Indians endure disappointing day at Rio Olympics

August 7, 2016

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 7: India endured a largely disappointing day at the ongoing Rio Olympics with the men’s hockey team and rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal proving to be the only bright sparks.

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The Indian men’s hockey team began their campaign with a morale boosting 3-2 win against Ireland in their opening pool encounter. Bhokanal meanwhile, produced a creditable performance to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s single sculls event.

But the shooters, paddlers, and weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (women’s 48kg) proved to be a disappointment.

Tennis

The tennis court also did not yield any positive results as the men’s doubles combination of Leander Paes and Bopanna and the women’s doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare crashed out in the opening rounds of their respective categories.

In women’s doubles, Sania and Prarthana went down fighting to Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang of China in a see-saw first round encounter at the Olympic Tennis Centre.

Sania and Prarthana gave a good account of themselves before going down 6-7 (6), 7-5, 5-7 in two hours and 44 minutes.

Paes was not Bopanna’s partner of choice and the duo clearly did not enjoy the best camaraderie in the run up to the Olympics. That clearly reflected in their on-court performance as the Indians went down 4-6, 6-7 (6) to ‘s Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski of Poland.

Paes-Bopanna surrendered the first set in 32 minutes at the Olympic Tennis Centre and the second set in 52 minutes.

It was Paes’ record-setting seventh Olympic appearance, which ended on a disappointing note for the veteran star.

Paes-Bopanna converted both break points received but gave away seven break points in the first set. Kubot-Matkowski won three of the seven break points received to win the first set 6-4.

The Indian pair committed 18 unforced errors in comparison to 10 by their opponents in the first set. The second set was closely contested with both teams retaining their serves to stretch it to a tie-breaker.

But ultimately the Indian pair went down fighting 8-6 in the tie-breaker to bow out in 1 hour 24 minutes. They won only 59 of the total 132 points played in the match.

Hockey

In hockey, the Indians notched up a victory over a spirited Ireland despite a shaky performance.

Rupinder Pal Singh (27th and 49th minutes) scored a brace while V.R. Raghunath (15th) opened the scoring for the eight time gold medallists.

John Jermyn (45th) and Conor Harte (55th) reduced the margin for the Irishmen in the Pool B match.

India’s next match is against two-time defending champions Germany on Monday.

Rowing

Dattu Baban Bhokanal produced a pleasant surprise in the men’s single sculls event as he reached the quarter-finals after finishing third in his heat.

In the first heat of the day, the 25-year-old from the Indian Army finished the 2000-metre race in seven minutes and 21.67 seconds at the Lagoa Stadium here.

The Maharashtra lad is the sole Indian to have qualified for the rowing events. He was in second place for the first 500 metres of the race, but started to lag behind once Juan Carlos of Mexico in the second lane picked up pace around the 700m mark.

Cuba’s Angel Fournier Rodriguez finished first clocking 7:06.89 followed by Carlos (7:08.27).

Shooting: Women’s 10 metre air rifle

At the shooting ranges, Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul crashed out after losing in the quarter-finals of the women’s 10 metre air rifle event.

Apurvi was placed in the 34th position with a combined score of 411.6 while Ayonika was 43rd with 407.0 among 51 shooters at the Olympic Shooting Centre.

China’s Du Li entered the quarter-finals, bagging the top spot with a score of 420.7, setting a new Olympic record at the event. Germany’s Barbara Engleder took the second spot with 420.3 while Iran’s Elaheh Ahmadi was third with 417.8.

Apart from the top three, a Russian, two Americans, a Croatian and another Chinese shooter completed the top eight line-up.

“I don’t know what happened, my mind has totally gone blank,” Apurvi told IANS after the event.

“Of course when I came in this morning, I expected to win. Who doesn’t,” a visibly crestfallen Chandela said before proceeding to see the finals of the competition with her physio Nikhil Ajit Latey, which was won by Virginia Thrasher of the U.S. with a score of 208.

Apurvi had won the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Her other colleague Ayonika Paul had won the silver at the competition. Paul, who too watched the finals from the rear gallery, did not want to comment.

Shooting: Men's 10m air pistol

Later, medal hope Jitu Rai finished eighth in the men’s 10 metre Air Pistol event. Jitu produced a string of poor shots for a total score of 78.7 and was the first to be eliminated from the eight-man final.

Playing in his maiden Olympics, Jitu showed signs of nerves right from the qualifying rounds and made it to the final by the skin of his teeth.

He continued his nervous performance in the final as well and lagged behind in the early stages and was unable to rise above the last place.

The Naib Subedar from the Indian Army slipped to the eighth and last spot right at the start with a total score of 28.9 points after the first three shots.

He ran into further trouble with a 9.7 in his next shot. The 28-year-old continued to struggle with his next couple of shots as the shooters at the top of the pack continued to churn out consistent above 10 attempts.

On the brink of elimination with an overall score of 68.6, Jitu managed a 10.1 but it was not enough to keep him in the competition.

Table Tennis

In table tennis, Mouma Das crashed out in the first round of the women’s singles after a rather one-sided 2-11, 7-11, 7-11, 3-11 loss to Daniela Monteiro Dodean of Romania.

Meanwhile, India’s veteran paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal was knocked out in the first round of the men’s singles competition. The 34-year-old, competing in his third Olympic Games, lost to Romanian Adrian Crisan 1-4 (8-11, 12-14, 11-9, 6-11, 8-11).

World No.73 Sharath fought hard in all of the five games but the 36-year-old world No.90 of Romania was up to the challenge.

Weightlifting

In weightlifting, Chanu produced a disappointing performance and was unable to make an impact in the women’s 48kg category at the Riocentro Pavilion 2 arena.

Competing in Group A, Chanu lifted 82 kilograms in the snatch event, but could not complete any of her lifts in the clean and jerk.

Sopita Tanasan of Thailand won the gold with a total lift of 200 kilograms, Sri Wahyuni Agustiani of Indonesia clinched the silver with 192 kilograms while Japan’s Hiromi Miyake (188 kilograms) took the bronze.

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News Network
January 14,2020

Sydney, Jan 14: Retired South African big-hitter AB de Villiers on Tuesday said efforts are on to ensure his comeback in the national team for the T20 World Cup in Australia, a plan in which his IPL form will play a crucial role.

Speaking to Cricket Australia's official website 'cricket.com.au', the 35-year-old swashbuckler said he would love to be back two years after calling it quits internationally. He is currently in Australia to play in the Big Bash League.

"I would love to. I've been talking to 'Bouch' (new South Africa coach Mark Boucher), (new director of cricket) Graeme Smith and (captain) Faf (du Plessis) back home, we're all keen to make it happen," he said.

"It's a long way away still, and plenty can happen – there's the IPL coming up, I've still got to be in form at that time. So I'm thinking of throwing my name in the hat and hoping that everything will work out," he added.

De Villiers, nonetheless, is keeping a check on his expectations.

"It's not a guarantee, once again. I don't want to disappoint myself or other people, so for now I'm just going to try and keep a low profile, try and play the best possible cricket that I can and then see what happens towards the end of the year," he said.

"There are a lot of players (involved with CSA) who I used to play with. Guys who understand the game, leaders of the team for many years" he said of the present dispensation.

"So it's much easier to communicate than what it used to be in the past. They understand what players go through – especially players that have played for 15 years internationally.

"It doesn't mean that everything is going to be sunshine and roses, but it's definitely a lot easier and it feels comfortable, the language that's being used and just the feel that everyone has at the moment in South Africa about the cricket," he added.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: "Want to know what makes him tick," said Australian pacer Kane Richardson will talking about playing alongside Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 and the tournament will run for 53 days.

In the players' auction which was conducted in December 2019, RCB managed to bag key players like Richardson, Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Joshua Philippe, and Isuru Udana.

In an interaction with news agency, Richardson talked about playing alongside Kohli and the learning curve which is in store for him by being in the same squad as Proteas great Dale Steyn.
"Huge. These guys (Virat, AB de Villiers) are the absolute legends of the game. Anything I can learn from them will be a bonus, that's for sure.

I am really looking forward to playing with Virat, there are few more competitive players in the world. I am really looking forward to seeing what makes him tick," Richardson said.

The 29-year-old pacer also said that he would want to learn from Steyn as to how to be consistent in all formats of the game over a long period of time.

"There are loads I can learn from Dale. He has been amongst the best at the highest level for so long. His control and ability to swing the ball without losing his pace is really impressive. 

I look forward to getting in his ear about how he performs so consistently over a long period, in all forms," said Richardson who has 39 ODI wickets to his credit.

Richardson has so far played 14 games in his IPL career so far and has picked up 18 wickets. The bowler played for Pune Warriors India in 2013, Rajasthan Royals in 2014, and RCB in 2016.

For this year's IPL, RCB has also bagged Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch, and Richardson thinks having a familiar face in the camp would help him to settle better in the franchise.

"Finchey is an awesome player and a fantastic leader. I am sure it will help to have two Aussies in the side along with Josh who is playing his first tournament after a massive summer in the BBL. We are all professionals, I'm sure it won't take long for us to gel as a side," Richardson said.

However, before the IPL starts, Australia is expected to tour England for a limited-overs series, comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The side was last seen in action in March this year as they played one ODI against New Zealand in Sydney. After the first match, the remaining two ODIs were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Talking about the series against England, Kane replied: "We will be fresh, that's one thing, while the England players have been in a bubble for some time now. As long as we get enough practice in before and possibly some centre wicket it should not be an issue."

"They are World Cup holders and the number one ranked side for a very good reason. It will be a tough series also given they will have played a fair bit of cricket together by then. We know we need to work hard on our one-day game which will be a priority over the next period," he added.

The pacer also talked about how the lockdown was like for him, and Richardson feels that everyone would come back strong as a result of this break.

"The break from playing has been refreshing, to be honest. We have come back strong and are well into pre-season training with our states. As a bowler, our loads are not at their peak but we are working towards getting ready for a tour of the UK in a few weeks," Richardson said.

The Australian quick has so far played 25 ODIs and 18 T20Is, managing to take 39 and 19 wickets respectively.

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Agencies
February 7,2020

Sydney, Feb 7: "I received a message from Brett Lee," said former India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on Friday when asked as to who recruited him to take part in the Bushfire relief fundraiser match.

Tendulkar will be coaching the Ponting XI in the upcoming Bushfire Bash on Sunday, February 9 at the Junction Oval.

"I received a message from Brett Lee. Brett said that Kevin (Roberts, Cricket Australia's chief executive) would like to be in touch with you. It was a no-brainer. From the moment I was asked, I said, 'yes I'm more than happy to come here," cricket.com.au quoted Tendulkar as saying.

Bushfire Bash was originally slated to be played at Sydney on Saturday but weather forecast prompted Cricket Australia to reschedule the game to ensure the best possible pitch and outfield conditions for the final of Big Bash League.

The match will be played to raise funds and all match profits will go to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.

"This is an alarming situation, it's catastrophic - that's an understatement. You see the number of lives it has affected, not only humans but also wildlife which sometimes people don't talk about. That is equally important. I'm so happy I'm here in whatever way to support the cause, to raise money," Tendulkar said.

Ponting XI: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting (c), Elyse Villani, Brian Lara, Phoebe Litchfield, Brad Haddin (wk), Brett Lee, Wasim Akram, Dan Christian, Luke Hodge. Coach: Sachin Tendulkar

Gilchrist XI: Adam Gilchrist (c & wk), Shane Watson, Brad Hodge, Yuvraj Singh, Alex Blackwell, Andrew Symonds, Courtney Walsh, Nick Riewoldt, Peter Siddle, Fawad Ahmed (one more to be announced). Coach: Tim Paine

The Bushfire Bash exhibition match will be a 10-overs-per-side contest, with a five-over Powerplay, no bowling restrictions, and batters unable to get out from the first ball they face.

Bowlers will not have over limits, fielders can sub on and off as it suits, while captains will have the ability to sub batters in and out during an innings.

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