Zhang lifts China to four Weightlifting golds


Zhang Xiangxiang won his first Olympic gold medal after lifting 319kg in the
Men's 62 kilogram Weightlifting final on August 11. This was the second weightlifting gold medal
won by China on that day, as well as their fourth Weightlifting gold medal in the tournament.

Twenty-five-year old Sydney bronze medalist Zhang had the best start by lifting 139kg in theSnatch. Although he failed to lift 143kg with his second attempt, he finally succeeded and toppedthe other finalists in this round. Ji Hun-min of the Republic of Korea also did well with a 142kg liftafter three attempts. Diego Salazar of Colombia and Im Yong-su of the Democratic People'sRepublic of Korea tied at 138kg.
Zhang's chance of winning the gold was settled even before stepping onto the floor in the Clean andJerk. First the ROK's Ji surprisingly failed all three attempts trying to lift 161kg and left thecompetition with no medal. Then the DPRK's Im also stumbled under the pressure, spending all hisattempts at 169kg to no avail. Salazar took his chance and succeeded in lifting 167kg after threeattempts for the silver medal. Zhang then lifted 169kg and then 176kg to seal his first gold, China's
fourth of the Weightlifting competition.Zhang also tried to break the world record with a final attempt of 184kg. Though he failed, his 319kgtotal weight fulfilled his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. He kissed the weight discs andtook time to enjoy the crowd's cheers before waving farewell.

Water Cube witnessed the birth of four more gold medals
and five new world records

In one of the all-time great relay swims, the United States overhauled the French team in theshadows of the finish line to complete a stunning Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay win on Monday,smashing their own world record set on Sunday by nearly four seconds in the process.Another world record was broken in this event when Australia's Eamon Sullivan shaved 0.26seconds off French Alain Bernard's old record for the Men's 100m with a stunning lead-off leg of47.24.Briton Rebecca Adlington breathtakingly overtook Katie Hoff of the United States in the last meter tograb gold, becoming the first British woman in 48 years to win an Olympic Swimming event.Earlier in the morning, Kitajima Kosuke of Japan managed to defend his Olympic title and rewrote
his own WR in the Men's 100m Breaststroke final, stopping the clock at 58.91.
The Women's 100m Butterfly final went on more as expected. World champion Lisbeth Trickett ofAustralia took gold with a time of 56.73, though with some challenge from Christine Magnuson ofthe United States in the final 15 meters.
In the second semifinal of the Women's 100m Backstroke in the morning, Zimbabwean KirstyCoventry touched the wall a full shoulder length ahead of the competition to smash the world recordwith a time of 58.77.Federica Pellegrini of Italy set a new world record of 1:55.4 in the Women's 200m Freestyle prelimson Monday evening, slicing 0.07 seconds off the previous record set by Laure Manaudou of France
at Melbourne, Australia, in March.Pellegrini's stunning performance came after placing fifth in the morning's Women's 400m Freestyleinal. "I just couldn't get myself into shape. We Italians haven't got used to competition in the
morning," said Pellegrini after the morning's final.



Bindra shoots gold; ends 28 year Olympics drought

Abhinav Bindra ended India’s drought at Olympics by clinching first ever gold in
individual 10m freestyle shooting. With this gold India jumps to 10th place in overall Olympics medaltally in Beijing.
Bindra won by scoring 700.5 points, 596 in the qualifier and 104.5 in the final to claim the gold.India's other entry in the event, Gagan Narang, came ninth in the qualifier and failed to make it tothe final.However, Gagan Narang failed to make the final cut in the same event finishing ninth with a score of595/600. Narang shot a series of 97, 100, 100, 100, 98 and100.Bindra, a Khel Ratna awardee, finished the qualifying event joint fourth with Romania's George AlinMoldoveanu after the duo shot a score of 596/600.The bespectacled shooter managed a series of 100, 99,100, 98, 100 and 99.
Meanwhile, Finland's Henri Hakkinen qualified first for the event with a score of 598/600 aftershooting a series of 100,100, 99, 100, 100 and 99.
China's Qinan Zhu was a point adrift of Hakkinen with a series of 100, 100, 100, 100, 99 and 98.Bindra leading the way for India’s shooting contingent the spotlight will now move to RajyavardhanSingh Rathod who is a hot contender for gold when he takes to field on Tuesday.
Birth of a star

A star-starved nation found a new sporting icon in a babyface marksman as Abhinav Bindra shot hisway to history, winning India's first ever individual Olympic gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle event heretoday. The sharpshooter from Chandigarh lit up an otherwise gloomy day at the Beijing ShootingRange and sizzled in the finals to lift the gold, ahead of his Chinese and Fin rivals.Abhinav entered the event as world number 17 but showed scant respect for his opponents'reputations, pulling the rugs from under their feet. The Indian entered the final in fourth place and
then raised his game by a few notches to seal the issue.In the all-important final, he never scored below 10 as he topped the chart with a total of 700.5,
adding 104.5 to his qualifying round score of 596. Fellow Indian Gagan Narang too almost made it tothe final but was ruled out on countback.Gagan scored 595, levelled at the fifth place but lost out on a final place in countback. Bindraimply sizzled in the final and was quick to assert himself.