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I have more dreams that I want to achieve: Saina Nehwal

May 9, 2015

New Delhi, May 9: Thanking the government for lending a helping hand to the country's top sportspersons, India's champion shuttler Saina Nehwal hopes the establishment will now put its weight behind upcoming talents striving to make a mark globally.

saina times award

Asked if the government can try helping those who are beginning to shine, apart form the elite athletes, the world number 2 shuttler Saina, who was today given a cash award of 25 lakhs by the ministry, responded in positive.

"Players who are capable of doing well in any international events, there names should be in the government scheme. I must say the government is also giving a lot of support to sportspersons," Saina said when asked about the government's TOP (Target Olympic Podium) scheme.

The recent months had been very fruitful for Saina and the Hyderabad-based shuttler said she was looking forward to winning more titles.

"My job is to give my best and not think about rankings.

Lots of surprises were in store for me this year, which I didn't expect," Saina said on the sidelines of the Times Of India Sports Award.

"The last one year was a special experience, scaling the world number one ranking, reaching the finals of All England Championships, winning the India Open and China Open. I just want to stay focussed. The performance has motivated me to do better.

"I am a very emotional person and staying at the top is not easy. I have more dreams that I want to achieve," said the player who was at the top of world ranking for two brief stints recently.

Talking about the Sudhirman Cup, starting on Sunday, Saina said India was determined to improve their record in the prestigious tournament.

"It's about the team. I hope to do well in the Sudhirman Cup. We hardly play team event."

As talks turned to next year's Rio Olympics, Saina said her main aim was to remain fit going into the quadrennial extravaganza.

"I will strive to maintain my fitness, that is the key. There are ups and downs and they are part of life. The challenge is how to keep myself injury-free, I will focus on training right now," Saina said.

Speaking about her partnership with the Bangalore-based coach Vimal Kumar, the 25-year-old shuttler said, "It has been good working with Vimal sir. I have won good titles after joining him. My movements on the court improved, we also focused on working on different strokes."

Compatriot P V Sindhu, coming back after an injury, said she was training for the upcoming tournaments.

"I have been practicing hard for coming tournaments, India is doing very well now a days. It's not easy to come back from injuries. On return I played in the Asian Championships and lost in the quarters. I am trying to get better, perform and win," the soft-spoken 19-year-old ace shuttler said.

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News Network
April 14,2020

Karachi, Apr 14: Disappointed with Kapil Dev's response, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi has backed his former teammate Shoaib Akhtar's proposal for an ODI series against India to help raise funds for the less privileged in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Afridi told reporters in Kohat that he was surprised by the comments of Indian great Kapil and former IPL chairman, Rajeev Shukla, who outrightly dismissed Akhtar's suggestion.

"The entire world is fighting against coronavirus and we need unity in our region to defeat this common enemy. Such negative comments don't help at all," Afridi said.

"I don't see anything wrong with Shoaib Akhtar's suggestion for Pakistan and India to play cricket.

"Kapil's reaction has surprised me. I expected better from him and feel one should not talk like this in these crisis times."

Afridi said that he was also surprised at some of the "negative comments" Indian stars Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh's support for his charity foundation attracted.

"Sport is supposed to bring people together and build bridges. It is pretty disappointing."

Afridi also urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to order the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to restore departmental cricket in the country to save the livelihood of hundreds of domestic players.

"I myself played for the departments and witnessed how departments really salvaged domestic cricket in Pakistan and helped it thrive decade after decade.

"Departments take good care of the players and spend lots of money on the development of domestic cricket, so how can departmental cricket hurt Pakistan cricket," questioned Afridi.

He also questioned the PCB and the Pakistan team management for making a fitness of players a big issue.

"They are always talking about hard training and fitness tests. I have never seen fitness tests taken with such frequency and the result is that many players are getting injured and many of them are also unhappy with the situation."

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News Network
May 28,2020

New Delhi, May 28: India is not at risk of losing hosting rights for next year's Twenty20 World Cup despite its cricket board's failure to secure a tax exemption for the event, a key BCCI official has told Reuters.

Tax exemptions for International Cricket Council (ICC) events are listed as a requirement in host agreements and the BCCI was supposed to confirm they had secured one by May 18.

ESPNcricinfo, citing correspondence between the two bodies, has reported that the ICC has threatened to shift the tournament away from India over the issue.

However, BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal told Reuters that would not happen and that negotiations were continuing.

"There is no risk to the tournament," he said by telephone.

"That is a work in progress. We are discussing it with the ICC and we'll resolve it."

The BCCI encountered a similar problem when it hosted the event in 2016 when the government refused to provide a tax exemption, and there has been no change in New Delhi's stance despite the board's appeals.

Failure to secure that exemption in 2016 saw the ICC withhold an equivalent sum from India's share of revenue from the governing body's grants and it appears to be taking an even harder line this time around.

"There are certain timelines within the agreements that we collectively work towards to ensure we can deliver successful world class events and continue to invest in the sport of cricket," an ICC spokesperson told Reuters.

"In addition to this the ICC Board agreed clear timelines for the resolution of the tax issues which we are guided by."

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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