Congratulate Abhinav Bindra!

Abhinav Bindra gave India its first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics when he won the 10 metres air rifle event on Monday morning.
The 25-year-old Indian shooting ace, who qualified in fourth place for the final, finished with an overall score of (596+104.5) 700.5 in a thrilling finale which went right down to the last shot.
Bindra's historic feat makes him India's first individual gold medallist, bettering the silver medal feat of double trap shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in Athens 2004.
India's last gold medal at an Olympics came in 1980 when the hockey team emerged triumphant in Moscow .

Source:rediff

Abhinav Bindra wins 10m air rifle gold

Abhinav Bindra won India's first ever individual Olympic gold medal on Monday with a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the men's 10 metres air rifle event.
Bindra was fourth after qualifying but had a brilliant final round and even hit a near perfect 10.8 on his last visit to pull in front of Henri Hakkinen of Finland, who dropped to bronze with a poor final shot of 9.7.
That allowed China's Zhu Qinan, the defending Olympic champion and heavy favourite, to pass him on his final shot and win the silver medal.
"It's just great," Bindra said just before climbing on to the podium.
Zhu suffered a late lapse in concentration in the qualification earlier on Monday morning when he had to rush his final shots to make the time limit, thus dropping to second place behind Hakkinen ahead of the final.
He was close to tears and said: "I was under tremendous pressure and at times I felt really agitated. But I tried my best."
India's last Olympic gold medal was from hockey (8th gold) at the 1980 Moscow Olympics . Bindra's feat betters the silver medal effort of double trap shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore at the Athens Games in 2004.
Randhir Singh, Indian Olympic Association secretary-general and former shooter who was present at the range, was stricken with nerves as the competition reached its climax.
"I haven't prayed so much in my life. With the second last shot they tied together and then he (Bindra) shot a 10.8. It couldn't have got better," he said.
Bindra won the 2006 World championships and finished seventh in Athens four years ago.
Earlier, Gagan Narang failed to make the final cut in the same event as he finished ninth with a score of 595/600. He shot a series of 97,100,100,100,98,100, while Bindra, a Khel Ratna winner, finished the qualifying event joint-fourth with Romania's George Alin Moldoveanu. The duo had a score of 596/600.
The bespectacled shooter scoring sequence was 100, 99, 100, 98, 100 and 99.
Finland's Henri Hakkinen qualified first for the event with a score of 598/600 after shooting a series of 100, 100, 99, 100, 100 and 99.
China's Qinan Zhu was a point adrift of Hakkinen with a series of 100, 100, 100, 100, 99 and 98.

Source:rediff

Shooter Emmons wins first gold of Olympics

Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic claimed the first gold medal of the 29th Olympic Games on Saturday with a convincing victory in the women's 10m air rifle event.
Indian shooters started off on a disappointing note with Anjali Bhagwat and Avneet Kaur Sidhu failing to make the final.
While Anjali ended 29th in qualifying, Avneet finished further down at 39th. Anjali shot a total of 393/400 and Avneet could manage 389/400.
Emmons, who met and married US shooter Matt Emmons after winning bronze at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, equalled a world record score of 400 in the qualification round and was near flawless in the final round to win the gold medal with a score of 503.5 -- a new Olympic record.
"She did a fantastic job. I'm so proud of her," Matt Emmons told Reuters afterwards.
Lioubov Galkina of Russia won the silver medal with a score of 502.1. She had also won silver in Athens. Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia took bronze with 500.9.
Du Li of China finished a disappointing fifth. She had won the gold medal in Athens and was the favourite at the Olympics at home.
Emmons hit the bullseye on all 40 of her qualifying round shots for a perfect 400 score and took a small, but vital, lead into the finals.
Du had also been perfect before getting 9 on her 34th shot in qualifying to finish with 399 points. She seemed dejected after that and struggled in the final round.
Emmons, who married her US shooter husband last year, was previously known as Katerina Kurkova. Emmons went into the front row of the crowd shortly after winning to embrace and kiss her husband.
Matt Emmons had missed out on a gold medal in Athens with an ill-timed lapse of concentration, when he fired at the wrong target on his last shot.

Spectacular opening to Beijing Olympics

Spectacular opening to Beijing Olympics

Fireworks explode from the stadium roof during the opening Ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics at the National Stadium in Beijing, on Friday.
Resurgent China opened the Olympics with a burst of fireworks at a spectacular ceremony that celebrated ancient Chinese history and aimed to draw a line under months of political controversy.

Firecrackers rippled around the rim of the arena, strobe lights flickered and the forest of drumsticks turned a luminous red, flashing bright in the hazy, humid air.
The ceremony caps seven years of work that reshaped Beijing and sets the seal on an industrial boom that has boosted China's international standing.

The Olympic rings are pictured during the opening ceremony in Beijing.
The Games carry a $43 billion price tag, dwarfing the previous record of $15 billion splashed out by Athens in 2004, sweeping thousands of people out of their homes to make way for state-of-the art stadiums.

Drummers perform during the opening ceremony.
An army of 2,008 drummers pounded out the countdown to the Games, which mark China's emergence from impoverished isolation to economic might, but have also galvanized critics of the Communist government's human rights record.

If I am guilty, shoot me in public, says Monika

With firm backing from the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF), dope-tainted lifter Monika Devi on Wednesday claimed innocence and alleged that she is being victimised by some members of the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Monika, the lone weightlifter chosen to represent India in the Beijing Olympic Games, was prevented from boarding her flight to Beijing on Tuesday night for testing positive for a banned anabolic salt but the Manipuri said she has no idea which dope test she flunked as she cleared four tests in the last two months.

"I am innocent. I have always stayed away from doping and that is why I was selected in the trials," a tearful Monika said in New Delhi .
"Everyone knows there are various international tests and no sensible athlete would do that [dope]. I am ready to go to Beijing where my dope test is scheduled for tomorrow. If I fail there leave apart banning me for life, shoot me in public," she said.
Monika, who was selected ahead of Andhra weightlifter Shailaja Pujari in the Indian selection trials last month, claimed some people in the SAI are trying to make case for Shailaja due to regional allegiance.

"I had no clue about anything till 7.30 pm yesterday and at 10-10.30 it was all chaos. It was a pre-meditated move because they did not give me tickets and other stuff required for travelling to Beijing when I asked for it and told me to collect it on the next day," she said.
Monika claimed SAI director (Teams) R K Naidu had already planned to send Shailaja.
"Naidu had told me after the Asian Championships in Japan in April that 'our job of winning one Olympic berth was done and now Shailaja would be sent to represent the country in Olympics ," she said.

"Everyone wants to promote the player of his region," she added.
Indian Weightlifting Federation general secretary B R Gulati, who was also present at the press conference, said the IWF is behind Monika.
"They have not cared to inform me. We were not knowing about the incident till 7 in the evening and suddenly we are slapped with this. I don't know which tests they are talking about. As far as I am concerned these are invalid tests. Our lab is also not WADA accredited. We are firmly behind her," he said.

"I have not stopped her or selected her. Sending her was a prerogative of the IOA," he added.
Gulati said the entire turn of events smacks of conspiracy to sabotage Monika's Olympic candidature.
"The substance which she is accused of having consumed is a substance the effects of which last for a minimum six months to a maximum of two years.
"No lifter even at the district level after being selected for an event like Olympics will take a substance which he or she knows will be detected even after six months.
"It could only be a mischief or sabotage by inducting it orally to somebody about which also we have expressed our apprehension in writing to the Government.

"And we insisted on SAI to remove the coaches who are not required with us in Beijing. Why were they interfering in the training?" he said.

Rathore to be India's flag bearer in Beijing

Athens Olympics silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was on Monday named the flag bearer of the Indian contingent for the Beijing Games starting August 8.
Rathore was India's lone medallist in the Athens Games where he claimed silver in the double trap event.
"The 2004 Athens Olympics silver medallist double tarp shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore will be the flag bearer of the Indian contingent for the Beijing Olympic Games," Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi said in a statement.

Athletics star Anju Bobby George was India's flag bearer at the Athens Games.

Olympic organisers to lift Internet restrictions

The International Olympic Committee and the Chinese organisers BOCOG have agreed to lift all Internet restrictions for the Beijing Games, IOC vice-president Gunilla Lindberg told Reuters on Friday.
"The issue has been solved," Lindberg said. "The IOC Coordination Commission and BOCOG met last night and agreed. Internet use will be just like in any Olympics ."

The issue had caused a major stir days before the start of the Aug. 8-24 Olympics with IOC officials insisting there would be no censorship and BOCOG saying sensitive sites would remain blocked.
In a statement issued late on Thursday, the IOC had said it was expecting BOCOG to solve the issue and said it has always made clear that media representatives should have full access to the Internet.

BOCOG is responsible for directly running the Beijing Games under the auspices of the IOC, which sets general policy. The organising committee of an Olympics would generally work hand-in-hand with the IOC.
Rights watchdog Amnesty International, whose website was among those barred in China, had condemned Internet restrictions during the Games as "betraying the Olympic values".
Games organisers had long pledged there would be no restrictions to journalists during the Games.

source:rediff