Dutee Chand is back with gold, Railways lead tally

September 18, 2015

Kolkata, Sep 18: The broad grin was back on Dutee Chand's face as the Railways sprinter, making a comeback after winning a landmark gender case, reigned supreme on a day when three meet records were set in the 55th National Open Athletic Championship at SAI Complex here on Thursday.

DuteeSlow off the blocks, the sprinter from Odisha came into her elements midway into the 100m lane, edging past her state and teammate Srabani Nanda just before the finish line with a time of 11.68 seconds, not very far from her personal best of 11.62.

"I feel really relieved. I have been training really hard, three times a day," Dutee said dedicating the win to sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

"He has done a lot for me when I was in a crisis situation. I also thank KIIT University and Odisha Olympic Association who have stood beside me in this ordeal," the 19-year-old added.

The Railways sprinter, who had won 100m and 200m double in National Open Athletics Ranchi 2013, was banned since last summer after failing a hormone test.

But the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in its July verdict, suspended the "hyperandrogenism" rules, which will be scrapped if IAAF cannot provide new evidence.

Top Indian athletes Lalita Babar (3000m steeplechase), Inderjeet Singh (shot put) justified their reputation to shatter two meet records, while a third was set by promising Haryana javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra.

Having made history in last month's World Championship where she qualified for the Olympics and became the fourth athlete to make final in a World meet, Lalita was the first to set the record in the morning when she clocked 9:39.83 en route to gold.

The timing was enough to better last year's record of 10:08.50 by teammate Sudha Singh who stood second.

"I was extremely cautious as I did not want to injure myself but at the same time I was confident of a record and make my department proud," the Railways athlete told PTI after her win.

Inderjeet Singh, who has also qualified for Olympics, threw 19.82 metres to erase Bahadur Singh's 12 year old feat of 19.59.

Towards the fag end of the day, Neeraj Chopra set the third national meet record when he threw the javelin at a distance of 77.67, bettering the previous best of 77.39 by Harminder Singh of Police.

The second day's proceedings however belonged to ONGC athletes who bagged five gold, two silver and two bronze to climb to second place behind Railways who continued their march to consolidate the top spot on the medals tally with the day's quota of four gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

Overall, the Railways athletes lead the tally with seven gold, five silver and eight bronze medals, while ONGC have their share of six gold, six silver and two bronze medals.

Results (Day Two) Men's: 100m: 1 Manikandan Raj (Railways; 10.70), 2 Jyothi Shankar (Services; 10.73), Mohit (ONGC; 10.74).

110m Hurdles: 1 Siddhanth Thingalaya (ONGC; 13.96), 2 Surendhar (Tamil Nadu; 13.99), 3 Akhil Johnson (Services; 14.35).

Long jump: 1 K Prem Kumar (Railways; 7.74m), 2 Mehakpreet Singh (Punjab; 7.60m); 3 Yugant Shekhar Singh (Uttar Pradesh; 7.58m).

Javelin throw: 1 Neeraj Chopra (Haryana; 77.67 NMR), 2 Rohit Kumar (ONGC; 76.47), 3 Samarjeet Singh (ONGC; 75.14).

3000m staplechase: 1 Naveen (Services; 8:42.79), 2 Jaiveer Singh (Services; 8:49.53), 3 Sachin Patil (Railways; 8: 51.03).

Shot put: 1 Indrajeet Singh (Haryana; 19.82 NMR), Om Prakash Singh (ONGC; 17.96), 3 Tajinder Singh (Punjab; 17.87).

400m: 1 Arokya Rajeev (Services; 45.70), 2 Manas Y (Services; 46.71), 3 Dhartun (Tamil Nadu; 46.88).

1500m: 1 Ajay Kumar Saroj (ONGC; 3:47.33), 2 Sandeep Kumar (Services; 3:47.83), 3 Jinson Johnson (Services; 3:49.13).

Decathlon: 1 Daya Ram (Services; 6366 points) 2 Narender (Services; 6331), 3 Abhishek Shetty (Railways; 6089).

Women's: 100m: 1 Dutee Chand (Railways; 11.68), 2 Srabani Nanda (Railways; 11.70), 3 Jyoti H M (Karnatka; 11.96).

100m Hurdles: 1 Gayathry (Tamil Nadu; 14.16), 2 Sajitha K V (Kerala; 14.27), 3 Shivangi Rawat (ONGC; 14.82).

400m: 1 M R Poovamma (ONGC; 53.55), 2 Debashree Maju (West Bengal; 54.54), 3 Sini Jose (Railways; 55.57).

20km walk: 1 Khushbir Kaur (ONGC; 1::49:09.00), 2 Karamjit Kaur (Railways; 1::49:36.00), 3 Shanti Kumari (Railways; 1::50:44.00).

3000m steeplechase: 1 Lalita Babar (Railways; 9:39.83 NMR), 2 Sudha Singh (Railways; 9:47.31), 3 Preeti Lamba (ONGC; 10:43.03).

1500m: 1 Sugandha Kumari (West Bengal; 4:24.45), 2 Chitra P U (Kerala; 4:25.61), 3 Lily Das (West Bengal; 4:26.90).

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News Network
January 6,2020

Jan 6: Former India opener Kris Srikkanth on Sunday said he would prefer K L Rahul over Shikhar Dhawan in the T20 World Cup later this year.

Former India opener Kris Srikkanth on Sunday said he would prefer K L Rahul over Shikhar Dhawan in the T20 World Cup later this year.

Dhawan is returning to international cricket after a long gap. During the senior left-handed batsman's absence, Rahul has emerged as one of the top contenders for the opener's slot in limited-overs cricket.

"Runs against SL (Sri Lanka) don't count. If I was chairman of selectors, I won't pick Dhawan in the T20 WC squad. There is no competition between him and Rahul. Only one winner," Srikkanth said on Star Sports.

Before the series, the 34-year-old Dhawan said that he is looking forward to a "new start" in a new year and wants to win the World Cup for India.

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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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February 4,2020

Feb 4: India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday said the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash has impacted his outlook towards life, which he feels, is sometimes taken for granted in pursuit of control over the future.

Bryant, a two-time Olympic gold-medallist and one of the most decorated basketball players of all time, died in a helicopter crash last month along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, who was also a budding hoopster.

"Firstly, it was a shock to everyone. I grew up watching those NBA games in the morning and watching what he did on court. But when someone that you have looked up to in some ways, passes away like that, it does put things in perspective," Kohli said on the eve of the first ODI against New Zealand here.

"...at the end of the day, life can be so fickle. It's so unpredictable. I think a lot of the times we get too caught up in the pressures of what we have to do tomorrow...we really forget living life and enjoying life and just appreciating and being grateful for the life we have," he added.

Kohli said a tragedy like this makes one realise that nothing can be more important than enjoying every moment of existence.

"...it did put things in perspective for me massively. It just makes you feel like not wanting to have control of things in front of you all the time, and just embracing life and appreciating it.

"You start looking at things from a different point of view suddenly and you want to enjoy every moment you're going through. You realise that what you're doing at the end of the day is not the most important thing. The most important thing is life itself," Kohli signed off.

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