The 29-year-old Manipuri boxer luckily made the cut after her quarterfinal nemesis Nicola Adams of England defeated Russia's Elena Savelyeva in the semifinals. But she returned without a medal from the Women's World Boxing Championships for the first time since its inception in 2001. The mother-of-two boxer usually fights at light flyweight (48kg) level but changed to flyweight (51kg), so that she can participate in the Olympics and was therefore punching above her weight. She has qualified for the Olympics by finishing as one of the top two Asian boxers at the world championships.

Mary Kom ensured India's best medal haul at the Olympics by reaching the women's boxing semifinal at the London Games. Today, the girl from Manipur will face the toughest bout of her life when she takes on British pugilist Nicola Adams in the 51 kg semi-final at the Excel Arena. Kom has already created history by becoming the first Indian woman to guarantee an Olympic boxing medal. A victory here would engrave her place among sporting legends in a country where heroes are hard to come by. But to achieve the target, Kom will have to overcome a series of obstacles on and off the ring. A five-time world champion in the 48 kg category, today's bout would perhaps be Mary Kom's biggest test in life. Things would not be smooth against Nicola. One of the biggest British hopes for a gold medal, the local supporters went wild over the 29-year-old Leeds girl's easy victory over her Bulgarian opponent in the quarter final. There is every possibility the number of Nicola fans would outnumber the Mary Kom backers at the Excel.

All said and done, on current form, the British girl holds a slight edge in Wednesday's bout. What could really go against Mary Kom is her body weight. She has moved up from 48 to 51 kg to realise her dream of participating in the Olympics. But she could never gain enough weight to match her rivals. It was evident when she lost in the Asian Games and the World Championships. It's not that Mary Kom is unduly worried. Nicola is a good boxer; she even beat me in the World Championships. But Kom is working hard, and her fans are praying for her and she fight for the nation. She will not leave an inch. "Mary Kom is a five-time world champion and you've got to be special". "It was the tough match but she has the height and reaches advantage and she tried to use all her attributes." The Indian camp is worried that Mary Kom, like her men counterparts, could be a victim of poor supervision.

He lifted the sagging spirit of the Indian camp with a silver medal in 25m rapid fire pistol at the Royal Artillery Barracks here on Friday. In the lottery of a new format in which the qualification scores do not count for the final tabulation, the 26-year-old Vijay was like a rock in the final in which the reigning world champion Alexei Klimov of Russia went without a medal despite shooting a world record 592 in qualification. Competing in his maiden Olympics, the 26-year-old Vijay started brilliantly with a perfect five, as he shot the targets in four seconds with a touch of assurance, and kept up the tempo going till Leuris Pupo of Cuba had confirmed the gold with an unbeatable total of 34. It was an anticlimax that Vijay shot only two when fighting for the gold, but even a five would not have helped his cause at that stage, as Pupo, in his fourth Olympics, had ensured the best medal by shooting four. Vijay had qualified with a score of 585 that had placed him fourth among the six finalists. He had shot 293 on the first day of the competition, and followed that with a 292 in the morning, with scores of 98, 97 and 97 in the 8, 6 and 4-second series respectively.

In the normal course, it might have been difficult to catch up after conceding a 7-point lead, but in the new format it was just important to shoot a good score to make the top-six. In the final, Christian Reitz of Germany and Zhang Jian of China were the first two to go out after 20 and 25 shots respectively. With the medal assured on a good performance, Vijay shot four, and pipped Klimov who had to go out despite shooting a perfect 5, in what proved to be his last series, as he was one point less than the Indian and the Chinese Ding Feng, while the Cuban was two points ahead of the other two. The Russian had shot two in the fourth series and was paying the accumulated penalty.

Vijay shot four to the three by the Chinese to ensure the silver, much to the delight of the huge contingent of Indian supporters. The effort of the army subedar, who hails from Himachal Pradesh, can be better appreciated if we note that three-time gold and two-time silver medallist Ralf Schumann of Germany went without a medal in his seventh Olympics, as he shot 577.Vijay had figured in the 12th spot in the ‘super 25’ compiled for the event by the international federation, based on the performances in the last Olympic cycle. Only 18 shooters made it to the Olympic in rapid fire pistol.

He had won two silver medals in the World Cups in rapid fire pistol and finished fourth in the World Cup finals, but had not won a medal in the event in the last Asian Games. Quite interestingly, Vijay had been awarded the bronze medal in the Doha Asian Games, despite finishing fourth, as the rules did not allow the award of three medals to one country (China) then.Vijay had also asserted his versatility in the last Asian Games when he won the individual bronze medals in air pistol and centre-fire pistol. He had won three gold medals in the Commonwealth Games at New Delhi.Scaling Olympian heights, without making substantial claims in the world championship or the Asian Games, has revealed his strong nerves.

Andy Murray's bid to win Wimbledon was ended by Roger Federer as the Swiss claimed a record-equaling seventh SW19 triumph and 17th Grand Slam title. Murray, 25, was aiming to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to lift a major singles trophy. Federer fully deserved his victory, which not only sees him level Sampras on seven Wimbledon titles, but also secures him a record 286th week as world number one.

He is the second-oldest man to occupy top spot, goes away with a cheque for £1.15m and will head to the Olympics - also being staged at the All England Club - as clear favorite. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and her sister Pippa Middleton watched the Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray from the Royal Box. Like the French Open final, this one also is an epic one as both the players are seeking history. While Britain’s Andy Murray is looking forward to his maiden IPL title, the King of Grass, Roger Federer is looking forwards to his seventh Wimbledon title.

She started and finished strong against Radwanska, winning the first five games and the last five games. In between she was a bit shaky, but she was able to recover before it was too late. Once again, it was Serena's powerful serve that carried her to victory. She smashed 17 aces in the match, including four in the pivotal fourth game of the third set. After blasting aces of 114 MPH, 107 MPH, 115 MPH and 111 MPH, Serena won the game, tying the third set at two. She went on to win the next four, effectively closing out the match. That one game was symbolic of Serena's entire tournament, as her serve was the most dangerous weapon possessed by any player, male or female. Her 102 aces were a Wimbledon record, surpassing the previous record of 89, which she also set. In comparison, Radwanska had just 16 aces in the entire tournament, and as the folks at Sports Illustrated pointed out, Serena's number dwarfs those of the top men's players. But to her credit Radwanska kept fighting and, finally unfurling the subtle shots which have proved so effective over the last fortnight, she converted her first break point to level in the eighth game.

Serena Williams was crowned Wimbledon champion for the fifth time on Saturday (7th July 2012) as the American subdued a brave fight back from Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska to win 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 in a dramatic final. Serena, who pockets a cheque for £1.15 million ($1.78 million), is the first woman over 30 to win Wimbledon since Martina Navratilova in 1990 and she needed all the experience gathered over her illustrious career to survive a remarkable revival from Radwanska. After being completely out-classed for the first set and a half of her maiden Grand Slam final, Radwanska had Serena on the ropes before the sixth seed finally recovered her composure to reclaim the Venus Rosewater Dish in just over two hours on Centre Court. Williams has now equaled her sister Venus's tally of five titles at the All England Club, but more significantly the 30-year-old's 14th Grand Slam crown is her first at the majors since her last Wimbledon triumph in 2010. Inspired by the painful memory of her shock French Open first round exit against Virginie Razzano last month, Serena has spent the last month in a determined bid to reestablish her primacy. Serena's success has its foundations in a serve so powerful and accurate that John McEnroe describes it as the greatest the women's game has ever seen.