French Open: Pironkova stuns Radwanska

June 1, 2016

Paris, Jun 1: Fans were left wet and miserable at a soggy Roland Garros on Tuesday -- but not as drenched or depressed as Agnieszka Radwanska after the world number two's French Open hopes fizzled out following a monumental meltdown against Tsvetana Pironkova.

PironkovaLeading her Bulgarian rival 6-2, 3-0 when rain halted play on Sunday, Radwanska appeared to have one foot in the quarterfinals.

However, when the fourth-round tussle resumed more than 40 hours later following Monday's washout, the Polish second seed seemed all at sea as the players were forced to play through misty rain.

She lost 10 games in a row as she fell to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 defeat by an opponent ranked 100 places below her.

While Radwanska became the highest-ranked player to exit this year's French Open tournament, her defeat also meant that at least five of the top eight women's seeds failed to make their allotted quarterfinal positions.

Tough conditions

Radwanska, playing with a full-sleeved white top over her sleeveless pink dress, struggled to handle the heavy conditions and the sodden balls on Court Suzanne Lenglen and lost six games in a row to surrender the second set with a forehand error.

A further two hour 45 minute rain disruption failed to improve Radwanska's mood or her fortunes as she fell 4-0 behind in the third set.

The 27-year-old, who called on the trainer to get treatment on her right hand midway through the decider, eventually halted Pironkova's run by breaking the Bulgarian in the fifth game.

But Radwanska could not avoid the embarrassment of being beaten by a player ranked outside the top 100 for the first time in more than seven years when she netted a forehand on Pironkova's second match point.

A match that lasted just two hours and 12 minutes on court finally finished at 4.18 pm local time on Monday, almost 46 hours after it had started on Sunday.

Meanwhile, world number one Novak Djokovic and holder Serena Williams remain stranded in the fourth round.

Djokovic was 3-6, 6-4, 4-1 up against Roberto Bautista Agut in their fourth-round match.

The Serbian top seed lost the opening set to the 14th-seeded Spaniard on Court Philippe Chatrier when play was halted at 12:47 pm local time for the first time.

After an interruption lasting two hours and 45 minutes, the players resumed and Djokovic wasted no time in regaining the lead, only for the match to be stopped again.

Holders Serena Williams and Stan Wawrinka and British second seed Andy Murray, who takes on local favourite Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals, did not even get a chance to get on court.

Results (pre-fix denotes seeding): Women: Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) bt 2-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3; 21-Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt 6-Simona Halep (Rom) 7-6(0), 6-3.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

Mumbai, Jul 7: Australias second largest city Melbourne is set to go for another round of lockdown — for six weeks — from midnight Wednesday as the coronavirus has reared its ugly head in Victoria. And this has further confirmed that this years T20 World Cup in Australia is practically not possible. Even as the ICC keeps delaying the announcement, BCCI hopes that the official call will now be taken with this latest development.

Despite ICC's Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA) chief Ehsan Mani as well as Cricket Australia making it clear time and again that hosting a T20 World Cup in the October-November window is practically impossible, the ICC hasn't made an official announcement and that hasn't impressed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Speaking to media persons, a BCCI official said that it is only the ICC which has kept speaking about delaying the inevitable — announcing a postponement — even as Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings wrote to the international body that it looks highly unlikely that a T20 World Cup can be hosted in these trying times.

"As it is there were so many logistical difficulties and that is perfectly understandable. The Australian government has been addressing the public health issue efficiently and there are regulations in place which are crucial to address the challenges. In that background even Cricket Australia has been practical in their assessment of the situation.

"With this present situation where Melbourne is in lockdown, the ICC really must take the final call of closure on the issue if they have any concept of responsible decision making," the official said.

Not just CA chairman Eddings, but also Mani — who is also the PCB chief — recently told the media that the T20 World Cup cannot be held in a bio-secure environment.

"We have had a lot of discussions and the feeling is it (T20 World Cup) would not be possible this year. ICC has World Cups lined up in 2021 and 2023, so we have a gap year where we can adjust this event. God forbid if some player(s) falls ill or mishap occurs during the tournament, it will have a big impact and create panic in the cricket world and we can't take that risk. Having a bio-bubble environment is feasible for say a bilateral series like Pakistan in England, but it is very difficult when 16 teams are involved," he had said.

Cricket Australia's interim CEO Nick Hockley echoed the sentiments when he said the biggest challenge was to get the players from so many teams into the country.

"Our biggest challenge is getting 15 teams into the country. If I compare it with the prospect of a bilateral tour, you're talking about bringing one team in and then playing individual matches. But the prospect of bringing 15 teams in and having six or seven teams in one city at the same time, it's a much more complex exercise," he had said.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Srinagar, Jan 10: Real Kashmir FC made a strong comeback in the second half to play out a 1-1 draw against former champions Punjab FC in their home I-League match here on Friday.

The 'Snow Leopards' equalised in the 62nd minute through Gnohere Krizo in front of a partisan crowd of 8,500 spectators after Makan Chothe had given Punjab FC the lead in the 21st minute at the TRC ground.

After Thursday's draw, Punjab FC is placed third on the table with 10 points from seven games. Real Kashmir FC remained at eighth with six points from five matches. This was Real Kashmir's third home match on the trot.

The match was a story of two halves as the first belonged to the visitors who enjoyed a 62 per cent possession of the ball, whereas the second belonged to the home side.

Both the teams were looking to gain an early advantage and Punjab FC took the lead after 21 minutes.

Confusion inside the Real Kashmir box because of a long ball from Punjab opened up an opportunity for Chothe and he made no mistake as he smashed the ball at the back of the net.

As the fans cheered on, Real Kashmir created a flurry of chances, but none of the home side players could find the back of the net. Punjab was able to hold on to their slender lead heading into the tunnel.

The second half resumed with Real Kashmir pressing high up the field and pressurising Punjab.

In the 56th minute, Real Kashmir playmaker Kallum Higginbotham cut through two defenders on the left side of the box and the ball fell to Mason Robertson, whose shot was too weak to trouble the Punjab goalkeeper.

Soon after, it was Danish Farooq who tried a curler from a distance but his shot did not have enough bend to trouble the Punjab goalkeeper. The home team's effort finally paid off in the 62nd minute.

A miscalculated header by Danilo Augusto fell at the feet of Gnohere Krizo, who was one-on-one with the keeper. He made no mistake in striking the ball into the opponent's goal to score the equaliser.

Real Kashmir was in their groove now, and Kallum came in from the right with a beautiful low cross across the face of the goal but Mason could not get a touch as the chance went begging.

The duo of Kallum and Mason were proving difficult for Punjab to deal with. In the 82nd minute, a beautiful long ball by Kallum found the head of a towering Mason, but the effort went just over the crossbar.

Within a few moments, Punjab again had another nervous moment as Chesterpoul Lyngdoh's cross from the right side hit the arm of Thoiba Singh but the referee turned down an appeal for penalty.

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