India squander lead to draw with Olympic champions Germany

June 11, 2016

London, Jun 11: India's defenders squandered the lead as Olympic champions Germany clawed their way back to earn a 3-3 draw on the opening day of the 36th Champions Trophy hockey tournament here today.

India

Enjoying the lead for most part of the encounter, the Indian defence wilted under late Germany pressure to concede the equaliser to Germany just three minutes before the hooter at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre.

Jonas Gomoll converted a 57th minute penalty stroke with a deft flick to save Germany the blushes after they had trailed behind the Indians.

From the moment V R Raghunath converted the first Indian penalty corner in the sixth minute, India had enjoyed the lead throughout, except for one minute when Germany equalised in the first quarter.

Goals from Mandeep Singh (26th minute) and Harmanpreet Singh (32nd) gave India a 3-1 lead, but Germany forced a series of penalty corners against a shaky Indian defence. Two penalty corner conversions by Tom Grambusch in the 25th and 36th minute kept Germany in the contest before Gomoll's penalty stroke restored parity.

The under-pressure Indian defenders conceded nine penalty corners and several of them were soft fouls, while their own strikers earned four at the other end.

The game began with the Indian defenders rushing out to block the early first penalty corner for Germany. The Indians then had a first look at the rival goal in the fifth minute, but Akashdeep Singh's shot was blocked by goalkeeper Tobias Walter.

Indian took the lead in the sixth minute as Raghunath converted the first penalty corner with a low drag flick into the left corner that beat the outstretched hands of custodian Walter.

Two minutes later, Indian captain and goalkeeper P R Sreejesh warded off danger by diving of his left to block a push in the crowded circle.

Striker S V Sunil picked up a diagonal ball inside the circle to shoot into the goal in the 18th minute, but it was disallowed after review, when the video umpire ruled that the ball had touched his foot.

Germany equalized through a penalty corner conversion by Grambusch in the 25th minute. Grambush's low drag flick went off the goalkeeper's pads into the net.

India regained the lead in the very next minute when Sunil's fine solo on the right run took him into the scoring circle. Sunil created the goal with a fine pass to Mandeep, who flicked past the custodian from close range.

Young penalty corner shooter Harmanpreet replicated the earlier shot by Raghunath as he placed the second penalty corner into the right corner to give India a 3-1 lead in the 32nd minute.

The Germans then took the game to India's half with a string of penalty corners and were rewarded with their second goal when Grambusch placed his drag flick beyond custodian Sreejesh's outstretched right hand in the 36th minute.

With errors creeping into India's game, Germany were able to force penalty corners almost at will, but sprayed the shots wide to give the Indians some respite.

India came close to increasing the lead in a rare attack in the 52nd minute when S K Uthappa darted into the circle and the defenders made an aerial clearance, which should have earned India a penalty corner. But Mandeep, at close range, raised his stick to pick up the rebound and shot wide in desperation. As he had taken a try, the penalty corner was not awarded.

Germany were awarded the last of their nine penalty corners in the 57th minute, and that hit defender Pradeep Mor on the body and a penalty stroke was awarded. Gomoll made no mistake with his penalty stroke and India had to be content with a draw in their opening fixture.

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News Network
January 19,2020

Rome, Jan 19: India's star wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya kicked off the Olympic year in style, winning a gold medal each in their respective weight categories at the Rome Ranking Series here.

The 25-year-old Bajrang staged a remarkable comeback to secure a 4-3 win against USA's Jordan Michael Oliver in the summit showdown of the 65kg freestyle category.

Ravi, who competed in the 61kg category instead of his regular 57kg, also bagged gold after getting the better of Kazakhstan's Nurbolat Abdualiyev 12-2 in his final bout late on Saturday night.

The 23-year-old from Sonepat had made the final round after securing impressive wins over Moldova's Alexaandru Chirtoaca and Kazakhstan's Nurislam Sanayev.

Up against one of India's biggest medal prospects in the Tokyo Olympics, Oliver conceded that it was not his night against Bajrang.

The American lauded the competitive spirit of Bajrang.

"Wasn't my night… but I got a lot of work to do to be where I want to be! Hats off to @BajrangPunia dude is heck of a competitor! Until next time my friend," the American tweeted.

Bajrang had to sweat it out in the first round against Zain Allen Retherford of the USA before prevailing 5-4.

In the quarterfinal, the ace Indian wrestler went past another American Joseph Christopher Mc Kenna 4-2, before getting the better of Vasyl Shuptar of Ukraine 6-4 in the semi-finals.

However, it was curtains for Jitender in the 74kg and world championship silver medallist Deepak Punia in the 86kg category.

Jitender won his first bout against Denys Pavlov of Ukraine 10-1 before going down in the quarterfinals against Turkey's Soner Demirtas 4-0.

Jitender got a chance to fight in the repechage after Demirtas entered the final, but the Indian wasted the opportunity, losing 2-9 to Daniyar Kaisanov of Kazakhstan.

In the 86kg category, Deepak crashed out in the opening round, losing 1-11 to Ethan Adrian Ramos of Puerto Rico.

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mumbai, Mar 5: Former India spinner Sunil Joshi was on Wednesday named chairman of the national selection panel by the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which also picked ex-pacer Harvinder Singh to the five-member group.

The CAC, comprising Madan Lal, R P Singh and Sulakshana Naik, picked the two selectors with Joshi replacing South Zone representative MSK Prasad.

In an unprecedented decision, the BCCI said the CAC will review the panel's performance after one year and make recommendations accordingly.

"The committee recommended Sunil Joshi for the role of chairman of the senior men's selection committee. The CAC will review the candidates after a one-year period and make the recommendations to the BCCI," read a statement from BCCI Secretary Jay Shah.

Harvinder was chosen from central zone and replaces Gagan Khoda in the panel.

The existing members of the selection panel are Jatain Paranjpe, Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh.

"We have picked the best guys for the job," Lal told news agency.

The CAC had shortlisted five candidates for interviews -- Joshi, Harvinder, Venkatesh Prasad, Rajesh Chauhan and L S Sivaramakrishnan -- from a list of 40 applicants.

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January 15,2020

Jan 15: Australia openers David Warner and Aaron Finch both struck superb centuries to complement their bowlers’ inspired display as the touring side handed out a 10-wicket thrashing to India in the opening one-day international in Mumbai.

India, world-ranked No 2 in ODIs, suffered a middle-order collapse on their way to being bundled out for 255 in the final over of their innings after Australia captain Finch won the toss and opted to field in the first of the three-match series.

Warner and Finch then smashed the Indian bowlers to all corners of the ground, picking up boundaries seemingly at will to chase down the target with 74 balls to spare at the Wankhede Stadium.

Left-handed Warner successfully used the decision review system twice to overturn the umpire’s decision on his way to his 18th ODI century, hitting three sixes and 17 fours in his unbeaten knock of 128, from 112 balls. Finch completed his 16th century in the format, his unbeaten innings 110 from 114 features two sixes and 13 fours.

Earlier, Australia’s left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who made his ODI debut in India 10 years ago, picked up three wickets to set up Australia’s victory. He struck the first blow with the new ball when he sent back Rohit Sharma for 10.

India managed to recover from that early loss through a second-wicket stand of 121 between opener Shikhar Dhawan, who top-scored for the hosts with 74, and KL Rahul. However left-arm spinner Ashton Agar broke the stand by dismissing Rahul for 47 before Agar caught Dhawan off Pat Cummins in the next over.

The hosts were hoping for a solid innings from captain Virat Kohli, who batted a position lower than his usual No 3 spot to accommodate Rahul, to get them out of trouble. However, he lasted only 14 balls, hitting leg-spinner Adam Zampa for a six before offering a return catch to the bowler on the very next delivery to be out for 16.

Starc then returned to the attack, removing Shreyas Iyer cheaply as India lost four wickets for 30 runs to be reduced to 164 for five. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja then fell just short of a half-century partnership, before the remaining four wickets falling for 42 runs, with Cummins and fast bowler Kane Richardson picking up two wickets apiece for Australia.

To compound India’s woes, wicketkeeper Pant suffered a concussion after being hit on his helmet by a short-pitched delivery from Cummins. The Indian cricket board said Pant, who did not come out to keep wicket and was replaced behind the stumps by Rahul, was under observation. The two sides will meet in Rajkot for the second ODI on Friday.

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