CWG 2014: India placed at 5th position after winning silver in Discus, Table Tennis

August 2, 2014

CWG 2014Glasgow, Aug 2: The table tennis players Achanta Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj made the nation proud by winning a silver medal in the men's doubles event on the ninth day of the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, while boxers stole the limelight.

Indian boxers led by Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh became the centre of attraction for the contingent with four of them assuring silver medals for India.

India is currently placed fifth in the standings with 51 medals consisting of 13 gold, 20 silver and 15 bronze. England lead the list with 140 medals, followed by Australia (124), Canada (75) and hosts Scotland (49).

Star boxer Vijender produced yet another dominating performance against Connor Coyle of Northern Ireland in the men's middleweight (75kg) in an unanimous 3-0 verdict by the judges to book a place in the final and lead an Indian charge on the penultimate day of boxing competitions on Friday.

Mandeep Jangra (men's 69kg), Laishram Devendro Singh (men's 46-49kg) and L Sarita Devi (women's 57- 60kg) also boxed their way to the finals while Pinki Rani (women's 51kg) lost her semifinal bout to settle for a bronze.

Female discuss thrower Seema Punia also bagged a silver for India while defending champion Krishna Poonia finished a disappointing fifth. Seema, who had won a bronze in 2010 Delhi Games and a silver in 2006 Melbourne, threw the discus to 61.61m, her season's best, to grab the silver late last night while a struggling Krishna could just come up with a below-par effort of 57.84m.

Later in the day, Sharath and Amalraj lost to Singapore's Ning Gao and Hu Li in the final of the men's doubles table tennis event to settle for a silver. By virtue of these medals, India have consolidated its fifth spot in the standings with 51 medals (13 gold, 23 silver, 15 bronze). England lead the chart (140 medals), followed by Australia (124), Canada (75) and hosts Scotland (49).

It all started with women's boxing competition where experienced Sarita Devi outpunched her Mozambique opponent Maria Machongua to storm into the final of the 60kg category. Earlier in the day, another Indian pugilist Pinki lost a close semifinal bout against Michaela Walsh of Northern Ireland to settle for a bronze medal in women's 51kg category.

Pinki, who had beaten Olympic bronze medallist Mary Kom in the national trials to make it to the Indian boxing squad, gave a valiant fight but could not pack enough punch against a taller opponent.

Mandeep, on the other hand, fought his way back in a remarkable fashion after trailing in the first two rounds of his semifinal bout against Steven Donnelley of Northern Ireland.

Mandeep was trailing at the end of the first round with the three judges giving identical 10-9 scores in favour of the Irishman. The Indian recovered a bit in the second round with two judges giving 10-9 scores in his favour.

Mandeep, however, stormed back in a fine fashion in the final round with the three judges giving identical 10-9 scores in his favour to win the semifinal bout in a split 2-1 verdict. In the men's lightfly weight (46-49kg) category, Devendro played true to his aggressive self as he outclassed Ashley Williams of Wales in a thrilling contest to book a place in the final.

The 22-year-old Devendro won a 3-0 unanimous verdict against his opponent in a bout which kept the packed crowd on the edge of their seats.

Meanwhile, India witnessed success on the table tennis board as well with Sharath and Amalraj securing the first medal for the table tennis in the ongoing Glasgow Games. Sharath and Amalraj squandered a game lead to lose 1-3 (11-8 7-11 9-11 5-11) against the Singaporean duo in the final.

Sharath continued his fine showing and also made it to the semifinals of the men's singles event. Sharath humbled England's Paul Drinkhall 4-1 to enter the last four round. Sharath comfortably beat Drinkhall 11-7 11-6 12-10 9-11 11-6 in the best-of-s even quarterfinal encounter that lasted just 43 minutes.

However, it was curtains for another Indian Soumyajit Ghosh in the men's singles quarterfinals as he lost to England's Liam Pitchford 4-2.

In badminton, India's medal aspirants P V Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap notched up straight-game wins in the women's and men's singles event to storm into the semifinals.

World No. 11 Sindhu didn't break any sweat as she brushed aside New Zealand's Anna Rankin 21-10 21-9 in a 24-minute match while Kashyap, ranked 22, thrashed Daren Liew 21-13 21-14 in a match that lasted 38 minutes.

Sindhu, the world championship bronze medallist, will next take on Canada's Michelle Li, while Delhi Games bronze winner Kashyap will meet Rajiv Ouseph of England at the Emirates Arena.

R M V Gurusaidutt followed on compatriot Kashyap's footsteps and also qualified for the semifinals of the men's singles event with a hard-fought 21-15 8-21 21-17 win over Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia. Gurusaidutt will next face Derek Wong of Singapore in the last four round.

Wong beat another Indian Kidambi Srikanth 21-10 12-21 21-12 in another quarterfinal that lasted exactly 50 minutes. However, promising shuttler P C Thulasi crashed out in the quarterfinals of the women's singles event after losing 21-18 19-21 19-21 against Malaysia's Jing Yi Tee.

It was good news for India in the women's doubles event as well as defending champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa stormed into the semifinals with a comfortable 21-10 21-9 win over Sri Lankan pair of Achini Rathnasiri and Upuli Weerasinghe. On the hockey turf, Indian women's team secured a hard-fought 2-1 win over hosts Scotland to finish a disappointing fifth.

However, it w as disappointment for Indian gymnast Ashish Kumar as he finished last in the men's vault final due to a fall on the mat.

Ashish had won silver in vault and bronze in floor event in 2010 Delhi CWG to become the first Indian gymnast to win a medal in the Commonwealth Games but failed to repeat his feat. Ashish, who had finished sixth in the floor event final yesterday, ended his campaign on a faulty note after he failed to land on his feet in his second vault.

India also missed out on a historic bronze medal in the lawn bowl men's fours team event after the quartet of Kamal Kumar Sharma, Chandan Kumar Singh, Samit Malhotra and Dinesh Kumar squandered a huge lead midway to lose to Australia in the third-place encounter.

Meanwhile, apart from the women's doubles pair of Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa, it turned out to be a rather disappointing in office for Indian squash players. Pallikal and Chinappa assured at least a silver medal by entering the final of the women's doubles event.

Pallikal and Chinappa beat Australian combination of Kasey Brown and Rachael Grinham 2-1 (11-9 7-11 11-4) to seal their place in the gold medal match, where they will face English pair of Jenny Duncalf and Laura Massaro.

But Saurav Ghosal and Pallikal crashed out of the mixed double event after being easily beaten 2-0 (11-6 11-9) in the quarterfinals by Australia's David Palmer and Rachael Grinham Another Indian mixed doubles pair of Harinder Pal Sandhu and Chinappa also bowed out in the quarterfinals after losing a hard-fought 11-7 8-11 6-11 battle against second-seeded New Zealand pair of Martin Knight and Joelle King.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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News Network
May 10,2020

New Delhi, May 10: Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has proposed radical changes in the LBW laws, stating that a batsman should be given out leg before as long as the ball is hitting the stumps irrespective of the spot of its landing and impact.

Chappell also said captains should agree on one way of working up the ball which will encourage swing bowling, even as the ICC is considering the use of artificial substances to shine the ball instead of sweat and saliva in post-COVID-19 scenario.

"The new lbw law should simply say: 'Any delivery that strikes the pad without first hitting the bat and, in the umpire's opinion, would go on to hit the stumps is out regardless of whether or not a shot is attempted'," he wrote in a column for ESPNcricinfo.

"Forget where the ball pitches and whether it strikes the pad outside the line or not; if it's going to hit the stumps, it's out."

The 76-year-old said the change in lbw law would attract expected criticism from the batsmen but it would make the game more fair.

"There will be screams of horror - particularly from pampered batsmen - but there are numerous positives this change would bring to the game. Most important is fairness.

"If a bowler is prepared to attack the stumps regularly, the batsman should only be able to protect his wicket with the bat. The pads are there to save the batsman from injury not dismissal.

"It would also force batsmen to seek an attacking method to combat a wristspinner pitching in the rough outside the right-hander's leg stump," said Chappell.

He cited Sachin Tendulkar's example on how he negotiated Shane Warne's round the wicket tactic during the 1997-98 Test series in India.

"Contrast Sachin Tendulkar's aggressive and successful approach to Shane Warne coming round the wicket in Chennai in 1997-98 with a batsman who kicks away deliveries pitching in the rough and turning in toward the stumps. Which would you rather watch?

"The current law encourages "pad play" to balls pitching outside leg while this change would force them to use their bat. The change would reward bowlers who attack the stumps and decrease the need for negative wide deliveries to a packed off-side field," he said.

Chappell said his proposed change to the lbw law would also cut down "frivolous" DRS challenges.

"This change to the lbw law would also simplify umpiring and result in fewer frivolous DRS challenges. Consequently, it would speed up a game that has slowed drastically in recent times.

"It would also make four-day Tests an even more viable proposition as mind-numbing huge first-innings totals would be virtually non-existent."

On the substitute of shining the ball without sweat and saliva, Chappell said international captains should find out a way of working up the ball.

"With ball-tampering always a hot topic, in the past I've suggested that administrators ask international captains to construct a list (i.e. the use of natural substances) detailing the things bowlers feel will help them to swing the ball.

"From this list, the administrators should deem one method to be legal with all others being punishable as illegal," the cricketer-turned-commentator added.

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News Network
July 20,2020

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today confirmed the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia 2020 has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

At today’s meeting of the IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC), windows for the next three ICC men’s events were also agreed to bring clarity to the calendar and give the sport the best possible opportunity over the next three years to recover from the disruption caused by COVID-19.

The windows for the Men’s events are:

1. ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held October – November 2021 with the final on 14 November 2021

2. ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will be held October – November 2022 with the final on 13 November 2022

3. ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be held in India October – November 2023 with the final on 26 November 2023

The IBC Board agreed to continue to monitor the rapidly changing situation and assess all the information available in order to make a considered decision on future hosts to ensure the sport is able to stage safe and successful global events in 2021 and 2022.

The IBC Board will also continue to evaluate the situation in relation to being able to stage the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand in February next year. In the meantime, planning for this event continues as scheduled.

The Board will also continue to evaluate the situation in relation to being able to stage the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021.

ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said: “We have undertaken a comprehensive and complex contingency planning exercise and through this process, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport.

“The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world.

“Our Members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket. Moving the Men’s Cricket World Cup to a later window is a critical element of this and gives us a better chance of maintaining the integrity of the qualification process. This additional time will be used to reschedule games that might be lost because of the pandemic ensuring qualification can be decided on the field of play.

“Throughout this process we have worked closely with our key stakeholders including governments, Members, broadcasters, partners and medical experts to enable us to reach a collective decision for the good of the game and our fans. I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment to a safe return to cricket.”

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