Mary Kom opens with win Four-time defending champion M C Mary Kom (48kg) out-punched Sweden's Lungo Vesenne Natalie 10-1 in the opening round of the sixth World Women's Boxing Championships. She lead 2-0 after the opening round and went on to built on the lead making it 6-0 in the second round. She then added four more points to in the next two rounds to round off a dominating performance. Her next opponent in the pre-quarterfinals on Saturday would be Jenny Smith of Australia. There was disappointment for India in the 54kg category when Priyanka lost 6-10 to Zhang Qin of China. Biggest ever Games Around 7000 athletes and officials including about 600 Indians would take part in what will be the biggest-ever Commonwealth Games in terms of numbers. The previous highest was the 2006 edition that saw approximately 5,800 athletes and team officials in attendance. Though the exact numbers will be known only after the Delegation Registration Meeting (from Sept 16-Oct 2),some of the bigger contingents are from Australia (550),England (525),Canada (400),New Zealand (325),Malaysia (325),Scotland (300),Wales (240) and South Africa (220). On the other hand,Botswana,with just 5 members,will field the smallest contingent. Bhullar tied second Gaganjeet Bhullar shot a brilliant five-under 65 to grab a share of the second spot in the weather-disrupted second round of the USD 400,000 Handa Singapore Classic. Bhullars 65,which included six birdies and an eagle against just one bogey,took his total to 12-under 132,six strokes behind leader Peter Karmis (63) of South Africa. Among other Indians in fray,SSP Chowrasia also carded a seven-under 65 and was a stroke adrift of Bhullar at tied sixth. Kapur tied 2nd after Rd1 Shiv Kapur turned in a sparkling six-under 64 to grab a share of the second spot after the opening round of the KLM Open golf tournament in Netherlands. Among other Indians in fray,Jeev Milkha Singh was tied 53rd after returning a one-under 69 in the opening round. However,Jyoti Randhawa seemed in danger of missing the cut as he was tied 135th on the leader-board after carding a four-over 74 which comprised five bogeys and just one birdie. At the top,Nicolas Colsaerts grabbed sole lead with an eight-under 62 in the opening round. Shooters to arrive on Sep 25 National shooting coach Sunny Thomas wanted to bring the CWG team to Delhi early for training but has dropped the plan fearing that too much media attention will hamper CWG preparation. The shooters will arrive on September 25. "We are not trying to avoid the media,it's just that we don't want our shooters to be exposed to questions like 'how many medals will India win' and 'can you better your last Games' performance'. It's okay after the event but not during preparation," he added. Indian coach for Iraqi archers Indian archery coach Lokesh Chand has been roped in by the Iraqi Archery Federation to look after their senior side. Chand,who was with the panel of archery coaches for the CWG,took charge of the Iraqi senior side in July. "The (Iraqi) side is currently camping in Syria. This is good news that an Indian coach has been hired to develop the sport in Iraq. This speaks high of Indian archery," Mukherjee said. Chand is an NIS qualified coach.
