All eyes set on Pearl River for Asian Games closing ceremony, to begin at 17:30 hrs IST

THE ASIAN Games 2010 held in Guangzhou, China opened to the world in a grand ceremony with never seen before LED lightings and firecrackers playing a major part.

The fourteen-day gala event, where even India broke all records and won many “first-ever” medals, will bring the curtains down today at 17:30 hrs IST. The ceremony will reportedly be more subtle as the hosts send off the athletes in a warm ceremony.  The games’ closing ceremony will feature at the same venue as the opening ceremony that is the Haixinsha Square on the Pearl River. It will be a three-hour performance event concluding with the flag handover for the 2014 Asian Games, to be held in Incheon, South Korea.
Famous Asian pop star Rain (Jung Ji-Hoon) will perform three songs in the event. In all eight songs have been picked for the ceremony representing the eastern, western, southern, northern and central parts of the continent. The idea behind this is to display Asia as a whole and emerging power, said one of the organisers. An Indian musician Ravi K Tripathi is also going to perform at the ceremony. He will be singing the famous A R Rahman number ‘”Jai Ho” and two other songs.
Similar to the opening ceremony, the closing will also feature water bodies as an important part. There will be interesting formations and use of the cauldron, which was lighted by firecrackers in the opening ceremony, among other things.  The whole ceremony will come to cost around $53 million, as per sources.

India has managed to pull of the best-ever Asian Games haul, since 1982 Asiad. Our athletes clinched a total of 64 medals comprising 14 gold, 17 silver and 33 bronze. This is the highest number of gold medals won since the first Asian Games held in 1951. India is on the sixth position and has superseded Thailand as well as Malaysia.

 

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Asian Games closing ceremony to feature Indian musician

THE GAMES are coming to an end and with that mesmerising opening ceremony, the world can’t wait to see how the games close down in Guangzhou, China.

Reportedly, the ceremony is going to have an Indian flavour too with Mumbai-based Ravi Tripathi slated to perform at the ceremony.
Tripathi will be performing the famour A R Rahman composition ‘Jai Ho’ at the ceremony with 200 Chinese dancers moving to his tunes. His 15-minute performance will include two other songs, one from his latest album ‘Baatein’ and the other, a Chinese number that has been composed by a popular China-based music composer Henry Ctang. Tripathi has sung for Chandni Chowk to China and a few other films.
Asian pop star and actor Rain (Jung Ji-Hoon) will also render three songs. Eight songs have been picked for the ceremony, representing the eastern, western, southern, northern and central parts of the continent

The closing ceremony will be held at the same venue where the Asian Games opened and water once again is a key ingredient in the whole ceremony.
The ceremony would commence with a giant chandelier emerging from the deep-water area of the stage with a sail-shaped red curtain on screens behind. The organisers also plan to use the cauldron, which was lit at the venue at the opening ceremony, together with the chandelier on the stage and the big screens shaped like sails.
A seemingly interesting ceremony is in store for all the anticipating viewers and with the Indian touch to it becomes all too special for the Indians.

 

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Vijender claims gold, tally touches 14

HISTORY WAS charted at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China when boxing’s pin up boy, Vijender Singh claimed gold, thus taking India’s gold medal graph to 14. The last gold haul was India’s best performance at the Asian Games so far.

To claim the 14th medal, Vijender pulverised Olympic bronze medalist, Uzbekistan's Abbos Atoev by a massive 7-0, which made the Indian spectators hysterical with the unbelievable win.

So far, India’s best performance had been during the 1982 Asian Games which was held in New Delhi. During the 1982 Games, India had clinched 13 gold, 19 silver and 25 bronze that led to a total of 57 medals.

The 25 year old, who has been compared with the likes of soccer players like David Beckham for his looks and crowd pulling ability compensated to the medal loss during the Commonwealth Games 2010 which were held in New Delhi.

Vijender’s performance on the penultimate day before the Games finally come to a close raised India’s hope of being somewhere where they could have never envisaged. However, China’s Zou Shiming retained his light-flyweight title.

With an addition of 11 more medals during the day, India’s medal graph raised to 14 gold, 17 silver and 33 bronze (total 64).

 

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Men's and women's kabaddi team raise India's gold medal bar

THE INDIAN women's and men's kabaddi team ended an outstanding Asian Games presentation by sealing the gold medal with a inclusive win over Thailand and Iran respectively in the finals to win the 12th gold for India on the 14th day of the ongoing Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
The women's Kabaddi team beat Thailand 28-14 in a directing performance to settle the inaugural women's kabaddi gold of the Asian Games. In first half time they were leading 17 -7 after Thailand team failed to secure a single lonas against Indian and Indian women pinning them on the ground. Whereas, the Indian men's kabaddi team soared even higher by defeating Iran 37-20.

The squad had earlier managed to pulverise Japan to reach this spot and successfully managed to retain their glory. The Indian team also got a couple of bonus points in the opening half.

In semi-final Indian women beat Iran by close margin of 23-22. Match was interested as both teams were tied 22-22 in the closing time and the Indian team emerged victorious in the extra time.

 

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India wins 3 golds on Thursday, climbs up in Asian Games

INDIA HAS got back to its winning streak, or so it seems. After a very disappointing loss in Hockey semi-finals, India won a total of 7 medals on the 13^th day of Asian Games 2010.

India won two surprise gold medals in 400m hurdles athletics event, one in men’s category and one in women’s.
After that Vikas Krishnan lifted a gold in the men's 60 kg boxing event the Asian Games.
Also, a silver was won by Dinesh Kumar in the men’s 81 kg boxing event.
The total of India’s medal now is 53 and we are sitting at the eights position as of now.
In today’s events we are hopeful of 4 gold medals with two boxing events, two kabbadi events (women’s and men’s final) in sight.

Other scheduled events where India is participating are Karate, Sepaktakraw, Wrestling and Volleyball.
India has still a few chances left before the games close down tomorrow on 27^th November to make it a better event than the last Asian Games, where we finished at the eights position with around the same number of medals that we have now.

With four gold medals anticipated and a few more events in tow, its very anxiously awaited how many we are able to bag. Nothing is for sure after the heartbreaking loss in the Hockey semi-finals as India has not lost to Malaysia for the past few years in any Hockey match.
Today’s stars include Vijender Singh in the men’s 75 kg boxing gold bout where he is facing Abbos Atoev of Uzbekisan and Manpreet Singh in men’s 91 kg boxing event is facing Mohammad Ghossoun of Syria.
Kabbadi teams are also high in the gold anticipation list as India has never disappointed fans in this sport.

 

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India's stand in Asian Games 2010

INDIA WON two surprise gold medals after two days of average performance.
India's Ashwini Chidananda won a gold in the women's 400metres hurdles and Joseph Abraham clinched the gold in the men's category of he same even in the Asian Games 2010.

Ashwini outdid herself by clinching the gold with a timing of 56.15 to give India their 8th gold medal in the Games.

India’s performance was getting pretty uneventful for the past two days and these gold medals come as a pleasant surprise for all back home.

Another bronze was won by Mausam Khatri in men's 96 kg freestyle wrestling event, which made up for the disappointing performance of wrestlers earlier in he games.

Also, in hockey after the heart breaking loss to Malaysia in semi-finals, Indian team picked up the bronze after defeating Korea for it in the third-place playoff.

And with that bronze India finally ended the eight-year long wait of getting back on the podium in the sport. India won the last medal in hockey in the Asian Games 2002, in Busan.

Also, India broke Korea’s back as they have never missed a medal in the sport since the 1986 Asian Games, held in Seoul.

With these two gold medals, India beat Thailand to the 9th position. India now has a total of 9 gold medals, 13 silver and 29 bronze; that takes the total to 51.

China refuses to budge from the first position and has half of the gold medals of he whole event. China’s total is 370 medals followed by Korea with 217 medals and Japan on the 3rd position with 190 medals.

 

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Somdev wins second gold, creates history

SOMDEV HAS won India’s 7^th gold, a second for him after he grabbed a gold yesterday in the doubles event with Sanam Singh.

The duo bashed out Gong Maoxin and Li Zhe of China and followed in to the footsteps of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. They sailed into o the semi-finals after winning this gold medal, taking India’s gold to 6.
And today, Somdev becomes the first-ever Indian to win a gold at a men’s singles tennis event at the Asian Games.
Today’s match was against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan and the match belonged to Somdev right from the start.
Somdev, whose international ranking is 106 faced Istomin, who achieved a world-ranking of 39 this year. Somdev was totally in form right from the beginning and it seemed Istomin was just not playing the part. Somdev shunned Istomin 6-1 6-2.
This gold can be called one of the most precious ones as it’s the first ever in its category. Somdev has surely created history for India.
What is interesting is that this historic gold has come from a rather lesser known face of Tennis and not from Leander Paes or our own BHupathi or even Sania. Its time we realized our potential truly and gave equal importance to all players. Somdev has outdone himself by taking on the way he did to the world no 39, Istomin in today’s match.
India’s medal tally now is 37 with 7 gold medals, 12 silver and 18 bronze.  India stands tall at 6^th position sharing it with Thailand. If Thailand wins another gold it could beat India to the 6^th position.
China sits comfortably at the top position with a whopping 311 medals comprising of 157 gold medals. Following China are Korea with 182 medals at 2^nd position and Japan at the 3^rd position with 158 medals.

 

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Asian Games 2010 opening ceremony today at 17:30 hrs IST

THE OPENING ceremony of XVI Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China is going to be one of a kind.
It’s the first ceremony where the whole event will not take place in any closed place or a stadium but in an open space. It will take place on an island on Pearl River and each country’s contingent will be taken there on a separate boat.

There will be a combined ceremony part on land and part on sea, also being anxiously awaited are the ‘mysterious lightings’ that China claims to be on display.

India’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony is ace shooter Gagan Narang, but, as he has an early morning schedule on 13th November, Saina Nehwal is the stand-by flag bearer. It is not officially confirmed yet as to who will bear the flag.

Although, the local public of China has seen the rehearsals of he ceremony taking place but there still are parts which have been kept hidden till now and will be revealed to the world together, today.

The opening ceremony is being organised under Chen Weiya, who was also the assistant director of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Chen revealed in a special interview that the ceremony "will surprise the world." Reportedly, a 7,000 people team will contribute to the ceremony.

 

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XIV Asian Games to begin with a spectacular opening ceremony

THE 2010 Asian Games are going to open in China on November 12, 2010 and the games will continue till November 27, 2010.

It is being speculated that the opening ceremony of the Asian Games will be a mega event, even when compared to the Olympics as the Asiad will host 42 events. 45 countries have confirmed participation in the Games.

The opening ceremony is being organised under Chen Weiya, who was also the assistant director of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Chen revealed in a special interview that the ceremony "will surprise the world." Reportedly, a 7,000 people team will contribute to the ceremony. A lighting ceremony, separate at the sea and land will be held at the opening ceremony.

Sports like mountain biking, Wushu, Rugby, Chess and many more uncommon as well as traditional sports will be part of the event.

All 45 members of Olympic Council of Asia are participating in the Games. Athletes from these 45 countries will compete in a total of 476 events in 42 sports making it the largest competition in the history of the Asian Games.

China is leaving no stone unturned for the success of the Games, also now in the wake of the recently concluded Commonwealth Games, held at New Delhi.

As is expected both the events are bound to be compared and thus China is working extra hard to make it a bigger extravaganza. In one of the measures half of the 2.1 million private cars in Guangzhou have been ordered off the roads for the period during and leading up to the games. This step has been taken to improve the ambient air quality,  this is similar to the measures taken for the 2008 Olympics held at China.

While China battles it out to make it a spectacular event, spectators can gear up for another treat for their eyes as the Opening Ceremony is bound to be magnificent.

 

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China invited Zardari for opening ceremony of 16th Asian Games

CHINA HAS invited President Asif Ali Zardari to attend the opening ceremony of 16th Asian Games which is going to be held from November 12 to 27, in Guangzhou, China.
China is hosting another biggest event after 2008 Olympics games where in Athletes of 45 Countries will participate.16th Asian Games are schedule to start from November 12 to 27.
According to sources in Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), an invitation has been received from China in which they have invited President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari to attend the opening ceremony of the 16th Asian Games.
Pakistani Contingent is also taking part in the Asian Games. National athletes will leave for china in two parts. First batch of athletes will leave on November 8 and second batch of athletes will leave for china on November 10.
Training camps of baseball, snooker, squash, kabaddi, volleyball, martial arts, football, weightlifting and hockey are already getting underway at different venues of Pakistan Sports Complex (PSC). 169 contingent members including players and officials will visit China to participate in the mega event.
Sources in Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) said that purpose to hold all training camps under one roof is to monitor the performance of National Sports Federations and to get the best results from the athletes who will participate in the mega event of the sports world.

 

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