It’s all but over for India Down Under

The countback was resorted to break the deadlock in the 81 kg quarter-final bout which was tied 12-all by the cumputerised scoring system by which a punch is registered only if at least three out of the five judges press a button at the same time or in close succession.

The exit of the 23-year-old Punjab-born Services boxer also brought to an end India’s challenge in the ring.

With only a few athletes, comprising the four relay squads (4×100 and 4×400 metres men and women) and woman javeline thrower Gurmeet Kaur, whose medal hopes are extremely bleak, India seem destined to return home with a lone bronze medal for the second Games running.

Tennis star Leander Paes had won a bronze in men’s singles in the 1996 Atlanta Games to end India’s 16-year medal drought at the Olympics. The lone bronze medal won here came through the superb efforts of weightlifter Karnam Malleswari who finished third in the 69 kg class to become the first Indian woman medallist in Olympic history on September 19, the fourth day of the Games.

Malleswari opened India’s medal account and has remained the country’s only competitor to climb the podium till today.

Most of the members of the Indian contingent were found out of depth at this level of competition with some notable exceptions such as rifle shooters Anjali Vedpathak and Abhinav Bindra and women’s quarter-miler K M Beenamol.

Anjali, the 30-year-old Central Industrial Security Force Inspector, finished eighth and last in the final of the 10m women’s air rifle after becoming the first shooter from the country to figure in a final.

Bindra, the 17-year-old Delhi-based marksman, finished joint 11th in the corresponding men’s event, giving a glimpse of his potential on his Olympic debut.

Young Railways athlete Beenamol exceeded all expectations by becoming the third Indian woman after two other Kerala runners, Shiny Wilson and P T Usha, to reach an Olympic athletics semi-finals.

Shuttler Pullela Gopi Chand did not do too badly.The National men’s champion lost to Indonesian star, Hendrawan, who eventually finished with the silver medal, in the pre-quarter-finals. Lone woman judoka Brojeshori Devi won two bouts and lost the third against Liu Yu Xiang of China in the 52 kg category, a reasonably good show.

But most others, especially some star athletes like Shakti Singh (men’s shot put), Paramjit Singh (men’s 400m) and Neelam Jaswant Singh (women’s discus) performed abysmally with their efforts not coming anywhere near their recent displays at home.

Shakti Singh, a gold medallist at the Jakarta Asian championship held last month-end, had a best putt of 18.40m, 1.69m off his Indian mark, to end up at the 17th position out of 19 competitors.

Paramjit clocked a poor 46.64 secs, nearly a second off his National record of 45.70 done in Calcutta two years ago, and finished sixth out of seven runners in his preliminary heat.

Neelam, also a gold medallist at Jakarta, hurled the disc to 55.26 metres, 6.15 metres shy of her National record of 61.41 set on Indian soil and finished a distant 26th out of 32 competitors while javeline thrower Jagdish Bishnoi was nearly ten metres off his National mark.

India’s showing in men’s and women’s tennis and table tennis, men’s rowing, wrestling and equestrian events was equally pathetic with none of the entrants even remotely appearing as if they belonged to this level.

In tennis the star duo of Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi found their dreams of winning an Olymnpic medal, not to speak of gold, shattered when they lost to Australian top seeds Mark Woodforde and Tood Woodbridge in straight sets in the second round of the men’s doubles.

In men’s singles Paes could not repeat his feat of 1996 and lost tamely to Swede Mikael Tillstrom in straight sets in the first round.

In women’s tennis the Indian combine of Nirupama Vaidynathan and Manisha Malhotra, who got a lucky entry into the fray, were outclassed in their first round match by the sixth-seeded duo of Jelena Dokic and Rennae Stubbs of Australia. The Indians failed to win a single game.

In men’s rowing the challenge of Inderpal Singh and Kasam Khan sunk without a trace in the coxless pairs event in which they ended up as the wooden spoonists. India had secured a quota berth in rowing through Johnson Xavier and Surinder Singh at the Nagano Asian championship last year, but the Indian rowing federation chose Inder Pal and Khan to represent the country here.

The folly was made more glaring by the fact that the two rowers were accompanied here by their American coach Don Bonanno, three Indian coaches and a manager.

Lone grappler Gurbinder Singh won one bout and lost two in the 63 kg Greco-Roman style preliminary league and also made a speedy departure.In equestrian three-day individual event, Imtiaz Anees, an eleventh hour entry, finished way behind the field, in the 23rd position, with 236.60 points to his credit.

Swimmers S Hakimuddin and Nisha Millet were also out of their depth and finished a pathetic 50th (out of 51) and 37th (out of 39) competitors in the 200 metres freestyle for men and women respectively.

In boxing, Gurcharan made the quarter-finals. Two of his teammates Suresh Singh (light fly) and Bangkok Asian Games gold medallist Ng Dingko Singh (bantam) lost in their very first apperances in the ring while middle weight Jitender Kumar fell in the second round.

In weightlifting, two other Indians were in the fray along with Malleswari and both failed to prosper.

Sanamacha Chanu finished sixth with a lift of 195 kg in the women’s 53 kg category while TM Muthu underperformed in the men’s 56 kg category to end up 17th.