The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Sharath Kamal makes second round

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 15, 2004

Sport

Sport - Olympic Games

Sharath Kamal makes second round

ATHENS, AUG. 14. Commonwealth champion Achanta Sharath Kamal cruised through to the second round of the men's singles table tennis championship defeating Mohammad Boudjadja of Algeria 11-4, 12-10, 11-6, 11-13, 11-7 on Saturday. Sharath will now meet 25th-ranked Chak Lai Ko of Hong Kong.

However Mouma Das's campaign ended in the first round itself as she was beaten 11-6, 11-7, 11-3, 12-10 by Thailand's Nanthana Komwong.

Poulose comes cropper

In the rowing event, India's lone contestant in rowing, Pandari Kunnel Paulose, came up with a disappointing performance, finishing last in the men's single sculls first round heats.

Poulose, with a dismal timing of 8:00.11, finished last in the 20-man event and failed to qualify for the semifinals.

Norways' Olaf Tufte (7:12.53), Czech Republic's Vaclav Chalupa (7:13.84), Belgium's Tim Maeyens (7:17.68) and Argentina's Santiago Fernandez (7:22.52) reached the semifinals.

Akram Shah bids adieu

Akram Shah's tryst with Olympic Games lasted barely 44 seconds as the Indian judoka was brutally thrashed by Mongolian rival in the 60kg category judo event here.

The Indian had no clue as fast, agile and superior Mongolian judoka Khashbaatar eliminated him from the competition in the round of 16 at the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall.

The 23-year-old Shah, who had a bye in the first round, lost without even putting up a semblance of fight and could not last in the arena for even a minute. He lost by an Ippon.

But in the next bout, a repechage, Shah redeemed himself with a win over American Taraje Williams-Murray, who had beaten Yekutiel Gal of Israel in his first bout.

Akram, who had qualified for the event during the Asian Judo Championships held at Almaty, Kazakhstan in May this year, outclassed the 19-year-old Williams-Murray in just 49 seconds with an Ippon and a Waz-ari.

Just as things began looking up, Shah lost his next repechage bout in the round of 16, when he went down to Choi Min Ho of Korea by an Ippon in 49 second.

Choi, the world championship winner in 60 kg class in Osaka last year, was in a class of his own.

Choi in turn lost to Khashbaatar Tsagaanbaatar, who is one of the contenders for the gold medal. But Choi still has a chance to get into the medal round if he wins his next repechage bout. — Agencies

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