The New Nation - Internet Edition

Phelps wins second Olympic gold : 4 world records fall

AP, Beijing

Four world records fell Monday at the Water Cube, with Michael Phelps winning his second gold of the Beijing Olympics. India won its first-ever individual Olympic gold, China its second straight diving medal and the games were hit by their first doping case.

Phelps and his teammates set a world mark in winning the 4x100 freestyle relay, barely beating France in 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds. In the first leg of the race, Eamon Sullivan of Australia broke the individual 100 world record in 47.24, beating the previous mark of 47.50.

"You could tell I was pretty excited," said Phelps, who is trying to win eight golds at the Beijing Games. "I lost my voice and I was definitely pretty emotional out there."

Kosuke Kitajima of Japan defended his 100-meter breaststroke Olympic title in a record time of 58.91 seconds, and Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe shaved two-tenths of a second off the 100-meter backstroke record to win her semifinal in 58.77 seconds. India's Abhinav Bindra won the 10-meter air rifle, ending decades of Olympic misery for the country and earning the shooter cash and a lifetime railway pass. India's last Olympic gold was a team medal at the 1980 Moscow Games in men's field hockey, a sport which it once dominated but did not qualify for in Beijing.

Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno was ousted from the games after testing positive for EPO, a blood-boosting hormone that enhances endurance. The International Olympic Committee said Moreno, who was to compete in the women's individual time trial, was tested in the athletes' village on July 31 and left China later that day before the result was in.

Moreno is the first athlete caught under the IOC's Beijing drug-testing program, which includes a record 4,500 doping controls. In tennis, Wimbledon and French Open champion Rafael Nadal beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in his debut in Olympic singles. The second-seeded Spaniard will supplant Roger Federer at the top the rankings next week, regardless of the outcome at the Olympics.

Federer also won, beating Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 6-2. Serena Williams also beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-3, 6-1, resuming Sunday's rained-out match.

In the pool, Phelps' attempt at breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in a single games appeared doomed when France took the lead of the relay at the 250-meter mark.

They were 4.03 seconds under world-record pace at 350 meters before Jason Lezak, the oldest American male swimmer at 32, rallied over the closing strokes. Nearly a body length behind Alain Bernard at the final turn, he overtook the Frenchman at the wall by a fingertip.

The U.S. team shattered the world record of 3:12.23 they set in Sunday's preliminaries. Australia won bronze in 3:09.91. Phelps, who swam the first leg, thrust both arms toward the roof after Lezak's incredible finish.

"I was going nuts," Phelps said. "As soon as (Lezak) came off that last wall, I started going crazy."

Phelps also advanced to Tuesday's 200 freestyle final where he will go for gold No. 3. He qualified fourth-fastest in his semifinal in 1:46.28, a day after he shattered the 400 individual medley world record to win his first gold.

Coventry broke the record of 58.97 set by Natalie Coughlin at last month's U.S. trials. The two are the fastest going into Tuesday's final.

In the men's 100 breaststroke, Kitajima rallied from third after 50 meters to break the 59.13 world record set by Brendan Hansen of the United States two years ago.

"It was perfect," Kitajima said.

Libby Trickett captured her first Olympic gold in the women's 100 butterfly in 56.73 seconds, just 0.12 off the world record, and Britain's Rebecca Adlington overhauled Katie Hoff of the United States in the final meters to win the 400 freestyle in 4:03.22. In diving, China's Lin Yue and Huo Liang won the men's 10-meter synchronized title, spurred on by chanting, flag-waving fans. The pair led throughout, taking gold with a mark of 468.18 points. In shooting, Satu Makela-Nummela of Finland won the gold in women's trap, hitting 21 targets in the finals and earning a final score of 91 to set an Olympic record.

Medals table on third day

AFP, Beijing

Olympics medals table on Monday:

G S B T

China 9 3 2 14

South Korea 4 4 0 8

United States 3 4 5 12

Italy 3 3 2 8

Australia 2 0 3 5

Japan 2 0 2 4

Great Britain 2 0 1 3

Czech Republic 2 0 0 2

Netherlands 1 1 1 3

Spain 1 0 1 2

Finland 1 0 1 2

Azerbaijan 1 0 0 1

India 1 0 0 1

Romania 1 0 0 1

Thailand 1 0 0 1

Russia 0 4 2 6

France 0 3 2 5

North Korea 0 1 3 4

Cuba 0 1 1 2

Germany 0 1 1 2

Austria 0 1 0 1

Colombia 0 1 0 1

Hungary 0 1 0 1

Norway 0 1 0 1

Slovakia 0 1 0 1

Sweden 0 1 0 1

Turkey 0 1 0 1

Vietnam 0 1 0 1

Zimbabwe 0 1 0 1

Brazil 0 0 2 2

Indonesia 0 0 2 2

Algeria 0 0 1 1

Argentina 0 0 1 1

Belarus 0 0 1 1

Croatia 0 0 1 1

Georgia 0 0 1 1

Switzerland 0 0 1 1

Tajikistan 0 0 1 1

Uzbekistan 0 0 1 1

Taiwan 0 0 1 1

Asian nations come good in Beijing

AFP, Beijing

Asian nations firmly established themselves on the Olympic medal table Monday with Japan's Kosuke Kitajima setting a world record and Abhinav Bindra winning an historic gold for India.

Kitajima, the 100m breaststroke king, smashed American Brendan Hansen's world mark to touch in 58.91sec and successfully defend his Athens title in the futuristic Water Cube.

It was Japan's second gold of the Games after Masato Uchishiba retained his lightweight title on the judo mats on Sunday.

Bindra had an equally memorable day, clinching India's first ever individual Olympic gold medal by winning the men's 10m Air Rifle shooting title.

Athens champion Zhu Qinan of China took the silver. While India's success was historic, regional powerhouse China is set to overshadow every other Asian country's achievements here, and it leads the medal standings with six gold.

Japan and South Korea (three gold) traditionally battle for second best.

A rampant China had its best-ever performance in Athens, finishing second overall to the United States with 32 gold, while Japan with 16 came fifth. South Korea's nine gold earned them ninth place.

While the three Asian heavyweights should again take the bulk of the glory, smaller fry like Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and North Korea have already got themselves on the podium here with more in store.

Kitajima, who let out a piercing yell of triumph, said his victory was like a dream come true.

"My performance was perfect and ideal, my time was excellent. It's what I have been hoping for," said the Japanese star, who launches his defense of the 200m title on Tuesday.

"When I saw the screen I could see the time as 59.90 and I thought that was terribly slow, but when I looked again it was 58."

Elsewhere in the pool, China's Zhou Yafei finished just off the podium in a credible fourth in the women's 100m butterfly final which was won by Australian world record holder Libby Trickett.

Singapore had something to shout about with Tao Li in the same race. The 18-year- old student finished fifth after clocking a new Asian record of 57.54 en-route to the final.

In one of the most thrilling shooting finals in Olympic history, businessman Bindra overcame a two-point deficit against Finland's Henri Hakkinen and one point against Zhu after the qualification rounds to annexe the title.

The Indian trumped his rivals with the best finish of 104.5 in the 10-shot final as he went into the last shot level with Hakkinen on 689.7 points.

While Bindra secured his best score of 10.8 in the deciding shot, Hakkinen managed only 9.7 to concede the silver to Zhu, whose last shot was 10.5. Bindra finished with a combined tally of 700.5, a fair distance behind Zhu's Olympic record of 702.7 set in Athens.

Jankovic becomes women's new world number one

AFP, Beijing

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia on Monday became the world number one in women's tennis despite having never won a Grand Slam and claiming only one title this season.

Jankovic, who comes into the Olympics tennis tournament nursing a calf injury, is the third player to ascend to the top of the women's professional tennis rankings after Justine Henin's shock retirement in May. She takes over top spot from fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic, who was forced to pull out of the Olympics on Sunday with a thumb injury.

"Since I was a young girl, it has been my dream to become No.1 in the world," Jankovic said. "When you get older, at least one day you can say you were No.1 and no one can take that away from you."

The Serbian, who has won six tournaments in her career, reached the top of the rankings after a 12-month display of consistently successful results.

Nadal, Serena win Olympic singles debuts

AP, Beijing

Rafael Nadal made a successful debut in Olympic singles Monday, overcoming numerous missed chances by sweeping the final four games to beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Top-seeded Roger Federer had an easier time. He began a bid for his first Olympic medal by beating Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2, while Venus and Serena Williams also advanced to the second round. Nadal played doubles but not singles at the Athens Olympics in 2004. He's playing both at Beijing, staying in the athletes' village and hoping to sustain a summer surge that has assured him of the No. 1 ranking next week.

"I am very happy to be here," Nadal said. "Just trying to enjoy 100 percent the experience, and later try my best on court." No. 7-seeded Venus Williams, playing her first match since winning Wimbledon for the fifth time, beat Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-2. Williams, who swept the gold medals in singles and doubles in 2000, showed no sign of the knee injury that sidelined her in recent weeks.

No. 4 Serena Williams won all four games when her match resumed after an overnight rain interruption, beating Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 6-3, 6-1.

Like Nadal, Serena Williams was playing her first singles match at the Olympics. She won a gold medal in doubles in 2000 with sister Venus.

"It's a great thing going out there playing for your country," she said.

Williams said she skipped Beijing's opening ceremonies because she goes to bed early, and she decided against staying in the athletes' village because she likes privacy. Last week she visited the village, where she was a popular subject for those seeking photos and autographs.

"I was bombarded with lots of people," she said. "It was a lot. I can't count. But it was cool, I guess."

In men's play, Nicolas Massu of Chile opened his bid to repeat as Olympic champion by beating Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-4, 7-5. Massu won the gold at Athens in both singles and doubles. Nadal played the 10:30 a.m. match on center court, and at times it appeared he needed a wakeup call. He struggled on the backhand side, and shook his head or rolled his eyes when usually reliable strokes misfired. Because of Beijing's oppressive humidity, Nadal said, he was changing his shirt every 10 minutes.

A highlight-reel rally got him going in the third set. Nadal sprinted into the alley near the net in pursuit of a ball and scooped a forehand winner crosscourt as he braked to avoid running into the post, then fell to his back.

After failing to convert seven consecutive break-point chances in the second and third sets, he broke for a 4-2 lead in the final set. He erased a 15-40 deficit on his serve in the next game, then broke again for the victory.

"I had a lot of opportunities. I didn't convert, so that was tough," Nadal said. "But I was winning the serves without problems. He had more problems than me when he was serving, so that gave me confidence."

Seeded second, Nadal is on a roll after beating Federer in the finals at the French Open and Wimbledon. The latter result compounded Federer's yearlong slump, and regardless of the outcome at Beijing, he'll be supplanted atop the rankings by Nadal next week.

"It's just a matter of losing some matches where I feel like I shouldn't have lost," Federer said. "And then sometimes it plays a trick in your mind where you think maybe you're not playing that well actually, but it's actually not the case. So it's a matter of keeping yourself in a positive mindset."

Federer has won only two tournaments in 2008, and an Olympic gold medal would help him salvage the year after he was shut out of the medal chase at Sydney in 2000 and at Athens in 2004.

Volunteers working hard to make Olympics hassle free

BSS, Beijing

One thing that bothered everyone coming to Beijing Olympics on whether they will be able to communicate here freely or not.

But the Chinese Olympics Authorities concentrated hard on the issue and made concerted efforts to solve the problem. Hundreds of young boys and girls were drafted and were given full-fledged training on spoken English.

Beautiful young girls and handsome boys talked freely in English to help the IOC and Media personalities most sincerely at the Olympic Media Centre here. Most of them adapted well with the situation and are providing full support and commendable service to the visitors in the discharge of their duties.

Pretending to be a foreigner Lijiang is helping Chinese students learn English. Over 100 citizens, all 50 or older, meet in the classroom three times a week to study etiquette and Olympic-related English phrases.

But the lessons are not just for a few retired Chinese. In a country that has left nothing to chance in the three weeks on the international spotlight. The language instruction is part of a larger national campaign to spread English to the masses.

That way, authorities say, Beijing's residents can properly welcome and impress the half a million tourists who have come to the city for the Olympic Games.

Taxi drivers, assigned with moving around Beijing's foreign visitors, have been given English learning manuals.

The Chinese aren't learning English just for practical purposes. The lessons are also an exercise in image building, and the message sometimes sounds like propaganda.

"The Olympics is a bridge, leading towards peace," a female student read from a government- issued textbook in a Beijing classroom. She looked up proudly completing her task. Some Chinese residents are even learning traditional American songs to welcome the throngs of foreign visitors.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells," sang a chorus of Chinese women recently, in front of a mixed audience of Chinese and tourists.

They were dressed in pink track suits and shaking what appeared to be adorning Coca-Cola cans.

Shooter Imam Hossain finishes 46th, swimmer Rubel Rana last among 45

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladeshi shooter Mohammad Imam Hossain made a dismal performance in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as he finished 46th among 51 competitors in the qualifying round of the Men's 10-meter Air Rifle Shooting held at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall on Monday morning.

The lone Bangladeshi shooter's made a total score of 581 against his previous best 585. He scored 95, 98, 96, 97, 95 in the first five attempts and scored full 100 in the sixth and last attempt.

Indian wonder boy Abhinav Bindra won the first-ever individual Olympic gold for his country by clinching the top slot in the Men's 10-meter Air Rifles beating event's Olympics record holder Qinan Zhu of China.

Earlier, India earned eight Olympics gold, all in the field hockey.

Bangladesh swimmer Mohammad Rubel Rana, surprisingly started Bangladesh Olympics campaign on Sunday, after change of his event on three occasions.

Rubel Rana was earlier scheduled to compete in 100m backstroke, later BOA informed that he would compete in 50m backstroke and again his event was changed to 50m freestyle on Aug 15.

But finally, Rubel Rana participated in the men's 100 meter backstroke on Sunday and finished last among the 45 competitors in 1:04.42 seconds, worse than his previous best 1:02.33 seconds.

Matt Grevers of USA clinched the overall top slot in the heats of the event with Games record timing of 53.41 seconds.

Rubel competed in heat number one and naturally placed bottom among the five swimmers. Danil Bugakov of Uzbekistan won the top slot in heat number one clocking 56.59 seconds but ultimately placed overall 39th.

In the remaining events for Bangladesh, swimmer Dolly Akhter will participate in the heat of the Women's 50-meter freestyle on Aug 14 at 18:30 pm at the National Aquatic center in Beijing.

Athlete Mohammad Abu Abdullah will compete in the heat of men's 100-meter sprint on Aug 15 at 10:30 am, while another athlete Nazmun Nahar Beauty will contest in the women's 100-meter sprint on Aug 16 in the morning, both at the Games' premier venue -- National Stadium in Beijing.

Out of 28 disciplines of Beijing Olympics sports, five Bangladeshi sportsmen are taking part in three disciplines --athletics, swimming and shooting.

Sri Lanka wins 3rd test

AP, Colombo

Malinda Warnapura and captain Mahela Jayawardene scored half-centuries Monday to propel Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win against India in the third test and a 2-1 series win.

Chasing a modest target of 122 runs for victory, Sri Lanka initially struggled against some disciplined Indian bowling to reach 45-2 at tea.

However, the two batsmen held the innings together with a 101-run partnership and Jayawardene hit Sourav Ganguly for a boundary to reach his 50 and take Sri Lanka to its second successive home series win against India - with a day to spare.

Sri Lanka won the last home series 2-1 seven years ago.

Spinner Ajantha Mendis, who picked up 26 wickets to overhaul a 62-year world record for the most wickets in a debut series, was named man of the series.

"When I got a lot of wickets in the first two matches I thought I had a chance to have the record," Mendis said. "I learnt from this series that you have to be disciplined bowling at good players."

India captain Anil Kumble said his batsmen's consistent failure cost his team the series.

"People got starts, if they had converted them (into big scores) it would have been a different story," Kumble said. "Overall we did not play quality cricket to win the series."

After winning the toss and batting first on a good wicket, India was bundled out for 249 runs in the first innings.

Sri Lanka rode on Kumar Sangakkara's seven-hour 144 to score 396 runs and dismissed India for 268 in the second innings.

Michael Vandort continued his poor form this series when he was bowled by offspinner Harbhajan Singh, who was forced to open the bowling in place of injured paceman Ishant Sharma in the second innings.

Sharma, who was injured after a fall on Saturday, sat out the whole of Sunday and came to bat with a runner in India's second innings Monday only to be dismissed without scoring.

Vandort survived a close lbw appeal in the first ball of the innings from seamer Zaheer Khan, but failed to take advantage. He scored a total of just 39 runs in his five outings this series.

Sangakkara was out cheaply in the second innings caught by Gautam Gambhir off Khan for four.

India's problems worsened when three key players - batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S Laxman and fast bowler Sharma - were all injured on Saturday and were unable to play a significant role for their side.

"I have rarely seen so many injuries on a single day but it's part of the game," Kumble said.

Jayawardene praised his players for having come back and won the series after losing the second test in Galle.

"The guys showed a lot of character after the second test. We fought well and never gave up," Jayawardene said.

"Both Mendis and Murali bowled very well and and kept pressure on a good Indian batting lineup."

Resuming the fourth day on 161-5 India ended the first session at 238-7 with spinner Ajantha Mendis ending a threatening 85-run partnership between the tourist's last recognized batting pair of Rahul Dravid and Laxman.

Dravid, who had looked out-of-touch, scored 68 for his first half-century this series in a patient 166-ball knock that included six boundaries. He was caught at slip by Jayawardene.

A 37-run partnership between Laxman and Harbhajan ended when seamer Chaminda Vaas trapped Harbhajan lbw for 26 runs.

England wins fourth test by six wickets

AP, London

England won the fourth test at The Oval by six wickets on Monday. South Africa won the four-match series 2-1.

Scores: South Africa 194 (Smith 46; Anderson 3-42) and 318 (De Villiers 97; Amla 76; Broad 3-44), lost to England 318 (Pietersen 100; Collingwood 61; Harmison 49 not out; Ntini 5-94) and 198-4 (Cook 67; Strauss 58).

Tendulkar to miss Sri Lanka one-dayers

AP, Colombo

India batsman Sachin Tendulkar will miss the one-day international series against Sri Lanka because of an elbow injury.

Tendulkar will soon return to India, team manager T.C. Matthew said. He did not elaborate.

Tendulkar injured his left elbow while attempting a catch on the second day of the third test at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium. Sri Lanka won the test Monday by eight wickets to take the series 2-1.

In the second innings Tendulkar came out to bat with a bandaged elbow and scored just 14 runs.

Tendulkar has scored 16,361 runs in 417 one-day internationals. The first of five one-day matches will be played in Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Monday.

Kitajima breaks men's 100m breaststroke world record

AFP, Beijing

Japan's Kosuke Kitajima broke the men's 100m breaststroke world record Monday, winning Olympic gold in a time of 58.91sec.

Kitajima, defending the title he won in Athens four years ago, broke the previous record of 59.13 set by American Brendan Hansen at Irvine, California, on August 1, 2006.

Federation Cup Football plays postponed for a week due to rain, holidays

UNB, Dhaka

The tournament committee of the Federation Cup Football on Monday suspended the ongoing tournament matches for seven days due to rain-wet ground condition and upcoming public holidays.

The committee kept the Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) vacant for four days until August 14 to prepare for the next round. Afterwards, the ground will be without football for three days due to government holidays until August 17.

As per the revised schedule, the matches will now resume on August 18. The fresh fixture of the tournament will be known after a meeting the tournament committee will hold with the participating clubs today (Tuesday) at the BFF Bhaban at 5pm, a BFF official told UNB.

Tuesday's meeting may also take decision to include one extra venue for the tournament either in Dhaka or Gazipur, the BFF source added.

Arambagh KS was to face Sunrise SC in the day's 1st match at 5 pm, while Dhaka Mohammedan SC was due to play Rahamatganj MFS in the 2nd match at 7 pm, both at BNS.

Dhaka Mohammedan SC and Arambagh KS both have fair chance to confirm their quarter-final berth as they already won their respective opening Group D matches.

The black & white Motijheel outfit edged past Sunrise Sporting Club, while Arambagh KS defeated Rahmatganj MFS by 2-1 goals on August 7.

97-year-old travels 2,400km by bike to see badminton

AFP, Beijing

A 97-year-old grandmother has travelled 2,400 kilometres (1,491 miles) by tricyle to watch the Chinese badminton team in action at the Beijing Olympics.

Xiao Xincui, affectionately known as old Xiao, sat in the back while her grandson Liu Xianghui provided the pedal power on their mammoth journey from Henan province in central China.

The epic trip took five weeks and they arrived to see women's singles champion Zhang Ning play on Sunday.