Indian women's hockey team holds Australia to 2-2 draw

Agencies
August 18, 2019

Tokyo, Aug 18: The Indian women's hockey team came back twice from a goal deficit to hold world number 2 side Australia 2-2 in a hard-fought round-robin league match of the Olympic Test Event on Sunday.

Vandana Katariya (36th) and Gurjit Kaur (59th) scored for India to cancel out strikes from Kaitlin Nobbs (14th) and Grace Stewart (43rd) in their second match of the tournament. India had beaten hosts Japan 2-1 in their first match on Saturday.

World number 10 India began the match aggressively, matching Australia's attacking hockey with their own brand which saw both teams earn penalty corners. However, neither side managed to score.

But in the 14th minute, Australia were awarded a penalty stroke after an Indian defender blocked a shot at goal. Nobbs made no mistake in converting from the spot to give Australia a 1-0 advantage.

The world number 2 side dominated the second quarter completely, putting the Indian team under intense pressure through multiple attacks and penalty corners. But India's defence held firm and goalkeeper Savita made a couple of great saves to deny Australia who were 1-0 up at the half-time break.

The third quarter again saw Australia dominate possession and create a couple of goal-scoring opportunities through penalty corners. However, Savita again made fine saves to deny the Australians.

India struck on the break as Vandana Katariya finished off a superb move to equalise in the 36th minute. But the lead did not last long as Australia started to look for their second goal.

It was in the 43rd minute that Australia found their second goal through some exquisite teamwork, which saw Grace Stewart also registering her name on the score-sheet to give Australia a 2-1 lead.

It was a tough ask for the Indian team as Australia did not give them enough space inside the striking circle. However, the Indians showed determination as they kept looking for the equaliser in the last quarter.

With moves breaking down, and chances going waste, it looked like Australia would hold onto their 2-1 lead, but with just a couple of minutes remaining on the clock, India won a crucial penalty corner in the 59th minute.

And, prolific drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur stepped up and struck a sweet blow into the back of the net to earn India a well-deserved draw.

The Indian women's team will face China on Tuesday in their third and last round-robin match of the tournament.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: India captain Virat Kohli has refrained from making any comments on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), without gaining full knowledge on the sensitive subject.

The CAA will grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12, even if they don't possess any proper document.

In 2016, Kohli had termed demonetisation as the "greatest move in history of Indian politics", which met with sharp criticism from a lot of quarters, with people questioning his knowledge on the subject.

With Guwahati witnessing massive protests against the CAA till some days back, Kohli was asked about it and the Indian skipper weighed his words carefully.

"On the issue, I do not want to be irresponsible and speak on something that has, you know, radical opinions both sides. I need to have total information, total knowledge of what it means and what is going on and then be responsible to give my opinion on it," Kohli said ahead of India's first T20 International against Sri Lanka.

The skipper made it clear that he will not like to get embroiled in a controversy by commenting on a subject that he is not well aware of.

"Because you can say one thing and then someone can say another thing. So, I would not like to get involved in something that I don't have total knowledge of and it's not going to be responsible on my part to comment on it." However Kohli on his part was happy with the security arrangements and felt that the city is "absolutely safe".

"The city is absolutely safe. We didn't see any problems on the roads," Kohli said, giving his thumbs-up for the match at the Barsapara Stadium.

The Assam Cricket Association is using this match as a "curtain-raiser" ahead of their maiden IPL match this season as Rajasthan Royals have adopted this venue.

There has been deployment of Rapid Action Force for the teams and ACA secretary Devajit Saikia has said the spectators will not even be allowed to bring along handkerchiefs and towels on the match-day as the traditional Assamese scarf was used for protests against CAA.

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News Network
March 27,2020

New Delhi, Mar 27: India skipper Virat Kohli on Friday made a heartfelt appeal to the citizens of the country, asking them to follow social distancing as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic.
He also went on to say that over the past few days, he has seen some people still taking to the streets, and added that if people still continue to venture out, then they are not being honest with the country.
Kohli released a small video clip on Twitter, making the public appeal and captioned the post as: "Please wake up to the reality and seriousness of the situation and take responsibility. The nation needs our support and honesty"
"Today, I am talking to you as a citizen of the country. Whatever I have seen over the past few days, I have seen people not following the lockdown, it has made me feel that some people are taking the battle against COVID-19 very lightly. I request you all to please follow social distancing, whatever the government is asking you to do, please follow it," Kohli said in the video released on Twitter.
"Think about what can happen to your family members because of your negligence. Our medical experts are fighting this battle day in and day out. If you are still going out to the streets, then I don't think you are being honest to your country," he added.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to impose a 21-day lockdown in the country as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases have risen to 724 in India (including 640 active cases, 66 cured or discharged people) and 17 deaths.
The World Health Organisation had termed the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic on March 11. 

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: On the first day of the New Year 2020, Hardik Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share a photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The 26-year-old shared three pictures and a short clip on the social media platform. In one photo, Stankovic can be seen flaunting her ring.

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show 'Bigg Boss 8'.

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