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Abhinav Bindra seals fifth consecutive berth for Olympics

May 29, 2015

New Delhi, May 29: Abhinav Bindra walked away with India’s fourth Olympic quota place in his first final of the year. After failing to make the cut in the previous two World Cups at Fort Benning and Changwon, luck smiled on the country’s only Olympic gold medallist.

BindraBindra totalled 627.5 points to qualify sixth for the final on Thursday, and once he shot 122.4 in the final to finish sixth at the ISSF World Cup in Munich, a quota place for the Rio Olympics was India’s.

There were three spots up for grabs in the 10m air rifle event and of the eight finalists, Zhu Qinan and Yang Haoran of China, having already won quota places were ruled out.

Belarusian Vitali Bubnovich too had already won a quota place and Russia’s Vladimir Maslennikov was not in contention as two of his countrymen had already bagged spots in the event.

So the moment reigning Olympic champion Alin George Moldoveanu of Romania was eliminated in the final, the quota places were decided. Ukraine’s Oleh Tsarko was awarded the first quota of the day while Serbia’s Stephen Pletikosic was the third after Bindra.

Gagan Narang (50m prone), Jitu Rai (10m air pistol) and Apurvi Chandela (10m air rifle) are the other shooters to bag quotas before Bindra.

Bindra had faced fitness issues before flying to Munich. He had complained of shoulder impingement, but the injury wasn’t serious.

National Rifle Association of India chief Raninder Singh lauded Bindra for the result.

“He is not an Olympic champion for nothing. He is very clear about his goals and preparations leading up to big events. It is something every professional sportsman in this country should emulate. We have our fingers crossed for him for the Olympics,” he said.

The gold was won by Qinan with a total of 206.0 points while Maslennikov finished second with 205.7. Tsarkov finished third with 184.2 points. This was Qinan’s 21st medal in World Cups.

Rio would be Bindra’s fifth successive Olympic Games and maybe the last time he will compete in India colours. He had announced his retirement from active sports during last year’s Asian Games in Incheon.

“Tomorrow will mark the end of my professional shooting life! I will, however, still shoot, compete as a hobby shooter, training twice a week. Yes, I will still try to be at Rio and my bio is now most appropriate! Great times and am sure there will be a few more!” Bindra had tweeted then.

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News Network
June 3,2020

New Delhi, Jun 3: Shuttler HS Prannoy has hit out at the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and has questioned the selection criteria for the Arjuna Award.

The shuttler has said that the players who have won nothing have been recommended, while the players who have medals to their credit have been snubbed.

His remarks come as BAI recommended doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and men's singles player Sameer Verma for the Arjuna Award on Tuesday.

"Same old story. Guy who has Medals in CWG and Asian Championships not even recommended by Association. And guy who was not there on any of these major events recommended #waah #thiscountryisajoke," Prannoy tweeted.

Prannoy had been left out from the list last year as well and the shuttler had slammed the criteria then as well.

"If you ever want your name in the awards list, make sure you have people who will get your name to the list. Performance is least considered in our country. Sad state of our county but can't help it. Let go and just play until you can," Prannoy had tweeted last year.

Prannoy had won the mixed team gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and he also has a men's singles bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Championships.

On Tuesday, the BAI has also recommended the renowned National Institute of Sports (NIS)-certified coaches, S. Murlidharan and Bhaskar Babu for the Dronacharya Award.

Murlidharan has been working relentlessly for the growth and development of the sport in Kerala, besides being an able administrator.

He has coached the likes of Vimal Kumar, Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas amongst many other renowned former players.

He has also been a recipient of the Meritorious Service Award given by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in 1996.

For the Dhyanchand Award, BAI has recommended the names of Pradeep Gandhe and Manjusha Kanwar.

Gandhe is a two-time Asian Games bronze medallist while Manjusha is a South Asian Games silver medallist.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Hampshire, Jul 31: David Willey's maiden five-wicket haul guided England to a six-wicket victory over Ireland in the first ODI here on Friday.

With this win, the hosts have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.

Chasing a small target of 173 runs, England got off to a bad start as opener Jonny Bairstow was given LBW in the third over, bowled by Andy McBrine. Jason Roy was then joined by James Vince and the duo added 22 runs on the board before the former was dismissed.

Craig Young then got hold of Vince, who was caught behind after scoring 25 runs. Sam Billings and Tom Banton then took the charge of the chase but the latter too was caught behind which ended his 11-run innings.

Banton's dismissal brought skipper Eoin Morgan on the field. Billings and Morgan played stunning innings and kept scoring boundaries. Morgan struck a scintillating six on the last bowl of the 28th over to take England over the line. Morgan scored 36 runs while Billings played a knock of 67 runs.

Earlier, after being asked to bat first, Ireland witnessed a poor start as Paul Stirling was dismissed in the very first over of the innings, bowled by Willey. Andy Balbirnie then joined Gareth Delany but Willey struck again in his next over, removing Balbirnie.

Delany then played furiously and smashed three consecutive boundaries to Saqib Mahmood in the fourth over. However, the fall of wickets did not stop as England took three wickets in quick succession. Mahmood bowled Harry Tector while Delany and Lorcan Tucker were sent back to the pavilion by Willey.

Kevin O'Brien and Curtis Campher then took the charge and played cautiously, taking their struggling side over the 50-run mark. Adil Rashid got hold of O'Brien (22) in the 22nd over before Simranjit Singh was run out in the same over.

Andy McBrine was the next batsman and he played brilliantly along with Campher, who went on to complete his half-century. Both formed a 66-run partnership before McBrine (40) was dismissed by Tom Curran.

Campher remained unbeaten on 59 but failed to find a partner as England bundled out Ireland on 172 runs.

The second ODI between both teams will be played on Saturday.

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