India shines at Commonwealth Games: Wins 7 medals on day one

July 25, 2014

India shinesGlasgow, Jul 25: Sukhen Dey and K Sanjita Chanu stole the limelight by clinching a gold each in weightlifting, as India launched their campaign in the 20th Commonwealth Games with a flourish, winning seven medals in all on the opening day of the competitions here.

Judokas Navjot Chana and Shushila Likmabam had to be contend with a silver medal each after they failed to clear the final hurdle in the men's 60kg and women's 48kg events, respectively. There was a bronze for for another judoka, Kalpana Thoudam.

In weightlifting, there was a silver medal for S Mirabai Chanu, while Ganaesh Mali bagged a bronze. The paddlers, shuttlers and squash players had easy outings on the first day, with both badminton and table teams posting convincing wins.

It was a display of overwhelming domination in 48kg women's weightlifting by the Indians as apart from Sanjita's gold, S Mirabai Chanu bagged the silver medal to make it a one-two for last edition's hosts.

In the men's 56kg contest, the 25-year-old Dey lifted a total of 248kg (109+139) after trailing at the halfway snatch stage, but came back strongly in clean and jerk to win the gold and cap a remarkable day for the Indians at the Clyde Auditorium.

In women's 48kg weightlifting, Sanjita won with a total lift of 173kg (77+96), while Mirabai grabbed the silver with a cumulative effort of 170 (75+95) in the absence of other strong competitors.

21-year-old Mali was leading after snatch but slipped behind in clean and jerk to settle for bronze with a total lift of 244kg (111+133). Malaysia's Mohd Pisol Zulheimi was at fourth after snatch but recovered in fine fashion to bag the silver with a total lift of 245kg (108+137).

Meanwhile, Australia's female swimmers set a new 4x100m freestyle relay world record of 3min 30:98sec as they retained their Commonwealth Games title in style.

Lifter Sanjita's total of 173kg missed the Games record, held in the name of 2010 CWG gold winner Augustina Nkem Nwaokolo (175kg effort), by two kilograms. Sanjita's 77kg effort in snatch, however, equalled Nwaokolo's CWG record.

The contest was all but over at the halfway snatch stage with 20-year-old Sanjita and 19-year-old Mirabai lifting 77kg and 75kg.

In badminton, India spanked minnows Ghana and Uganda by identical 5-0 margins in Group B matches of the mixed team event.

In table tennis too, the Indian paddlers hardly broke a sweat on their way to crushing 3-0 wins over Vanuatu and Northern Ireland, respectively, in the men's section. The women too were upto the task as they recorded a clinical 3-0 win over Barbados 3-0 before beating Nigeria 3-1.

In squash, India's Anaka Alankamony, Harinder Pal Sandhu and Mahesh Mangaonkar won their respective opening singles convincingly.

There were disappointment in cycling (track) as Deborah and Mahitha Mohan finished way behind in 10th and 11th position respectively in women's 500m time trial. K Vargheese was placed 13th. There was also no good news for India from rhythmic gymnastics.

The day truly belonged to the lifters and judokas who combined to give India an impressive tally of seven medals straightaway.

Sanjita and Saikhom Mirabai opened India's campaign on a flying note by winning a gold and silver respectively in women's 48kg before Dey and Ganesh Mali bagged the first and third position in men's 56kg. Zulheimi and another Malaysian, Mohd Faizal Baharom, gave a tough competition to Dey and Mali from the beginning but the Indians had the support in their side with a seizable crowd rooting for them with the tri-colour in their hands.

Baharom set the ball rolling with a lift of 110kg in snatch and Dey failed to clear 111kg after lifting 109kg in his earlier attempt. Mali, however, did better than his compatriot to lift 111kg and occupy the top slot with Baharom on second with 110kg and Dey on 109kg at third after snatch. Mali's effort of 133kg in his second attempt in clean and jerk was adjudged no-lift by the jury, but he cleared the weight in his next attempt. Dey jumped to the top spot with a lift of 136kg, but Zulmeihi came into the mix with a clean and jerk of 136kg to jump to joint second. He then lifted 137kg to equal Dey at the top, leaving Mali at third.

Dey went ahead by lifting 138kg and bagged the top prize. He tried 146kg in an attempt to break the Commonwealth Games record in clean and jerk but failed. Nonetheless, he ran away with the title.

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News Network
May 19,2020

Karachi, May 19: Babar Azam wants to take a leaf out of Imran Khan's aggressive captaincy and besides cricket, he is also brushing up his English to become a "complete leader" like the World Cup-winning all-rounder.

Last week, the star batsman took over the reins of Pakistan's white-ball cricket after being appointed as the ODI skipper.

Azam, who was one of the world's leading batsmen across formats last year and already the T20 skipper, replaced wicket-keeper batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed as the ODI captain for the 2020-21 season.

"Imran Khan was a very aggressive captain and I want to be like him. It is not an easy job captaining the Pakistan team but I am learning from my seniors and I have also had captaincy experience since my under-19 days," Azam said.

He said that to be a complete captain one must be able to interact comfortably with the media and express oneself properly in front of an audience.

"These days I am also taking English classes besides focussing on my batting," he said on Monday.

The 25-year-old Babar said he was not satisfied with Pakistan's current standing in international cricket.

"I am not happy with where we stand and I want to see this team go up in the rankings."

Babar said captaincy would be a challenge for him but it would not affect his batting.

"It is an honour to lead one's national team so it is not a burden for me at all. In fact, after becoming captain, I have to lead by example and be more responsible in my batting."

Babar hoped the T20 World Cup is held this year in Australia as he wanted to lead his team in the ICC event.

"It would be a disappointment if the event was not held or rescheduled because I am looking forward to playing in the World Cup and doing well in it," he said.

About plans for Pakistan to fly to England in July to play three Tests and three T20 internationals amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Babar said a lot of hard work and planning would be required to make the players feel comfortable and safe.

"Touring England won't be easy. Health and safety of players is of great importance and the tour will only be possible when proper arrangements are in place," he said.

"Both England and Pakistan team fans, along with the cricketers, are missing cricket because of the pandemic."

"We will still try to perform to the best of our ability despite no support from the fans in the stadium," he added.

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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Five centrally contracted Indian cricketers including Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been issued notices by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing to disclose their whereabouts as the BCCI cited "password glitch" as the reason for delay.

The other players to have received the notice include women stars Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, who are among the five cricketers in the 110 strong National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP). Speaking to PTI, NADA DG Navin Agarwal confirmed that BCCI has sent an official explanation for their five NRTP players' failure to submit whereabouts.

"There are two ways to fill up the whereabouts form in the ADAMS (Anti Doping Administration & Management Systems) software. Either athlete does it himself or association fills it up on his or her behalf," Agarwal said. "Now athletes in some discipline aren't educated enough or do not have access to internet and find themselves unable to handle the whereabouts clause of the ADAMS or upload the filled up

"They use assistance of their concerned federations. So federations have accepted responsibility of uploading their whereabouts," Agarwal said.

He said cricketers too at times find it tough to complete the process on their own. "Similarly in cricket also, although these people are well qualified and they can do it, perhaps they don't have the time for whatever reasons, so the federation concerned, the BCCI has taken upon itself the responsibility of uploading their whereabouts." So why didnt BCCI upload the the three-month whereabouts this time?

"Well they have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable but a decision will be taken. They have said that there has been a glitch with regards to password in ADAMS. Now they have said that issue has been resolved," Agarwal added. NADA DG added that "BCCI's explanation will be discussed as to whether it will be counted as one of three filing failures or not. It will be decided on the explanation given and how they (BCCI) proceed from here."

While country has been under lockdown, the rule to submit three months of whereabouts is mandatory. Three such failures to disclose leads to one Anti Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), which could lead up to two years of suspension upon hearing.

While BCCI has "officially gagged" its employees from talking to the media, it couldn't be ascertained that why as normal a glitch as a password error took days to resolve. A BCCI veteran, who has been privy to cricket operations, asked why the five cricketers were not told to upload the form themselves.

"This was lockdown period where they are not living out of suitcases. Some of the names have also engaged in multiple instagram chats and podcasts which their agents are managing," he said.

"If cricket operations team were having a glitch in fixing password, well the five cricketers could have been asked to do so and they would have done it individually with some guidance. "Probably NADA would be lenient this time but if it becomes an official warning, then who's responsible," he added.

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