Ghosal, Pallikal look to end year on a high

December 2, 2013

Dipika_PallikalHong Kong, Dec 2: India's numero uno squash players, Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal, will be looking to end the year on a high when they compete against the world's best in the Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open, starting here tomorrow.

The WSA World Series Gold event -- the last of the year -- gets underway with the main rounds at the Hong Kong Squash Centre tomorrow after two days of qualifying. It will then move to an all-glass court at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre for the semi-finals on December 7 and finals on December 8.

World No. 12 Pallikal has been seeded 14th in the women's event and will open her campaign against unseeded Egyptian Nour El Tayeb.

Pallikal, 22, recently got engaged to Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik, 28, in Chennai and both have decided to tie the nuptial knot sometime in 2015.

Pallikal is in red-hot form -- winning the biggest title of her career in Macau Open, the Women's Squash Association (WSA) Silver band event in October.

She defeated former world No.1 Rachael Grinham of Australia in the final and also beaten World No. 11 Australian Kasey Brown in the Carol Weymuller Open Gold 50 event in New York.

Pallikal has seven World Squash tour titles and five tour finals to her credit.

Her Chennai teammate and India's No.2 woman player, Joshna Chinappa will also be seen in action at the USD 77,000 event. She will face tough opponent in World No.7 Natalie Grinham of The Netherlands in her tournament opener.

The reigning national champion Joshna, who achieved her highest-ever world ranking of 24 last month, recently won the third edition of the NSCI Squash Open in Mumbai.

The 27-year-old has taken giant strides after her comeback from a career threatening knee injury last year that saw her rankings plummet to 72. She was also conferred with the Arjuna Award this year.

Malaysia's world number one Nicol David is seeded to win her ninth successive trophy and will open her title defence against a qualifier.

In the men's section, Ghosal, who yesterday rose to a career-high 15th in the men's world rankings, will face a qualifier in his first round on Wednesday.

Ghosal is coming into the tournament on the back of some impressive performances in the last two months which included his quarterfinal finish in the World Championship in Manchester - the first-ever by an Indian - and NSCI Squash Open title triumph.

The 27-year-old from Kolkata has made steady progress on the Tour, winning five titles from eight final appearances.

Other Indians in the fray -- Harinder Pal Sandhu and Mahesh Mangaonkar -- are competing in the qualifiers to make the main draw.

While Sandhu will take on England's Adrian Waller in his qualifying final, Mangaonkar will lock horns against another Englishman, Joe Lee.

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News Network
April 21,2020

New Delhi, Apr 21: India skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday said people seem to have become more compassionate while coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and hoped the sense of gratitude towards frontline workers like doctors and police personnel remains even after the crisis is over.

Speaking in an online class organised by "Unacademy", Kohli and his actor wife Anushka Sharma spoke at length about the challenges they faced before tasting success.

"The one positive out of this crisis that we as a society have become more compassionate. We are showing more gratitude to the frontline workers in this war, be it police personnel, doctors or nurses.

"I hope it stays this way even after we overcome this crisis," said Kohli with Sharma seated next to her.

Kohli said the pandemic has taught the world a very important lesson.

"Life is unpredictable. So, do what makes you happy and not get into comparisons all the time. People have a choice now how to come out of this phase. Life is going to be different after this," said the skipper.

For Sharma, the pandemic has forced people to care about the basics in life.

"There is a learning in all of this. Nothing happens without a reason. If the frontline workers were not there, we would not have access to basics," she said..

"This has taught us that no one is special than the other. Health is everything. We are more connected as a society now," she added.

During the session, Kohli was asked about the moment when he felt most helpless.

"I felt nothing was working for me when I was not picked for the state team initially. I cried the whole night and asked my coach 'why did I not get selected'?" he responded.

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News Network
April 30,2020

New Delhi, Apr 30: Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday mourned the demise of veteran Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor, called his death 'unreal and unbelievable' loss.

"This is unreal and unbelievable. Yesterday Irrfan Khan and today Rishi Kapoor ji. It's hard to accept this as a legend passes away today. My condolences to the family and may his soul rest in peace," Kohli tweeted.

Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan also expressed his heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.
"It's shocking to hear about the sudden demise of #RishiKapoor ji. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. May his soul rest in peace," Dhawan tweeted.

Earlier today, actor Amitabh Bachchan confirmed the news of the demise of the 67-year-old Rishi Kapoor. Rishi Kapoor was admitted to the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday.

In September 2019, the veteran actor returned to Mumbai after staying in New York for almost a year for cancer treatment.

He was last seen in the 2019 film 'The Body' alongside Emraan Hashmi and Shobita Sobhita Dhulipala.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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