Indian Football : Nehru Cup 2012 won

India retained the Nehru Cup Football 2012 defeating the much fancied and higher-ranked Cameroon in the finals at the JwaharLal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on penalties 5-4 after being locked 2-2 after regular and extra time.


(its an internet photo)

Participants
This edition saw the participation of the following countries besides India: Syria, Nepal, Maldives and Cameroon. This is an invitational tournament.

India's Journey thru the Tournament
India started the tournament with the match against Syria. The ground was all soggy with rain playing a spoil-sport. The fluency of the game was lost due to the extremely difficult situation of the ground. India utilized long balls and managed to beat Syria 2-1.

Next up was Maldives and India had an easy outing, defeating Maldives 3-0.

The next match was against neighbors Nepal. Nepal and India have played close matches in the past and have been meeting thru tournaments like SAF Games and other local tournaments. This time, too, the match was close and in fact ended in a 0-0 draw.

By this time, India had ensured themselves a place in the finals. The finals was to be played between top 2 teams of the round-robin league.

Finally, in the last  match of the round-robin, India faced Cameroon. Cameroon showed their supremacy and won 1-0.

The Finals
India and Cameroon clashed and with the ground conditions being just fine, a good spectacle was expected. India was all enthusiastic and played their hearts out. The game saw India equalising after being down 1-2 thru a penalty which Indian Skipper Sunil Chhetri converted easily. This brought the scores to 2-2. The score remained after full-time.

Extra time was played and no team could break the citadel of the other in these 15 minutes of extra time. This locked score meant that the winner would be decided by the lottery of penalty kicks. Indeed, its a lottery as many famed players have missed the penalty even in their prime.

The Penalties went on script and it was 5-4 with the last kick to be taken by Cameroon. This is when the things went wrong for Cameroon and the missed penalty meant that India won and regained the Nehru Cup for the third time.

(Interesting fact: While we all rejoiced the win against Cameroon, what was missed was the fact that this was a Cameroon B team.)

London Olympics 2012 - India's Performance Analysis

The London Olympics 2012 are over and the Indian contingent has returned home. With a final tally of 2 Silver and 4 Bronze, the team stood 55th in the final medals tally. This is the most number of medals won by India in any one Olympic games. Also, India sent the largest contingent this time around - 83 athletes competing in 13 disciplines.This also means that more Athletes qualified this time around.

I would like to analyze India's overall performance in this Part of the Analysis Series.

Medal Winners
India increased the medals tally from 3  to 6 in these games - in Beijing India had 1 Gold and 2 Bronze medals.

At London, the medals came in Wrestling, Badminton, Shooting and Boxing.

The Medals winners were:
Silver
SUSHIL KUMAR - Wrestling
VIJAY KUMAR - Shooting
Bronze
GAGAN NARANG - Shooting
MC MARY KOM - Boxing
SAINA NEHWAL - Badminton
YOGESHWAR DUTT - Wrestling

Kudos to these Athletes and many congratulations to them. It was a great moment to see the Indian tricolor being hoisted at the games medal ceremonies - thanks to these Athletes. It gave a feeling of - Yes, we too can win at the world stage !! 



The sure-shots who failed
There were some more athletes that were being touted as sure-shot medal winners. But they failed to deliver. The greatest disappointment was from Deepika Kumari and Ronjan Sodhi. They both were World No.1 in their sports - Archery and Shooting respectively. One would have thought that would reach the finals and would end up on the podium atleast.

Deepika Kumari lost in the 1st round itself and could not advance any further. After the loss, she said that I did not know what happened and before I could think it was all over. People also attributed her loss to the changing wind direction - which is a well known fact - at Lords where the event was held. If that was the case indeed, a World No.1 is expected to adjust and take it in her stride. If it was a case of nerves, then at that stage and a World No.1 is expected to be mentally tough. In the days to come , her coaches would figure out what exactly are the shortcomings and I hope they and Deepika would work to cover these and retain her position.
(On a funny side, there were reports that the coach Limba Ram thought that it was Black Magic which did India in at these games. A lot was expected from the Archery contingent but none could reach the podium, so the frustation of coach is obvious, but Black Magic.. guess he was pushing his luck a bit far :-) . 

While on the Archery contingent, some of the guys shot a 6 !! I would say that a 6 at this stage is simply uncalled for at this level.).

Ronjan Sodhi was also expected to return a medal winner. He, however, lost and failed to qualify for the finals. While I thought he was a cool customer and was an underdog with less limelight on him as Abhinav Bindra was giving him the cover there and he was a World No. 1 also. However,  he missed a few hits and was always catching up and did not make the cut for the finals. One would expect a World No.1 to reach the finals atleast.

From the two instances above, Is it to do with mental toughness? What do you think?

India's Medals at London Olympics 2012

Update : India has ended the London Olympics 2012 with 2 SILVER and 4 BRONZE - one Silver and Bronze coming in last 2 days. While Sushil Kumar won the Silver in Wrestling on last day, Yogeshwar Dutt won the Bronze on the penultimate day.

So, India has doubled its medal count from Beijing Olympics 2008. However, no Gold came India's way.
As mentioned earlier (below), I will carry out Analysis of India's performance in the coming weeks - let your thoughts flow in and add them as comments please.


Earlier
India's overall haul on the third-last day of the London Olympics 2012 is :

• 1 SILVER - won by Vijay Kumar in shooting
• 3 BRONZE - won by Gagan Narang in shooting, Saina Nehwal in badminton and MC Mary Kom in boxing.

With this, India is at 50th place in the Medals tally.

India's flag-bearer Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt are the only 2 athletes left in the fray. They will be competing in wrestling on 11th, 12th Aug (the games finish on 12th Aug). Lets see if the elusive GOLD can be won by them.

Overall, this is a below-par performance by India given the fact that there were many Athletes who really seemed promising but could not deliver - notably among those were Deepika Kumari, Ronjan Sodhi - both World No. 1s, Abhinav Bindra and the boxers. Most forgivable was India's campaign in Hockey where they have finished 12th and last - their worst performance in Olympics ever !!

Will carry out some analysis posts over the next few weeks and would urge you to think and also contribute your views on India's showing at the London Olympics 2012.

India's London Olympics 2012 Journey so far...

While we play predictor here, let us catch up on the Indian contingents journey so far in the London Olympics.

There were many hopes building up for a great Indian showing shouldering on Saina Nehwal, Deepika Kumari, Ronjan Sodhi, Abhinav Bindra, MC Mary Kom, Vijender Singh, Sushil Kumar and a few other wrestlers and Boxers.

However, so far (upto 3rd Aug), it has not been a great story with the some of these names failing to live upto the hopes.

Medals so far
India has 1 SILVER and 1 BRONZE so far and is at 32nd position in medals tally.

A surprise SILVER came India's way when Vijay Kumar won in shooting on 3rd Aug. Congrats Vijay !!

The BRONZE was won by Gagan Narang in Shooting as well. Well done Gagan !!

Losing Proposition
Meanwhile, some of the sure-shot winners fell by the wayside and caused a lot of heart-burn for the sports enthusiasts of the country.

World No. 1 Deepika Kumari lost in the first round itself and could not come to terms with the fast changing wind direction of the Lords - mecca of Cricket. In her own words - "before I could understand , it was all over." Oh ..we do not expect that from a World No.1. The changing wind at Lords is a well-known phenomenon and should have been factored in by her coaches. Maybe the pressure of the BIG stage caught her. 

Another World No.1 in Shooting Ronjan Sodhi failed to even qualify for the finals. It was expected that he will surely return a medal-winner.  Did the BIG stage got to him as well...

Drawing from these two experiences, maybe the mental toughness is a very big factor as is the skill. When these athletes go out for a World meet or so, there is no sendoff and the hype is missing completely, while, there is a grand sendoff for the Olympics and the hype is tremendous.

Maybe mental toughness is one key area to work upon so that our World No.1's do not fall like nine pins in the early stages . Its fine if they reach the finals and lose. Atleast, they will prove their rankings and will not be seen as a fluke. Olympics is one big event and it cannot be treated like any other tournament. It needs special preparations and hope we learn our lessons and continue to send formidable contingents to the Olympics.

Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal ran into the Chinese wall and could not penetrate it as yet. She lost to World No 1 in the semis and will fight for the bronze with yet another chinese - the World No.2. Keeping my fingers crossed.. All the best Saina!!

The hockey team continues to dissapoint and lost all the 3 matches so far - to Netherlands, New Zealand and Germany and out of reckoning for semis even if they win rest of the matches.

In Athletics, While Krishna Poonia qualified for the finals of Discus throw, others like Myookha Johny, Seema Antil, On Prakash all lost and could not qualify for the finals.

In Tennis, the much chaos around partners did no favour and all men's doubles teams lost and are out - I thought Leander and Vishnu played better and their last game was a treat to watch. Leander and Sania are still alive in the mixed doubles.

What Next ?

On a brighter note, we still have Vijender Singh, MC Mary Kom and Sushil Kumar to look upto for medals.

Let's see how many medals do we win eventually.
What do you think?

India's Medal Chances at London Olympics 2012

With the 2012 London Olympics starting on July 27th, its time to play the Analyst role and predict the medals India is going to win this summer.

The qualifications gave us a glimpse of the form of the Athletes and thereafter the tournaments/meets in which they participated also shows their current levels.

Out of all the disciplines, I feel the following Athletes stand a chance to win the following medals:

• Saina Nehwal (badminton) - Silver
•  Deepika Kumari (archery) - Silver
• Vijendra Singh (boxing) - Silver
• Ronjan Sodhi (shooting) - Bronze
• Sushil Kumar (wrestling) - Silver
• Leander Paes and Sania Mirza (tennis) - Gold
• MC Mary Kom (boxing) - Gold
• Abhinav Bindra (shooting)- Silver

Hey readers, do share your views on what you think will be the medals haul this time.

Will bring in updates as the Games go by.

London Olympics : Boxing - Key Indian Boxers

Boxing is yet another discipline where India has shown great strides in the last few years. Vijender Singh won the Bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and created history - the first Indian boxer to get an Olympic medal.

This time around, the London bound boxing contingent - 8 boxers in all - seems promising and will look to build up on Vijender Singh's exploits in the last edition.

The following are the boxers who have qualified and will be on the plane to London:

Men's light flyweight(49kg): Devendro Singh
Men's bantamweight (56kg): Shiva Thapa
Men's lightweight (60kg): Jai Bhagwan
Men's light welterweight (64kg): Manoj Kumar
Men's welterweight (69kg): Vikas Krishan Yadav
Men's middleweight (75kg): Vijender Singh
Men's light heavyweight (81kg): Sumit Sangwan
Women's flyweight (51kg): Mary Kom

Medal Prospects


M C Mary Kom is being seen as a medal prospect based on her record in the last few years. Mary Kom, a mother of two, is a five time successive World Boxing champion, a biennial amateur boxing competition organised by the International Boxing Association (AIBA). (This is the first time in Olympics history that the women's event is being held.)

MC Mary Kom

(This video comes from YouTube)

In the men's section, Vijender Singh will lead the charge and will hope to improve his showing this time. A good showing is expected from Devendro and Jai Bhagwan too.

Meanwhile, Shiva Thapa is the youngest Indian boxer to have qualified. In 2012 Asian Olympic Qualifiers held in Astana, Kazakhstan, Shiva defeated Syria's Wessam Salamana 18-11 to clinch the gold medal and qualified for 2012 London Olympics in 56 kgs category.

All-in-all, I believe the medal hopefuls are:

MC Mary Kom
Vijendra Singh

Let's see what is the final medals-tally for Boxing at the London Olympics.

We are waiting to be surprised !!

This is how a marathon was run...

While India continues to count the days to the London Olympics and build up steam , here is an interesting read from the pages of Olympic history. Read the previous posts on http://indiansportsstrength.blogspot.com/2012/06/london-olympics-athletics-key-indian.html.


(Source of below information: Wikipedia)

1904 Summer Olympics were held in the United States. The marathon was the most bizzare event of the games. It was run over dusty roads in extremely hot conditions, with horses and automobiles clearing the way for the runners and in the process creating dust clouds which the athletes had to face in turn.

The first to arrive at the finish line was Frederick Lorz. He had dropped out of the race after nine miles and then took a car ride. Unfortunately the car broke down and he re-entered the race at 19th mile and jogged back to the finish line. The officials thought that he had won the race and awarded him the Gold medal. Lorz played along and treated the situation as a practical joke. He was later banned for one year and his medal forfieted. He returned in 1905 to win the Boston marathon.

Thomas Hick was the first man to cross the finish line legally and won the race. He was a Briton running for the United States.  He received several doses of strychnine sulfate (a common rat poison, which stimulates the nervous system in small doses) mixed with brandy from his trainers. He was supported by his trainers when he crossed the finish, but is still considered the winner. Hicks had to be carried off the track, and possibly would have died in the stadium, had he not been treated by several doctors. A Cuban postman named Felix Carbajal joined the marathon, arriving at the last minute. He had to run in street clothes that he cut around the legs to make them look like shorts. He stopped off in an orchard en route to have a snack on some apples, which turned out to be rotten. The rotten apples caused him to have to lie down and take a nap. Despite falling ill to apples he finished in fourth place !!

The marathon included the first two black Africans to compete in the Olympics; two Tswana tribesmen named Len Tau (real name: Len Taunyane) and Yamasani (real name: Jan Mashiani). But they weren't there to compete in the Olympics, they were actually the sideshow. They had been brought over by the exposition as part of the Boer War exhibit (both were really students from Orange Free State in South Africa, but this fact was not made known to the public). Len Tau finished ninth and Yamasani came in twelfth. This was a disappointment, as many observers were sure Len Tau could have done better if he had not been chased nearly a mile off course by aggressive dogs.