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PHOTOS: India's highs and lows at the Games, Day 8
Saina Nehwal gave India its maiden medal in Olympic Games badminton when her Chinese opponent withdrew from the bronze medal contest after injuring her knee, while pocket dynamo boxer Laishram Devendro Singh stormed into the quarter-finals with an upset victory on Saturday.
- London Olympics 2012 - Complete coverage
Saina was trailing by a game and 0-1 in her bronze medal play-off game against World No. 2 Xin Wang, who conceded the contest after injuring her knee when going for an acrobatic smash from the baseline.
The injury occurred when the 22-year-old Indian was staging a grand fightback in the opening game and had saved four game points to trail 18-20.
Shooter Shagun's campaign ends
Shooter Shagun Chowdhary's campaign at the Games ended on a disappointing note as she failed to qualify for the finals of the women's trap event after finishing 20th.
Shagun finished a lowly 20th out of 22 competitors at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
The rowing duo of Sandeep Kumar and Manjeet Singh ended up a poor second from last in the men's double sculls race at the Eton Dorney Rowing centre.They avoided the wooden spoon by edging out theEgyptian team of Mohamed Nofel and Omar Emira in the 2000m race for minor placings, clocking 7 minutes, 8.39 seconds.
Devendro beats Beijing Games silver medallist
More good news emerged from the boxing arena when Devendro carved out a very impressive 16-11 verdict over Beijing Games silver medallist Serdumba Purevdorj, the 2009 World light flyweight champion in the 49kg class.
Devendro's stunning victory over his more fancied Mongolian opponent came as consolation for the Indians who were left dazed when their 69kg fighter Vikas Krishan was controversially ousted from the competition after the governing body of the game, AIBA, overturned the result of his pre-quarter-final bout, which he won late Friday night, following a review.
Vikas Krishan was controversially ousted
The 20-year-old Vikas, gold medallist in 60kg at the Guangzhou Asian Games, had scored a 13-11 victory over Errol Spence in a thrilling contest, but following an appeal by the US team's management, the AIBA awarded the bout 15-13 to the American.
Crying foul over the AIBA's decision, the Indians lodged aprotest, which was later rejected.
Sudha fails to match her best time
Steeplechase runner Sudha Singh, also a gold medal winner like Vikas at the 2010 Guangzhou Asiad, failed to match the time she had clocked to make the "B" grade qualification standard for the Olympics, finishing 13th out of 15 runners in the first of three semi-final heats.
The Central Railway employee, hailing from Rae Bareily, timed 9:48.86s, almost a second off her national record of 9:47.70s that she had clocked in Spain on June 8 when making the Olympic grade.
Shooter Shagun's campaign ends
Shooter Shagun Chowdhary's campaign at the Games ended on a disappointing note as she failed to qualify for the finals of the women's trap event after finishing 20th.
Shagun finished a lowly 20th out of 22 competitors at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
The rowing duo of Sandeep Kumar and Manjeet Singh ended up a poor second from last in the men's double sculls race at the Eton Dorney Rowing centre.They avoided the wooden spoon by edging out theEgyptian team of Mohamed Nofel and Omar Emira in the 2000m race for minor placings, clocking 7 minutes, 8.39 seconds.
Sania-Paes out of Olympics
India's tennis campaign at the Games met with a disappointing end as Leander Paes and Sania Mirza were knocked out in the mixed doublesquarter-finals.
Paes and Sania lost 5-7 6-7(5) to the top seeded pair of Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka from Belarus in the last-eight stage match, which was spread over two days due to bad light.
The Indians were trailing 2-3 in the second set, when play was stopped.Paes and Sania did fight bravely but the failure to cash in on the break points dented their chances.
Out of eight chances in the second set, they could convert only one. The defeat means Sania's career may end without an Olympic medal as the injury-ravaged Indian may not play in the next Games in Brazil.
Paes, thus, remains the only tennis player from the country to win an Olympic medal -- bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Games in the men's singles.