London Olympics: Paes & Jwala will use their touch games to their advantage

At the net, Leander Paes has reflexes that were developed in the pre-Playstation era of hyper-activity, says a report in The Indian Express, adding that at the raised partitioning net in her sport, Jwala Gutta — a southpaw — can turn courteous badminton into a contact sport. She attacks rivals - gender no bar — with bodyline barrages, the chosen projectiles being feathery shuttles.

“Push them to the back-court, however, and the two are known to be in visible trouble. Paes needs his partners to fan out, and man the vast tract of the baseline with their ground-strokes. Jwala, though she has a mean smash that she uses sparingly, is dependent on an Ashwini Ponappa or a V Diju to do most of the running around, and launch the kill-shots from behind her,” says the report, adding both Indians will be constant features of India’s campaign in doubles and mixed doubles in their respective sports at London.

“They can keep you fixated simply on their racquet-wielding hands, which are capable of conjuring the acutest of angles, as the net becomes the centre of lightning-paced action.”

According to a report in Hindustan Times, playing on the US hardcourts in a fun-and-games tweaked tennis tournament may not be an ideal tune-up for the highly competitive London Olympics, to be played on Wimbledon’s grass, but success may just get Leander Paes in a winning frame of mind. The 39-year-old helped his team, Washington Kastles, to its 23rd successive victory at World Team Tennis (WTT) on Wednesday night.
Paes and partner Anastasia Rodionova beat Sacramento Capitals' Mark Knowles and Yasmin Schanck 5-3 in the deciding mixed doubles fixture of the night.

Meanwhile a report in The Hindu says that among the 14-member Indian athletics squad, including four walkers, the focus has remained on two discus throwers since the Commonwealth Games, Vikas Gowda and Krishna Poonia. Gowda took the silver in the Delhi Games while Poonia became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in the CWG.

“Neither Gowda nor Poonia is current No. 1 in Asia nor have they an Asian record in their names. Gowda finished seventh at the last World championships in Daegu (64.05m) and he can justifiably hope to be among the top eight if not top six in the Olympics with his season best and National record of 66.28m. That mark, however, gives the 29-year-old Mysorean only the 18th place in the current world lists.”

Meanwhile Poonia’s rise in the women’s discus world has been impressive. Yet, she is not in the same league as the top four whose July marks rather than season bests are listed here in parenthesis: Darya Pischalnikova of Russia (world leader at 70.69), who has a dope-tainted past, Nadine Muller of Germany (65.41), Sandra Perkovic of Croatia (67.62)and Yarelis Barrios of Cuba (64.21).