Beijing signs off with another awesome display, next stop London 2012

Beijing packed another pyrotechnic punch at the Bird’s Nest tonight for the closing ceremony of the 29th Olympiad. Drawing on China’s rich tradition of acrobatics, filmmaker Zhang Yimou playfully drew on the theme of remembering to sign off China’s long fortnight under the most high-voltage spotlight.

China ended the Games with 51 gold medals, signaling the strongest domination of sport by a country since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The sport was intriguingly good at these Olympics, and barring any distressing news that may come by way of doping Beijing will be a marker for students of athletic excellence.

But for China, these Games have been as much about the staging of them as for the medal haul. China was keen to host them, and seven years ago made pledges to get them and asserted its ambitions for rapid development in preparing for them.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.indianexpress.com

3 Medals, never in History

India’s Olympic campaign got a boost on Wednesday as wrestler Sushil Kumar clinched a bronze medal and boxer Vijender Kumar assured himself of at least a bronze to give the country three medals at a single Games for the first time.

First, the CAU Gymnasium exploded in celebration when Sushil Kumar won his bout against Leonid Spiridonov 3-1 to win the bronze in the 66 kg freestyle event. Oneand-a-half hours later, middleweight boxer Vijender pounded Carlos Gongora to qualify for the semifinals with a 9-4 win. He is assured of a bronze even if he is beaten in the next round as both losing semifinalists are awarded a bronze each.

Sushil Kumar became the second wrestler to win an Olympic medal after Khashba Dadasaheb Jhadav, who won bronze in 1952 at Helsinki.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the the ePaper, visit:
http://server1.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCH/2008/08/21/index.shtml