Games over for Lee-Mirza,Poonia

London: India's tennis campaign at the London Olympic Games met with a disappointing end as Leander Paes and Sania Mirza were knocked out in the mixed doubles quarter-finals,at Wimbledon on Saturday.

London: India’s tennis campaign at the London Olympic Games met with a disappointing end as Leander Paes and Sania Mirza were knocked out in the mixed doubles quarter-finals,at Wimbledon on Saturday. Paes and Sania lost 5-7 6-7(5) to the top seeded pair of Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka from Belarus in the last-eight stage match,which was spread over two days due to bad light. The loss brought to a disappointing end India’s campaign in tennis events.

The Indians were trailing 2-3 in the second set,after having lost the first set when play was stopped on Friday. Paes and Sania failed to cash in on a few break points and dented their chances in the final analysis. Out of eight chances in the second set,they could convert only one. Nevertheless,they held serve from their side to take the second set to a tie-breaker,but it was to prove to be another disappointment. The Belarusian pair nicked it 7-5 to take the second set and the match.

The build-up to the Olympics was marred with a selection row as players resorted to bickering. Both Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna refused to play with Paes and insisted on being paired together. However,they could not go beyond the second round. Paes,who was eventually paired with Vishu Vardhan,also bowed out after a second round defeat,though the pair fought valiantly against tough.

Poonia finishes 7th

Discus Thrower Krishna Poonia acquitted herself reasonably well,finishing seventh out of 12 athletes who had qualified for the finals of the event. Her first throw of 62.42m was enough to take her through to the second stage of the final,but she was able to register just one better throw. After a disappointing third throw of 61.61 and fouling twice,Poonia managed 63.62,which pushed her above Stephanie Brown Trafton to leave her in the seventh spot. In her first Olympics,Poonia’s results will be one of the best among athletes from the Indian track and field contingent.

Meanwhile,Sudha Singh crashed out of the Games after failing to qualify for the final of the women’s 3000m steeplechase event,finishing a lowly 13th out of 15 runners in the first heat.

In the women’s trap event,shooter Shagun Chowdhary failed to qualify for the finals,finishing 20th out of 22 competitors at the Royal Artillery Barracks. The 29-year-old from Jaipur started off reasonably well by shooting 23 out of 25,but a 17 the lowest across all competitors in the second series saw her slip down.

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