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10th Asian Airgun C'ships: India begin campaign with five medals

Agencies
December 8, 2017

New Delhi, Dec 8: India began their 10th Asian Airgun Championships campaign on a positive note with a total of five medals and seven individual finalists across the three events held on the opening day of competitions at the Asaka Shooting Range in Wako City, Japan.

Ravi Kumar won the individual bronze medal in the men's 10m Air Rifle event while Arjun Babuta won individual silver in the corresponding junior men's event, even as India bagged three Team Silver medals in each of the three Air Rifle events held on the day.

However, it was Deepak Kumar who led the Indian charges into the finals of the men's 10m Air Rifle event, shooting 627.5 after the regulation 60 shots, to qualify fourth out of eight finalists.

Ravi Kumar with 624.6 finished sixth while former Olympic bronze-medalist Gagan Narang, making a return into the event after a break, shot 624.5 to qualify in seventh place.

In the finals, Ravi started strong along with Chinese Song Buhan, both of whom had had a splendid 2017, while Deepak after an initial flurry faded away to finish fifth on a score of 185.

From the 10th shot onwards of the 24-shot final, Song led the field along with countryman Cao Yifei in second and Ravi in third and it stayed that way till the end.

Song ended with 250.2 to win Gold, Cao with 248.6 for silver and Ravi Kumar, after making three international ISSF finals in the year without a medal, finally secured one finishing with 225.7 for bronze.

Gagan Narang was consistent throughout the final and finished fourth with 205.6. The trio also combined for the Team Silver medal with a combined total of 1876.6, ahead of Japan (1866.7) and behind China (1885.9).

Arjun Babuta in the junior men's 10m Air Rifle, an ISSF Junior World Cup bronze medalist last year, also had an excellent day, shooting consistently to win silver behind rising Chinese star Yukun Liu, a reigning junior world champion and winner of two ISSF World Cup stage medals this year in the senior category.

Arjun finished just 0.1 point behind Liu in the final, going neck to neck with him over the last four shots, but eventually getting beaten 249.8-249.7.

The other Indian in the final Tejas Krishna Prasad was eliminated in seventh position, however, the duo combined with Sunmoon Singh Brar to bag the Team Silver medal with a combined score of 1867.5.

In the women's 10m Air Rifle, Anjum Moudgil and Meghana Sajjanar made it to the finals, shooting scores of 417.5 and 415.9 to qualify in second and fourth positions respectively. Pooja Ghatkar, the third Indian in the fray, shot 413.6 to finish 11th.

Anjum thereafter missed a medal by a whisker, getting beaten in a shoot-off to determine third place, to Singapore's Tan Qian Xiu Adele. Anjum shot 207.6 in the final, while Meghana Sajjanar finished sixth shooting 163.4. Both won the Team Silver in the event along with Pooja, logging a combined total of 1247 to finish behind China.

Another rising Chinese star Shi Mengyao, who has two ISSF World Cup stage Golds this year and a Silver, won the individual event with a score of 251 from teammate Ruozhu Zao who shot 250.2. Singapore's Tan won Bronze with a score of 228.2.

The second day of the tournament has the junior women's 10m Air Rifle event lined up along with two Air Rifle Youth finals for men and women. The youth events will give out the first Asia quotas for the Youth Olympic Games, Buenos Aires 2018.

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News Network
February 26,2020

Melbourne, Feb 26: On a high after two easy victories on the trot, including one against defending champion Australia, the Indian women's cricket team will aim to inch closer to a semifinal berth when it takes on New Zealand in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup here on Thursday.

The Indians have hardly broke a sweat in their 17-run and 18-run wins over hosts Australia and Bangladesh in their previous two matches, and they are perched at the top of five-team Group A standings with four points from two matches.

A win against New Zealand on Thursday will take the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side on the threshold of a knock-out stage spot, to be competed among top two teams from Group A and B.

In the two matches so far, the Indian team has been impressive both in batting and bowling.

The 16-year-old sensation Shafali Verma has been the standout batter with a whirlwind 17-ball 39 against Bangladesh, following her 29 against Australia.

One-down Jemimah Rodrigues has also been among the runs with 26 and 34 in the two matches so far.

Only captain Harmanpreet, among the top order batters, has not scored big and she is due big innings.

India is also likely to be bolstered by the return of star opener Smriti Mandhana who missed the match against Bangladesh due to fever.

The middle-order has also done its bit with Deepti Sharma playing a major role against Australia with an unbeaten 49 while Veda Krishnamurthy hit a match-defining 11-ball 20 not out for a late flourish against Bangladesh.

The bowling department has been led admirably by seasoned leg-spinner Poonam Yadav -- seven wickets in the first two matches -- with pacer Shikha Pandey ably supporting her with five scalps so far.

New Zealand, though, have a better head-to-head record against India in recent years, having won the last three matches between the two sides.

Exactly a year back, they had beaten the Indian team 3-0 in a three-match T20 International home series.

India will, however, remember their massive 34-run win against New Zealand in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup in 2018 in the West Indies. Harmanpreet had struck a memorable 103 to lead her side to victory.

New Zealand have some top-class players in their ranks in the form of captain and all-rounder Sophie Devine and top-order batswoman Suzie Bates while pacer Lea Tahuhu and leg-spinner Amelia Kerr will lead the bowling department.

They will go into this match on a high after an easy seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Saturday.

Devine had led her side from the front with an unbeaten 75 off 55 balls at the top of the order in that win.

The Teams:

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Richa Ghosh, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar.

New Zealand: Sophie Devine (capt), Rosemary Mair, Amelia Kerr, Suzie Bates, Lauren Down, Maddy Green, Holly Huddleston, Hayley Jensen, Leigh Kasperek, Jess Kerr, Katey Martin (wk), Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Lea Tahuhu.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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News Network
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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