Indian boxers redeemed some reputation by winning all three gold medals they fought for while a fourth gold came the hosts&rsquo; way in the men&rsquo;s table tennis doubles on the penultimate day, as a dope scandal rocked their on-field achievements at the Commonwealth Games here today.

Boxers, paddlers keep India in hunt for second spot

Press Trust of India

The country&rsquo;s competitors came out with flying colours and helped India finish a historic second in the final pecking order with more than 100 medals as the Commonwealth Games, that had a troubled build-up but proceeded smoothly thereafter, came to a close today.

India creates history by finishing second

Camera nahin laaye?&rdquo; asks the security guard at the main gate of Sports Authority of India&rsquo;s (SAI) Devi Lal Sports Centre in Sonepat district, about 40 km from Delhi. News channels have been thronging this mecca of Indian wrestling in the last few days and so the security guard is a bit surprised to see a journalist sans a camera, tripod and the works. He is aware that the Commonwealth Games are on and that wrestlers from nearby villages have achieved something but isn&rsquo;t surprised. &ldquo;Every kid here wants to become a wrestler,&rdquo; he says matter-of-factly. This SAI centre has become the talking point after the CWG as this is where the Indian wrestlers trained before their record haul of 19 medals out of the 21 on offer.

Gold dust

Business Standard

The 2010 Formula One season is all set for a photo finish.

A close-run championship

The world is again singing paeans to Sachin Tendulkar. Well deserved as they are, after his two fantastic innings in Bangalore to go with the 98 in the first innings at Mohali, let&rsquo;s spare a thought for Cheteshwar Pujara.

Time to switch off the flash

In his path-breaking research on the ratings of chess-players, Arpad Elo discovered something that made intuitive sense. Talented young players don't increase smoothly in strength. Their ratings can suddenly jump several levels. Then they lose ground or plateau, before making another abrupt jump. A good example is Ian Nepomniachtchi, who has swung past 2700 after nearly two years of stagnation at low 2600-levels.

CHESS #649

Across all of Fiji&rsquo;s 333 islands, spattered with sun-kissed beaches and coral gardens, groups of men and women fiercely chasing an oblong ball is a common sight. The rugby-mad nation currently has around 80,000 registered players and fanaticism about the sport is reflected in their top-10 world ranking. At the other end of the heap and still trying to find a firm foothold in the psyche of the nation&rsquo;s sporting tapestry lies Indian rugby, which briefly recreated the fervour of the sport at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

India's rugby story

Supporting a football club, most would agree, is an irrational pursuit. Fans spend a fortune every season watching their team play. They stay up till the wee hours, celebrate the highs, sulk about the lows and in short, treat the club as more than just a sporting entity. A 15 year old defeat still rankles, or a victory maintains its glow, as the case might be. This irrationality makes football what it is. There&rsquo;s this siege mentality among football fans which is hard to find anywhere else. The motto seems to be: &ldquo;You&rsquo;re either with us or against us.

Loyalty and lucre

The Bilbao Masters was slightly unsatisfying despite high quality play. Kudos to Kramnik for winning with a +2, =4 score, ahead of Anand +1,=5, Carlsen +1,-2, =3 and Shirov =4,- 2. The lingering unhappiness is because Bilbao was too short.

The day after Jai Bhagwan, the boxer from Haryana, was assured of a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games 2010 and, consequently, entry into next month&rsquo;s Asian Games in Guangzhou, he was asked: &ldquo;Are you happy at qualifying for the Asian Games?&rdquo; The Asian Games were not his aim, Bhagwan replied, what he wanted most was to win the gold medal at this tournament. National coach G S Sandhu, in contrast, was content that Bhagwan had got a bronze medal.

Old game, new rules?

Equestrian sports might be the domain of the privileged, but the proliferation of riding schools in India could change that.

Getting their spurs on

There is something about Sunil Gavaskar. Time and again, he takes defiant positions, takes on the establishment, and yet continues to thrive. His battles with the cricket administration in his playing days are well-documented. And there has been no end to hostilities even after his retirement. Nevertheless, Gavaskar continues to be a part of important committees, chairing some of them, and remains a much-sought-after commentator.

Runs and run-ins

Shailendra Singh has played golf at some of the world&rsquo;s best courses.

Been there, done that

Last year when Carlsen played the first Nanjing Super GM, he knocked off an incredible 8 points from 10 games. This time, he's managed to stay comfortably in the lead from round one although he won't achieve the same score again. Carlsen has done enough to retain the number one ranking, assuming no outright disasters at the finish.

CHESS #650

This is the year when some sporting stars might walk into the sunset.

Time to call it a day?

TWO WORLD records in quick succession. First, Hou Yifan (born Feb 1994) became the youngest winner of a senior world title when she beat her compatriot Lufei Ruan to become women's world champion.

CHESS (#663)

The cricket calendar for the year is packed with action &mdash; the World Cup in the subcontinent, the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League and high-profile tours to England and Australia. Reputations will be built and lost over the year. But away from the cricket pitch, its willow, leather and flannels, India&rsquo;s new-found sports icons, too, will be in action: Saina Nehwal, Sushil Kumar, Somdev Devvarman, MC Mary Kom, Vijender Kumar, Akhil Kumar and others.

London on their minds

Hastings has been a New Year&rsquo;s fixture since the 1890s. The Sussex resort is of course famous as the venue for the 1066 English equivalent of the Battle of Panipat. It has also played host to all world champions except Fischer and Kasparov.

Chess (#664)

The newly-christened Tata Steel kicks off today at Wijk An Zee. The premier &ldquo;A&rdquo; is of course, one of the oldest (1938-2011) and strongest of tournaments and it sets the benchmark for chess festivals with three strong round-robins and a monster open Swiss.

Chess (#665)

With the help of statistics, Aabhas Sharma analyses four knotty questions the selection of the Indian team for World Cup 2011 has thrown up.

Game theory

One definition of a blunder is a move so bad that the player perpetuating it should see the downside instantly. Yet, even the greatest players blunder. Kramnik famously missed mate in one, Anand once dumped a piece on move 7, etc. Often there&rsquo;s no objective explanation for the error, especially when it occurs early in a familiar situation where there&rsquo;s no time trouble.

Chess #666

Other Sports: Get the latest news headlines of other sports category such as Badminton, Chess, Volleyball, basketball and other Olympic Games with live coverage on Business Standard.

Other Sports News: Latest News from Olympics Games, Volleyball, Badminton | Business Standard

Get the latest news headlines of other sports category such as Badminton, Chess, Volleyball, basketball and other Olympic Games with live coverage on Business Standard.

Page 806 - Other Sports News