Jeetendra's bronze puts India on MWG medals table

HYDERABAD: Jeetendra claimed the bronze medal in the men's 400 metres hurdles to finally put hosts India on the medals table of the 4th Military World Games here on Tuesday.

The Indian finished in 51.70 seconds, well behind Saudi Arabia's Edrees Al Hawsawi who won the gold medal in 50.26 seconds. The silver went to Thiago de Jesus Sales in 50.98 seconds.

The track at the G.M.C. Balayogi Stadium saw a new games record when Qatar's Francis Samuel clocked 10.10 seconds to win the 100 metres gold medal. Samuel beat the old record of 10.18 seconds set by fellow Qatari Talal Mansoor, a former Asian champion and the continent's sprint legend.

Indian boxers gave a good account of themselves as four more advanced to the quarterfinals, making it a total eight quarterfinalists in the 11 weight categories. The other three Indians will see action Wednesday and could give India a major medal haul from the ring.

The spikers kept India in the semi-final reckoning with polished display against Latvia, winning in straight sets 25-17, 25-19, 25-16.

The football team fought hard but went down by a solitary goal to Egypt in the quarterfinal clash. Abdul Naser scored Egypt's winner 10 minutes into extra time after the teams failed to score in the regulation 90 minutes.

In other football quarterfinals, North Korea dished out a major surprise when they defeated fancied Brazil 1-0, Cameroon crushed Guinea Republic 3-0 and Qatar ousted Ireland 2-0.

In Thursday's semi-finals, Egypt face Qatar and Cameroon take on North Korea.

In the pool, Russians are several lengths ahead of the rest of the field but the Chinese women are fighting hard to keep them in sight.

South Korea and Belarus entered the handball semi-finals with ease. The Koreans toyed with Turkey before winning 34-23 and booked their last four berths from Group A. Belarus smashed past Qatar 35-25 to claim Group B's first semi-final slot.

Defending champions Latvia recovered from Monday's defeat at the hands of Belarus to go past the United Arab Emirates 36-24 and keep their semi-final hopes alive in Group B. Lithuania did the same in Group A with a polished 32-27 win over Greece who are out of the semi-final reckoning after two losses in the five-team group that also includes India.

The Russians head the overall medals tally with 10 gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals, closely followed by China who have eight gold, six silver and two bronze after the second day.

Slovenia are a surprise third with three gold medals.