India at Olympics 2012: Results and Summary

August 12, 2012

The Indian contingent returns home from London with its highest ever medal tally. With two silver and four bronze, surely Indian sport is on the rise. Joydeep Karmakar and Kashyap Parupalli displayed great sportsmanship, despite missing out on the medals. In boxing, India narrowly missed out on medals as many pugilists were eliminated in the quarters.

Sushil Kumar became the first Indian to win back-to-back individual medals at the Olympics. He went down fighting to Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu of Japan in the Men’s 66 kg Freestyle. Battling dehydration after three bouts in three hours, Sushil was  visibly tired and couldn’t match the Jap who eventually won 3-1.

August 9, 2012 to August 11, 2012

Yogeshwar Dutt added another bronze to India’s medal tally, taking the total medal count to five, the highest ever won by Team India.   He overpowered Kong Myong Ri of DPR Korea in the bronze medal match of Men’s 60 kg Freestyle . The 29-year old overcame a career-threatening knee injury to win a Commonwealth medal for India and from then onwards, there was no stopping him.

Hopes of a revival in Indian hockey were high after India qualified to the Olympics in an emphatic fashion. But once again  familiar problems continue to plague the team and they finished in the last place in the group. A 2-3 loss to South Africa in a match to decide the 11th place means India finish 12th, which is as humiliating as not qualifying for the Beijing Olympics.

Tintu Luka finished 11th in the semis of the Women’s 800 metre. Despite a commendable performance of 1 minute 59.69 seconds, the competition at the highest level was too much for her. The 23-year old Kerala girl, who has been training under the legendary P.T Usha, surely has a bright future ahead.

August 8, 2012

Tintu Luka qualified for the semi-finals of the Women’s 800 metre event. She finished third in her heat with a lap time of 121.75 seconds to compete in the semis, which are held on Thursday.

Mary Kom, the country’s latest sensation, failed to get past Nicola Adams of Great Britain in the semis. Despite her 6-11 loss, Mary is assured of a bronze medal, which takes the total medal tally to four.

Meanwhile, Devendro Singh was eliminated from the Men’s light fly-weight category (49 kg) in the quarter-finals. He was defeated 18-23 by the Irishman Paddy Barnes in a fiercely fought bout. His defeat ended India’s campaign in boxing.

August 7, 2012

Team India drew a blank in the Men’s Hockey event at London. Having failed to win any of their previous group encounters, the Men in Blue took on Belgium in their last game. The Belgians ran riot to hand India a 3-0 defeat. The eight-time Olympic champions finished at the bottom of the table.

Vikas Gowda finished eighth in the Men’s Discus throw final. a throw of 64.79 metres was not enough for a podium finish as the all the medallist were able to get past the 68 metre mark.

August 6, 2012

Both Gangan Narang and Sanjiv Rajput failed to qualify for the finals of Men’s 50 metre Rifle event. While Gagan finished in the 20th place with a score of 1164, Rajput could only muster a 26th place finish with a score of 1161.

Mary Kom has assure India of another medal as she stormed into the Women’s 51 kg Flyweight semis after a comprehensive victory over Tunisian boxer Maroua Rahali. The Indian led from the start, never conceding the lead to her opponent, and finally won 15-6. The victory assures her of atleast a bronze medal.

Bronze medallist in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Vijender Singh was knocked out of the Men’s 75 kg Boxing event. Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan defeated Vijender 17-13 in the quarter-finals to crush India’s hopes of another boxing medal.

August 5,2012

On Sunday, the Indian contingent was in action in only three disciplines- Shooting, Hockey and Boxing. Manavjit Singh Sandhu failed to book a place in the Men’s trap final after a disappointing 25th place finish in the qualifying round. India continued to suffer humiliation in hockey as the men were beaten 1-4 by South Korea. At this rate, it looks like the team would finish at the bottom of the group.

The only silver lining in an otherwise gloomy day was MC Mary Kom’s performance in the Women’s Flyweight event. In the round of sixteen, Mary pummeled her Polish rival Karolina Michalczuk to progress to the quarters. Her long wait for Olympic glory might come to an end this time.

August 4, 2012

Saina Nehwal added a bronze to the Indian medal tally today. Her victory was rather fortuitous, one should say, given that she was down one set (18-21 in the first set). As soon as the second set began, her opponent Xin Wang pulled out of the game due to a leg injury and Saina was declared the winner. However, we cannot take anything away from the Indian since fitness also matters at the highest level of sport.

Devendro Singh Laishram qualified for the quarters in the Men’s light fly (49 kg) event. One victory away from a medal, the Manipuri boy was completely on top of his opponent Serdamba Purvdorj of Mongolia and comprehensively beat him 16-11.

Krishna Poonia, who qualified for the women’s discus throw final yesterday, could not finish among the top three. Her throw of 63.62 metres, which was no way close to her best, could get her only a seventh place finish in the finals.

India’s medal prospects in Tennis came to an end as the mixed-doubles pair of Leander Paes and Sania Mirza were eliminated in the quarter-finals. They gave a tough fight to the top seeds Max Myirni and Victoria Azarenka but lost 5-7, 6-7 in the end.

Among other athletes, Shagun Choudary failed to qualify for the finals in the Women’s trap event. Sudha Singh finished a disappointing 13th in the first heat of Women’s 3000metre steeplechase. Meanwhile, Irfan Thodi Kulothum finished tenth in the Men’s 20 kilometre walk event.

August 3, 2012

Shooting discipline continues to be India’s only medal provider as Vijay Kumar won a silver in the 25 metre Rapid fire pistol event. In a tough competition Vijay was up against some of the big names in the game. Vijay kept his cool and qualified in the fourth place with a cumulative score of 585. In the finals, Vijay upped his game and scored 30 more points to finish in the second place behind the Cuban Leuris Pupo.

Saina Nehwal suffered heartbreak in the semi-final when she was beaten 13-21, 13-21 by Yihan Wang of China. Saina previously met her Chinese opponent on five occasions and had never managed to win. However, all is not lost as Saina can compete for the bronze medal.

Today was probably the most difficult day in the life of Joydeep Karmakar. He finished fourth in the Men’s 5o metre rifle prone, narrowly missing out on a podium finish. Joydeep qualified for the finals of the event, where Gagan Narang also participated but failed to qualify, in the seventh place but could only progress to fourth in the final.

India’s woeful run in hockey continued as the team was mercilessly trashed by Germany in a Group B encounter. The men in blue were simply no match for the mighty Germans who went on a goal-scoring spree and finally won the game 5-2. With this loss, India’s semi-final hopes have vanished in the air and the team can only hope for a fifth or sixth place finish at best.

August 2, 2012

Double trap specialist Ranjan Sodhi, expected to win a medal at London, flattered to deceive as he could not get past the qualifying stage. A top six finish would have ensured progress to the finals. However, Sodhi could muster only an eleventh place finish, with a score of 134 out of 150.

Saina Nehwal continues to be India’s best bet for another medal as she booked a semi-final berth in the women’s badminton singles. She comfortably quelled the challenge posed by Tine Baun of Denmark with an easy 21-15, 22-20 win in a game that lasted less than 40 minutes.

Jai Bhagwan missed a quarter-final spot in boxing after he was comprehensively beaten by Gani Zhailauov of Kazakhstan. The Indian was no match for Gani, who punched his way to a comfortable 16-8 victory. However, all is not lost as Vijendher Singh entered the quarter-finals with a hard-fought 16-15 victory over Terell Gaush of the USA. In a tense bout that went down to the wire, Vijender prevailed by a single point to move to the last eight.

In Tennis, Leander Paes and Sania Mirza beat the Serbian pair of Nenad Zimonjic and Ana Ivanovic 6-2 6-4 in in just over an hour to set up a quarter-final clash with the top seeded Belarusian pair Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka.

July 27, 2012 to August 1, 2012

India opened its account in the London Olympics 2012 on the 30th of July 2012. Commonwealth gold medal winner, Gagan Narang won a bronze medal in the Men’s 10 metre air rifle event after he notched a cumulative 701.1 points, just one behind the gold medal winner Alin George Moldoveanu. Fellow Indian and 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medallist, Abhinav Bindra disappointed his fans as he finished a poor sixteenth in the qualifiers of the same event.

India’s medal prospects are bright in Badminton as fourth-seeded Saina Nehwal cruised to the quarters after defeating the  Dutch player Jie Yao 21-14, 21-16 in straight sets. The Indian sensation now faces fifth-seed Tine Baun in the last eight. In the men’s singles, Kashyap Parupalli defeated Niluka Karunaratne of Srilanka in the round of sixteen. After a  hard-fought 21-14,15-21,21-9 victory, Kashyap now faces top seed Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia in the quarters.

In hockey,  a semi-final berth for India looks extremely uncertain after two defeats in as many games. After a narrow 2-3 defeat to the Dutch in the first game, Indians posed few challenges to Newzealand and eventually lost the game 1-3. The most accomplished hockey nation in Olympic history must now win all its remaining games and hope that other results goes its way.

India’s woes in Archery continued unabated as the men’s team and the women’s team lost their first-round matches. In the individual events too, none of them could go past the round of sixteen. Chances of a medal in tennis are also becoming increasingly bleak. The Indian doubles pair of Mahesh Bupathi and Rohan Bopanna were eliminated in the first round itself while another pair Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan could not get past the second round. In women’s doubles, Rushmi Chakravarthi and Sania Mirza were also defeated. The only hope left for India in tennis is the mixed doubles event in which Leander Paes and Sania Mirza are in action.

Boxing has provided a ray of hope as Jai Bhagwan and Laishram Devendro Singh have advanced to the round of sixteen. 26-year old Vijender Singh has also made it to the pre-quarterfinal round. India can surely expect a medal or two from the boxers.

Tags: Denmark, EPL, Germany, India, IPL, Result, Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza, South Africa, Srilanka

Category: Athletics, London Olympics, Results, Tennis