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KHALID A-H ANSARI |
He scored an upset win over world flyweight champion Juan Antonio Ramos (Spain) to take the bronze in the 58kg taekwondo category.
Twenty-one-year-old Nikpai, who stayed cool under pressure and grew in confidence during the match, fell to his knees and wept after the referee called time.
"I hope this medal can be a message of peace in Afghanistan," said Nikpai, whose home region of Maidan Wardak is a hotbed of insurgency.
Apart from a house promised by Afghan president Hamid Kazai, a mobile phone tycoon has reportedly offered the four-member team $50,000 if they brought back a medal and the head of a local welfare organization has pledged $10,000 for a bronze.
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According to Beijing police, several foreigners accused of selling Olympic Games tickets at inflated prices have been deported and about 276 foreign and Chinese touts detained for questioning.
The majority of the black marketeers were trying to sell tickets at exorbitant rates outside the main Bird's Nest National Stadium for the athletics events and the Water Cube swimming complex and the Olympic Basketball Gymnasium.
Under Chinese law, anyone found guilty of scalping is subject to a fine or detention of up to 15 days.
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Nikpai celebrates after winning the bronze in 58-kg taekwondo yesterday. |
But her abilities as poet are a different matter, although one can find very little fault with her moving message of sincerity of purpose and hard work.
In a widely circulated poem or, more appropriately doggerel the star gymnast writes:
You remember the struggles and pain you had
When all the good had turned to bad
When behind the scenes you crumbled and prayed
For it all to simply just go away.
You fear the loss and pain of defeat
But still are unable to stand on two feet
You crumble and cry as much as you want
But nothing can keep you away from the hunt.
This is what you've been working for.
After picking up three titles at the 2007 World Championships, 16-year old Johnson was widely expected to take back a rich haul of medals from Beijing.
Although she picked up three silvers in the all-round, floor and team events Shawn had no gold.
Fierce desire
Performing in the last event of the gymnastics competition, the pint-sized but muscular, champion was suffering from a severe headache but burning with a fierce desire to win a gold medal.
Producing a routine on the beam that was full of difficult tricks, Shawn bagged the coveted title with a 16.255.
"I gave everything towards the beam and to finally get the gold medal, on my very last routine, it meant the world," Johnson told the media. "I remember just saying 'finally'. To finally have a gold medal around my neck is amazing."
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Meanwhile, controversy over some Chinese women gymnasts being under the age of 16 continues unabated with computer hackers and bloggers coming up with new evidence from alleged authentic Chinese records.
They maintain that three two-gold medal winning gymnast He Kexin and Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin, are younger than 16, which is the minimum permissible age limit for women's gymnastics.
It has been common knowledge for a long time now that some countries falsify birth certificates of underage girls. Some nations have also been known to resort to puberty-delaying drugs in order to prolong their nimbleness.
|
Top five on Day Thirteen | ||||
|
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
China |
46 |
15 |
22 |
83 |
|
United States |
29 |
34 |
32 |
95 |
|
Great Britain |
17 |
12 |
11 |
40 |
|
Russia |
16 |
16 |
19 |
51 |
|
AUSTRALIA |
11 |
13 |
14 |
38 |
|
India's Tally (45th) |
1 |
- |
1 |
02 |
