Another jinxed day for india. Bhupathi-bopanna went down in the second round. All the archers except Deepika kumari went out of competition but the most disappointing of all was the way Jwala-ashwini after a brilliant victory found themselves out of contention due to bad communication or bad math and bad luck.
It reminded back the famous story of 2003 cricket world cup game where the south africa needed to win to qualify for the knock-outs. The match resumed after rain and Nick Boje was carrying a calculation sheet which effectively had the "score needed" calculated by the cricketing formula invented by messers Duckworth and Lewis. Mark Boucher hit a six and achieved the score needed as per the sheet and then played non scoring defensive shot on the last ball to make sure SA doesnt lose any more wickets.
But then once the game was over people realised that the sheet contained the par score and not the winning one. The game was declared as tied, points were split and the south africa unfortunnatly went packing well not actually as they were the host then.
We would never know as not many bother but I think something similar would have happened yesterday. The girls won their last game and in the group of 4 it was a three way tie between japan, chainese taipe and india. In point differnce (points won - conceded), chinease taipe was much ahead and japan ended up just one point more than india to move to the next round. The indian girls were up 11-1 in the second game when they momentarily lost the grip but eventually won it 21-15. Had it be 21-14 or 21-13 they would have made it. From 11-1 up it wasnt that tough to win by 21-13 if they had known that it matters. The commentators were also not sure and were saying that only 5 point differential is needed. Not sure what happened. Whether the other game wasnt finished so the exact situation wasnt known or it was a mistake in calculation or the girls knew it but still couldnt maintain the margin. The bottom line is they are out whereas they could have been in quarters, just 2 matches away from a medal. Nevertheless they put on excellent fight. They as a team were deceptively attacking. Jwala with stronger frame plays the touch game and the frail Ashwini hits deadly smashes, the pair will go a long way.
Archery brought disappointment again. More I am watching archery more it looks like it is a game of only nerves. Coaches should seriously consider using ear plugs and side patches for eyes so that the archer doesnt get to know the scores.
Loss of bhupati-bopanna shouldnt make paes complicent as I was hoping on their professsional rivalry to get india a medal.
There were some silverlinings too on a otherwise a dissapointing day. Kashyap wrapped the game against the world number 11 as if to meet an urgent appointment. He looked like a man possesed. Possesed with the spirit of boom boom becker of the 80s. if he continues like this one medal is assured for india. With 2 more boxers winning their bouts now we have 5 boxers in the pre-quarters.
hockey match against New Zealand.
Paes in both mens and mixed doubles.
Wishful medal hope: anu raj singh, sarnobat rahi: both shooting.
thanks for the summary per day. I just look at this blog to get update and nothing else :-)
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