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Indian shooters gunning for metal at London Olympics

July 18, 2012
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New Delhi, July 18: Double trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi put the new, hungry breed of Indian shooters in perspective at the Asian Games in Guangzhou two years ago. "We are winning medals because the concept of victory has changed. We are now focusing on the medal right from training. Earlier, we used to think of qualifying for the finals."

The 32-year-old from Ferozepur, who took to shooting as a child with the sport being a family tradition, not only exemplified the spirit in Guangzhou with the only shooting gold but followed it up with an early qualification for the London Olympics and moving to the top of the rankings last year.

Having had a great 2010, where he set a new mark and won gold at the World Cup finals before wearing the double trap crown at the Shotgun World Cup, a fine run at the CWG and the Asian Games, Sodhi repeated his World Cup finals feat the next year. Only five shooters have either shot world records or equalled them in the last 15 years. He is one of them.

What stands out is his sense of planning. An Arjuna award winner, Sodhi, who moved to double trap in 2001, resolutely made his way to the top after failing to make it to the 2008 Beijing Games - his request for a wild card was turned down although he was among the top three in the world and had equalled two world records at a World Cup in Belgrade.

In between, Sodhi even took the risk of losing weight after experts told him that he had to get fitter. He lost nothing less than 25kg and employed a physiotherapist for his general well-being.

And, to counter the wind and rain at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London, weather conditions which the Indians loathe, he said he had planned his training sessions under similar conditions in Italy under his coach Marcello Dradi.

But Sodhi hasn't hassled himself mentally. Although he hasn't made much headway in the recent World Cups - losing out on a berth in the final in Lonato, Italy - he is confident that if he can maintain a score of 145, he can finish on the podium.

Sky the limit for Gagan

Another shooter who is keen on maintaining the winning momentum is rifle shooter Gagan Narang.

Born in Chennai but raised in Hyderabad, the 29-year-old Narang, who has been in the sport since 1997, rose to fame with a gold in the 2003 Afro-Asian Games in his home town but realized his true worth in 2006 when he won four gold medals at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Narang's magical moment came in 2008 when he touched the perfect qualification score of 600/600 in 10m air rifle at the Bangkok World Cup final before setting a new world record of 703.5 with a superb 103.5 in the final round. It was special for him as his stupendous performance came on the same day (November 4) when Barack Obama, who Narang idolizes, won the election in the US.

But the Olympics the same year wasn't as memorable for Narang, with him missing a berth in the finals by a whisker. Narang had to settle for the 10th position even as Abhinav Bindra won the gold. That was when he declared that he would work for the gold medal in London.

Podium finishes at the World Cups in 2009 kept him in the race for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna but when it did not come to him, Narang was downcast and stayed away from the limelight for sometime. But then glory was his in 2010 at the Commonwealth Games. Having won the Padma Shri earlier, he won the Khel Ratna too.

A knee injury kept Narang away from all World Cups save one last year but he has come back ever since. His performances haven't been upto the mark but the Hyderabadi has it in him to raise the bar in London.

India's Best Bets

1. Ronjan Sodhi (Double Trap)

Current World Ranking: 10

Top Show: Gold medal at World Cup, Belgrade, 2008 - equalled both world record of 147 and final world record

Main Challengers: Walton Eller (USA), Joshua Richmond (USA), Hu Binyuan (China)

2. Gagan Narang (10m Air Rifle)

Current World Ranking: 14

Top Show: Gold at World Cup Final in Bangkok, 2008 - world record score of 703.5, including a perfect 600/600

Main Challengers: Zhu Qinan (China), Niccolo Campriani (Italy), Abhinav Bindra (India)



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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Hampshire, Jul 31: David Willey's maiden five-wicket haul guided England to a six-wicket victory over Ireland in the first ODI here on Friday.

With this win, the hosts have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.

Chasing a small target of 173 runs, England got off to a bad start as opener Jonny Bairstow was given LBW in the third over, bowled by Andy McBrine. Jason Roy was then joined by James Vince and the duo added 22 runs on the board before the former was dismissed.

Craig Young then got hold of Vince, who was caught behind after scoring 25 runs. Sam Billings and Tom Banton then took the charge of the chase but the latter too was caught behind which ended his 11-run innings.

Banton's dismissal brought skipper Eoin Morgan on the field. Billings and Morgan played stunning innings and kept scoring boundaries. Morgan struck a scintillating six on the last bowl of the 28th over to take England over the line. Morgan scored 36 runs while Billings played a knock of 67 runs.

Earlier, after being asked to bat first, Ireland witnessed a poor start as Paul Stirling was dismissed in the very first over of the innings, bowled by Willey. Andy Balbirnie then joined Gareth Delany but Willey struck again in his next over, removing Balbirnie.

Delany then played furiously and smashed three consecutive boundaries to Saqib Mahmood in the fourth over. However, the fall of wickets did not stop as England took three wickets in quick succession. Mahmood bowled Harry Tector while Delany and Lorcan Tucker were sent back to the pavilion by Willey.

Kevin O'Brien and Curtis Campher then took the charge and played cautiously, taking their struggling side over the 50-run mark. Adil Rashid got hold of O'Brien (22) in the 22nd over before Simranjit Singh was run out in the same over.

Andy McBrine was the next batsman and he played brilliantly along with Campher, who went on to complete his half-century. Both formed a 66-run partnership before McBrine (40) was dismissed by Tom Curran.

Campher remained unbeaten on 59 but failed to find a partner as England bundled out Ireland on 172 runs.

The second ODI between both teams will be played on Saturday.

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News Network
June 19,2020

Jun 19: The BCCI is open to reviewing its sponsorship policy for the next cycle but has no plans to end its association with current IPL title sponsor Vivo as the money coming in from the Chinese company is helping India's cause and not the other way round, board treasurer Arun Dhumal said on Friday. Anti-China sentiments are running high in India following the border clash between the two countries at Galwan valley earlier this week. The first skirmish at the India-China border in more than four decades left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead. Since then, calls have been made to boycott Chinese products.

But Dhumal said Chinese companies sponsoring an Indian event like the IPL only serve his country's interests.

The BCCI gets Rs 440 crore annually from Vivo and the five-year deal ends in 2022.

"When you talk emotionally, you tend to leave the rationale behind. We have to understand the difference between supporting a Chinese company for a Chinese cause or taking help from Chinese company to support India's cause," Dhumal said.

"When we are allowing Chinese companies to sell their products in India, whatever money they are taking from Indian consumer, they are paying part of it to the BCCI (as brand promotion) and the board is paying 42 per cent tax on that money to the Indian government. So, that is supporting India's cause and not China's," he argued.

Oppo, a mobile phone brand like Vivo, was sponsoring the Indian cricket team until September last year when Bengaluru-based educational technology Byju's start-up replaced the Chinese company.

Dhumal said he is all for reducing dependence on Chinese products but as long as its companies are allowed to do business in India, there is no harm in them sponsoring an Indian brand like the IPL.

"If they are not supporting the IPL, they are likely to take that money back to China. If that money is retained here, we should be happy about it. We are supporting our government with that money (by paying taxes on it)."

"If I am giving a contract to a Chinese company to build a cricket stadium, then I am helping the Chinese economy. GCA built the world's largest cricket stadium at Motera and that contract was given to an Indian company (L&T)," he said.

"Cricketing infrastructure worth thousands of crores was created across country and none of the contract was awarded to a Chinese company."

Dhumal went on to say the BCCI is spoilt for choice when it comes to attracting sponsors, whether Indian or Chinese or from any other nation.

"If that Chinese money is coming to support Indian cricket, we should be okay with it. I am all for banning Chinese products as an individual, we are there to support our government but by getting sponsorship from Chinese company, we are helping India's cause."

"We can get sponsorship money from non-Chinese companies also including Indian firms. We can support our players any way but the idea is when they are allowed to sell their products here, it is better that part of money comes back to the Indian economy."

"The BCCI is not giving money to the Chinese, it is attracting on the contrary. We should make decision based on rationale rather than emotion," he added.

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