Dutee Chand wins 100m gold in World Universiade, creates history

Agencies
July 10, 2019

Napoli (Italy), July 10: National record holder Dutee Chand became the first Indian woman track and field athlete to clinch a gold medal in the World Universiade after she won the 100m dash event in Napoli.

The 23-year-old Dutee clocked 11.32 seconds to win the gold as she led the race from start to finish.

Running at lane number 4, Dutee was the first one out of the eight athletes to blast off the starting blocks and she made most of it to fend of a late challenge from Del Ponte (11.33) of Switzerland.

Lisa KwaYie of Germany took the bronze in 11.39 seconds in the race run past midnight Indian time on Tuesday.

The Odisha runner, whose national record stands at 11.24 seconds, thus became the first Indian to win a 100m gold in a global event.

She has now become only the second Indian sprinter to win a gold in a global event after Hima Das, who clinched the top spot in 400m in the World Junior Athletics Championships last year.

Dutee, who had a silver each in 100m and 200m in the 2018 Asian Games, is also only the second Indian track and field athlete to win a gold in the World Universiade. Inderjeet Singh had clinched the top spot in men’s shot put event in the 2015 edition.

After winning the race, Dutee, who recently admitted to having a relationship with a girl, tweeted: “Pull me down, I will come back stronger!”

She further added: “With years of hardwork and your blessings, I have yet again broken the record by winning the Gold in 100m dash in 11.32 seconds at The World University Games, Napoli. In the pictures (picture of all three medal winners), are the winners too, with a heart of Gold from Germany and Sweden.

Earlier on Tuesday, Dutee qualified for the final with a time of 11.41 seconds in the semifinal, which had made her the first Indian sprinter to make it to the final of World Universiade.

On Monday, she had advanced to the semifinals from the heats with a time of 11.58 seconds.

Dutee has a season best of 11.26 seconds in 100m, recorded in the Doha Asian Championships in April. She could not reach the semifinals in the previous edition of the World University Games in Taipei City in 2017, where Sanjivani Jadhav had won a silver in women’s 10000m race.

Dutee is a student at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, a deemed university in Bhubaneswar. She is yet to qualify for the World Championships to be held in Doha in September-October.

President Ram Nath Kovind congratulated Dutee on her feat.

“Congratulations @DuteeChand for winning the 100m sprint at the Universiade, the World University Games, in Naples. This is India’s first such gold and a moment of immense pride for our country. Please keep up the effort, and look to greater glory at the Olympics,” the President tweeted.

Dutee replied to the President’s tweet, saying: “Thank you, sir. I will try my best to bring Olympics Gold Medal home. Once again, many thanks for your blessings.”

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju also applauded Dutee’s efforts.

“I’ve been passionately following since my childhood but it never came. Finally, for the first time, a gold for India! Congratulations @DuteeChand for winning the 100m sprint at the Universiade, the World University Games, in Naples,” Rijiju said in his tweet.

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News Network
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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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
May 3,2020

New Delhi, May 3: In a startling revelation, India speedster Mohammed Shami has claimed that he thought of committing suicide thrice while battling personal issues a few years ago, forcing his family to keep a watch over him at all times.

He said his family members feared he "might jump" from their 24th floor apartment.

Shami, one of India's leading bowlers in recent years, opened up on his personal and professional life during an Instagram chat with teammate and limited overs squads' vice-captain Rohit Sharma.

"I think if my family had not supported me back then I would have lost my cricket. I thought of committing suicide three times during that period due to severe stress and personal problems," Shami revealed during the session on Saturday.

Now one of the mainstays of Indian bowling attack across formats, the 29-year-old was struggling to focus on his cricket, then.

"I was not thinking about cricket at all. We were living on the 24th floor. They (family) were scared I might jump from the balcony. My brother supported me a lot.

"My 2-3 friends used to stay with me for 24 hours. My parents asked me to focus on cricket to recover from that phase and not think about anything else. I started training then and sweated it out a lot at an academy in Dehradun," Shami said.

In March 2018, Shami's wife Hasin Jahan had accused him of domestic violence and lodged a complaint with the police, following which the India player and his brother were booked under relevant sections.

The upheaval in his personal life forced his employer BCCI to withheld the player's central contracts for a while.

"Rehab was stressful as the same exercises are repeated every day. Then family problems started and I also suffered an accident. The accident happened 10-12 days ahead of the IPL and my personal problems were running high in the media," Shami told Rohit.

Shami said his family stood like a rock with him and the support helped him get back on his feet.

"Then my family explained that every problem has a solution no matter how big the problem. My brother supported me a lot."

Speaking about another painful period in his life after his injury in the 2015 World Cup, Shami said it took him almost 18 months to get back on the field.

"When I got injured in the 2015 World Cup, after that it took me 18 months to fully recover, that was the most painful moment in my life, it was a very stressful period.

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