Athletes who lost at the CWG but won hearts ufffd

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan coined these famous lines ufffd "haar kar jeetne waley ko Baazigar kehte hain ufffd" in his 90s superhit flick. The CWG 2010 too had a host of heroes, who unfortunately could not live up to their top billing. However, that took nothing away from the sportspersons, who tried their best on the world stage, enthralling the audience in the process with their sheer skill and athleticism.



Vijender Singh
The Beijing Olympic bronze medal-winning boxer is also the World No 1 in the 75kg middleweight category. He had some dominant fights - including a 98-second knock-out - in the run-up to his controversial loss to England's Anthony Ogogo. Vijender was leading 3-0 in the final round before he was penalised two points twice by referee Michael Summers for first hitting his opponent on the back of the head and then for holding him.

Ironically, Ogogo won 4-3 without landing a single punch on the Indian champ. "It's a joke that he won without scoring a single point off his gloves. I've put the disappointment behind me though and have already begun my preparations for the Asian Games in Guangzhou next month," said Vijender, who had to be content with a bronze medal.

Babita Kumari
With elder sister Geeta Kumari (21) clinching gold a day earlier in the 55kg category, it was almost a given that Babita (20) would repeat the act in her 51kg final. The two wrestling sisters and their father Mahabir Singh fought ridicule from their villagers and family alike back home as they trained at their home-made akhara in Haryana.

The CWG was a golden opportunity for the sisters to silence their critics. However, Babita narrowly lost her final bout to Nigerian Christi Nwoye and was inconsolable thereafter. "I don't know what went wrong today. I just could not get my grip right. I wanted to win this gold for my father," said a teary-eyed Babita, even as a packed house at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Arena applauded the champion for her effort.

Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi

Together they have been the flag-bearers of Indian tennis for two decades now. However, given the competition's grueling schedule, they failed to bag, what would have been their first and only CWG doubles gold medal (tennis is not a part of the 2014 CWG).

Lee-Hesh had to appear on court for their semi-final against Australia's Paul Hanley and Peter Luczak, a day after their quarter-final followed by Paes and Sania Mirza teaming up for a mixed doubles match. "It's tough playing two matches in a day, but in professional tennis you have to live up to these demands, so no excuses," said Paes, who won the doubles bronze beating compatriots Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna.

Abhinav Bindra
India's first and only individual gold medal winner at the Beijing Olympics did clinch gold in the 10m air rifle pairs event here, but could not repeat his act in the individual event. Teammate Gagan Narang, meanwhile, stole the top honours in the sport clinching four gold medals in the competition. Bindra, the true sportsman that he is, later touted Narang as India's medal prospect at the London Olympics.

"Gagan is a fine shooter and will definitely bring India an Olympic medal," he said. Abhinav's father Apjit Singh however, justified his son's silver saying: "Even Sachin Tendulkar cannot go out and score a century in every match. Abhinav's goal is London 2012."

Achanta Sharat Kamal
India's top table tennis player admitted he had surprised himself too by clinching gold in the singles event of the CWG four years ago in Melbourne.

This time though the vociferous home support turned out to be a distraction for the ace paddler, who lost a close semi-final match against Singapore's Yang Zi.

"The crowd was a big distraction for me. Playing on the home ground already put me under pressure," said Kamal, who later teamed up with Subhajit Saha to clinch the doubles gold.