For India the party is as good as over

India's campaign in the Olympic Games virtually came to a grinding halt in Sydney on Wednesday with only a bronze medal to show for its 70-strong contingent in the first 12 days of competition.

India's last realistic medal hope after the elimination of the men's hockey team from the medal race on Tuesday, light heavy boxer Gurcharan Singh, also crashed out after losing to Ukraine's Andri Fredtchouk 42-60 on a count back of the judges' individual score of punches delivered.

The count back was resorted to break the deadlock in the 81 kg quarter-final bout which was tied 12-all by the computerised scoring system by which a punch is registered only if at least three out of the five judges press a button at the same time or in close succession.

The exit of the 23-year-old Punjab-born Services boxer also brought to an end India's challenge in the ring.

On Tuesday, the Indian hockey team faltered after being on the threshold of entering the semi-finals, in their match against Poland, who held them to a 1-1 draw by notching up the equaliser with only 90 seconds left.

With only a few athletes, comprising the four relay squads (4 x 100 and 4 x 400 metres men and women) and woman javelin thrower Gurmeet Kaur, whose medal hopes are extremely bleak, India seem destined to return home with a lone bronze medal for the second Games running.

Tennis star Leander Paes had won a bronze in men's singles in the 1996 Atlanta Games to end India's 16-year medal drought at the Olympics.

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