Indian Men's and Women's Hockey teams bag Silver medals at Youth Olympic Games
Buenos Aires, Oct 15 : The Indian men's and women's hockey teams went down in their respective finals but managed to script history by picking up their maiden silver medals in the five-a-side competition of the Youth Olympic Games here.
While the men lost 2-4 to Malaysia, the women's team suffered a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Argentina in match that took place Sunday night. The silver medals claimed in the Argentine capital are India's first set of hockey medals in the Youth Olympics.
The Malaysian men and Argentina women made history of their own by winning their first-ever Youth Olympic Games Hockey5s gold medals.
Argentina men and China women secured the bronze medals respectively following 4-0 and 6-0 wins over Zambia and South Africa. In the men's gold medal match, India took the lead after only two minutes through captain Vivek Sagar Prasad.
However, just about two minutes later Malaysia levelled through Firadus Rosdi, but the lead was short-lived as Prasad grabbed his second goal of the match for India in the fifth minute. India took a 2-1 lead at the half-time stage.
After the break, Malaysia came out all guns blazing as Akhimullah Anuar brought the teams level again in the 13th minute before Amirul Azahar steered Malaysia to a lead three minutes later.
With only two minutes left on the clock, Anuar sealed the gold by scoring Malaysia's fourth and his second goal of the day to win their first-ever Youth Olympic Games medal.
Later in the women's final, hosts Argentina were inspired by yet another capacity crowd. Having not lost a match in this event, Argentina were stunned as India took an early lead after only 49 seconds through Mumtaz Khan.
But once the early nerves settled, Argentina got into their stride and Gianella Palet levelled after six minutes. Sofia Ramallo then edged Argentina ahead with nearly nine minutes on the clock to give the hosts a 2-1 lead at half-time.
In the second half, Brisa Bruggesser made it 3-1.
While India tried their best to get back in the game, Argentina held on to win their first Youth Olympic Games Hockey5s gold medal in front of a jubilant home crowd.
Despite India's loss in both the finals they will be pleased to have picked up the silver medals -- their first hockey medals in the history of the Youth Olympic Games.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
