Champia grabs the attention

In the round of 32, Champia, whose personal best is 384, faces Iran’s Vaezi Hojjatolah, who finished 63rd after shooting 604. The archer from Jamshedpur shot 342 in the first half to lead the field before adding 336 in the second to slip a rung and finish second overall.

In the women’s section, the troika of L Bombayla Devi, Dola Banerjee and Pranitha Vardhineni did enough to ensure that the women’s team got a bye in the first round.

They will now take on hosts China (1916), who finished third, straight in the quarter-finals.

Bombayla (637), Dola (633) and Pranitha (627) came 22nd, 31st and 37th respectively in today’s ranking round and their aggregated tally of 1897 helped India finish among the top six sides, who got a bye.

In the individual section on Tuesday, in-form Bombayla will face Iwona Marcinkiewicz of Poland, who finished 43rd with a score of 620, while experienced Dola takes on Marie-Pier Beaudet (628) of Canada, who finished 34th.

Vijender wins opener

Indian pugilists had mixed fortunes with medal prospect Vijender Kumar breezing into the second round of the 75kg category while compatriot Dinesh Kumar was knocked out in the first round of the 81kg section at the Beijing Olympics here tonight.

Vijender thoroughly dominated his bout against Gambia’s Jack Badou at the Workers’ Stadium to walk away with a 13-2 victory, while Dinesh cut a sorry figure against Abdelhafid Benchabla of Algeria, who outscored the Indian, forcing the referee to stop the contest. Vijender next meets Chomphuphuang Angkhan of Thailand in the next bout and the Indian said he was itching to avenge his defeat against him at the President’s Cup in Chinese Taipei in April.

Saina in round two

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal toyed with her Russian opponent Ella Karachkova before thrashing her in straight games to storm into the second round of the women’s singles event in badminton.

The national champion looked in sublime form as she needed less than half an hour to oust Karachkova 21-9, 21-8 to breeze into the second round, where Ukrainian Larysa Gryga awaits her.