Hockey team, rower Bhokanal save India one Day 1 at Olympics

August 7, 2016

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 7: The men's hockey team and army rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal provided the few bright spots while tennis ace Leander Paes made an early exit on a largely disappointing opening day at the Rio Olympics here.

Hockey

The men's hockey team broke a 12-year-old Olympics jinx by winning their opening group league encounter against minnows Ireland, while Bhokanal entered the quarterfinals by finishing third in his heat in men's singles sculls rowing competition.

Those were the only bright spots as the Indian contingent faced reversals in the shooting range, tennis court, table tennis and weightlifting arena on Saturday.

On the tennis court, Paes' dream of winning his second Olympics medal -- after a bronze in 1996 Atlanta -- in his record seventh appearance was blown away when he and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna were knocked out in straight sets in the opening round by the Polish pair of Marcin Matkowski and Lukasz Kubot. The Indians lost 4-6 6-7 (6-8).

An emotional Paes did not hide his disappointment and said that he had "become a soft target" and that was the reason why people are "taking potshots" at him.

Later, star woman player Sania Mirza, the world number one in doubles, too could not lift the Indian contingent's sagging spirits as she and much lower ranked partner Prarthana Thombare went down to the Chinese pair of Shuai Zhang and Shuai Peng.

Zhang and Peng won a closely contested match 7-6 (8-6) 5-7 7-5 that lasted two hours and 44 minutes as the Indian duo did put up a stiff resistance.

Indian shooters also failed to sparkle as medal hopeful Jitu Rai finished a lowly eighth in the men's 10m Air Pistol final, while Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul crashed out in the qualification round of their respective events itself.

Army's Jitu, bronze medallist at Incheon Asian Games in the event in 2014, shot an overall 78.7 to finish eighth in the field of eight finalists to become the first shooter to crash out of the final round.

The 28-year-old Jitu got off to a poor start and could not recover from it in a highly competitive line-up, which included the likes of Hoang Xuan Vinh, Pang Wei, Wu Felipe Almeida, Tuzinsky Juraj, Jin Jongoh, Gontcharov Vladimira and Giordona Giuseppe.

However, Gurpreet Singh, India's other participant in the same category, failed to even make the final.

Other Indian shooters in the fray -- Apurvi and Ayonika -- also crashed out in the 10m air rifle qualification round, finishing way behind the leaders.

Chandela shot an overall 411.6 to finish 34th out of 51 competitors while Paul ended further down at 47th place with a total score of 403.

Meanwhile, the Indian table tennis quartet led by veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal ended its campaign on the opening day itself as all four players lost their first round matches.

Save Mouma Das, who was blown away by 0-4 margin in just 21 minutes, Sharath and Soumyajit Ghosh got a game each from their respective opponents before going down 1-4. Debutant Manika Batra was the best performer as she lost by a scoreline of 2-4.

Interestingly, the cumulative duration of India's Olympic table tennis journey was just 139 minutes (2 hrs and 19 minutes).

India's most decorated player Sharath lost to another veteran Crisan Adrian of Romania 11-8 14-12 9-11 11-6 11-8 in 35 minutes. Adrian was world number 20 at one point of time in his career and is currently a top-100 player (ranked 90th).

It was no different in the other match in the men's section for world number 68 Soumyajit Ghosh, who also made a first round exit, losing to Padasak Tanviriyavechakul 1-4 in 35 minutes.

In weightlifting, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu put up a highly disappointing performance as she could not get an overall total in women's 48kg after failing to lift the entry weight in any of her three attempts in clean & jerk section.

In a field of 12 lifters, she was one of two who did not finish (DNF) her event.

Mirabai failed to lift 104kg in her first attempt in clean and jerk, followed by two more attempts to pick 106kg. In both her second and third attempts, the Indian simply could not lift the weight.

Interestingly her personal best at clean and jerk is 107 kg.

The day had, in fact, commenced promisingly when rower Bhokanal entered the quarterfinals of single sculls by ending up third in heat 1 of the 2000m race with a timing of 7 minutes, 21.67 seconds, behind Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba and Mexico's Juan Carlos Cabrera.

This was followed by the men's hockey squad's hard-fought 3-2 win over minnows Ireland, taking part in the Games after 108 years, in pool B opener through goals from Rupinderpal Singh, who struck twice from penalty corner, and V R Raghunath.

It was the first occasion since 2000 Sydney that the men's team had won its opening league encounter in Olympics.

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March 2,2020

Madrid, Mar 2: Real Madrid won El Clasico and might have saved their season as they ended their slump in the best way possible last night by beating Barcelona 2-0 and returning to the top of La Liga.

Vinicius Junior's deflected finish and a stoppage-time goal from Mariano Diaz decided a frenzied contest at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Madrid found new life after a Champions League defeat by Manchester City had left them on the brink of crisis.

"It's been a tough week," said Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane. "We talked about how we had an opportunity this weekend and we took it."

Victory put them one point clear at the top of the table and shifts focus back to Quique Setien's Barcelona, who were outfought and, at times, outplayed.

"The reality is we lost a lot of confidence with the ball," said Setien. "We entered a nervous spell and that's when the goal came."

Lionel Messi's rasping shot was saved by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in the first half but it was the Argentine's opposing captain, Sergio Ramos, who was thrashing his arms in celebration after the final whistle.

His reaction was an indication of the importance of this victory, not only for the effect it has on the standings but on the dynamic of the title race, which had seemed to be switching firmly in favour of Barca.

Opportunity missed

Cristiano Ronaldo, now of Juventus, was watching from an executive box and Madrid could have done with him during a period in which they had won only one of their last five games.

Zidane said on Saturday this match would not decide who lifted the trophy in May but a Barca win and a five-point gap might well have been difficult to close.

Yet from the start Barcelona seemed keener to kill the game than win it, playing for time in the hope of keeping the contest tight, when they might have been better off attacking their opponents' fragility.

The Madrid we faced in the first half was one of the worst Madrids I have faced at the Bernabeu. I don't say it as a criticism, we also have our problems, but we've missed an opportunity.

--Gerard Pique, Barcelona defender

There was more tension than creativity in the early stages as Fede Valverde crashed into Arthur Melo before fellow Spain full-backs Dani Carvajal and Jordi Alba were both booked after a disagreement.

Madrid had the better of the play and regularly broke at speed through Vinicius down the left but constantly they failed to make the final pass, with Isco once left with his head in his hands after Marcelo opted not to pull the ball back.

Slow Barca

Barcelona's passing was slow and their lack of urgency obvious. At one point Messi bent to tie his bootlaces and re-spotted the ball before taking a corner.

But the visitors also created chances as Antoine Griezmann drove over from Alba's cutback and then Madrid had Courtois to thank for two excellent saves.

First, Arthur held off Toni Kroos to go clear but his finish was blocked by teh foot of Courtois and then the Belgian palmed away Messi's shot after he had skipped in behind Madrid's defence.

Ramos was lucky to get away with an error that allowed Nelson Semedo to break past him while Alba risked a second yellow when he checked Valverde but referee Mateu Lahoz was unmoved.

Barcelona were sloppy after half-time and Madrid should have capitalised. Instead, Isco's header beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen but not Pique on the line and Karim Benzema volleyed over after a sloppy pass from Arturo Vidal.

Vidal was replaced by Martin Braithwaite, Barca's emergency signing, and he sprinted in behind Marcelo twice in his first minute.

But Madrid remained in the ascendancy and in the 71st minute they took the lead.

Benzema came short and pointed right to encourage Vinicius to run in behind. Kroos found him and Vinicius's shot deflected off the sliding Pique to beat Ter Stegen at his near post.

The game opened up as Barcelona chased an equaliser. Marcelo celebrated when Messi's surge through was stopped by Raphael Varane. Pique headed Messi's cross over at the near post. Messi picked up a yellow card for a frustrated slide on Casemiro.

In injury time, Ter Stegen ventured up for a late free-kick but it was Madrid that struck again. Mariano sped past Semedo and finished from the angle.

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News Network
June 30,2020

Malabar, Jun 30: I-League club Gokulam Kerala's former assistant manager Muhammad Alloush on Monday died due to COVID-19. He was 44.

Alloush, who was with the football club in its inaugural season, was working as technical director at Egyptian club Tanta SC at the time of his demise.

Alloush's mother had also succumbed due to the deadly virus earlier.

"We're deeply saddened by the death of our former assistant manager Muhammad Alloush, aged 44, after contracting Covid_19. The thoughts of everybody at Gokulam Kerala Football Club are with Alloush's family and friends at this sad time. Rest in peace, Alloush," Gokulam Kerala FC tweeted.

Meanwhile, with a spike of 18,522 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India's coronavirus count stands at 5,66,840, said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry, 418 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours. The number of deaths in the country now stands at 16,893.

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News Network
March 6,2020

Melbourne, Mar 6: Experienced middle-order batter Veda Krishnamurthy believes that "destiny" is in favour of first-time finalist India to win their maiden ICC Women's T20 World Cup title provided they get a grip on their nerves in the summit clash against Australia on Sunday.

India will have a psychological advantage going into the final as they had stunned the defending champions by 17 runs in the tournament opener.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India reached the final on the basis of their unbeaten record in the tournament after their semifinal against England was washed out on Thursday.

Krishnamurthy, who was a part of the Indian team that finished runner-up to England in the 2017 Women's ODI World Cup, knows the pain of missing out on a world title.

"It's all about destiny, and I'm a big believer in destiny. I feel like this is the way it was meant to be. There is a joke going around that this World Cup is made in such a way that it's helping us, starting from the wickets to everything else," she was quoted as saying by the tournament's official website.

"Being in the final is just reward for the way we played in the group stages. There was an advantage to having won all our games with the weather not in our hands."

The team's first target of reaching the final having achieved, the 27-year-old player said the Indians now need to hold their nerves and remain focussed leading up to the big day on Sunday.

"We said the first aim was to get to the final and take it from there. We've crossed the first stage. We need to make sure we hold our nerves and we do what we need to do on the final day," she said.

India's recent rivalry with Australia has taken fascinating twists and turns, with Kaur's outfit chasing down 173 in their recent tri-series, then getting home by 17 runs in the T20 World Cup opener.

But all is not hunky-dory for Krishnamurthy on the personal front. Considered a great finisher, she has recovered from a series of single-digit scores in the tri-series to score 20 from 11 balls in a finishing role against Bangladesh.

Having amassed just 35 runs from four matches in the tournament so far, the Karnataka batter knows her role in the team.

"As an individual, the role given to me is very consistent in the last year. They've put the effort in the last year to keep me there and I've been supported by every individual, not just one or two. The entire team, with all the support staff, have shown faith in me," she said.

"I know coming into the World Cup, I would play a crucial role to finish the innings well, which I felt I was unable to do in the last World Cup in the West Indies," she added.

Krishnamurthy said specific roles have been set for every player of the squad and they all are trying to contribute as much as they can to help the team achieve its goal.

"I was very motivated to do my role and I've been working on that. It's not just me, all 15 players involved know what their role is," she said.

"I'm happy we're all putting in efforts and executing our role properly. Even if it's a smallish contribution of saving a couple of runs, it's all panned out really well."

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