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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Agencies
January 23,2020

Aurangabad, Jan 23: An FIR has been registered against three people including former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin for allegedly duping a travel agent, Mohammad Shadab, of more than Rs 20 lakh.

However, Mohammad Azharuddin has refuted allegations and said: "I strongly rubbish the false FIR filed against me in Aurangabad. I am consulting my legal team and would be taking action as necessary."

Azharuddin's personal assistant Mujeeb lives in Augurangabad and has good relations with the travel agency of Shadab.

The travel agent alleged that Mujeeb asked him to book some flight tickets but did not pay the amount.

The police have booked the three under Section 406, 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

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News Network
May 4,2020

May 4: Yuzvendra Chahal is among the best leg-spinners in international cricket right now but he can be more effective with better use of the crease, says former Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed.

Ahmed picked Chahal, Australia's Adam Zampa and Pakistan's Shadab Khan among the top leg-spinners in white-ball cricket.

"Chahal as been impressive. He is definitely among the top leg-spinners of the world. And I feel he would be more effective if he uses the crease a lot more," Ahmed said.

Ahmed, who has coached all around the world and is currently a consultant for his native team, said India's ability to take wickets in the middle-overs in the limited overs format through Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav has been a game-changer for them.

Both the wrist-spinners were brought into India's limited overs set-up following the 2017 Champions Trophy. Though, of late, both Chahal and Kuldeep havn't been playing together.

"He (Chahal) can go wide of the crease at times. You got to be smart enough to understand pitches. If it is a flat pitch, you can bowl stump to stump," said Ahmed, one of the best leg-spinners Pakistan has produced.

"If the ball is gripping, you can go wide of the crease because you can trouble even the best of batsmen with that angle. That way your googly also doesn't turn as much as the batsman expects and you end up taking a wicket."

Chahal has taken 91 wickets in 52 ODIs at 25.83 and 55 wickets in 42 T20s at 24.34. He is not a huge turner of the ball but uses his variations very effectively.

Ahmed also feels the likes of Chahal and Kuldeep have benefitted immensely from former captain M S Dhoni's advice from behind the stumps.

"You have got to be one step ahead of the batsman. You should know your field position as per the batsman's strength. I always say attack with fielders not with the ball. If you understand that theory, you will always be successful," the 49-year-old, who played 52 Tests and 144 ODIs, said.

"India has become a force to reckon with in all three formats as it uses its bowlers really well. Dhoni was a master at getting the best out of his bowlers in limited overs cricket and now you have Virat Kohli."

He also said the art of leg-spin remains relevant more than ever.

"You need leg-spinners and mystery spinners in your team as they have the ability to take wickets at any stage of the game. I see a lot of them coming through in the next 10-15 years.

"Most batsmen now like playing express pace but with a good leg-spinner in the team, you are always in the game," added member of the 1992 World Cup-winning squad.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: "Want to know what makes him tick," said Australian pacer Kane Richardson will talking about playing alongside Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 and the tournament will run for 53 days.

In the players' auction which was conducted in December 2019, RCB managed to bag key players like Richardson, Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Joshua Philippe, and Isuru Udana.

In an interaction with news agency, Richardson talked about playing alongside Kohli and the learning curve which is in store for him by being in the same squad as Proteas great Dale Steyn.
"Huge. These guys (Virat, AB de Villiers) are the absolute legends of the game. Anything I can learn from them will be a bonus, that's for sure.

I am really looking forward to playing with Virat, there are few more competitive players in the world. I am really looking forward to seeing what makes him tick," Richardson said.

The 29-year-old pacer also said that he would want to learn from Steyn as to how to be consistent in all formats of the game over a long period of time.

"There are loads I can learn from Dale. He has been amongst the best at the highest level for so long. His control and ability to swing the ball without losing his pace is really impressive. 

I look forward to getting in his ear about how he performs so consistently over a long period, in all forms," said Richardson who has 39 ODI wickets to his credit.

Richardson has so far played 14 games in his IPL career so far and has picked up 18 wickets. The bowler played for Pune Warriors India in 2013, Rajasthan Royals in 2014, and RCB in 2016.

For this year's IPL, RCB has also bagged Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch, and Richardson thinks having a familiar face in the camp would help him to settle better in the franchise.

"Finchey is an awesome player and a fantastic leader. I am sure it will help to have two Aussies in the side along with Josh who is playing his first tournament after a massive summer in the BBL. We are all professionals, I'm sure it won't take long for us to gel as a side," Richardson said.

However, before the IPL starts, Australia is expected to tour England for a limited-overs series, comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The side was last seen in action in March this year as they played one ODI against New Zealand in Sydney. After the first match, the remaining two ODIs were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Talking about the series against England, Kane replied: "We will be fresh, that's one thing, while the England players have been in a bubble for some time now. As long as we get enough practice in before and possibly some centre wicket it should not be an issue."

"They are World Cup holders and the number one ranked side for a very good reason. It will be a tough series also given they will have played a fair bit of cricket together by then. We know we need to work hard on our one-day game which will be a priority over the next period," he added.

The pacer also talked about how the lockdown was like for him, and Richardson feels that everyone would come back strong as a result of this break.

"The break from playing has been refreshing, to be honest. We have come back strong and are well into pre-season training with our states. As a bowler, our loads are not at their peak but we are working towards getting ready for a tour of the UK in a few weeks," Richardson said.

The Australian quick has so far played 25 ODIs and 18 T20Is, managing to take 39 and 19 wickets respectively.

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