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 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 9: Bangladesh clinched their maiden ICC U-19 World Cup title after beating favourites India by three wickets in the summit clash here on Sunday.

Set a revised target of 170 after a brief rain interruption, Bangladesh won the match with 23 balls to spare.

Sent in to bat, India's batting wilted under pressure as a superb Bangladesh bowling attack shot the defending champions out for a paltry 177 in 47.2 overs.

Yasashvi Jaiswal (88 off 121 balls) was once again a standout performer but not for once did he look like dominating the Bangladesh bowling unit whose new ball bowlers Shoriful Islam (2/31 in 10 overs) and Tanzim Hasan Shakib (2/28 in 8.2 overs) literally stifled the Indians for runs.

The third seamer Avishek Das (3/40 in 9 overs) was the most successful bowler in terms of figures but it was Shoriful's first spell with channelised aggression that put the Indians on the back-foot from the onset.

After a short rain break towards the end, the target was revised to 170 from 46 runs but Bangladesh reached 170 for 7 in 42.1 overs to win the match.

Opener Parvez Hossain Emon top-scored for Bangladesh with a 79-ball 47 while captain and wicketkeeper Akbar Ali was not out on 43 from 77 deliveries.

For the India U-19 side, Ravi Bishnoi was the most successful bowler with figures of 4/30 while Sushant Mishra had 2/25.

India thus missed out on a record fifth title in their seventh final appearance.

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News Network
March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: Australia batsman David Warner on Tuesday decided to shave off his head to show support towards all those people who are working relentlessly on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus.

After shaving off his head, Warner also challenged his Australian team-mate Steve Smith and India skipper Virat Kohli to do the same.

Warner, shared a time-lapse video on Instagram, of him shaving his head, and captioned the post as: "Been nominated to shave my head in support of those working on the frontline #Covid-19 here is a time-lapse. I think my debut was the last time I recall I've done this. Like it or not".

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia's death toll stands at 19, as per the Sydney Morning Herald.

As of 8 am today, 4460 people across Australia have tested positive for COVID-19.

The World Health Organisation had termed coronavirus as a 'pandemic' on March 11.

Earlier in the day, Australia Test skipper Tim Paine also confirmed that the side's tour of Bangladesh is unlikely due to the virus spread.
"You don't have to be Einstein to realise (the Bangladesh tour) is probably unlikely to go ahead, particularly in June. Whether it's cancelled or pushed back, we're not quite sure at the moment," cricket.com.au quoted Paine as saying.

Currently, Australia has 296 points in the WTC from 10 matches, while India has 360 points from nine matches.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Melbourne, Jan 23: Sania Mirza's return to her first Grand Slam after a two-year break was cut short on Thursday when the former world number one was forced to retire midway through her first round match in women's doubles at the Australian Open due to a calf injury.

India's Mirza, who won six Grand Slam doubles titles, took a break from the game after the China Open in October 2017 and gave birth to her son a year later.

The 33-year-old made a winning return to the WTA Tour at this month's Hobart International with Ukrainian Nadiia Kichenok, picking up her 42nd WTA doubles title and the first since winning the women's doubles in Brisbane in 2017.

Mirza said she strained her calf muscle in her right leg during the Hobart final.

"It just got worse in the match. It was bit of a bad strain, but I had a few days off," she told reporters. "So I obviously had to try to do whatever I could to try to get on the court.

"It felt okay when I went on the court, but it was tough to move right. I just felt like I'm gonna tear it or something pretty bad."

Mirza won her first Grand Slam in mixed doubles at the Australian Open in 2009 and also bagged the women's doubles in 2016.

Mirza always believed there was tennis left in her which inspired her comeback, she told Reuters on Sunday.

She had already pulled out of the Australian Open mixed doubles, where she was to partner compatriot Rohan Bopanna.

Mirza and Kichenok were trailing the Chinese pair of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu 6-2 1-0 on Thursday when the Indian had to call it quits due to the injury.

"As a tennis player you want to compete, it is the Grand Slam. If it's any other tournament, you would probably take a call and be like 'I don't want to risk it'," she said.

Mirza, who is married to former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik, said she would take two weeks to recover and was hoping to play at next month's Dubai championships.

"When you play a professional sport, injuries are really part of it. And it's something that you have to accept," she said. "Sometimes the timing is really not ideal, it's tough that it happened in a Grand Slam, or just before a Grand Slam."

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