.

Later in the evening, a social get-together was organised for veteran Air Officers at the Officers' Mess.

Governor R.S. Gavai was the chief guest for the function.

Officers from sister services and State government also attended the functions.

Earlier, as part of the week-long celebrations, a bone density camp was conducted at the station medicare centre for Air Warriors and families. A variety entertainment programme was among different events organised in which Air Marshal Sumit Mukerji SC VSM, AOC-in-C, Southern Air Command, was the chief guest.

“Dakshinavart,” an in-house periodical, was released by the Air Marshal on the occasion. Prizes for winners of various competitions were distributed by Nandita Mukerji, president, Air Force Wives Welfare Association (AFWWA).

A social evening was also organised for the serving as well as retired Air Warriors at the SNCO's Mess of the SAC. A large number of ex-servicemen from Thiruvananthapuram attended the function.

Milestone of India - Dasara Festival gets under way with prayers for the welfare of society

TRADITIONAL:Dharmadhikari of Srikshetra Dharmasthala Veerendra Heggade and Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa offering flowers to the goddess Chamundeshwari to mark the inauguration of the 400th edition of Dasara in Mysore on Friday. Minister for Medical Education S.A. Ramdas is seen.

MYSORE: Dasara celebrations signalling the beginning of 10 days of cultural programmes got under way here on Friday with prayers for the welfare of society and a call to uphold the richness and purity of Kannada culture.

Dharmadhikari of Srikshetra Dharmasthala Veerendra Heggade inaugurated the celebrations on the Chamundi Hills by making floral offerings to Goddess Chamundeshwari. He paid glowing tributes to the tradition of Dasara as celebrated in Mysore, which is known as “Naada Habba” (State festival).

Tracing the origin of Dasara and the way it was celebrated by the rulers of Vijayanagar, Mr. Heggade said the baton of tradition was passed on to the rulers of Mysore. Citing literary works of medieval travellers, including Abdur Razak of Persia, Mr. Heggade said that the festival had attained universal acclaim and was synonymous with Mysore. The city, he said, had preserved the purity of the language and the classical culture of the State as evident in the Dasara celebrations. “There are traces and influences of cultures of other States and languages in different districts of Karnataka but it is the Mysore region which has maintained the purity of Kannada and retained the classical culture of the State and this needs to be preserved and conserved for posterity,” said Mr. Heggade.

He said it was imperative to preserve this cultural purity and ensure that the influence of western culture symbolised by Bangalore was minimal. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said the State had received good rainfall during the year and greeted the people. His speech was, however, laced with allusion to the recent political developments in the State. Mr. Yeddyurappa said Dasara symbolised the victory of the good over evil forces but the undercurrent of the political message in the present context was not lost on the audience who applauded. He alluded to the crisis facing the Government due to dissidence by a few elected representatives and said their reasoning abilities and wisdom was clouded while expressing the hope that their ignorance would be eradicated by the grace of Goddess Chamundeshwari. Continuing in the same vein, Mr. Yeddyurappa said no power could dislodge the Government and reiterated that the BJP would complete its term in office. The Chief Minister, who sounded anguished due to the recent developments, said man changed his loyalty to fulfil his ambition and this attitude among the elected representatives was one of the reasons for the country's backwardness despite more than six decades of Independence and called upon the people to be wary of such people.

The Chief Minister referred to the historicity of Dasara and said the tradition which was inherited by the Wadiyars of Mysore was under the threat of going out of vogue but had been revived by the Government. He said the BJP, on assuming power, officially declared it as the State festival. Announcing a Rs. 10-crore grant for Dasara 2011, he said the Government was promoting the festivities to promote tourism. Mr. Yeddyurappa also reiterated his resolve to work for the comprehensive development of the State and review the progress periodically.
Earlier, Mr. Veerendra Heggade, Mr. Yeddyurappa and other elected representatives were accorded a traditional welcome when they arrived at Chamundi Hills. They were ushered into the temple where they offered special prayers for the welfare of the State. More than 400 women chanted Mahisasuramardhini Stotra to set the tone for the inauguration at 8.41 a.m. Elected representatives from Mysore and surrounding districts and officials were present while folk artistes with their ensemble of drums and percussion instruments were the cynosure of all eyes.

Milestone of India - Navaratri Brahmotsavams begin at Tirumala.

TIRUMALA: The Navaratri Brahmotsavams of Lord Venkateswara began on a colourful note on Friday with the procession of ‘Golden Tiruchi' vahanam on Friday morning. The day witnessed several religious formalities being carried out inside the hill temple.

Soon after the completion of the Friday ‘Abhishekam' to the Lord in the wee hours of the day, the presiding deity was adorned with was adorned with the diamond-studded crown, sankhu chakram, karnabharanams, nagabharanams, peethambaram and Surya katari among others.

Special rituals were carried out inside the ‘Yagasala' in the morning, followed by ‘asthanam, Suddhi' and other ‘kainkaryams.' Later in the evening after conducting ‘Visesha samarpana' to the processional deities of Lord Malayappa Swamy and his two divine consorts, ‘unjal seva' was organised at the ‘unjal mandapam' situated outside the temple complex.This was followed by ‘Pedda Sesha vahanam' procession of the Lord. The procession was preceded by over half a dozen caparisoned temple elephants, horses, bulls and other paraphernalia besides scores of cultural troops who were specially commissioned for the purpose.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Game - Kavita claims bronze.

NEW DELHI: As they watched Kavita Raut race to her 10,000m bronze, there were tears in the eyes of the country's distance runners Sinimole Paulose and Chatholi Hamza.

Tears of joy for the 25-year-old from Nashik in Maharashtra brought home the country's first individual track medal at the Commonwealth Games in more than 50 years, Milkha Singh's 440 yards gold at the 1958 Cardiff Games being the last.

“I'm very happy to win it in our stadium,” said an elated Kavita after the race where Grace Kwamboka Momanyi and Doris Chepkwemo Changeywo won the top two spots. “I will now go for the Asian Games gold next month.”

“I followed the coach's plan till the 5-km mark but since the others were breaking away after that, I ran the race accordingly,” said the ONGC employee who draped herself in an Indian flag and did a celebratory lap around the Nehru Stadium with the Kenyans.

It was also India's first medal from athletics in the ongoing Games and the country's first-ever individual track medal from a woman in the Commonwealth Games history.

Great experience

“This means a lot to us,” said middle-distance runner Sinimole Paulose, tears of joy flowing down her cheeks. “To see the India flag flying is a great experience.”

Kavita's bronze is precious for it did not come from the throws but from an event which is dominated by the Commonwealth's African countries. The girl, who comes from a tribal background, had won two medals in the last Asian Championship in Guangzhou.

The other Indian in the race Preeja Sreedharan, who fell ill a few days ago, finished seventh and was in tears.

Kavitha's bronze came minutes after the women's triple jump where the expected medal for the host did not come about.

Mayookha Johny had been talking about a 14-metre triple jump at the Commonwealth Games for a few weeks now. She walked her talk with some spectacular jumps, breaking Anju George's national record at the recent inter-State National in Patiala.

But it was Mayookha's friend M.A. Prajusha who stole the thunder and the women's national record while finishing fourth in the triple jump.

Prajusha sizzles

The 23-year-old bettered Mayookha's two-month old National mark by four centimetres with a fourth-round effort of 13.72m.

“I was very happy with that jump, for it pushed me from the seventh position to third,” said Prajusha, who improved her personal best by a massive 18 cms.

Prajusha's joy and medal hopes lasted just a round. Canadian Tabia Charles dashed the country's hopes with a 13.84 leap, to take the bronze.

Jamaica's Trecia Smith, defending champion and former World champion, who had just one legal jump (14.19m) won the gold while Trinidad's Alexander Ayanna took the silver with 13.91m. Trecia's jump was an Indian all-comers record.

Mayookha finished seventh with 13.58m while Gayathri Govindaraj was tenth with an opening effort of 12.96, her only legal jump.

“I squatted on my ankle in my first jump and it hurt all through my jumps,” said Mayookha. “I was never comfortable after that.”

Meanwhile, the male long jumpers — Open National champion Ankit Sharma (7.56m), Maha Singh (7.49) and Harikrishnan (7.40) — fared badly in the qualification round, Maha and Ankit progressed while Harikrishna failed to do so.

Jhuma Khatun finished 12th and last in the women's 1500m (4:14.95).

On the brighter side, Mandeep Kaur finished a creditable sixth in the women's 400m after hauling herself up on the home stretch while Francis Sagayaraj (1:50.12s) and Manjit Singh (1:51.22) qualified for the 800m men's semifinal. Pankaj Dimri, who clocked 1:46.26 at the recent Patiala inter-State event, was absent.

And in the men's decathlon, Bharat Inder Singh was eighth in a personal-best 7225 points while P.J. Vinod was 10th with 7130.

Siddhanth Thingalaya, who recorded the National mark of 13.81s in Patiala in August, could only manage 14.06 and failed to progress further after finishing fifth in the first round heats. His teammate Muthuswamy Pandi (14.97) also had a similar finish.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Game - Amazing display by Alka and Anita.

INTENSE STRUGGLE:India's Alka Tomar (red) had the measure of two-time Olympic Games medallist Tonya Verbeek of Canada in the final of the 59kg freestyle wrestling bout on Friday.

NEW DELHI: Alka Tomar and Anita gave the performances of their life to clinch a gold medal each in the women's wrestling at the Commonwealth Games here on Friday.

Alka, a World championship bronze medallist in 2006, lived up to her reputation against two-time Olympic medallist Tonya Verbeek of Canada in the 59kg title clash.

Anita upset another Canadian and Commonwealth champion, Megan Buydens, for the 67kg title at the K.D. Jadhav wrestling stadium in the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex.

The other Indian in the fray, Babita Kumari went down to Nigerian Ifeoma Nwoye to settle for the 51kg silver.

India has thus collected three golds, two silvers and a bronze from women's wrestling.

Easy ride

Alka, the current Asian championship bronze winner, had a relatively easy ride to the title clash. Following a first round bye, she exhibited her authority in taming Louisa Salmon of England ‘by fall.'

In the clash for the gold, a well-prepared Alka grabbed the first point by pushing Tonya out of the red zone.

Presence of mind

The 26-year-old home wrestler exhibited her presence of mind to pounce on a chance and force herself on the Canadian to win ‘by fall' in less than two minutes.

“This was the best fight of my life. I was prepared for this kind of challenge since I knew that the Canadian wrestlers would pose problems for us.

“I was very confident even after knowing that I would have to overcome an Olympic medallist,” said Alka.

“This was all because of the hard work of two years,” she said as the near-capacity house celebrated Alka's success.

Biggest achievement

For Anita, the 67kg gold medal was the biggest achievement of her career. Following her first round bye and a convincing win over Scotland's Ashlea McManus (1-0, 2-0), the Indian stuck to her plan.

The circumspect Anita played a waiting game and banked on her footwork to attack the retreating Canadian.

After ensuring that the first round went in her favour with a 1-0 margin, Anita, an Asian championship bronze winner in 2008, gathered three more points in the next.
A desperate Megan, who had beaten Nigerian World championship medallist Ifeoma Iheanacho in the first round, could not match Anita's firepower.

“I followed our coach's advice and it helped me a lot. This is undoubtedly the best moment of my life,” said Anita, a 25-year-old head constable with Haryana Police.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Game - Geeta steamrollers her way to gold.

GRAPPLING FOR GOLD:India's Geeta (right) in action against Emily Bensted of Australia in the 55kg freestyle final.

NEW DELHI: Geeta steamrollered her way to the women's 55kg wrestling gold medal victory in the Commonwealth Games here on Thursday.

In a one-sided final at the K.D. Jadhav wrestling stadium in the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, Commonwealth champion Geeta's power-packed performance subdued Emily Bensted of Australia (3-0, 7-0).

Nirmala Devi bagged the 48kg silver after a heroic effort, while Suman Kundu took the 63kg bronze.

The star-studded Canadian side was the most successful team, claiming the other three gold medals of the day.

Geeta, who beat Non Evans of Wales ‘by fall' in the first round, fought back brilliantly against African championship medallist Lovina Edward of Nigeria (0-1, 1-0, 4-0) in the semifinals.

Keenly-fought

In the keenly-fought bout, the 21-year-old Indian lost the first round in a desperate bid to score a point. The Commonwealth champion managed to draw parity in the next round and put up a spirited effort in the decider to advance to the final.

Considering Geeta's class, her gold medal bout was a foregone conclusion.

“The semifinal against the Nigerian was difficult. After winning that, I was sure of getting the gold medal,” said the 21-year-old Geeta, wearing a broad smile.

Geeta, who was encouraged to take up wrestling by her father, hopes her sister, Babita, will also reap a gold medal in the 51kg.

Babita's bout is listed for Friday.

Nirmala had an easy path to the final as she received a bye in the first round and out-grappled South African Brumilda Leeuw (7-0, 7-0) in the next to make the title clash against Canadian star Carol Huynh.

The 26-year-old home wrestler fought valiantly before bowing to the might of the reigning Olympic champion and World championship bronze medallist Carol (1-3, 2-4).

Using her experience

Nirmala attacked the legs of her rival to take the lead, but the Canadian utilised her experience to bag the first round in the dying moments.

Nirmala surprised her famed rival to take a two-point lead in the second round. Carol, however, turned the table on Nirmala by banking on the little opportunity she got.

“She (Nirmala) took me by surprise. But I felt confident even then,” said the Canadian.

Nirmala said she was not overawed by her opponent. “I wish I had won the gold. But she is an experienced wrestler,” she said.

India's coach P.R. Sondhi said Nirmala's competitor was superior in the mental aspect of the game.

Suman was out of the title race following her defeat (0-1, 0-3) to Nigerian Blessing Oborodudu in the semifinals.

The Indian wrestled her way through the repechage round to beat Zumicke Geringer of South Africa (4-1, 2-2, 3-0) in the bronze medal contest. In 72kg, Anshu Tomar crashed out in the first round.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Game - Sudhir Kumar gets a lucky bronze.

NEW DELHI: Not many would know where Nauru is. But for the 26-year-old Peter Yukio the world's smallest island nation in South Pacific would not have picked up its first gold medal of the Commonwealth Games.

The stocky weightlifter powered to the gold medal of the men's 77 kg class with a superlative display that left his rivals bemused. The Nauruan, holder of all three records in Commonwealth championship, erased India's Satheesha Rai's name from the Commonwealth Games' record books by lifting 148 kg in the snatch event. Rai's record was 147 kg.

When Yukio hoisted 185 kg in his first attempt of clean and jerk to reach a total of 333, he erased Aussie Damian Brown's name. Brown's record was 327 kg. The only record he could not break, despite trying twice to lift 188 kg, was in clean and jerk leaving Brown's record intact at 187.

Ben Turner, Australia's big hope and a gold medallist in 69 kg at Melbourne, benefited immensely when Yukio injured himself four years ago and went out of contention. But on Thursday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex Yukio made sure Turner was nowhere near the gold medal with an impressive display.

Effortless

Turner and the rest, including India's Chitradurga Padmaraju Sudhir Kumar, failed to progress beyond 133 kg. Yukio came on to effortlessly lift 143 and raise it to 148.

The only competitor who stood against him was Nigerian hulk Felix Cobham Ekpo who failed to lift 148 in his first attempt which would have given him the record.

Similarly, in clean and jerk event, only Yukio and Ekpo remained. Both began at 185. While the Nauruan cleared it in his first attempt, the Nigerian failed thrice to go out of the competition. As Ekpo broke down in the warm-up area, India's Sudhir Kumar was all smiles on the victory podium to receive the unexpected bronze medal.

Agatha Obioma Okoli of Nigeria won gold in the women's 63 kg weight class with a total lift of 211 kg thus giving her country the second gold medal of the Games' weightlifting event.

The Wales' captain and defending champion Michaela Breeze, who was planning to end her international career with a gold medal, was beaten by the 18-year-old Nigerian. Michaela totalled 202 for silver. Nineteen-year-old Cameroonian Marie Josephe Fegue took bronze with 198.

Milestone of India - Commonwealth Game - Ashish Kumar makes history.

NEW DELHI: Nineteen-year-old Ashish Kumar made history by winning the men's floor exercise gymnastics bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

India had never won a medal in an event of such magnitude and Ashish made it a special day for his supporters.

In the individual apparatus men's artistic competition, Ashish scored a 14.475 on the floor to finish at the third spot behind Australian Thomas Pichler (14.675) and Englishman Reiss Beckford (14.625).

Ashish, who was applauded by all his opponents, admitted that he was nervous while chasing his dream. “India had never won a medal (at any big stage). So, I was feeling the pressure,” he said.
Giving credit to the Indian coaching staff for his success, Ashish said things started to move positively in the last one year or so. “After (foreign coach) Vladimir Chertkov took over, he started the planning and training programme as followed by top international gymnasts. That has benefitted us,” said Ashish, who was part of the seventh-placed Indian team in the Melbourne CWG.