Dutee Chand wins 2nd gold in Taiwan but still in search of 2016 Rio berth

May 21, 2016

Taoyuan City, May 21: Promising sprinter Dutee Chand bagged her second gold by winning the women's 200m race in a clean sweep of medals by the Indians at the Taiwan Open Athletics Championships here today.

ChandDutee clocked 23.52secs in the 200m sprint final to win the gold while compatriots Srabani Nanda and H M Jyothi picked up the silver and bronze in 23.55secs and 23.92secs respectively.

The trio were part of the Indian quartet that set a national record in women's 4x100m relay at the IAAF World Challenge in Beijing on May 18.

The women's relay team, however, could not repeat the Beijing show here in Taiwan yesterday as they were disqualified in the heats after a botch up in the baton exchange.

Dutee had won a gold in the women's 100m dash here yesterday in a slow time of 11.50secs, thereby failing to qualify for Rio Olympics, for which she needed to touch 11.32secs.

In the Federation Cup National Athletics Championships in New Delhi last month, Dutee had run 11.33secs in 100m dash, raising hopes of a Rio Games berth in the coming days.

Today's 200m timings of both Dutee and Srabani were below their 23.34 and 23.36 (heat timings) efforts in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, the other Indians in the fray came up with disappointing performances today, raising questions why they have been sent at all outside India at a time when athletes are seeking Olympics qualifications.

Kirpal Singh Batth hurled 58.20m to win gold in the men's discus while compatriot Arjun was second with 55.50m, in an event which has Olympic qualification standard of 65m.

Former national record holder Om Prakash Karhana continued to disappoint with a mediocre performance of 17.85m to bag the silver in men's shot put. The Olympic qualification standard in this event is set at 20.50m. Karhana has a personal best of 20.69m, which he did in 2012.

In men's triple jump, Arivu Selvam Devendran won the bronze with an effort of 15.62m. The Olympic qualification standard in this event is set at 16.85m.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has slammed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for not allowing recreational cricket to resume.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had described the cricket ball as a 'natural vector of disease' and ruled out recreational cricket's return in the country.

Hearing Johnson's argument, Vaughan tweeted: "Hand sanitiser in every players pocket. Use every time you touch the ball ... SIMPLE ... Recreational Cricket should just play from July 4th ... utter nonsense it's not being allowed back ... #Cricket."

Johnson was responding to a question from Conservative MP Greg Clark in the House of Commons, and it was then that Johnson said that it is too soon to lift current restrictions to allow the return of recreational cricket.

"The problem with cricket as everybody understands is that the ball is a natural vector of disease, potentially at any rate. We've been around it many times with our scientific friends," ESPNCricinfo had quoted Johnson as saying.

"At the moment, we're still working on ways to make cricket more COVID-secure but we can't change the guidance yet," he added.

Johnson had announced various relaxations on Tuesday, but the return of recreational cricket was not a part of them.

However, this statement given by Johnson will have no impact on the Test series between England and West Indies, scheduled to begin from July 8.

However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has said that it is looking to resume recreational cricket in the country around July 4.

The board has also said that cricket is a low-risk sport as it is a non-contact sport.

"We believe that cricket is a non-contact sport, with very low risks of exposure, and that it can be played as safely as many other activities being currently permitted," the ECB said in an official statement.

"It is our strong desire to work with Government to see the return of recreational cricket on or around 4th July, as they continue to lift other restrictions more broadly across society," it added.

All international cricket has also been suspended since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, it is set to resume to from July 8 as England and West Indies will lock horns in the three-Test series.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

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News Network
March 25,2020

New Delhi, Mar 25: Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen appealed to Indian citizens to stay home during the 21-day lockdown, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain coronavirus.

"Namaste India! I have heard that your situation is like ours, PM Modi has announced a nation-wide lockdown for 21 days. I request you to follow this instruction. We will fight coronavirus together and come out to this situation. Please stay at your home and stay safe, " he tweeted in Hindi.
At the end of the message, Pietersen gave credit to his "Hindi teacher" Shreevats Goswami, who is an Indian domestic cricketer.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the nationwide total lockdown will be in place for three weeks to combat the coronavirus menace.

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