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
February 13,2020

Feb 13: Veteran India batsman Suresh Raina feels Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the best captain India ever had.

Raina and Dhoni play for the same IPL franchise -- the Chennai Super Kings --, which is also led by the latter.

"I think we have the best captain who has changed the Indian team like anything. Now we have that same aura in our dressing room," Raina said on 'The Super Kings show' on Star Sports Tamil.

The 38-year-old Dhoni has retired from Test cricket but his future in the limited overs formats is a subject of intense speculation.

The two-time World Cup-winning former captain took a break from cricket after India's exit from the 2019 World Cup in England. He is set to be back in action at the IPL, where he will captain the CSK, starting March 23.

With three restricted stands at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai finally being reopened, Raina urged the fans to fill the venue in every CSK home game.

"We have all the seats available. Hopefully, we'll have more fans now so that there is it will be more energy on the field," the 33-year-old Raina, a former India batsman, said.

Raina, who last played for India in 2018, also expressed his excitement about the prospect of playing with CSK's latest acquisitions.

"This year we have a lot of new talent in our team. Piyush (Chawla) is there, then we have Hazelwood, Sam Curran, Sai Kishore from Tamil Nadu, he has been bowling really well for them. So, I think we have a lot of mixture of youngsters and seniors."

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News Network
March 12,2020

New Delhi, Mar 12: No foreign player will be available for this year's IPL till April 15 due to visa restrictions imposed by the government to contain the novel coronavirus threat, a top BCCI source told PTI on Thursday, casting fresh doubts on the fate of the event.

"The foreign players who play in the IPL come under the Business Visa category. As per the government's directive, they can't come till April 15," a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

The government issued fresh advisory with a ban on all existing foreign visas, except a few categories like diplomatic and employment, till April 15 in the wake of new positive cases of novel coronavirus in the country.

India has reported 60 positive cases in the outbreak which has led to over 4,000 deaths globally.

The fate of the IPL itself will be decided on March 14 at the event's Governing Council meeting in Mumbai. "All decisions will be taken by the GC in Mumbai," the source said.

Having the IPL, starting March 29, played in empty stadiums is an option being explored.

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March 3,2020

Sydney, Mar 3: Former Australia pacer Brett Lee foresees a "different" looking India making their maiden T20 Women's World Cup final and attributed their rise to the emergence of star players like 16-year-old Shafali Verma.

Besides opener Shafali, experienced leg-spinner Poonam Yadav has been the other match-winner for India in the competition. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side topped the group stage with four wins in as many games and play their semifinal here on Thursday.

"They've never reached the final but this is a different India team from the one they’ve seen before. They've combined match-winners in Shafali Verma and Poonam Yadav with consistent players with both bat and ball," Lee was quoted as saying by ICC.

"We've always known they have some of the best players in the world but now Harmanpreet Kaur has a team around her that can support the big players, and fill in the gaps when they have an off day."

Only a special effort from their opponents can stop India from reaching their maiden final, feels Lee.

They'll go into the semi-finals full of confidence and it will take an excellent team to stop them from reaching the Final."

Talking more about Shafali, who has got 47, 46, 39, and 29 so far, Lee backed the teen sensation to make a bigger score in the semifinal.

"Shafali Verma has been excellent at the top of the order, she’s brought a fearless energy to India’s batting and been brilliant to watch.

"You feel she can go even bigger as well – she hasn't reached 50 yet, which is both exciting for those watching and worrying for the bowlers.

"We saw from the opener against Australia just how good India can be, and it’s no surprise they’ve continued that form to top Group A," he added.

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