Indian Navy Acts in Gulf of Aden

Indian Warship INS Tabar—whose name means battle-axe in Sanskrit—sank a Somali pirate vessel in the Gulf of Aden late on Nov. 18 after it was attacked. The pirate vessel is the first hostile ship sunk by the Navy after the 1971 Indo-Pak war.
The pirates fired on INS Tabar after being intercepted and asked for identification. The Navy retaliated in self-defence. As a result of heavy machine-gun fire by INS Tabar, a fire broke out on the pirate vessel and explosions were heard due to exploiding ammunition stored on the vessel.
This incident, i.e., the sinking of a pirate 'mother ship' by the Indian naval stealth frigate, INS Tabar has given a ray of hope on the seemingly intractable crisis of a hijacking spree near the Horn of Africa. As the volume and scale of piracy along the Somalia-Yemen-Oman waters increased, the victim companies and their respective govern­ments were in a major quan­dry about the appropriate response.
Complex Issue
Most countries prefer to avoid tackle piracy as it is a complex issue. For instance, a ship might be built in one country, fly flag of another and have a crew of different na­tiona­­­­­lities. So, the governments let the shipping companies handle the nego­tia­tions when a ship is hijacked. As a result, even today the pirates are holding the world to ransom. On top of it, the modern technology has actually helped those who ply this ancient trade. Pirates now have advance information about ships, commu­ni­cate via satellite phones, carry sophisticated weapons and use fast speedboats. However, their modus operandi remains almost similar to their earlier counterparts, i.e., operating stealthily and swiftly.
Pre-emptive Action
The Indian Navy's pre-emptive action came in praise from all quarters particularly because once the pirates have boarded a ship, little action can be taken for fear of hurting hostages on board.
Indian Navy had earlier rescued Japan's ships from pirates in the Straits of Malacca and had also escorted coalition ships during Opera­tion Enduring Freedom in the after­math of the 9/11 attacks. But countries like Malaysia and Indonesia contested the presence of India in these waters. However, when the 2004 tsunami struck, Indian naval ships were the first to reach with relief and aid to Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Again, when Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar in May 2008, the Indain ships first delivered aid. These actions combined together with INS Tabar's downing of a pirate ship, show that India is not in the business of territorial acquisitions.
The Indian Navy's act has to be seen in light of the expressed helpless­ness and shock by the world's strong­est navy - that of the United States - when pirates seized a Saudi Supertan­ker, thrice as larger as an aircraft carrier, that was transporting crude oil worth $100 million. The robustness and alacrity with which Indian commandos sprung into action contra­st­ed with the overcautious and clueless attitude of other international naval forces. India's usage of guided missiles and cannons at the targets sets an example for the other multi­national navies which have been pondering about the complexity of the challenge.
The International Maritime Bure­au's Piracy Reporting Centre at Kuala Lumpur had praised the deft action by Indian Navy and advocated all foreign Navies present in the African waters to conduct stop and search operations like India did, as it will be a strong deterrent and help in stamping out the spiralling piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
Importance of the Task
Piracy is nothing but a high-seas equivalent of street crime. Up to 20,000 vessels sail through the Gulf every year, or 250 per day. One-sixth of the entire crew of the world's merchant navy is Indian. Hence, it is must to make Gulf safe for shipping.
Navies can act against pirates on the high seas but international laws and UN Security Council resolutions 1816, authorises only states cooperat­ing with Somalia's transition­al govern­ment to enter its territorial waters and chase the pirates. Though an informal agreement has been reached with the Somalian govern­ment which lets Indian Navy to enter its waters under certain circum­stances, India has called for a UN peacekeeping force under a unified command to prevent piracy off Somalia in a concerted manner.
The Reality
The area between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea is so huge that no nation or navy by itself can patrol the huge area and fight the pirates. India has, thus thrown a challenge to the UN to take an innovative action as the UN has never been part of 'only marine' mission. As Indian Navy has shown, the action would have to be a way of using radio frequency identification to check the intent of vessels and ways of reacting to resistance including armed action. At the same time, some amount of caution would be required to double-check wether a mother-vessel has crew of a hijacked ship on board. It is because mother-vessels are generally ships captured earlier for ransom by the pirates.
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INS Tabar : A Fact File
* Was commissioned in 2004. Has crew of 180
* Its Russian Kashtan close-in weapon system comprises six-barrelled 30 mm guns that fire 10,000 rounds a minute, and missiles
* Is armed with Shtil surface-to-air missiles
* Has Klub cruise missiles to destroy submarines, ships more than 200 km away

* Speed: 56 kmph

G-20 Summit

The two-day Washington summ­it of leaders of the G-20 coun­tries ended on Nov. 15 against the bock­dropof what is now being des­cri­bed asthe greatest financial and econo­miccrisis in the world econo­my sincethe Great Depression of 1930s.The Summit was called at a shortnotice by President Bush under Euro­pean pressure.
The Summit was attended by the US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sar­kozy, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, Russian President Dimitry Med­ve­dev and other G-20 leaders.
The G-20 was formally established at the G-7 Finance Ministers’ meeting on September 26, 1999. The inaugural meeting took place on December 15-16, 1999 in Berlin. 19 of the world’s
25 largest national economies, plus the European Union (EU), collectively, the G-20 economies comprise 90 per cent of global gross national product, 80 per cent of world trade (including EU intra-trade) and two-thirds of the world population.India's Advocacy
India was represented at the Summit by Prime Minister Man­mohan Singh who advocated a multi-faceted approach to tide over the current economic crisis. He mooted a coordinated global fiscal stimulus to help mitigate the severity and duration of the recession. He raised various issues requir­ing urgent attention such as reforms of the multilateral financial insti­­tu­tions to enhance concessio­nal flaws, a caution against protectionist policies and changes in the global financial architecture to avoid a recurrence of the crisis. He also sought a mechanism of consul­tation that could yield results in terms of policy coordination. The Prime Minister was raptly heard due to the kind of technical expertise that he brought to the summit.
Draft Declaration
The 'Washington Declaration' signed by heads of state of G-20 nations em­pha­sised upon support to emer­ging economies, closer macro economic cooperation, stren­gthen­ed financial markets and regulatory regimes.
Five Common Principles
The declaration laid out five common principles for reform of financial markets to avoid future crises.
* Strengthening transparency and accountability, particularly the valuation of complex, illiquid products and the creation of a single, high-quality global standard.
* Enhancing sound regulation including a review of how valuation and leverage, bank capital and executive compensation may exacerbate cyclical trends.
* Promoting integrity in financial markets by getting national and regional authorities to work together and promote information sharing.
* Reinforcing cooperation by establishing supervisory colleges for all major cross-border financial institutions.
* Reforming international finan­cial institutions.
Action Plan
The declaration also created a task force of G-20 finance ministers to initiate processes and a timeline to do so. The task force was given an Action Plan based on five identi­fiable and tangible areas (Common Principles) to be completed before Mar. 31, 2009.
In the Action Plan are steps to boost standard of creidt rating agencies, address weaknesses in accounting and disclosure standards, ensure cooperation between national financial authorities, including meetings to share information, and a risk warning system for banks.
A 'college of supervisors' will be set up to monitor the world's biggest financial institutions, with a list of firms to be compiled by the end of March, 2009.
Other Decisions
The summit also agreed to expand the Switzerland-based Financial Stability Forum to include a broader membership of emerging econo­mies and a 12-month hiatus on protectionist measures.
The India Effect
The Group of G-20 nations heeded the call from India and other developing nations to reform international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank. The IMF or other agencies can now review US financial systems as much as it can review India's or China's.
This is the first time the western world, particularly the US, has agreed to such far-reaching universal oversight of its financial practices.
Seven Big Messages
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh exclaimed that he saw seven big messages emerging from the Wash­in­gton Summit.
* The recognition by all G-20 leaders that there is a global crisis which calls for a global response.
* The continuing weakness of the real economy suggests that the steps taken to increase liquidity must be supplemented by a coordinated fiscal stimulus.
* The need to take special steps to provide resources to developing countries by providing adequate additional resources to the World Bank and the IMF.
* The need to introduce regulatory reforms in the financial system by improving existing stan­­dards and aligning them inter­nationally.
* The need for better multilateral surveillance of both macro-economic and financial developments.
* The imperative of avoiding a retreat into protectionism.
* The harm done by excessive speculation, by enterprise becoming a bubble on the whirlpool of speculation.
Next Summit
The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will take over the Chairman­ship of the G-20 group of developed and emerging economies next year. Mr. Brown has announced that the next summit to discuss the global eco­no­mic crisis would be held in London in April 2009. Some of the major areas likely to be discussed are greater regulation of the finan­cial markets and a review of corpo­rate practices such as 'fat cat' perks. The summit will also review the progress on promises made at the Washing­ton meeting.
Power Shift
The present Global recession provides the major developing coun­try economies, including China and India with a real opportunity to incre­a­se their weight and influence in the world economic order.
Though, it is too early to say that they were able to capitalise on the opportunity as the Declaration does not indicate any paradigm shift in the world economic order, there was a clear indication that the balance of power is shifting in favour of emerging economies (re­pre­­se­nted in the G-20 by China and India) as the group realised that devel­oping countries were going to be the worst sufferers because of the market crisis for no fault of theirs.

Terror Stikes Mumbai

Mumbai came under an unprecedented terror attack on the night of Nov. 26 when terrorists used heavy machine guns, including AK-47s, and grenades to strike at the city's most high profile targets inlcuding Taj Mahal Hotel & Tower, Oberoi Trident, CST Terminus, Santa Cruz Airport, Nariman House, Leopold Cafe, Colaba and 2 hospitals-Cama and GT. Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad(ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police (East) Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Inspector Vijay Salaskar were killed in the combat operations against the terrorists. The official final death toll is put at 171 with over 300 injured while 9 terrorists were killed and one apprehended.
Operation ‘Black Tornado’
The series of attacks later unfolded into a hostage crisis the next day as militants were holed up at two iconic hotels–the Trident and the Taj – and at Nariman House, a building on Colaba Causeway that houses a few Jewish families. The Army, Navy and National Security Guards (NSG) enaged the militants in gunbattle.
At the Oberoi the operation got over at 3:30 pm on Nov. 28, after 41 hours, with the killing of the two terrorists. About 200 hostages emerged from the hotel. Officially, 30 people, including, two foreigners, are said to have died. There was no NSG casualty. Two AK-47s, a pistol, chinese-made hand grenades and satellite phones were found on the 8th floor.
The NSG commandoes declared the Nariman House as secured at 9 pm on Nov. 28. Two terrorists were killed. The bodies of five Israeli hostages were also found. An NSG commando, Gajendra Singh was among those killed. A huge cache of arms and ammunition was seized.
At the Taj the last bullet in 'Operation Cyclone' the commando operation at Taj – was fired at 8 am on Nov. 29. After that, unlike the Oberoi and the Nariman House, no one walked out alive. Four terrorists were killed and the NSG had recovered grenades, AK-47 rifles, pistols and mobile phones, but no RDX.
Preliminary Investigation: The terror attacks were similar to the attack on the Akshardham temple on Sept. 24, 2002, the one in Ayodhya on July 5, 2005, and the one at the RSS head-quartes in Nagpur on June 2, 2006. All the attacks were handiwork of the Lashker, which has been inspired by Al-Qaeda.
All the attacks were carried out by highly motivated, trained men in the 20 to 25 year age group. The attackers in all cases were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and grenades.
An injured terrorist was captured during the combat operations and was later identified as a resident of Faridkot, near Multan, in Pakistan's Punjab province. Based on the interrogation, it is understood that a group of Lashkar operatives left Karachi in a merchant ship early on Nov.26. Late that night, an estimated 10-12 fidayeen left the ship in a small boat and rowed some 10 nautical miles to Mumbai's Gateway of India area.
The fidayeen unit then split up into, at five groups, each focussing on a separate target: Mumbai's Nariman House, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus rail station, the Cama Hospital, the Girgaum seafront and the Taj and Trident Oberoi Hotels.
Another important disclosure which came out of the interrogation was that all the terrorists were trained in marine warfare along with the special cousre–Daura-e-Shifa-conducted by the Lasker-e-Taiba which transformed the nature of the planning from a routine terror strike into a specialised raid by commandoes.
These terror attacks across Mumbai are being considered a joint failure of the Customs, Coast Guards and the police. The three agencies have been jointly patrolling the seas after the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai.
It is believed that the terrorists entered the city from the shores at Sassoon Dock in Colaba and Badhevar Park near Cuffe Parade.
The young men who ravaged Mumbai were suicide fighters–planned, armed and committed for long battles, very different from shadowy hit and run suicide bombers. The real attack was in small teams of highly trained commando–like fighters capturing buildings, taking hostages and preparing for a siege. The targets were not random markets or innocent Indians, but westerners.
UNSC Meet: The United States, the UK, Russia and other countries have expressed sympathy and promised full cooperation and support to India at various levels to deal with the consequences of the attacks. The five permanent members have called a special meeting of the UN Security Council on Dec. 9, 2008 in the content of attacks and to decide on appropriate steps to be taken by the world community. Meanwhile, the United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paid a visit to India and promised to persuade Pakistan to take very direct and tough action. She assured India that the U.S. would work very closely to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice and prevent further strikes of such kind.
Response–The U.S. Precedent: India's response to terror is in sharp contrast to that of the United States. The U.S. has succeeded in blocking successive attempts to execute attacks on its soil since the tragic events of September 11, 2001. In contrast, despite credible intelligence that terrorists were planning attacks in Mumbai through sea route, India was unable to prevent the attacks.
Our police force of havaldars and sahibs are not equipped to counter the fearsome, global jihad. An ultra-modern, professional force should be created urgently to tackle ultramodern, professional terrorism. India should learn from the US and the UK that global terror cannot be fought without transforming our national security and keeping our diverse commu­nities safe. It is high time the citizens and the political parties stop suspecting those who are from different religion as it amounts to suspecting the nation of a secular, inclusive India which would allow terrorists to win.
Invest in Security: India has to understand that all terrorism does not necessarily emanate from Pakistan because India has faced attacks from Indian Islamists, Hindutva Groups, Organisations in the North-east, etc. The country needs to increase its investment in its own security. There is an urgent need for creating a new special Ministry for Internal Security dealing exclusively with Security and Intelligence, the coordination among and between various central and state level security agencies and more sense of account­ability for every lapse in execution.
At present, Maharashtra has 147 policemen for every 1 lakh population or 50 policemen to guard every 100 sq. kms. Even if police personnel are stationed at the places of probable terrorist targets, they cannot intervene effectively. Mumbai, the financial and nuclear capital of India has no specially-trained emergency response team or a crisis-management centre with an established drill to deal with a catastrophic terrorist assault.
Ultimately, terrorism can be effectively countered with a combination of full combat preparedness effective preventive measures, presence of brain, and taking intelligence warnings seriously.

Changing Face of India's Foreign Policy

The parameters that directed foreign policy making in the past stand fundamentally altered today. The contemporary world order is amorphous and unpredictable. It defies theories and models which try to conceptualize the transformations sweeping the world. The inescapable reality of globalisation—a generic term that disguises a complex and often contradictory set of process operating in different fields like technological, political, economic and socio-cultural spheres has induced transformation.
Where does India fit into a world being shaped by the realties of the 21st century? And what are the parameters on which India’s foreign policy should be based so that it can respond effectively to the challenges of the new millennium?
India’s foreign policy has shown elements of both constancy and change over the last five decades. While we have preserved the basic principles that were enunciated by the founding fathers of the Republic, we have also crafted creative responses to the challenges of the post-Cold War and in the era of globalization.
An attribute of a dynamic foreign policy is the ability to respond to changing developments. The emergence of the Central Asian Republics in the aftermath of the break up of the Soviet Union was one such recent development, and India, given the strategic and economic importance of this region, has been quick to strengthen its bilateral relations with each of these Republics. The shift in recent years by the countries of Central and East Europe to political pluralism and market-oriented structures has also seen India trying to build upon existing business and institutional linkages so as to further strengthen the traditional ties of friendship with the countries of this region
With China the aim of Indian foreign policy has been of developing a relationship of friendship, cooperation and good neighbourliness, exploiting the potential for favorable growth wherever it exists, even as we seek to find a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the outstanding border issue.
This has been made possible, in large part, because on foreign policy and national security matters, our country has had a broad national consensus, cutting across all political divides, ever since independence.
The change or a bit unpredicta-bility in the foreign policy further deepened after the 9/11 terrorist attack on WTC, and America’s war-against terrorism, attack on Iraq, America’s ambiguity in its policy towards Pakistan and terrorism and indeed growing proximity of India with the United States.
If we take foreign policy options, which are available today, thenwe could put these under the follo­wing heads.
Nonalignment
A.P. Rana, a renowned scholar on nonalignment wrote in 1991 “with the demise of the Cold War, India has in effect lost her foreign policy strategy.” But noted scholar Amitabh Mattoo argues differently. To him NAM is needed not just to secure a niche for the developing world in the international system but more essentially to articulate an alternative view in international relations, to move beyond the abject realism of the Westphalian system and to move towards an international society in which ideas matter as much as power. He says, “Only the NAM has the broad based membership and legitimacy to raise these questions and create a ground well that could eventually be the first steps towards creating such an international society.”
Closer ties with USA and West
Proponents of this thinking argue that the end of Cold War, lacklustre approach of Russia towards India, Indian tilt towards US and the West are enough indications for a viable and strong Indo-US ties. In support of their arguments they put up these reasons: Pakistan’s value decreased and that of India's increased. There was a feeling among some American as well as Indians that, in the post-Cold War period, containment of Islamic fundamentalism would replace containment of communism as the chief objective of American foreign policy. The signing of Indo-US civilian nuclear deal is one of the many evidences suggesting a gradual shift in the Indian Foreign Policy.
Huntington in his book Clash of Civilization has illustrated this thinking. Pakistan, being a theocratic state could not be regarded as a dependable ally by the US. Obviously this will benefit Indo-US relations.
Further, in the new emerging economic, political, ideological order in the world, India may come closer to the West and US. Considering the fact that both are having great threats of terrorism particularly after the9/11 terrorists attack on America and ideologically both value democracy, human rights, free market, globaliza-tion, etc.
But these assumptions are only guesswork and far from reality. Because Indo-US relationship has to go a long way to prove its credibility and viability even after much talked signing of Indo–US nuclear deal, and more or less the same situation is applicable to Indo-European relationship. India’s foreign policy options are limited. Indo-US or Indo-European fronts are having lots of vicissitudes and are not time-tested. There is immense suspicion in both the sides. One is not fully convinced of other’s action and attitude and obviously there is lack of trust on both the sides.
Unlike this, Russia-India relationship is time-tested and is based on solid foundation. They have history behind them. They are natural allies. Their ideological, cultural and economic backgrounds provide immense scope for further cooperation. Speaking on India’s Foreign Policy Today at the Diplomatic Academy, Moscow, the then Indian Foreign Minister Mr. Yashwant Sinha elaborated on contemporary problems faced by India and the nature of foreign policies–the decade following the end of the Cold War has been a period of extraordinary challenges for India in the realm of international affairs. Like Russia, India too was confronted with the need to rapidly adapt to a sudden and total change in the world order. Besides the political adjustment, India’s economy had to gear itself to deal with the wave of globalization that has been sweeping across the world. Further, Jehadi elements turned their targets on the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, actively aided and abetted by our western neighbour who has sought to wage a proxy war against us. The last decade has also been a period when extraordinary pressure was mounted on India by the international community to abandon its nuclear option. India’s response has been to confront these challenges head on. For this purpose, it adopted, a number of strategies including the infusion of a heavy dose of pragmatism and realism into the making of foreign policy, proactive efforts to build national strength, intensive engagement with major powers and active economic diplomacy. India can note with pride that significant success has been achieved in overcoming these challenges. We have today built close political and economic relations with a wide spectrum of countries across the world and India is widely acknowledged as an emerging power and important player on the world stage. The old adage in foreign affairs stipulates that a nation does not have permanent friends or foes; only its national interests are permanent. India’s foreign policy is facing challenges and thus changes in this respect.
Pursuit of national interest is the primary foreign policy goal of all nations, including India. In the future also, India will continue to evolve and implement a foreign policy that maintains a healthy balance between her principles and tradition of idealism as well as the demands of realism.

Beijing Olympic Games

Beijing Olympic 2008 got off to a grand start in China’s capital, Beijing, on August 9,2008. Beijing Olympics organisers chose 08.08.08 (p.m.) for the inauguration of the Games, as the number 8 is given high importance by the Chinese. The Chinese pronunciation of ‘eight’ closely marches the Chinese equivalent for wealth and prosperity. Hence, in the current century, they chose to bid for 2008 Olympics and selected 8th month 8th day and 8th hour (p.m.) 8th minute 8th 8th second for the spectacular opening ceremony. Amid a mesmerising ambience marked by a resplendent show of colour and splendour, China on August 8,2008 rollet out the red carpet to 10,708 athlets from 204 countries in a grand ceremony at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, signalling the inauguration of the Beijing Olympics 2008. 14,000 Chinese performers, with a combination of colour, light, dance, music and a judicious doese of cuttingedge technology, provided a spectacular opening to the Games that showcased the country’s 5,000 years of civilisation. ‘Lighted’ acrobats, suspended mid-air, hoisted the Olympic ring, thrilling the 91,000 capacity audience to bits and simultaneously regaling an estimated four billion television viewers around the world. China’s Li Ning, 1984 Games multiple medallist gymnast, encapsulated the spellbinding effect of one of the grandest of opening ceremonies in Olympic history, carrying the torch around the perimeter of the Bird’s Nest’s roof, suspended in air before lighting the Olympic cauldron.

The show began with 2008 (marking the year of Beijing Games) drummers peforming in a traditional Chinese formation which dates back to remote antiquity. It was systematically followed by the artistic presentation of various events and eras in the history of the country. A significant part of the show was a splendid Taichi demonstration - deeply embedded in Chinese culure — comprising 2008 performers. After more than two hours of extravaganza, the athletes marched into the stadium with Greece, the first host of the Games, leading the way. The Indian contingent was led by Athens Olympics 2004 silver medallist Lt. Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. As the contiingents from all participating countries presented themselves before the audience, Mr. Hu Jintao, President of China, declared the Games open amid loud cheers from spectators. The Beijing Olympics was the 29th edition of the Games, in which the athletes vied for 302 Gold medals in 38 events. During the Games many new and hitherto unsung heroes stole the limelight while some of the veterans had to cat a humble pie. Katcrina Emmons of Czech Republic won the first Gold medal in 10m air rifle shooting event on August 9,2008.

Michael Phelps, the 23-years American swimmer, the hero of the Games, bagged an unprecedented eight Gold medals in various swimming events and overtook compatriot Mark Spitz, whose seven swimming Golds at Munich Olympics, 1972, were the most at a single Games. Competing in his third Olympics, Phelps also took his total of Olympics Golds to a recod 14, including six from the 2004 Athens Olympics. Another great performer of the Games Jamaica’s Usain Bolt won three Gold medals in 100m, 200m and 4 × 100m relay. Bolt shattered all the previous world records in 100m (9.69 sec) and 200 (19.30 sec) events and became the fastest man on the earth. Both the timings were the fastest in the Olympic history. The 26-year-old Russian Yelena Isinbayeva created a new World records of 5.05 metres to win the Gold in women’s pole-vault.

In weightlifting, Matthias Steiner of Germany became the most powerful man on the earth winning Gold in 105 kg men’s event. He lifted 461 kg (203 kg in snatch and 258 kg in clean & jerk). Yang Wei of China won the Gold medal in men’s individual all-around. Samuel Kamau Wansiru of kenya outclassed a pack of top runners in the hot and humid conditions and won the marathon Gold. India’s marksman Abhinav Bindra won the first individual Gold medal for his country in the 10-metre air rifle event. World No. 1 tennis player Rafael Nadal won the Gold in men’s single event. Germany won the Gold in men’s hockey. Argentina clinched the Gold in football bearing Nigeria 1-0 in the men’s final.

For some of the greats like Hurdler Liu Xiang, Tyson Gay, etc. it was rather a forgetable outing. In the Olympic Games 2008, China won 51 Gold medals followed by the USA, which got 36 Gold medals. Russia begged 23 Gold medals. Apart from these countries, there were a few other like Brahrain, Mongolia and Panama, which won their first evr medals. The 29th Olympic Games ended on August 24, 2008 amidst a riot of colour, constumes and entertainment.

India and the Olympics 2008: The performance of the 56-strong Indian squad in the Beijing Olympics 2008 was the greatest so far in the Olympic history of the country. Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian sportsperson to win an individual Olympic Gold medal, scoring an astounding 10.8 in the final round of the 10m air rifle event on August 11, 2008. Bindra’s excellent effort gave India their first Olympic Gold in 28 years after the men’s hockey team won the Gold in 1980 Moscov Games. Abhinav, who was placed fourth with a score of 596 at the end fo the qualification rounds, moved up to second place after the third of 10 shots in the final. Tied for the Gold with Finland’s Henri Hakkinen after the penultimate shot, Bindra scored a near perfect 10.8 India’s Sushil Kumar won Bronze in the 66-kg freestyle event in wrestling by an Indian athlete, the first was won by K.D. Jadhav in Helsinki Olympics Games, 1952. For the first time, three Indian boxes Akhil Kukar, Vijender Kumar and and Jitender Kumar featured in the quarterfinals. After a century in the shadows, the first medal for Indian pugilits came with Vijender Kumar’s Bronze.

Thus Indian athletes put up their best show so far in the annals of Olympic Games.

Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal achievement is the highest an individual sportsperson from India has earned in the Olympic Bronze medals were won by Kasabha D. Jadhav (wrestling bantam weight) in the Helsinki Olympics (1952), Leander Paes (tennis singles) in the Atlanta Olympics (1996) and Karnam Malleswari (weightlifting in 69 kg) in the Sydney Olympics (2000). Major (now Lt. Colonet) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore became the first Indian sportsperson to win an individual Olympics Silver medal when he shot 179 out of 200 in the double trap shooting competition at the Olympic Games in Athens, 2004.

Outstanding Achievers
Athletics: Usain Bolt (Jamaica) emerged as the fastest runner on earth and bagged Gold medal in the 100-metre, 200-metre relay race with the world record time of 9,69 seconds, 19.30 seconds respectively. He also won 4 × 100-metre relay race with a world record time of 37.10 seconds. Bolt teamed up with Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter and Michael Fracter in the 4 × 100-metre relay race. Shelly-Ann Fraster (Jamaica) put up a Gold Medal-winning performance in the final of women’s 100-metre event with a personal best 10.78 seconds. Dayron Robles of Cuba won the 110 m men’s hurdles Gold medal. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) emerged the undisputed king over the distance events winning both 10,000m and 5,000m Gold medals. Samauel Kamau Wansiru (Kenya) won the marathan Gold in an Olympic record time of two hours, six minutes and 32 seconds in very hot and humid conditions. Wilfred Bungei (Kenya) won the men’s 800m race Gold.

Archery: South Korean women’s team won against China by nine points in the final. The victory gave the Korean women their 12th straight Olympic Gold Medal to maintain their unbeaten record in team event since first competing in archery at the Games in 1984. Viktor Rubon (Ukraine) won the men’s individual Gold medal and jaun Juan Zhang (China) clinched the women’s individual Gold medal.

Badminton: The top-seeded Lin Don (China) won the men’s singles final beating Lee Chang Wei of Malaysia 21-12, 21-8.

Basketball: The United States won the Gold medal in the Olympic men’s basketball with a 118-107 victory over Spain.

Beach Volleyball: Todd Rogers and Philip Dalhausser of the US won Gold bearing Fabio Luiz and Marcio Araujo of Brazil 23-21, 17-21, 15-4.

Boxing: James Degale (Britain) won the Olympic boxing middleweight title with a 16-14 victory over Emilio Correa of Cuba despite being roundly jeered after the bout by a pro-Cuba crowd who felt that Correa had been hard done by. Correa had beaten India’s Vijender Kumar in the semifinals. Vijender won Bronze in the middleweight category.

Canoe/Kayaking: Fanny Fischer, Nicole Reinhardt, Katrin Wagner-Augustin, Conny Wassmuth (Germany) won Gold in the women’s flatwater: K4 500.

Cycling: Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) won the Gold medal in the men’s individual time trial. Kristin Armstrong (the USA) clinched Gold i women’s individual time trial.

Equestrian: Hinrich Romeike, a German dintist, won an Olympic Gold medal in the individual three-day eventing competition. Romeike left 24 rival in his dust, as he completed a perfect round in the final jumping component, to finish the round as he began, with 54.20 penalty points. Anky Van Grunsven of the Netherlands won the Gold medal in dressage individual.

Fencing: Man Zhong (China) beat Nicolas Lopez of France 15-9 in the men’s individual sabre final and won an Olympic Gold medal.

Soccer: Angel di Maria (Argentina) struck in the 58th minute and led his team to victory against Nigeria in the men’s football final. Argentina won the match 1-0 and defended the Gold it had won in the 2004 Athens Olympic.

Hockey: Power-packed Germany won the Olympic men’s bockey Gold medal after 16 years with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Spain in the final. Christopher Zeller (Germany) scored the winner in the 16th minute with a ferocious penalty corner before the German’s warded off repeated Spanish attacks to strike Gold in field hockey’s 100th year at the Olympic.

Judo: Santoshi Ishii (Japan) won Gold defeating Abdullo Tangriev (Uzbekistan) in the final of men’s + 100 kg while Elnur (Mammadli Azerbaijan) clinched Gold beating Kichun Wang of South Korea in the men’s 73 kg.

Rowing: Olaf Tufte of Norway displayed a brilliant performance and won the men’s singles sculles final. In the women’s single men’s single sculls final. In the women’s single sculls final Bulgaria’s Rumayana Neykova emerged victorious and won the Gold.

Sailing: Ben Ainslie (Finland), Gold Medallist, displayed the qualities that have made him the world’s leading all-round dinghy sailor.

Shooting: Abhinav Bindra (India) became the first individual gold medallist of independent India in 10m air rifle shooting event. Katerina Emmons (Czech Republic) won the first Gold medal of Beijing Olympic 2008 in 10m air rifle shooting event. Jin Jong Oh (South Korea) clinched Gold in men’s 50m pistol event.

Softball: Japan beat United States 3-1 and clinched Gold in women’s final.

Swimming: Michael Phelps, 23-year-old American swimmer, bagged an unprecedented eight Gold medals in various swimming events and overtook compatriot Mark Spitz, whose seven swimming Golds at Munich Olympic, 1972, were the most at a single Games. Thus Phelps became the highest Gold medal winner in an Olympic Games. Now, Phelps has a total Olympic medal tally of 16 (6 Golds and two Silver in Athens, 8 Golds in Beijing).

Table Tennis: World No. 2 Ma Lin (China) won Gold and proved Chinese spuremacy in the men’s single table tennis tournament, defeating teammate Wang Hao (China). In the women’s singles Yining Zhang (China) clinched Gold.

Tennis: Rafael nadal (Spain) took one more smart step to decorate his brilliant career as he captured the Olympic Gold with a brilliant 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Fernando Gonzalez of Chile. In the women’s single final, Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat compatriot Dinara Safina 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 and won the coveted Gold medal.

Weightlifting: Matthias Steiner of Germany became the most powerful man on earth winning Gold in 105 kg men’s category. He lifted 461 kg (203 kg in snatched and 258 kg in clean and Jerk).

Wrestling: Sahin Ramazan (Turkey) won the Gold defeating Andriy Stadnik (Ukraine) in the final of the 66 kg men’s freestyle wrestling. Sushil Kumar pulled a Bronze out of nowhere. In the recharge that allows early losers a chance to go for a medal, Sushil first beat Albert Batyrov of Belarus 8-4 on technical points and 3-1 on points he then defeated Doug Schwab of the US 7-4 on technical points and 3-1 on points; before downing Leonid Spiridonov (Kazakhstan) 3-1 on points. It was the second ever medal in wrestling for the country, behind K.D. Jadhav’s Bronze in the Helsinki Olympic Games, 1952.

India’s Best At Beijing:
Abhinav Bindra: Gold (10m air rifle, shooting)
Sushil Kumar: Bronze (66 kg men’s freestyle wrestling)
Vijender Kumar: Bronze (middleweight, boxing)
Akhil Kumar: Quarterfinal (bantamweight, boxing)
Jitender Kumar: Quarterfinal (flyweight, boxing)
Saina Nehwal: Quarterfinal (badminton)