India at Beijing Olympic Games 2008

Beijing Olympics: Indian Medal Winners

Abhinav Bindra: Gold
10m Air Rifle Category

Sushil Kumar: Bronze
Freestyle Wrestling
66Kg Category

Vijender: Bronze
Boxing
75 Kg Middleweight Category

Day 14:Vijender wins Bronze

India's Vijender Kumar went down 5-8 to Cuban Emilio Correa Dayeaux in the semi-finals of the 75 kg category boxing competition at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing on Friday.
Dayeaux got off to a good start, taking two-point lead in the first round.

However, Vijender staged a strong fightback in the second round winning three points, while his Cuban opponent claimed two as the score read 4-3 after two rounds. The Indian drew a blank in the third round, while Dayeaux bagged three points to take a commanding 7-3 lead.

In the fourth and final round, Vijender put in all his efforts, but could not catch up with his opponent.

Vijender had already ensured the bronze medal for India when he beat Carlos Gongora of Ecuador 9-4 in the quarter-finals.

In the gold medal match Dayeaux will face Great Britain's James DeGale, who beat Darren John Sutherland 10:3 in the first semi-final

Beijing, Aug 22: The stars had ordained Olympics glory for him even before Vijender Singh landed his first punch against Cuba’s Emilio Correa Bayeaux. He lost the bout 8-5 but still marked the re-birth of the golden era in Indian boxing. It is the first time India will have three medals in its tally, a gargantuan step in the promotion of sports in the country.

The first round saw him trail by 2-0 as the aggressive Cuban seemed to be on top of his game. The second round saw him claw back a bit to 4-3 with some hard hitting jabs. The third round saw things going tough for him as the Cuban took a 7-3 lead. The last round saw a flurry of punches that took the total to 8-5 but it was too late to come back into the match.

After Abhinav Bindra's gold-winning feat during the first week of the sporting extravaganza, Vijender had put himself on course for a silver or gold medal on a historic day for Indian sports but it could not materialize.

India had won two Olympic medals in the 1952 Helsinki Games when the hockey team won gold medal and wrestler KD Jadhav won a bronze medal, a record which stood untouched for 56 long years.

Vijender made sure India got its first-ever boxing medal and also made it the first occasion that an Indian contingent will return home from an Olympic Games with more than two medals.

Vijender Singh made up for the disappointment of Akhil Kumar and Jitender Singh not making it to the medal round by ensuring at least the bronze.

Day 12: Vijender Kumar ensures Medal for India

India's Vijender Kumar beat Carlos Gongora of Ecuador 9-4 in the quarter-finals of the 75kg middleweight category of the boxing event on Wednesday to guarantee India another medal at the Beijing Olympics.
Vijender had a good start, winning the opening round 2-0. He also pocketed the second round 2-1. The third also went his way 3-2 and so did the fourth 2-1.

Vijender stormed into the last eight after overwhelming Angkhan Chomphuphuang of Thailand 13-3 in a lop-sided pre-quarter-final bout on Saturday night.

Earlier, he thoroughly dominated his opening bout against Gambia's Jack Badou, scoring a facile 13-2 win

Day 12: Sushil Kumar wins Bronze

India's Sushil Kumar claimed bronze in the Men's Freestyle Wrestling 66 kilogram class on Wednesday, August 20.

Kumar took three periods to beat Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan 2-1, 0-1 and 1-0.

Spiridonov finished fourth in the 66kg weight class in Athens, while Kumar took 14th place.

Sushil Kumar brought smiles on the faces of millions of Indians across the globe by giving the country its second medal of the Beijing Olympics after Abhinav Bindra brought home the Gold earlier. Indian grappler Sushil, bagged a bronze in wrestling’s 66 kg freestyle event, exactly 56 years after KD Jadhav brought glory at Helsinki in 1952.

Indian grappler Sushil Kumar won the 1st repachage round against American Doug Schwab and pinned down Belarussian Albert Batyrov in the second .The glorious moment came after Sushil outclassed Kazakh grappler Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakastan 2-1, 0-1, 1-0 to win an Olympic Bronze medal.

Sushil won two repechage rounds after he had lost his first grapple in the morning to a far superior Ukrainian Andriy Stadnik.

What is Repachage

Wrestlers who only lose against the two finalists make up a repechage. The repechage matches begin with wrestlers who lost in the first round (including the matches to obtain the ideal number) against one of the two finalists up to the losers in the semi-finals by direct elimination. Winners of the two repechage matches each receive a bronze medal.

Earlier in the day, Sushil proved easy meat for Ukrainian Andriy Stadnik in the first round of 66kg freestyle wrestling event, leaving the Indian grappler's medal hopes in Beijing Olympics hinging on the repechage.

Pitted against a far superior opponent, Sushil managed to score a technical point even though Stadnik led the first period 2-1.

In the second phase, Stadnik simply toyed with Sushil and scored six points and it looked a gross mismatch with the Indian struggling against the dominant Ukrainian.

"Stadnik was far superior but I don't have any regrets about Sushil. He tried his best but just could not do anything," coach PR Sondhi said.

"Stadnik was outstanding in the beginning and I think that was playing on his mind in the last period, Stadnik was just too good for him," he added.

Medal Results 66kg

Day 3: Gold for Abhinav Bindra

India's Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle in Beijing on August 11 with an incredible performance in the final. Bindra shot a total score of 700.5.

China's Zhu Qinan, gold medalist at Athens 2004, won the silver medal with a total score of 699.7.

The bronze medal was won by Finland's Henri Hakkinen, who was leading the field after the qualification round, but was unable to hold off Bindra and Zhu in the final. The Finnish shooter shot a total of 699.4.

Hakkinen shot 598 in the qualification round, giving him a one point lead over Zhu. Bindra was one point further back with 596.

Bindra signaled his intentions early in the final, with a 10.7 on his first shot. None of Bindra's shots in the final dropped below 10.0.

Hakkinen's performance in the final was solid, but it needed to be better. He averaged 10.14 per shot in the final, compared to Bindra's 10.45.

Going into the last shot, Bindra and Hakkinen were tied for first place, but Bindra secured the gold medal with his best shot of the final, an outstanding 10.8.

Conversely, Hakkinen's last shot was his worst, a lowly 9.7. This allowed Zhu to overcome Hakkinen and win the silver medal. Zhu shot 10.5 on his last shot.

Zhu will be disappointed that did not become the first shooter to win two gold medals in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. However, he was unable to reproduce his best – Zhu holds the Olympic record for the final score in the event, the 702.7 that he shot at Athens 2004.